"I had to!" Leo shouted, his face turning red, pacing the floor like a caged animal. "He was going to give that book to Brick! Do you know what Brick does to guys who steal from the club? He would have buried me in the desert!"
"So you tried to kill your best friend?"
"He betrayed me first!" Leo yelled. He walked over to a drawer, pulled out a thick plastic zip tie, and grabbed my wrist. I fought him, twisting and kicking, but his strength was overwhelming. He pinned my arms behind the chair, pulling the plastic tie tight until it bit viciously into my skin.
I struggled against the plastic, but it held firm. I was trapped.
Leo walked over to the duffel bag and picked up the ledger. He flipped through the pages, a manic smile spreading across his face.
"This is it," he breathed. "This is my ticket out."
He pulled a phone from his pocket. Not a burner. His real phone. He dialed a number and held it to his ear, staring at me with dead eyes.
"Brick," Leo said into the phone. "It's Leo. I found her. I've got David's wife. She had the ledger."
My blood ran cold. He wasn't running away. He was handing me over.
"Yeah, she's at my cabin," Leo continued, his voice slick with false loyalty. "David was trying to sell the club out. I caught her trying to skip town with the book. I secured her. Come get her."
He hung up the phone and tossed it onto the table.
"What did you just do?" I whispered, horror washing over me.
"I'm giving Brick the thief," Leo said, pulling a heavy black handgun from his waistband and setting it on the table next to the ledger. "I'm telling Brick that David was the one skimming the money, and that you were trying to run away with the proof. Brick gets his ledger back, he punishes you for David's crimes, and I get promoted to Vice President for being a loyal soldier."
"He won't believe you. The numbers—"
"The numbers don't have my name next to the missing cash," Leo smiled. "David was smart, but he coded the drops. I'll just tell Brick the codes were David's. Brick isn't an accountant. He's an executioner."
I sat in the chair, the zip tie cutting off the circulation to my hands, listening to my daughter crying softly behind the locked bathroom door down the hall. I had brought us straight to the slaughterhouse. I had delivered the evidence right into the hands of the man who framed my husband.
We waited in silence for thirty agonizing minutes. Every tick of the wall clock sounded like a hammer striking an anvil.
Then, headlights swept across the front window.
The heavy, unmistakable roar of four powerful motorcycle engines vibrated through the floorboards of the cabin. The engines cut out, leaving a terrifying stillness outside. Heavy boots crunched on the gravel.
The doorknob turned. The heavy wooden door was kicked violently inward, bouncing off the wall.
Brick walked into the cabin.
He was followed immediately by Bear, Jax, and Coil. They filled the small room, casting long, massive shadows. Brick looked at me, tied to the chair, and then looked at Leo.
"Well," Brick rumbled, stepping into the light. "Let's see what we have here."
CHAPTER 4
The tension in the cabin was so thick it felt hard to pull air into my lungs.
Brick stood in the center of the room, his massive frame dominating the space. Bear, Jax, and Coil spread out naturally, blocking the door and the windows, their hands resting near the heavy knives strapped to their belts.
Leo immediately stepped forward, playing the part of the loyal, vigilant soldier perfectly. He picked up the black ledger from the table and held it out to the club president.
"I got it, Boss," Leo said, his voice steady, projecting absolute confidence. "David was the rat. He was skimming from the dock shipments for the last eight months. He kept this book to track his own theft. I caught his wife trying to make a run for the state line with it."
Brick didn't take the book right away. He stared at Leo, his pale eyes unblinking, then slowly turned his head to look at me. I was sweating, my wrists throbbing against the plastic zip tie.