“No. If you want to leave, I’ll have to live with that, but you don’t get to go until you give me the real reason.”
She shoved at his chest with her little hands. It surprised Hannibal when she backed him up a step.
“Why? Because I’m nothing. I have nothing. I am nothing. You and he deserve so much more. He deserves someone who’s actually loyal. Not someone who caves when times get tough.”
Hannibal took a step back as shock punched him in the stomach. He tried to understand the words that were coming out of this bright, beautiful woman’s mouth.
“Did you cheat on us today?” That was the only way he could think that she would believe herself disloyal. His fists clenched at the idea. He would destroy anyone who had touched her.
She shook her head, her shoulders slumped. “No, I wouldn’t do that. There’s no other man I want to be with other than the two of you. But I can’t.”
“Why?” His shout was so loud that he knew everyone who was outside was now staring at them. He didn’t care.
“I can’t tell you.” She tried to turn away, and he pulled her back around, the tears in her eyes ripping at him, but he wouldn’t back down.
“You’re not nothing. You are everything to me. The woman I thought might be our forever girl. Why would you throw that all away?”
“Because of this.” A strangled sob ripped out of her throat as she lifted her shirt and pulled something from her waistband and tossed it at him. Hannibal caught the bag on reflex, not understanding. He looked down, trying to make sense of what he saw.
He wasn’t sure what he would have guessed would be in a bag Jade threw at him, but high-tech listening devices wouldn’t have made the top one-hundred list. How had she gotten something like this?
The Russians. It was the only thing that made sense. The building conflict between them would mean they would do anything to get the upper hand. Horror tightened his throat. “Have you been working for the Russians all along? Did you seduce us to get into the Club?” The look of shock and disbelief on her face was too real to be faked, and something inside him relaxed. “It doesn’t matter. Come inside and we’ll figure this out.” He needed to talk to Hawk or Highdive. Tek would need the information as well and see what he could get off the devices. He turned to look at the Clubhouse, pulling together a plan in his mind. “We need to go in and talk to Hawk.”
The sound of her car door slamming shut and her car revving to life startled him out of his circling thoughts. Jade peeled out and onto the grass. She swung her car around at high speed. Before he could even react, she was racing through the gate and pulling out onto the road.
“I’m sorry, Brother,” Highdive’s voice next to him was like a splash of cold water shaking him out of his paralysis.
She had left them and was probably heading straight into danger. And there was shit he could do about it right now. He needed to get this thing settled. Let Ink know what had happened. Remove any threat to the Dark Sons.
“We need to shut this party down and send away all the civilians.”
The look his friend gave him was priceless. “Your girl dumps you and you want me to shut the party down?”
Hannibal held up the bag of listening devices and waited while his friend squinted at them in the dark. It only took seconds for recognition to be clear on his face. “No, I think my girl might have bugged the place and we need to do a sweep to find out.”
Highdive’s face went stone cold, and he snatched the bag. He stormed back towards the Clubhouse. “We’re on lockdown,” he bellowed so everyone outside could hear him. “Get the civilians off the property.”
Soon the music turned off and the same announcement was being made inside. He took a deep breath and headed back inside to help sort the chaos that always happened when they had to clear the civilians out in a hurry.
Ink grabbed his arm as soon as he walked into the room. “What the fuck is going on?” The curse coming out of his mouth was almost as much of a shock as the pure fury in his face.
“Not positive, but somehow, the Russians got to Jade. She was sent here to plant listening devices.”
“So much for trust.” The disgust in his voice was painful. He could see how much his Brother was hurting. “We fucking fell for her act. That’s it. I’m done.” Ink stormed away and Hannibal gave him his space because he knew it would be a while before his Brother was ready to listen to anything that didn’t feed his rage.
Hannibal hoped she hadn’t gone through with planting any of them. But that hope was shattered when they found three bugs. One at the bar where she had been standing, one in the ladies’ room, and one on the pool table.
He needed to have another conversation with her. Even if she had told him about the listening devices in the end, she had betrayed the Club by planting them. Why hadn’t she come to them for help before acting? Would any of his Brothers be able to forgive her if she finally came to her senses and talked to them?
More importantly, he wasn’t sure if Ink would ever forgive her.
Chapter 26
What’s the opposite of thank you? I’m pretty sure the phrase still ends in the word you.
Jade
Time slipped away as sobs wracked Jade’s body. She’d pulled the car into a secluded spot the minute she was sure no one followed her. It felt like her emotions were ripping her into bloody shreds from the inside out. She screamed all the hurt and frustration into the evening sky.