ISAIAH
Dash stood beside the office door as we pulled into the garage. His arms were crossed and his face expressionless.
He was pissed.
So was I.
Genevieve parked in her space as I pulled in next to her with my bike. Before she had the chance, I opened her door and held out my hand to help her out. Her feet had just hit the pavement when two other bikes raced down the street, filling the parking lot with their thunder as they rolled in.
Emmett’s and Leo’s expressions matched Dash’s.
I clasped Genevieve’s hand and led her to the shop. Dash had already opened the first bay door.
“Did you call them?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Dash had been my second call after Jim. Then I’d texted him before Genevieve and I had left the station that we were on our way.
“You good?” Dash asked Genevieve, uncrossing his arms as he came to her side.
For a moment, I thought he’d pull her into a hug. He hesitated, thinking it over, and then she was ripped out of my grip. He wrapped her up, squeezing tight. “Sorry this happened.”
She tensed, her eyes going wide for a second, but then she relaxed. “I’m okay. And it’s not your fault.”
No, the blame was mine.
Emmett and Leo flanked me, standing by as Dash hugged Genevieve. Since she’d called him on his shit, he’d been a different man around her. He’d started acting like a brother. They were adjusting to life as siblings. They didn’t have a bond like Kaine and me, but they’d get there.
I was glad she had him. Nick too. They would watch out for her if I couldn’t.
Because one thing was certain, if there was even a chance that she’d face charges for what had happened at that cabin, I’d confess in a heartbeat.
Genevieve wouldn’t spend a minute in prison.
“Come on in.” Dash let Genevieve go. “Let’s talk.”
We walked deeper into the garage and found Bryce sitting with Xander in her arms. The baby was slugging down a bottle.
Had it just been this morning that she’d come over with the paper? It felt like days had passed as I’d waited for Genevieve outside the station.
Normally, there weren’t a lot of places to sit in the shop, just a few rolling stools. If we had to congregate, we went into the office. But a few extra chairs had been dragged in and situated in a circle along with the stools.
There was a mess of tools scattered around the ’74 Chevy Nova we’d been restoring this past month. The car’s hood was up. Dash and Bryce had probably come here right after I’d called them, wanting to be here when we showed up. Dash must have kept his mind occupied with work.
As soon as we were seated, Leo walked to the wall and hit the button to close the bay door. No one spoke a word until it was lowered.
“What happened?” I asked Genevieve, my hand firm on hers.
She sucked in a deep inhale. “Marcus found my mother’s necklace, the one I’ve been searching for, at the cabin. He suspects, maybe he knows, that I was up there.”
“Fuck.” My nostrils flared. “Then I’ll confess.”
“What? No.” Her mouth dropped open. “There’s no way I’ll let you do that. You’re not taking the blame.”
“It was my fault.”
“No, it wasn’t. If anyone is going to confess to the murder and fire, it’s going to be me.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Isa—”
“Hold up.” Dash cut her off. “Before you both end up confessing, how about we talk this through?”
She shot me a glare, then turned back to our circle. “Good idea.”
“Start at the beginning,” Dash ordered.
Genevieve nodded. “Marcus has a necklace of Mom’s that was missing. The one I told you all about. The one we think her boyfriend stole.”
“How did Marcus know it was hers?” Isaiah asked.
“The cops found it when they were investigating the cabin. They thought it was the Warrior’s. Marcus only realized today it was Mom’s when he saw it in a picture in the paper.”
“Oh, shit.” Bryce’s mouth fell open. “What are the chances?”
Genevieve’s tired gaze swung to me. “We were almost free.”
I tugged the arm of her chair, dragging her closer. She gripped my hand tighter and rested her head on my shoulder.
Free.
We’d almost been free of this whole thing. We were planning our future. I was looking forward to the move. Genevieve was so excited to start law school. And then this. Our future was on the verge of disappearing before it had even begun.
Was this my punishment? To get a taste of happiness only to have it ripped free before I could sink my teeth in? Maybe I deserved to go back to prison and rot my life away in a cell.
Genevieve would slap me if she heard that thought. She was so certain I’d paid for my sins and then some. Her endless faith astounded me.
I’d actually started to believe we could make it.
I wasn’t going down without a fight. Maybe we’d get a miracle and come out of this alive and together.
I didn’t deserve this kind of happiness, but Genevieve did.
And if I was the man who made her happy, if I was her choice, then I’d spend the rest of my life making sure she didn’t regret it for a second.
I kissed the top of her hair. My God, I loved her. More than I’d loved another soul.
We’d get through this. We have to.
“He planted it.” Bryce snapped her fingers, sitting straighter.
Xander was over her shoulder and she was patting his back for a burp.
“It fits our theory. If the boyfriend was the one who killed your mom and kidnapped us, then he was up there. He had the necklace and planted it during or after the fire.”
“But why?” I asked. “He got away with this. Why plant evidence when he was in the wind?”
“There had to be something in that cabin,” Dash answered. “Something that could trace back to him. So he put that necklace in there, hoping it would lead to Genevieve instead of him.”
“That’s a stretch.” I shook my head. “Marcus didn’t even know it was Amina’s until the paper came out today.”
“Maybe they were hoping there’d be a fingerprint or DNA or something.” Leo ran a hand over his face. “I don’t fucking know.”
“I think this has something to do with the Warriors,” Bryce said.
Genevieve nodded. “That’s what I was thinking too.”
“All along, we’ve assumed Tucker was telling the truth. Why?” It was something that had always bothered me. “Because Draven thought he was telling the truth. Draven believed Tucker.”
“So did I,” Dash said. “He said he didn’t have anything to do with Amina’s death and I believed him.”
“What if he was lying to your face?” I looked down at Genevieve. “Your mom had a thing for bikers, right?”
“Maybe. She had a thing for Draven, that was for sure.”
“Tucker.” Emmett’s voice echoed through the shop. “You think the boyfriend was Tucker. He got jealous when he found out Draven and Amina had sex. Killed her. Found a way to pin it on Draven.”
“But why kidnap me and Genevieve?” Bryce asked.
“Maybe he thought you were getting too close.” Dash put his hand on her knee. “Asking too many questions.”
“That makes sense.” She nodded. “But why Genevieve? She’s never been a part of this.”
“He had to be worried that Mom told me about him,” Genevieve said. “Maybe they keep coming after me because he thinks I can identify him.”
“But you can’t.” I huffed. “All along, you’ve only ever known this boyfriend as Lee.”
“Why the fake name?” Emmett asked. “Doesn’t seem like Tucker’s style.”
No, it didn’t. I didn’t know the guy but giving a fake name to the woman he was banging didn’t seem right. “Is he married?”
Dash shook his head. “Divorced. Has two daughters in their late twenties. I see no reason he’d give a fake name.”
I shoved out of the chair to pace along the wall of tool benches. “Let’s run this through. Assume it’s Tucker and see if it gels.”
“Okay.” Emmett stood too, raking a hand through his hair.
“Amina comes here to talk to Draven and they hook up. Tucker must have been following her or found out about it. He goes into a rage, knows there’s probably a weapon or two in the clubhouse because that’s where we’d always kept shit like that.
I’m betting the Warrior clubhouse is packed with weapons too. ”
“He breaks in,” Dash continued for Emmett. “He even had on a patch.”
“But not the current one,” Bryce jumped in.
“Right.” Leo nodded. “Tucker told us the patch the thief was wearing was an old design. One that only old members would have had. Well, there aren’t many older members of the Warriors than the president himself.”
We were getting somewhere. My heart started to race as I nodded along. The problem was, I hated where we were getting. Tucker was smart. We’d be up against not just one man, but an entire club.
Fuck. If this really was to settle an old war, I didn’t like our chances of emerging as victors.
“So he kills Amina. Frames Draven.” I kept pacing. “Kidnaps Bryce and Genevieve to shut them up. Why didn’t he just kill them in the mountains?”
“That’s been bugging me too.” Leo frowned. “He had them. Why not kill them and be done with it?”
My stomach knotted. I didn’t like the mention of anyone killing my wife. I didn’t like thinking about how close I’d been to losing her before I’d even had the chance to know her. From the murderous look on Dash’s face, he didn’t like hearing how close Bryce had been to death either.
“He wanted Dash to kill me,” Genevieve said. “He was set on it. Why?”
“To punish Draven,” I answered, coming to the back of her chair. I put my hands on her shoulders. “This entire thing was driven by his hatred for Draven. If Dash kills his mystery daughter, it’s not like he can retaliate against his own son.”
The room went quiet as everyone thought it over.
“And he planted the necklace because I got away,” Genevieve whispered.
“He must have known that the police would find it. You guys lost him in the trees. He circled back and planted the necklace. Since he didn’t get his way and I survived, he was counting on the cops putting that murder and fire on me. ”
If he couldn’t make Draven suffer by watching his son kill her, then he could watch her be sentenced to prison. In a lot of ways, that punishment was worse.