Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SAVVY
We pull up to the Hideaway like the cavalry, but instead of weapons, we have solidarity. It’s a strange thing to face off with Riley with an entire team behind me.
What would it have been like if just one person had been on my side when I was a teenager?
Would it have made a difference?
Would I have still lost everyone I loved?
Would I be who I am today?
This one deranged man and his equally unstable family are the catalyst for who I am today. Everything good and everything broken that I am came from the shattered pieces of the girl that two families want to blame for their misfortune, and until now, they’ve had the power to do just that.
“We’ve got you,” Elle says as I climb down from the truck bed. She looks like a rodeo clown as she straddles Wrecks while holding onto his collar. If that damn dog wanted to bolt at any second, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
The sight makes me smile despite the rising tension in the air.
Grey jumps down and secures my hand in his. “Can everyone give us a moment, please?”
Cian’s eyes bug out of his head. He’s probably never heard Grey ask for anything nicely, but Brax pats him on the back and heads up the porch steps with everyone else following closely behind.
“I just want you to know—” Grey doesn’t finish his sentence.
I think he’s waiting for me to look up at him, but I’m scared of what I’ll find when I do.
When he grows impatient, he hooks his finger under my chin and tilts it up.
“I understand what it feels like to not have people believe you. So, I want you to know, I do. I believe you, and I believe in you, and so do they.” He nods with his head toward the crew that’s patiently waiting on the porch for us.
“We have your back, regardless of what DeVane came here to say.”
Damn him. All the tension that had previously been sitting on my shoulders now lodges in my throat.
“If you need anything while you’re in there, just squeeze my hand, and I’ll take over.”
Really? I fully expected him to commandeer this entire thing, and his smirk tells me he knows it.
“I said I believe you, but more importantly, I believe in you. I know you can fight your own battles—I simply want you to understand that you no longer have to. Are you ready?”
My heart claps against my ribs like an inmate waiting for the jailbreak. Greyson Reyes is breaking me out of the prison I’ve lived in for years, and I’m helpless to stop him.
“I’m ready.” But my wobbly voice betrays me.
Thankfully, he doesn’t comment on it. He simply steps to the side and allows me to lead us to the porch.
As soon as I take the last step, the front door bursts open, and a pissed-off Madi scans all the faces until she lands on mine. “Let’s kick some ass.” She’s five foot nothing of pissed-off mama bear, but she’s using every last inch of her size to her benefit.
She’s going to be an amazing mom.
With a breath that keeps lodging painfully in my side, I nod, then enter the inn, dragging Grey behind me like a silent sentry I didn’t know I deserved.
We find Riley in the den, sitting on the sofa with his arms and legs spread wide, as though he’s the king of this kingdom, and my stomach twists violently as I read every thought in his mind. It’s why he always lost at poker—he lacks the control it takes to mask his emotions.
His dark sneer screams only one word: mine.
Sage and some of his teammates sit across the room, glaring at him, with Clover sandwiched between them. Nervous energy pours out of her, but she too appears to be attempting murder with her stare.
I nod at them in appreciation. This is what it feels like to have a family, and Riley won’t take that from me. Widening my stance, I face him.
“Riley.” My tone is arctic and decidedly unfriendly. “What do you want?”
“Sin.” The word slips past his lips, hissing his serpent-coated lies. Even Wrecks growls, low and dangerous. I smile when Riley sits up straighter.
When the dog trots over to sit on Clover’s feet, I nearly laugh as fear shines in Riley’s expression.
“Savannah is the only name I respond to. I’ll ask you one more time, what do you want?”
He leans back again, as if to show me he’s just getting comfortable, and slowly studies the people at my back.
“You’ve amassed a motley little crew, haven’t you?” He makes no move, but it feels like he threw the first punch.
Grey’s chest presses into my back, but he doesn’t say anything, just silently lends me his strength, and that one small action is enough to erase all the bullshit he’s put me through. Grey is on my side, and I can’t believe I ever doubted it.
Riley expects me to fold first. After all, intimidation is how he always got his way when I was a kid, but I’m not that teenager anymore. Even without the support at my back, I’m not the same girl I once was, so I hold my glare and wait for him to get to his point.
Even Pops stands silently in the corner, but he bounces on his toes—his need to release energy preventing him from staying still.
“Have you told them the truth?” Riley’s voice is oily and slick. It’s hardened with age, but it’s as repulsive as it is in my nightmares.
Wrecks growls in his direction but doesn’t leave Clover’s side—almost as if he knows she needs his protection more than anyone else.
Wrecks and his loyalty give me strength. “I have nothing to hide.”
“So you lied to them,” he counters.
“On the contrary. I told them every sordid detail of my past, Riley. Something you can’t comprehend because you’ve built your stories on lies.”
“It’s strange, don’t you think?” He glances to my left, and he must be staring at Elle because Cian rumbles behind me.
“What’s strange?” Elle sasses.
“The story she’s undoubtedly told you all. If that were the truth, do you think her own family would turn on her as they have? Her parents, her brother, even her best friends? Her sugar-coated version of the truth has always skated over her actions that led us all here.”
“Her family is a piece of shit that never cared about her. That’s not Savvy’s fault.” Grey’s a solid wall of muscle behind me. He’s so close that I feel every intake of breath and the words that rumble through his chest.
“Savvy,” Riley hisses. “That’s what you go by now? Sweet, isn’t it?”
My clenched fists ache at my sides. “I have nothing to say to you, Riley, so unless you’d like to get to your point, it’s time for you to leave.”
He jumps to his feet with more agility than I thought his paunchy belly capable of. Grey instantly shifts to my side, making Riley’s grin turn positively menacing.
“My point. You want to know my fucking point?”
Grey slides a hand around my waist, attempting to push me behind him, but I don’t move as Riley stalks close enough that I can see the veins in his neck and temple that give away the poison rotting his insides.
“I’ll get to my point when you call off your guard dogs. We have things to discuss—in private.”
“Not happening.” Grey’s tone is cold and final, but I know Riley. He won’t leave until he gets what he wants.
“I’ll speak to you in the kitchen, but I won’t ask anyone to leave.”
Grey snaps his head to me. “Are you kidding me? No way, Monroe. Not happening.”
I press my hand to the center of his chest, silently reminding him to trust me. The sooner I deal with this asshole, the sooner I can get him out of Madi’s inn.
Whatever Grey reads in my expression has his jaw clenching shut and the muscles in his neck pulsing rapidly. “Ten minutes, and then I’m coming in.”
It’s the best concession I’ll get out of him, so I nod my head. At least he’s trying to let me lead this.
“Savvy, are you…are you sure?” Clover asks before chewing on her bottom lip.
“I’m sure. Thank you.”
“Leave the door open.” Grey’s voice is as rough as coarse gravel. “I mean it, Monroe. Keep it open.”
“This way, Riley.” I lead him into the kitchen, then hook the swinging door open. In my periphery, Grey has angled himself to have me in his sights.
It gives me the confidence I need. Stepping around Riley to the opposite side of the island, I keep the large slab of granite between us. From this vantage point, Grey appears over the top of Riley’s shoulder, only a room away.
“You have ten minutes to tell me why you’re here, and the clock is ticking, so again, I suggest you get to your point.”
“My point,” Riley says through clenched teeth, “is that Paige lost the use of her legs. I lost years of my life, Austin lost his sister, and what did you lose?” The dark, destructive edge in his voice nearly has me calling for Grey, but I stand firm.
I can do this.
I’ve lost more than he’ll ever understand—I lost myself, and it’s time I found her again.
“Nothing,” he spits. “You lost nothing.”
Cian and Brax step closer to Grey—an army ready to step in, but I gently tell them no with a tiny shake of my head.
Riley’s glare continues to burn holes through my soul.
“Say what it is you think I owe you before my friends come in here and escort you out.” I’m only giving him this courtesy to try and save the people I love from any of his retaliation tactics that I know are coming.
He reaches behind his back. Grey instantly calls out and lurches forward, but when Riley retrieves a piece of paper from his back pocket, Brax and Cian hold him back. Riley stares at the paper for a long moment—long enough for sweat to trickle down my spine, unease snaking around my ribcage.
Then he tosses it onto the island, and when it lands, the air in my lungs cuts like shards of glass.
I’m reaching for the paper as my eyes burn with unshed tears.
It’s a save-the-date card for Paige and my brother’s wedding.
Pain slashes through my chest. You’d think after a lifetime of betrayal, I’d be stronger or more resilient, but this proves the walls I’ve built are made of straw. “I—I don’t understand.”
“It would be a shame if Austin were ousted as a dirty cop and Paige was once again left broken and alone, don’t you think?”
“Are you threatening me?” I hate how small my voice sounds.