Chapter Thirty-Three #3
He takes the stylus and signs the declaration at the bottom of the page.
I watch the digital signature populate every copy of the statement.
There’s no taking it back now.
The room stays quiet for another beat before Travis looks up. “W-what… what h-happens now?”
Nobody answers immediately.
I close the laptop. “Now?” The word hangs between us.
“Now you start over.” His brow furrows. “You don’t have a career anymore.
Every professional license attached to your name will come under review.
Your finances will be buried under investigations for years.
Friends you’ve known for decades won’t answer your calls once they find out why federal agents are asking about you.
” I sling the laptop bag over my shoulder.
“If you’re smart, you’ll leave Nevada before anyone decides you’re worth making an example of. ”
Travis’s face drains. “What do you mean… leave?”
“Vegas is finished with you.”
“I… I lose everything?”
I meet his eyes. “You already did.”
The words knock something loose inside him. “Where am I supposed to go?” he asks, panic creeping into every syllable. “How am I supposed to find work? What if Calloway finds me? What if the media…” The questions spill over one another.
I simply turn toward the door, and the others fall in beside me without a word.
Behind us, Travis pushes back from the table. “Wait!” His chair scrapes hard across the tile. “You can’t just leave me like this!”
We keep walking. “H-hey!” His voice cracks. “W-what am I supposed to d-do?”
I pause at the doorway without turning around. “Survive.”
Then, we all walk out.
Travis is still pleading by the time the front door closes behind us, but I have lost interest.
The afternoon heat hits the second we step outside. Koa lets out a slow breath before crossing the driveway to Slate. They shake hands, the kind of grip that says more than either of them ever would.
Static is already throwing a leg over his bike when my comm crackles to life. “Montana,” Sin says. Satisfaction sits beneath the calm in his voice. “You have our debt.”
Slate chuckles under his breath. “Reckon debt’s the wrong word.” He shrugs. “Brothers help brothers. We’ll see you down the road.”
Sin doesn’t waste words. “Ride safe.”
“Always do.”
I tip my head toward Slate and Static in a gesture of thanks. “Been good working with you.”
Static gives a single nod. “Likewise.”
Slate settles his helmet on. “Next time, ya’ll come see Montana.”
Koa grins. “Count on it.”
The Montana bikes pull out, engines rumbling low as they disappear around the corner of the quiet Las Vegas street—two brothers who rode hundreds of miles because another chapter called. One patch. One family. Defiance rides for its own!
Something that settles low in my chest in a way this job rarely does.
They came for a lead.
They left with justice.
There’s something solid about that.
We are Defiance!
I listen to the Montana bikes until the engines fade into the Vegas traffic.
They came because we asked.
They leave with the job finished.
That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
I sit with that for another minute before pulling my phone from my pocket, and hitting Sage’s number.
She answers before the second ring. “Ghost?”
That’s all it takes to hear everything she’s carried since this started.
“It’s done, baby.”
Silence meets me. The kind that fills with relief so fast it steals your breath before you realize you’re holding one.
When she exhales, I can almost picture her shoulders dropping. “It’s really over?”
I lean back against the driver’s side door of the van. “Calloway’s finished. Travis signed. It’ll all start moving quickly from here.”
She takes another long breath. “Oh, thank God.” The words come out barely above a whisper.
I close my eyes for a second.
I don’t thank God.
I thank brothers who rode in to help without asking what it would cost.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah.” She laughs softly, the sound shaky but real. “I think I actually am.”
I didn’t realize how tightly I’d been holding it together until that moment.
“Good.” The word comes out quieter than I intended. “I’ll be home soon.”
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
My chest tightens at the thought.
There was a time I couldn’t imagine wanting someone waiting for me. The club was enough. The work was enough. My brothers were enough. I’d convinced myself that was all there ever needed to be.
Then Sage sat down at my desk, day after day, sometimes talking, often not.
But she just… stayed. She learned exactly how to get under my skin, challenged me when everyone else stepped around me, and somehow, without either of us noticing when it happened, she worked her way into every part of my life that used to belong only to me.
Now I can’t picture tomorrow without her in it.
I used to think love made people reckless.
Made them careless.
Made them weak enough to lose sight of what mattered.
Turns out I had it ass-backward.
Love is a risk—a damn big one.
But Sage is worth the risk.
She’s worth being reckless.
I am so fucking screwed.