Chapter 9
Blade
“Text them you’re coming. Nothing else.”
She nods and types.
“You’ll leave here alone, in case they’re watching,” I continue. “Call a cab. Make it visible. Let them see you get in. I’ll come out the back.”
“You’ll follow?” she asks carefully.
“Yes.”
“And your brothers?”
“Yes.”
She inhales, shaky.
“And Lyla?”
“We’ll get her.”
That’s the only promise I make.
“I’ll go now,” she says. “If they’re watching—”
“You need to look desperate,” I cut in. “Move like prey.”
Her brows draw together, but she nods.
I hate asking that of her.
“Okay.”
I hold her gaze.
“The Damned Saints will move like hunters.”
That settles something in her.
“Tell me what to do when I get there,” she says.
“I’m saying this once,” I tell her. “You do exactly what we agreed. No improvising. No speeches. No heroics.”
Her mouth tightens.
“I don’t want you hurt because of me.”
I step closer, lift her chin.
“He started this,” I say low. “I’m ending it.”
She exhales slowly.
“We make it look real,” I add.
My phone buzzes.
Havoc.
“Ghost fill you in?” I ask.
“Yeah. We’re five out. You bringing the girl?”
“She’s the hook.”
A beat.
“Figures. What do you need?”
“Quiet.”
“You’ll get it.”
The cab pulls up twenty minutes later.
She doesn’t look back when she gets in.
Good.
I wait thirty seconds.
Then I roll the spare bike out the back of the cabin and head down the opposite road.
I spot the cab three turns later. I stay far enough back that no one connects us. Close enough to move fast.
The industrial strip sits where the small town of Silverbrook Valley forgot to finish things.
Metal siding. Chain-link. Gravel lots.
The cab slows.
I peel off down a side access road before we hit the main gate.
Ghost’s voice is already in my ear.
“Eyes on. Two at the front. One roaming. Salazar not on site yet.”
“Copy.”
I kill my engine behind a low concrete wall and watch.
The cab stops.
Violet steps out.
Small. Alone.
She pays the driver. Doesn’t hesitate.
Good girl.
The cab pulls away.
Two men at the gate watch her approach.
One speaks.
She nods.
Hands visible.
They pat her down lightly.
My teeth grind.
I don’t move.
They wave her inside.
Door shuts.
My jaw tightens.
“Inside front office,” Ghost murmurs. “Cameras active. Back gate has two. Side door clear for now.”
Havoc’s voice comes through.
“Positioned.”
Tank.
“Rear.”
Sin.
“North fence.”
Viper.
“Roof access. You’re welcome.”
Ghost.
“Watching feeds.”
This is what we do.
We don’t crash doors.
We dismantle.
A black SUV rolls into the lot.
Salazar steps out like he owns the world.
I don’t rush.
I wait.
He goes inside.
Ghost counts.
“Three minutes.”
For what?
“For him to feel safe.”
I breathe once.
Cold.
Controlled.
“Lyla?” I ask.
“There’s a woman at lower level. Storage room. Probably her. Two with her.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Good.
“On your call,” Havoc says.
I watch the front door.
I imagine Violet standing there.
Alone.
Facing him.
My vision narrows.
“Now,” I say.
The back gate men don’t see Tank until he’s on them.
One goes down silent.
The other doesn’t get the chance to shout.
Sin slips inside through the side door.
Viper drops from the roof access into the hallway and melts into position.
I move through the rear entry Ghost unlocked from the feed.
No alarms.
No chaos.
Just timing.
“Front office,” Ghost says quietly. “Salazar with her. Two others in the room.”
“Hold them,” Havoc says. “Blade goes down.”
I take the stairwell.
Concrete steps.
Cool air.
“Two guards outside Lyla,” Ghost says.
I reach the bottom.
Door.
I open it fast.
One man turns.
Too slow.
The second reaches.
Too late.
Silence again.
Lyla sits tied to a metal chair.
Eyes wide.
Breathing fast.
She sees me.
Almost screams.
“Don’t,” I say. “I’m with Violet.”
She clamps her mouth shut.
I cut the restraints.
“Can you walk?”
She nods, shaky.
“Stay behind me.”
We move up the stairs.
Tank waits at the back exit. One look at her and something hard settles in his face. Then he lifts her like she weighs nothing.
“Got her,” he says.
Sin nods once at me.
“Front room’s heating up.”
Good.
I turn back inside.
Ghost’s voice tight in my ear now.
“Salazar’s touching her arm. Talking close.”
My blood goes still.
“Blade,” Havoc warns.
“I’m moving.”
I take the hallway fast.
No stealth now.
The front office door is half open.
I see Violet.
Standing.
Hands visible.
Salazar too close.
Smiling.
He doesn’t see me step in.
He hears the door.
Turns.
Too late.
I cross the distance in three strides and drive my fist straight into his jaw.
No warning.
No speech.
Bone meets bone. His head snaps sideways. He stumbles back into the desk, knocking over a chair.
Violet flinches but doesn’t scream.
Good.
Salazar hits the floor hard.
The room explodes a second later.
Two of his men rush from the side hallway, weapons half-drawn, adrenaline loud in their movements.
Havoc moves before they can decide anything stupid.
“Easy,” he says, voice low but carrying weight.
Sin steps into their line of sight. Viper blocks the secondary exit.
Tank’s shadow fills the doorway behind us.
Numbers change confidence.
Salazar groans on the floor, blood already at the corner of his mouth.
He laughs.
Actually fucking laughs.
“You think this solves anything?” he spits.
I step forward again, grab him by the collar, haul him up just enough to look at me.
“It solves tonight,” I say quietly.
He tries to swing.
I hit him again.
Harder.
This time he stays down.
But his men don’t.
Four more flood in from deeper inside the building. Not rushing to fight — rushing to shield.
They drag him back fast, forming a wall between us.
Weapons visible now.
It turns into a line.
Havoc’s hand lands lightly on my shoulder.
“Not here,” he murmurs.
He’s right.
This isn’t the place to turn it into a bloodbath. Not with Violet by my side.
Salazar wipes blood from his mouth, standing behind his wall of men now.
His eyes are different. Like a warning.
“You hit me in my own building,” he says.
“You touched what’s mine,” I answer.
The air tightens.
For half a second, it feels like someone’s going to miscalculate.
Then Salazar lifts a hand.
His men ease back just enough.
“This isn’t finished,” he says.
“It is for tonight,” Havoc replies evenly.
I don’t take my eyes off Salazar.
He doesn’t take his off me.
Violet’s fingers curl into the back of my cut.
She’s steady.
But I can feel her pulse.
Fast.
Alive.
That’s what matters.
I step back first.
“Next time,” I tell him, voice low enough that only he hears, “you won’t be standing when I’m done.”
His jaw tightens.
Havoc moves first. The rest of us fall in around Violet.
Outside, Tank already has Lyla near the bikes.
Violet breaks from my side and runs to her.
“Lyla—”
They crash into each other.
Lyla grips her like she’s afraid she’ll disappear.
“You came for me,” Lyla breathes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have ignored you last night. I wasn’t in a good place. I thought he’d help me forget.”
Violet shakes her head, hands framing Lyla’s face. “You’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
Tank steps in gently. “I’ll take her home.”
Lyla hesitates, then nods. Violet squeezes her one last time before letting go.
Sin scans the lot. Viper keeps eyes on the roofline. Havoc mounts his bike last.
Engines come to life, one by one.
I swing on and Violet climbs on behind me instantly.
As we pull away, I glance once in the mirror.
Salazar stands in the warehouse doorway, blood on his mouth, men at his back.
Rage sitting just under his skin.
Good.
Rage clouds judgment.
And I just made this personal.
Next time, he doesn’t stand back up.