4. Ethan
Ethan
It's been a week since the Christmas party, and the whole clubhouse is gearing up for the holiday, lights are strung along the porch rails, the old ladies are arguing over whose turn it is to host the kids for cookies.
I don't know what to get Cassie yet. I want it to matter.
Jewelry, maybe, something she can wear that says she's mine without me having to say it out loud.
I figure I'll ask Rosie or Cam what they think, see if they can point me somewhere.
I'm still turning that over when I walk in after dropping Cassie at her place, and Prez is waiting for me just inside the door.
"My office. Now."
"Yeah, Prez." I've never been summoned like this before, not one on one, and for a second my stomach does something stupid and hopeful. I've been prospecting for over a year. Maybe this is it. Maybe he's finally putting my name up for a vote.
I follow him down the hall, and when I step into his office, that hope goes cold fast. Brax is already sitting, Shadow's leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and Brick's standing by the window with his back to the door, which is never a good sign with him.
There's a box by the door, same as always.
I drop my phone in it without thinking, out of habit, and stand by the only open chair, though nobody's told me to sit yet.
I stay standing until Prez waves a hand at the seat.
Old habit. I'm still a prospect in this room, even when it's my own life on the table.
"What's going on?" I ask, sitting.
"What do you actually know about Cassie?" Prez folds his hands on the desk.
"Not much past what she's told me. She doesn't talk about her family, there's obviously something there she doesn't want to touch, but other than that she's an open book." My gut's already twisting. "What is this?"
"Does she work?" Brax cuts in, flat and methodical, the way he asks anything when he's already three steps down a road none of the rest of us are on yet. "Bank account? Lease in her name? Anything?"
"She doesn't work. She pays cash for everything, but that's not a crime." I look between them. "What the fuck is going on?"
"We don't think she's who you think she is." Brick still hasn't turned from the window.
"She's the woman I love. What more do I need to know about her?" My voice comes up louder than I mean it to.
"Brax and Shadow clocked something off about her at the party." Prez keeps his voice level, which somehow makes it worse. "Neither of them could place her right away. So they ran her."
"You ran her? Like she's a fucking suspect?" I'm on my feet again.
"Sit down, son." Brick finally turns from the window, and there's something in his face I don't see often, something that looks almost like dread on my behalf. I sit.
"We believe her real name is Cassandra Del Torro." Prez lets that sit in the room a second before he goes on.
"Del Torro." I laugh, because it's easier than the alternative. "As in the Del Torro Famiglia, out of Detroit? Come on. This is a joke, right? Something you cook up before you patch a guy in?" I look around at all four of them. Nobody's laughing.
"The funeral." Shadow finally pushes off the wall.
"That's what I couldn't place at the party.
Pablo Estrada's funeral, about eighteen months back.
It ran in a few of the society pages out of Detroit.
She was standing at the front of it, by the casket.
I didn't clock the name until we pulled the photo and put them side by side. "
"We didn't find her by accident, either.
" Brax leans forward. "No socials under her name, no bank history, no lease, nothing.
That's not somebody hiding out of shyness, Ethan.
That's somebody who's been trained to disappear.
You don't learn that unless somebody taught you, or unless you had a reason to teach yourself fast."
"What are you telling me? Why does any of this matter?" My hands are sweating.
"Because her family put a reward out for finding her.
" Brick's voice drops, quiet, which scares me more than shouting ever could.
"There’s a photo, description, all of it.
Anybody who needs money bad enough is going to be looking, son.
And they won't think twice about telling her family exactly where to find her. "
"That puts a target on this compound too, if anybody's seen her with us.
" Prez stands, he starts pacing behind the desk.
"If her family thinks we've been hiding her, they’ll retaliate.
I've got kids in this clubhouse, old ladies, brothers who didn't sign up for a mafia war.
I can't put that at risk without my eyes wide open. "
"So, what, you're kicking her out? Handing her over?" My chest's so tight I can barely get the words out.
"No." Prez's voice cuts flat and final. "We bring her here. We talk to her, find out what she wants, what she's running from, and we go from there. Spook's already talked to Abby, see if she can start scrubbing what's out there before it gets worse."
"You want me to bring her in to get interrogated."
"We want to help her, Ethan." Shadow's voice doesn't change, doesn't rise, but something in it is steady enough that I almost believe it right away. "Nobody in this room is after that reward."
"Promise me." I look at Prez. "Promise me you're not going to tell her family where she is."
"You have my word." He doesn't blink saying it. "We help people, that's what this patch means. It doesn't stop meaning that because the person needing help scares us a little."
Brick pushes off the window and comes around to me, and for a second his hand lands on my shoulder, heavy and brief, and gone before I can even register what it means coming from him. "Come on, son. Let's go get your woman."
We ride to her place, and Brick's quiet the whole way, scanning every parked car and every window like he's cataloguing threats before they've even shown themselves. Cassie opens the door surprised. "Hey, I wasn't expecting you until later."
I kiss her, quick, and try to keep my voice easy. "Change of plans. Need you to come stay at the clubhouse a few days. Pack a bag."
"What's going on? Is there another party?" She's looking between me and Brick, and I hate that I can't just tell her.
"Not quite." Brick steps in, a smooth charm sliding into his voice like he's flipped a switch. "It's close to Christmas, we're pretty family oriented around here, figured you'd want to be part of it. Kids, the whole thing."
She leans into me, kisses my cheek. "Everything okay, babe?" Quietly, just for me.
"Everything's great." I nod toward the stairs. "Go grab what you need. Brick'll take your bag down, you're on the back of my ride."
She squeals, disappears up the stairs, and the second she's gone Brick's whole posture changes, his shoulders squaring, and his eyes on the front window.
"You see that?" he asks, low.
"See what?"
"You need to watch the street better than that." He nods toward the window without looking directly at it. "That same bike's passed this house three times since we got here. Somebody's watching for her to come out." His jaw's tight. "We got here right on time."
"Fuck. Already?" My stomach drops. "If they see her riding off with us, they'll know she's ours. They'll come after the club for it. What about the kids, the old ladies?"
"We deal with it. That's what we do." Brick pulls out his phone, calls Prez, and I watch him relay what he saw in short, clipped sentences, nothing wasted.
When he hangs up, he looks almost satisfied, which is more unsettling than if he'd looked worried.
"Brax is already working on it. He's sending a couple of brothers down with their old ladies, all dressed the same as Cassie.
We ride out together, split at the junction, nobody watching knows which one to follow. "
"That's a hell of a plan for this fast." I let out a breath that's half a laugh. "Feels like something out of a heist movie, you know like The Thomas Crown Affair."
"Brax doesn't do anything halfway." Brick's mouth twitches, close to a smile. "Go tell your girl what's happening. Keep it calm."
I head upstairs and find Cassie zipping her bag, and the second she looks at my face her smile drops. "What's really going on, Ethan? You're scaring me."
I sit her down, take her hands. "Prez needs to talk to you. We found out some things, and we need to keep you safe while we sort it out. There's a bike circling the house. My brothers are coming with their old ladies dressed like you, so if anybody's watching, they lose the trail."
"Someone knows where I am?" Her voice is quiet. "What’s happening, Ethan?"
"We'll talk more back at the clubhouse. Right now, I just need you safe." I pull her into me and feel her shaking against my chest, small tremors she's trying hard to hide. "Nobody's taking you from me. Not while I'm breathing."
"Okay." She breathes out slowly, steadying herself against me. "You make me feel safe. I need that right now." She grabs her bag, and we head down to where Brick's waiting, and I can already hear pipes rumbling up the street, one bike after another.
"They're here." Brick opens the door. "Let's get her home."
I lead her out to my bike. Brick takes her bag, straps it down, and the other brothers pull in with their old ladies, all of them dressed close enough to Cassie that from a distance you'd be guessing. Nobody says much. Everybody already knows their part to play.
We pull out loud, deliberately loud, engines rolling over each other, and I know it draws every eye on the street, but that's the point. Let them know we see them too.
Cassie's arms lock around my waist, her face pressed to my back, and I ride fast. I don't look back, trusting my brothers to do exactly what they said they would.
At the junction we scatter, every bike peeling a different direction, and I take the long way around before I finally point us toward the compound.
By the time we're all back, maybe fifteen minutes apart from each other, the gate's already shut behind the last bike. Prez is waiting in the yard, and something in his face softens when he sees Cassie safe on the back of my ride.
"Cassie." He steps up as we climb off. "We need a few minutes of your time. Then you can get settled in Ethan's room."
He guides us both toward his office. Shadow falls in behind us and Brick. Abby, Spook's woman, comes in with her laptop already tucked under her arm like she's been waiting on standby the whole time.
I glance at Cassie and my stomach drops straight through the floor. She's gone white, all the color chased out of her face. Her hand finds mine and grips it hard enough to hurt.
She knows. Somehow, she already knows we know exactly who she is.