Page 118 of Double Standards

I blink. “You drove here?”

“Thought you might want a ride.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“Cass.” He laughs. “Next time, check who owns the club before you show up.”

“You own Gemini Lounge?”

“Among others,” he mutters, opening the passenger door. “Get in.”

There’s no concealing my hesitation and skepticism, yet I still take slow paced steps towards the car.

“Let’s just save us both the headache, Cassie.” He scratches a brow through a long, exasperated exhale. “Allow me to take you home, yeah?”

My eyes flit between him and the car, then to the taxi that’s coming to a stop across the road.

“If you say no, I’ll just drag you,” he warns, voice low and dry.

I roll my eyes but climb in anyway.

The leather seats are warm, his cologne already clinging to the air inside—woodsy, dark, intoxicating. He slides in beside me and shuts the door with a finality that echoes louder than it should. The hum of the engine starts, but the silence between us crackles with something heavier. Something waiting.

Chapter Forty

The world’s gone on without me.

From the window of my kitchen, I watch the street below in silence. Neighbors walking dogs. Cars inching past. Life is ticking on like it doesn’t notice I’ve been buried alive in this place for weeks. I haven’t stepped outside since the shooting. Since I almost died with her name on my tongue and her face in my mind.

Max is perched on a stool at the kitchen island beside Trigger, silent as usual. Between him and Trigger, they’ve been coming by daily, bringing updates, trying to drag me back to the world. But I haven’t moved. Haven’t breathed right since I let her walk away.

Trigger tosses his phone onto the counter with a sharp exhale. “Chester’s working with Santos.”

I drag a hand down my face. “Fuck.”

“Yeah. That’s about the size of it,” he retorts.

Santos. That explains the radio silence. Chester’s not just hiding, he’s making moves. Dangerous ones. The kind that’ll ripple through every corner of our businesses if we don’t shut it down soon. We’re still pissed that he got away, but it’s onlymade me more determined to find him, to make him pay for his betrayal.

My phone buzzes.

Hunter: Just dropped Cassie at her place. Some guy was sniffing around her. Cooper too. She’s good. Just thought you’d want to know.

My stomach knots. That protective, searing thing I keep trying to kill inside me flares back to life; hot and insistent, like a blade dragged across an old wound that never really healed. It’s instinct, deeper than thought. That need to keep her safe, to shield her from every goddamn threat in this world, even if I’m the biggest one. I shoved it down when I let her walk. Thought I could bury it under logic and distance. But all it takes is Hunter’s message—her name, the mention of another man near her—and it ignites again, fierce and blinding. I grip the edge of the counter, knuckles white, jaw locked tight. I have no right to her anymore. But that doesn’t change the way my body tenses, ready to move. Ready tofight.

“Everything alright?” Trigger asks, already reading my face.

“It’s Cassie,” I say flatly. “Hunter’s watching her.”

Max folds his arms. He doesn’t need to say much because it’s all there in his expression.

“What?” I snap at him.

“You’re just going to back away and let someone else protect the woman you—” He stops himself, jaw tightening. “You really think she’s safer without you?”

“I don’t think. I know.” I stand, pacing toward the kitchen before turning back. “As long as I’m in this, she’s a target. Cooper’s nothing. But Daniels, I don’t know what he’s got planned. And compared to what’s coming if Chester’s playing with Santos…” I take a deep breath, exhaling my frustration. “That gang doesn’t touch people, they destroy them. And I won’t let her get caught in that crossfire.”

“She wouldn’t be caught in it if she were standing behindyou,” Trigger bites out. “But instead she’s out there alone, fending off exes and god knows who else.”