Chapter 41
Bones droveus to the clubhouse in my car. We were silent the entire ride there. The gates opened and we passed through. I let out a deep exhale once we were in the perimeter of the clubhouse.
He reached over and settled his hand on my thigh.
“I keep thinking about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been there,” I murmured.
“I know, Duchess. I know.” He parked the car and cut the engine. “I’m trying not to lose my shit, but it’s not working so well.”
I unclipped my seatbelt but made no move to get out of the car. In the car, I was safe. Out there, I was exposed.
“Come on. Let’s get inside.”
My home. My sanctuary. It had been violated. Would I ever sleep soundly there again? Even if Bones slept by my side every night, would that be enough?
I closed the car door and the sound of it slamming echoed in the night. Bones came to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder and hauled me close. We walked up the front porch steps.
Savage and Duke were drinking beers and talking quietly. They stopped when we approached.
“You all keep late hours,” I said.
“Goes with the job description,” Savage drawled. “How are you, honey?”
“I’m…okay. I think.”
“You’ve had a rough go of it, haven’t you?” Duke asked as he took a sip of his beer.
I nodded.
“Should we get you a drink?” Savage asked. “Just a shot to thaw the moment?”
“No thanks.”
“Colt and Zip are in the office,” Duke said.
Bones grabbed my hand and all but dragged me inside. The oven read 4:14 AM. “Did you wake Colt up out of a sound sleep?”
“Yep,” he said.
We walked down the hallway and he knocked on a door before opening it. The president of the Tarnished Angels sat behind a wooden desk and his vice president perched on the edge.
“Come on in,” Colt said. “Get comfortable. We’re gonna need a minute.”
Unease trickled through me as I took the chair. Bones closed the door behind me.
“Start talking,” Colt said.
“Who, me?” I asked.
Colt gestured with his chin to Bones.
“I think it was a hit on Hayden,” Bones said.
I flinched even though I’d been thinking the exact same thing.
He looked at me. “We set the alarm. There was no forced entry. No struggle. No broken glass. Someone knew how to get in. And a few weeks ago, someone stuck a gun in her face before Willa shot him dead. Cops said it was some tweaker looking for an easy mark. But now I’m not buying it.”
I nibbled my lip, my mind churning.
“Okay, so someone’s trying to kill her,” Zip said. “Why?”
“Because I’m worth a lot of money,” I stated baldly.
“Not just that, but she’s set to inherit a seat on the board of her father’s pharmaceutical company when she either gets married or turns thirty,” Bones said.
“Father’s pharmaceutical company?” Zip asked.
“Spencer Pharmaceuticals,” Bones clarified.
“Shit. You’re that Spencer?” Colt asked.
I nodded.
“God damn, you hooked up with a rich bitch,” Zip stated. “No offense, Hayden.”
While the three of them discussed my wealth like I wasn’t sitting right there, my brain went haywire. And then all at once the picture came together and I finally admitted the truth.
Tears began to prick my eyes.
“Duchess?” Bones asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I think,” I croaked, “I think we both know who’s behind all this.” I met Bones’ blue eyes. “Arnold.”
“That’s the same conclusion I got to,” Bones said.
I looked at Colt. “The board seat I’m set to inherit was set up by my father in a trust. It’s a controlling seat with a huge percentage of the company shares. It would make me the largest single shareholder and put me in control of Spencer Pharmaceuticals in full. No one would be able to challenge it unless the seat is voluntarily forfeit and the trust revoked by me once it goes into effect…or if I die, in which case the shares revert to my mother. Right now, there are only two things standing in the way of me being on the board; I’m not thirty, and I’m not married. And I had a boyfriend I was set to marry, but yesterday Bones told me that it was actually Arnold who forced Tyler to leave me after my father died. Why would he do that? There’s only one reason. He’s trying to prevent me from gaining my seat on the board and taking control of the company.”
“Who is Arnold, and why wouldn’t he want you in control?” Colt asked.
“Arnold is my stepfather. He was my father’s best friend and married my mother shortly after my father died. He was the senior most manager in the company and the board elected him as interim chair until I could take his place as was set forth in the trust.”
“He’d benefit from your death,” Colt said, nodding in understanding. “Because he’d remain in control. So the board seat goes up for a vote if you die?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m an only child and my mother has no interest in running the company. She still has enough shares for a seat on the board, but she votes how Arnold tells her to. If I die, she’ll be the majority shareholder and Arnold will get voted in as permanent chair. If that happens, Spencer Pharmaceuticals all but belongs to him.”
“And you have no husband and no children, so you can’t leave the seat to anyone if something happens to you, right?” Colt asked.
I nodded my head. “Exactly. In fact, until the trust executes upon my marriage or turning thirty, I can’t alter or revoke it in any way. At this point I can’t even choose a new trustee if I want. It’s completely set in stone until it executes.”
Colt rubbed his jaw. “So then killing you is about that board seat and controlling the company, not just the shares. What’s been going on with the company since your father died?”
“Patents are getting approved; medications are selling well. There were some major ups and downs right after Dad died. Speculation went wild after his death about the direction of the company. But things settled down when Arnold took over…until recently. Arnold wants to take the company in a different direction and the shareholders are spooked. The board has been split with Arnold as the tiebreaker.”
Bones and Colt exchanged a look and then Bones asked, “How did your father die, exactly? You never did tell me the full story.”
“Ski accident,” I answered absently. “But he was an expert skier. It never made any sense. He was always so careful. Wore a helmet and everything.”
I hadn’t remembered much about the details of his death. I’d been grief-stricken and nothing really registered, especially those first few days and weeks after he died.
Suddenly, I jumped out of my seat, feeling the blood drain from my cheeks.
“Arnold was with him. He was the only one with him. Oh my God, what if he…”
The room fell silent as my words lingered in the air.
Arnold killed my father.
And now he’s trying to kill me, too.
“That’s some heavy shit. So, what’s the plan?” Zip asked. “You’ve got a plan, right?”
Bones nodded slowly.
My hands went cold. “You can’t, Bones. You can’t do it. I won’t let you endanger yourself.”
He looked at me and raised his brows. “I can’t do what?”
“You can’t kill him,” I blurted out.
Bones smirked. “I wasn’t planning on killing him.”
“Oh?” My brow furrowed. “Then what’s your plan?”
“To marry you,” he said. He might as well have been talking about a dentist appointment for all the emotion he delivered with that loaded statement.
“Get a new plan!” I commanded.
“Don’t want to,” Bones stated.
“You can’t marry me,” I protested.
“It could work,” Colt said. “It protects you, Hayden. It’s an immediate solution until you have time to invoke a new trust. If you delay, it could be the end of you.”
I shot a glare at Colt. “Do not encourage this crazy idea.”
“It makes sense actually,” Zip added. “Marry Hayden, and she gets control of her board seat immediately. If her stepfather is in fact trying to kill her, he’ll then have to come after both of you, which puts him in a bind and would draw attention to him. And it stops him from fucking up the company. Gives you some time to sort things out on paper.”
“And it’ll make Hayden your Old Lady,” Colt said to Bones. “So she’ll be one of us, officially.”
Hysteria rose in my chest and clawed its way up my throat, but I forced it down. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“If you’re part of the club, it’s another layer of protection. If anyone fucks with you, we fuck with them.” Bones’ grin was feral.
“We can’t get married,” I stated again.
“Why not?” Bones asked. “Your family was taking bets on when that would happen anyway.”
“That’s not enough of a reason.”
“Your mom wants grandbabies.” Bones shrugged. “I’m happy to oblige.”
“Oh, are you?” I screeched.
Zip let out a laugh.
I glared at him. “You mind giving us some privacy?”
“I mind,” Zip said. “We’re not leaving this room until you cooperate.”
“Cooperate?” I seethed.
Bones pushed away from the door and came to me. He grasped my hip and turned me around to face him. He cradled my face in his hands and forced me to look up at him.
His thumb swiped across my lips. “Trust me, Duchess.”
“But I can’t just…we can’t.”
“We can,” he insisted. “We will. You love me.”
“Love doesn’t have to mean marriage.”
“Argue all you want,” he said. “But you know this is the only way. Let me protect you, Duchess. Let me protect what your father built for you.”
His words lanced my heart and I let out a breathy sigh. His eyes were earnest, his touch was firm, and I bent to his edict like an aspen tree bending in a storm.
“This is crazy,” I whispered.
“But it’s right. You know it’s right.”
I stared at him, this man who wanted to protect me and bind his life to mine. And even though it was insane, my heart eased. I would not have to do this alone.
“All right, Bones. I’ll marry you.”
He kissed me softly and then pulled back, refusing to take his eyes off me.
“We can leave now and let you guys consummate right here on this desk if you want,” Zip offered.
“Not on my desk,” Colt growled.
I hid my face against Bones’ chest.
Holy hell. I’m engaged.
“We have to iron some things out though,” I stated.
“Sure,” Bones agreed.
“Legal things,” I stated.
“Prenup. I get it,” Bones said. “You’re an heiress. You have a lot of money. I don’t hold that against you.”
“Thanks,” I drawled. “A blanket prenup can be drawn up and finished in a day. So far as protecting the company…that’s going to take some time. Right now, as crazy at this sounds, you guys are going to have to keep me alive.”
“We will. But the sooner you get married, the better off you’ll be,” Colt said.
“I’ll call Vance’s emergency number in a few hours,” Bones said. “What about you, Duchess? You got a lawyer on retainer?”
I snorted. “Of course. But not for something like this. I need someone I can trust, and I know someone I can call to get the name of someone like that.”
“Your mother,” Bones said.
“Not my mother.” I sighed.
Bones looked at Colt. “We done?”
“For now,” Colt said.
Bones took my hand and pulled me from the room. My feet dragged as we headed up the stairs. I was both wired and exhausted.
My brain wasn’t functioning. What was I supposed to tackle first? The thought that my stepfather—my father’s business partner and supposed best friend—was behind his death and the attempts on my life? Or the fact that I was about to marry a biker?
Bones opened the door to his bedroom and flicked on the light.
I groaned at the garish brightness of it and quickly went to the nightstand to turn on the lamp. He turned off the overhead light immediately.
I flopped down onto the bed with my legs still hanging off the sides.
Bones sat next to me, but he didn’t say anything. He just removed his dress shoes and then stood to strip out of his jeans.
Finally, he spoke. “Give me your phone.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I need it.”
With a sigh, I sat up and pulled it out of my pocket. I handed it to him. He took his cell phone and left the room. A few moments later he returned, closing the door.
“The conversation I want to have can’t happen if there are phones around.”
“That’s terrifying,” I muttered.
He shrugged. “That’s the world we live in. You gotta think ahead. So, the next time you ask me if I’m going to kill someone, do me a favor and make sure we’re not around any electronics.”
I flinched. “You’re offended that I asked that.”
“Offended?” He shook his head slowly. “No.”
“No?”
He scratched his jaw. “I’ve done shit, Hayden. I’ve done shit for my club. Don’t ask me what because I wouldn’t tell you even if I thought you could handle it.”
Bones strode toward me. He knelt down and placed his hands on my thighs. His penetrating stare held my gaze captive.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Hayden. Nothing.”
I knew what he was saying. This man, on his knees in front of me, would kill for me—and he’d have no remorse about doing it.
The tightness in my chest eased.
I placed my hand on his heart. “I love you, too.”
He crooked a smile at me. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
“What?”
“You just became my Old Lady.”
“You didn’t ask me to be your Old Lady. And you didn’t ask me to marry you, either.”
“You’re going to marry me,” he commanded.
“Am I?” I asked.
His hands slid from the top of my thighs to the underside of my legs, close to my butt. And he hauled me toward him. My legs naturally opened to accommodate his presence.
“You’re going to marry me,” he said again. “You’re going to be my Old Lady. You’re going to take my last name.”
“Bossy,” I murmured.
His look was charged. “And you’re going to have my babies. And I don’t want to hear any argument from you. Got it?”
“Any other stipulations?” I asked.
“Our babies have to look like you.”
I cradled his cheeks and skimmed his lips with my thumbs. “I’ll see what I can do.”