Chapter 14
Ride or Die
The emergency council meeting began before sunrise.
Every senior officer of Black Venom sat around the long oak table beneath the faded portraits of the club's founders.
No one smiled.
No one trusted the silence.
Marcus Hale's death had changed everything.
The recovered surveillance footage had cleared Sophia.
The old photograph had revealed that Ryder's and Sophia's families had once stood side by side.
Someone had spent decades manufacturing a war that should never have existed.
Now every brother in the room asked the same question.
Who could still be trusted?
Roman stood beside the projection screen.
"We've reviewed every financial transfer Marcus handled over the last eight years."
Rows of encrypted transactions appeared.
"Someone inside this club has been feeding information to an outside organization."
Diesel slammed a fist onto the table.
"Then we find him."
"We will."
Roman clicked to the next slide.
"But first we have another problem."
A grainy photograph filled the screen.
Sophia.
Leaving the mountain cabin.
Taken only yesterday.
Every face in the room hardened.
"They found her again."
Tiny looked toward Ryder.
"They're watching us."
"No."
Ryder answered quietly.
"They're watching her."
The distinction made the room even colder.
Sophia stood near the back wall listening.
She had never intended to attend the meeting.
But leaving now would only create more suspicion.
One older member slowly stood.
"This keeps happening because she's here."
The room became silent.
Another officer nodded.
"She brings attention."
"She isn't the problem."
Ryder's voice remained calm.
"She's the target."
The older rider folded his arms.
"Exactly."
"Then send her away."
Sophia looked toward Ryder.
She expected hesitation.
She expected another impossible decision.
Instead...
He rose slowly from his chair.
"No."
Every head turned.
"If someone wants a war with Black Venom..."
His eyes swept across the room.
"They already have one."
A younger officer frowned.
"You'd risk every brother here for one woman?"
Ryder's answer came without a second's hesitation.
"I'd risk everything to protect someone who was innocent while we failed her."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Roman slowly closed his notebook.
The conversation had changed.
The president had chosen a side.
Later that afternoon, several officers requested a private vote.
Ryder wasn't invited.
Neither was Roman.
Inside the meeting room, tempers exploded.
"We've never placed one person above the patch."
Diesel stood.
"She's not one person."
"She's family."
Another voice answered immediately.
"She's not wearing our colors."
Tiny looked around the room.
"Neither was Ryder's father when he saved half of your lives."
The argument intensified.
Years of buried resentment finally surfaced.
Old alliances began shifting.
Old loyalties cracked.
For the first time in Black Venom's history...
The brotherhood stood divided.
Sophia packed her bag before sunset.
She quietly carried it toward the front door.
"You leaving?"
She turned.
Ryder leaned against the hallway wall.
"They're tearing themselves apart because of me."
"They're tearing themselves apart because someone lied to them."
"I don't belong here."
He walked toward her.
"You belong wherever you choose."
She shook her head.
"I can't keep being the reason your brothers question you."
"They're questioning me because I stayed silent five years ago."
He stopped directly in front of her.
"I'm not making that mistake twice."
She looked at the overnight bag between them.
"If I stay..."
"They'll blame you."
"I know."
"They may even stop following you."
He smiled sadly.
"Then they never understood leadership."
She searched his face.
"You'd really choose me?"
"I already have."
The words stole every argument she had prepared.
That evening, Black Venom gathered in the central garage.
Every member stood shoulder to shoulder.
No engines.
No music.
Only anticipation.
Ryder stepped onto the maintenance platform overlooking the room.
"I owe every one of you the truth."
He looked toward Sophia.
"I failed this woman."
No one interrupted.
"I allowed manipulated evidence to outweigh my own judgment."
"I thought I was protecting this club."
He paused.
"I was wrong."
Some riders lowered their heads.
Others exchanged uneasy glances.
"The people hunting Sophia..."
He continued.
"...are the same people manipulating us."
He removed his presidential patch from his leather vest.
Gasps echoed through the garage.
"If protecting her means losing this patch..."
He placed it on the workbench.
"...then I choose her."
No one moved.
Roman stepped forward first.
He removed his own patch.
"So do I."
Tiny followed.
Then Diesel.
Then Logan.
One after another...
Leather patches landed beside Ryder's.
Not in rebellion.
In solidarity.
The room echoed with the sound of fabric striking wood.
Several officers quietly walked away instead.
The fracture had become visible.
Black Venom would never be the same again.
Hidden outside the clubhouse, Bishop watched through binoculars.
"They've split."
His lieutenant smiled.
"Exactly as planned."
Bishop shook his head.
"No."
He looked toward Ryder.
"Exactly as feared."
Three nights later, the attack finally came.
Explosions rocked one of Black Venom's northern warehouses.
Masked gunmen stormed the compound.
Chaos erupted.
Sophia reached for a fallen pistol.
Ryder caught her wrist.
"No."
"I can fight."
"I know."
"So let me."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"Not this time."
Before she could argue, another explosion shook the building.
The war had officially begun.
And no one would leave it unchanged.