5. ELOISE
ELOISE
Ten minutes after Damian made me come twice, I was wrapped in his sheet, staring at a message about armed trucks entering my family’s freight yard.
The change in him was immediate.
The teasing disappeared. He pulled on his jeans, grabbed his phone, and became Diesel again—the Iron Flames mechanic with scars across his knuckles and violence sitting beneath his skin.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Means Rafe isn’t waitin’ for your signature.”
“The transfer can’t happen without it.”
“He might not care what can happen legally.”
I climbed out of bed and reached for the borrowed clothes. My legs were still unsteady, but there was no time to be embarrassed by that.
“I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“My family owns that property.”
“And the Black Thorns are inside it.”
“I know the security system, the buildings, and every access road onto the site.”
Diesel dragged his shirt over his head. “You also got shot at less than two hours ago.”
“So did you!”
“Yeah, but people shoot at me all the time.”
“That is not the reassuring argument you think it is.”
His mouth twitched.
“You stay inside the compound.”
I pulled on the jeans and faced him. “Was everything you said downstairs a lie?”
His expression hardened. “What?”
“You told Preston I chose you. You told me being claimed didn’t mean you controlled what I did.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Then stop giving me orders.”
“I’m tryin’ to keep you alive.”
“And I’m trying to stop my family’s company from becoming a weapons pipeline.”
We stood on opposite sides of the bed, staring at each other.
Diesel cursed beneath his breath.
“Fine. You come to the clubhouse. You don’t leave it unless Hawk approves a plan.”
“I don’t remember agreeing that Hawk controlled me either.”
“Jesus Christ.” He dragged a hand down his face. “Knew you were gonna be a pain in my ass.”
“You seemed to like my ass fifteen minutes ago.”
His eyes darkened.
“Careful, princess.”
“Or what?”
“Or we’re gonna miss the meeting.”
I followed him downstairs.
The clubhouse had changed while we were gone. The music was off, weapons had appeared on the tables, and a large screen on the back wall showed grainy footage of the Bradford south freight yard.
Everyone looked at us when we entered.
Then Axel looked at Diesel’s bare feet.
“Forget your boots?”
Diesel glanced down and swore.
Axel grinned. “Must’ve been distracted.”
“Keep talkin’.”
“I would, but you’ve got a bride wearin’ your shirt and a whole lot less tension in your shoulders. Think the room can work it out.”
Heat flooded my face.
Diesel grabbed a half-empty packet of chips from the bar and threw it at him.
“Children,” Chains said.
The room settled.
Gunner enlarged the footage. “Two trucks entered twenty-three minutes ago. Plates are false, but both match vehicles previously connected to Black Thorns runs.”
The feed showed the south warehouse, loading bays, and rows of steel storage units extending toward the tree line.
I moved closer.
“Where did you get this footage?”
“Traffic camera on the county road,” Gunner said. “Your internal system went offline before the trucks arrived.”
“There’s a backup.”
Every man in the room looked at me.
“The old offices have an independent security circuit. My grandfather installed it before the company expanded. Dad thought he disconnected it years ago, but I used it whenever the main system failed.”
“Can you access it remotely?” Hawk asked.
“If nobody changed the password.”
Gunner placed a laptop in front of me.
The company login page appeared. My credentials still worked, although several folders had been locked since I left the wedding. I navigated through the old server, found the security directory, and entered the password my grandfather used for everything.
The backup feed flickered onto the screen.
Three Black Thorns bikers were unloading wooden crates from the first truck.
The second vehicle had backed against the private loading bay attached to my father’s office. Preston stood beside it, still wearing his tuxedo trousers and white shirt. Blood marked one cuff.
“Zoom in,” Diesel said.
Gunner enlarged the image.
Rafe Maddox stepped out of the warehouse.
He was older than I expected, with silver threaded through his dark hair and the kind of calm expression that made him more frightening. He said something to Preston before both men looked toward the office.
My father emerged between two bikers.
His hands were tied.
I stopped breathing.
One side of his face was bloody. His suit jacket was gone, and one of the men shoved him forward when he slowed.
“Dad.”
Diesel moved behind me. His hands settled on my shoulders, holding me steady without taking control.
“I thought he was working with them,” I whispered.
“He was,” Hawk said. “Doesn’t mean Rafe planned to keep him as a partner.”
Gunner opened another window. “Someone accessed your company’s property records fourteen minutes ago.”
A transfer document filled the screen.
Bradford South Freight and Storage had been sold to Ashfall Logistics for one dollar and the assumption of company debt. My name appeared at the bottom beside an electronic signature.
“I didn’t sign that.”
“Can you prove it?” Chains asked.
“I was inside this compound when it was filed.”
“We can prove that,” Hawk said.
Gunner copied the document and the server records onto an encrypted drive.
I scrolled through the file history. Preston’s account had created the paperwork two weeks ago. My father had approved it yesterday.
They had always planned to hide it among the wedding documents.
My signature was forged, but my father’s was real.
I did not know which betrayal hurt more.
A notification appeared in the corner of the screen.
INCOMING VIDEO CALL.
The caller identification had been blocked.
“Don’t answer,” Diesel said.
I clicked accept.
Rafe Maddox appeared on the screen.
He was standing inside my father’s office. Behind him, my father sat tied to a chair with blood running from his mouth. Preston remained near the door.
“Eloise,” Rafe said. “I wondered how long it would take you to find the old system.”
Diesel leaned closer to the laptop. “You’ve got about five seconds to untie him.”
Rafe smiled. “Diesel Jenkins. The mechanic who decided to steal another man’s bride.”
“She wasn’t his to steal.”
“No, but she does belong to a very expensive family.”
“I don’t belong to anyone,” I said.
Rafe’s attention shifted to me. “Your father made promises he can no longer keep. The electronic transfer will not survive scrutiny without your cooperation. We need the signed originals and authorization from the family trust.”
“And if I refuse?”
My father made a broken sound behind him.
Rafe placed a gun against his temple.
Diesel’s fingers tightened on my shoulders.
“You have until midnight,” Rafe said. “Come to the south yard with the trust authorization, or your father dies knowing his daughter destroyed everything he built.”
The screen went black.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then the room erupted.
Gunner began pulling maps onto the screen. Knox checked weapons. Hawk and Chains argued about entrances, numbers, and how many men Rafe might have waiting beyond the camera’s view.
Diesel turned me away from the laptop.
“You’re not goin’.”
“He’ll kill my father.”
“Rafe’ll kill him whether you walk in there or not.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know men like him.”
“My father betrayed me, but I’m not leaving him tied to a chair with a gun against his head.”
“He made a deal with the Thorns.”
“And lost control of it.”
“He knew Preston hit you.”
The words struck exactly where Diesel intended.
I pulled away from him. “That doesn’t mean I let him die.”
“It means you don’t trade your life for his.”
“He’s my father.”
“And you’re my—”
Diesel stopped.
The unfinished word hung between us.
“Your what?” I asked.
His jaw tightened.
“Don’t know yet.”
My heart twisted.
He stepped closer, dropping his voice so the room could not hear.
“But it ain’t fake.”
I touched the edge of his cut. “It isn’t fake to me either.”
His forehead pressed briefly against mine.
“Then don’t ask me to watch you walk into that yard.”
“I’m not asking you to watch.”
I turned toward the maps.
“Rafe thinks I’m still the obedient daughter who will do anything her father demands. Preston thinks I’m frightened and confused. Let them believe it.”
Hawk studied me. “You want to use yourself as bait.”
“I can get through the gate without making them shoot. While they’re watching me, your men use the old maintenance entrance behind the storage units.”
Gunner looked at the map. “Does it connect to the main warehouse?”
“Yes.”
Diesel shook his head. “No.”
He stared at me for a long moment before taking off his cut and settling it around my shoulders.
“If you step into that yard,” he said, “I’m stayin’ close enough to reach you.”
His hand closed around the back of my neck.
“And if Rafe so much as points that gun in your direction, the plan’s over.”
“What happens then?”
Diesel’s eyes went cold.
“Then I burn your family’s whole fucking empire down with him inside it.”