Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
NIGHTMARE
I’m pacing the living room, trying to figure out how to explain this to Maverick, when a guttural scream tears through the house.
Instinct kicks in.
Drawing my gun, I rush down the hall, into her room, and slam my shoulder into the bathroom door. The lock splinters.
Lolo’s on the floor of the shower, water blasting down on her, arms wrapped around herself like she’s trying to keep from falling apart. She’s sobbing so hard the sound echoes off the tile.
My chest tightens. Not from danger. It’s from watching her break under the truth… her family is gone.
Holstering my gun, I grab a towel, and step inside without thinking. “Lolo…” My voice cracks.
She doesn’t look up, doesn’t seem to hear me.
Scooping her up, water soaking into my shirt, I carry her into the bedroom. She’s shaking so hard that her teeth chatter.
Collapsing against me, she cries for so long, my arms go numb.
It doesn’t matter, I’m not moving her. I sit there, cradling her in my lap, rocking her like I’m trying to keep her from breaking apart completely.
I know this kind of hurt. Felt it when I lost my parents.
The only difference… no one was there to hold me together
Minutes drag into hours. Her sobs finally taper off, but the heaviness in her eyes doesn’t budge. She looks up at me, face streaked with tears, exhausted… then leans in and kisses me. It’s not gentle. It’s desperate. Searching. Like she’s drowning and I’m the only air she can find.
“Please. Help me forget this pain,” she pleads against my mouth.
For a split second, my body reacts… heat, need… before my brain slams the brakes. I’ve wanted her since the day she slapped the cuffs on me, but not like this.
Not when she’s broken.
Not when she’s hurting enough to grab the closest flame just to feel something other than pain.
“Lolo…” I pull back just enough to create a little space. “That’s your grief talking,”
Her fingers tighten in my shirt, her voice cracking. “Maybe it is. But it’s all I’ve got right now,” she says.
The air between us grows thick, her pain is right there, begging me to relieve it.
And I feel it deep in my bones… the part of me that’s torn between pushing her away and giving her what she’s asking for.
It’s also the part that knows if I do, everything changes.
“You don’t want me, Lolo. You just want the pain gone.” If only she knew how close I am to breaking, how close I am to giving into this madness.
“And what if I do?”
I grip her shoulders, steady but firm. “Then you fight it. You don’t bury it in me. You use it. You take that pain and aim it at whoever did this to your family. That’s how you honor Ty. That’s how you honor your parents.”
Her breath shakes, tears streaking down her face. For a moment, she looks like she might shatter again. Then she nods, trembling.
I hold her tighter, not as a lover but as an anchor. “I’ll help you. But not like that. We’ll find the leak, and we’ll make them pay.”
“I hate this,” she says, wiping her face with the back of her hand
“I know.”
“I hate that you’re right.”
“I know that too.”
For a beat, the tension hangs between us, thick and hot and aching. Every part of me wants to hold her, to take away the hurt, to let her cling to me until her world stops spinning.
But that wouldn’t be comforting her.
That’d be me crossing a line I can’t uncross.
I exhale, slow and steady. “Get some rest. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Her eyebrows pinch. “You don’t have to babysit me.”
“Yes,” I say, heading for the doorway, “I do.”
I pause, hand on the frame, fighting the urge to turn back.
“Lolo, I’m not going anywhere. But I’m not letting you tear yourself apart with something you’ll regret later.”
She looks down at her hands. Small, and quiet. “Goodnight, Malcolm.”
I nod once. “Night.”
Stepping out, I close the door behind me, and lean against it, dragging a hand over my face. My pulse is still kicked up, my body’s still on edge, and her kiss is still burning on my mouth.
Putting space between us was the right move. Didn’t make it easy. But if anything ever happens with her, I want it to be real… not because I was standing close when everything fell apart.
But, fuck. That kiss. The way her lips felt… soft, desperate, tasting like salt and tears. It’s burned into me. I can still feel her mouth against mine, the way she leaned in like I’m the only one that could ease her pain.
I tell myself it was grief talking. That she didn’t mean it. But the truth is, if she kissed me again, I don’t know if I’d be able to resist.
Right now, she needs comfort, not chaos. She needs someone to hold her together, not feed her brokenness.
But the longer I sit here, the more I know… I’m already in too deep.
The crack of a gunshot jolts me awake. My heart slams against my ribs. I’m off the couch in seconds, grabbing my piece from the coffee table.
Another shot erupts outside. I move fast, slip to the window, and catch the street in chaos…one cop down on the pavement, blood spreading beneath him, another is crouched behind his cruiser firing back at a car speeding off with its windows down.
I curse under my breath. This isn’t random. It has to be the cartel.
Sprinting to the bedroom, I shove the door open. “Lolo, move. Now!”
She’s already up, pale but focused. No questions. She goes straight to the safe, grabs her gun, yanks on clothes, and shoves essentials… ammo, badge, and whatever else she needs, into a small bag.
When she snatches her phone off the table, I shake my head hard. “Leave it. If they’re tracking you, I’m not giving them a breadcrumb. Turbo can rip what you need off it later.”
Before she can argue, more gunfire erupts, sharp, vicious, and too close.
The living room windows blow apart setting my nerves on fire.
We bolt through the kitchen, shove out the back door and cut across the yards, crouching low as rounds explode in the distance.
My pulse pounds in my ears, but all I’m thinking about is distance…
putting as much of it as possible between her and whoever the hell is coming.
We don’t stop until we reach my bike.
She climbs on behind me, arms tight around my waist. Gunning the throttle, I tear us out of there as sirens fade into the distance.
The ride stretches, heavier with every mile.
If I hadn’t been there, would she have gotten out?
I hate that I’m even asking myself that.
Gripping the handle bars harder, I force my head back into the game.
No room for what-ifs. Not with what’s waiting for me.
And when the clubhouse comes into view, I already know I’m walking into a storm.
Inside, Mav’s at the bar, eyes sharp, jaw already tight. The second he sees Londyn behind me, his expression hardens.
His stare is pure ice. “You brought her here without checking in first?” His voice is low and dangerous. “You don’t drag cops into my house, Night. Not without my say.”
“Look, she needs our help. Cartel wants her dead, and her precinct’s got a rat. You know damn well she can’t fight this alone,” I say, standing my ground.
His jaw flexes, anger rolling off him. “You think I’m gonna risk the club for her? For you?”
Stepping closer, voice hard, I say,
“If anything happens to the Bastards because of this, you take it out on me. My life for theirs. I’ll pay that price.”
The room goes silent. Brothers shift in their seats, watching. Mav’s eyes bore into mine, testing if I mean it.
Finally he shakes his head. “You’re out of your fucking mind.”
I don’t blink. “Maybe, I am. But with or without the Royal Bastards, I’m helping her. There’s no scenario where I walk away from this.”
Maverick leans back, expression unreadable. “You’re putting yourself in the crosshairs, Night. And if you drag us into it, you better be ready to bleed.”
I nod. “I already am.”
He finally shifts his gaze from me to Londyn. His tone changes. It’s still sharp, but lighter, almost teasing.
“Well, damn. Londyn. Last time I saw you, you were a wet-behind-the-ears rookie, slapping cuffs on me outside Peaches. Think you got me twice that year, didn’t you?”
Her lips twitch, just barely. “Three times, actually. You kept running your mouth.”
Mav chuckles, shaking his head. “Sounds about right.” Then the humor drops out of him. “Enough small talk. Tell me everything you know about what happened to your family.”
Londyn straightens, voice steady despite the heaviness, and lays it out…
the massacre at her parents’ house, the FBI and DEA visit in the hospital, Ty’s undercover work against the cartel, the execution-style hit.
She doesn’t sugarcoat it. She tells him about the suspicion of a leak inside her precinct, someone feeding intel to the cartel.
He listens, arms crossed, jaw tight. When she finishes, he nods once, then calls out, “Turbo!”
A few seconds later, Turbo strolls in, laptop already under his arm. Mav jerks his chin toward Londyn. “Run backgrounds on her captain and her partner. Dig deep. I want to know who they talk to, where their money goes, what they’re hiding.”
Turbo grins, sliding into a chair. “On it, Prez.” Flipping the laptop open, his fingers fly across the keys.
Londyn shakes her head. “Wait, why them?” Her voice has a protective edge. “Captain Herrera treats me like a daughter, and Tony’s had my back since day one. What makes you think either of them could be involved?”
Mav’s eyes bore into hers. “Your family’s location reached the cartel. It had to be someone close, someone with access… someone who betrayed you.”
“They wouldn’t do that,” she fires back. “Not them.”
Mav shrugs. “Sweetheart… people are capable of anything when money, fear, or power’s on the table. Some are born that way. Some get bought. Some just… break.” He leans forward, voice dropping low. “Your loyalty doesn’t make them clean, and it’s Turbo’s job to look where you won’t.”
Londyn shakes her head, disbelief flickering across her face. “Not him. Not Herrera.”
Mav doesn’t flinch. “I’ve seen brothers sell out blood for less. Seen men I trusted put a bullet in someone’s back because it was easier than staying loyal. You think being treated like a daughter makes you safe? That just blinds you to what he’s hiding.”
“He’s not calling them dirty. He’s saying he’ll check. That’s what matters,” I cut in, meeting her eyes, showing her we’re on her side.
Londyn’s jaw flexes, but she doesn’t argue. Not because she agrees, but because she knows she can’t afford to be wrong.
“If you want answers, you better be ready to face the truth, even if it’s ugly. Especially if it’s ugly,” Steel says, giving it to her straight.
Turbo glances up from his screen, smirking. “And if there’s dirt, I’ll find it.”
I watch Londyn, her face is pale but steady. She’s rattled, but I can see the fire in her eyes. She’s not backing down.
“Which cartel is it?” Mav asks.
“The Mendaro Syndicate.”
Everything in the room stops… talk, movement, even the air feels different. Like the walls themselves know we’ve just stepped into something bigger than all of us.
Steel lets out a slow whistle. “That’s a nasty fucking crew.”
That family is known for their savagery. If you betray them, you may as well wish for death, and they never leave survivors. How in the hell did Ty get mixed up the them?
Mav leans back, eyes flicking between me and Londyn. “You wanted help? You’ve got it. But if this blows back on the Bastards, Night, it’s your blood that pays.”
I nod, jaw tight. “I understand.”