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I tucked the bank statements back into the folder, then pulled an envelope with cash out of my jacket pocket. I slid it across the table to Link. “As promised. Good work as usual.”

“Anytime,” Link muttered. He always talked like he never wanted to work with me again, and yet, he always did. We shook hands briskly, and he nearly ran out of the bar.

“Call the enforcers,” I said to Hawk. “We need to meet.”

“Right now? It’ll be the middle of the night by the time?—”

“Right now,” I interrupted. “We need this on everyone’s radars.”

Hawk made the calls. When we arrived back at the clubhouse, the enforcers were already inside waiting: Rome, Tank, Tammy, and six other clan members. Only Striker was absent, since he was still on duty at my house.

“Thanks for meeting here on such short notice,” I said.

The enforcers murmured their acknowledgment. Everyone watched me with concern. I didn’t often call emergency meetings like this. We were all on edge, and the enforcers knew that a late-night meeting like this couldn’t mean anything good.

“We’ve got proof that Sean is paying Forrest off,” I said.

“Jesus, fuck,” Tank said.

“Seriously?” Tammy asked. “With what money?”

“That part we’re still working on,” Hawk said.

“We also know Forrest paid Thames, too.”

The room fell silent.

“I can only assume that means Sean is working with Thames, too,” I continued. “As you can guess, this complicates things.”

“What exactly are they trying to do?” Rome asked. “Take over Lakeview?”

“Probably,” Hawk said.

“We don’t know yet,” I said. “But now that we know this, we need to be even more careful than we were before. Now we know why Forrest went so far as to plant drugs at the garage. He’s not justhopingwe’ll get caught doing something criminal, he’s trying to make it happen.”

“So, what do we do?” Tank asked.

“I don’t want anything to do with Thames,” Tammy said. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I thought we were done with that piece of shit. You know if I’d had it my way, we would’ve killed him and left his body to rot in the lake.”

“I know,” I said. “And I’m beginning to think you were right, Tammy.”

She blinked, surprised at that admission.

“I let Thames go because I didn’t want to start a war for our territory,” I said. “And I didn’t know the extent of what he was doing. If I had known then what I know now, I never would’ve let him walk.”

“We would’ve lost that war,” Hawk reminded me. “You’d just become alpha. He would’ve demolished us.”

“Well, he won’t now,” Tammy said. “We’re all stronger now.”

“So, I ask again, what exactly are we going todo?”Tank asked.

“I don’t know what the hell Sean offered Thames to get him to agree to work with him, but I know it’s not good,” I said. “We still need Sean to issue a challenge. If he’s working with Thames, he’s not going to do that. Thames is a dirty bastard, just like him. And Thames has a lot more skill in kidnapping.”

Rome growled.

Hawk’s eyes flashed gold with anger.

If there was anyone who was a real threat to our defenses, it was Thames. I knew he’d dabbled in trafficking. If Sean wanted to take the clan without challenging me, he’d have to get both me and Dylan out of the picture. He might think Thames was the man who could make that happen.