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Wolf was already over this president bullshit. Quillon had pulled up a template for bylaws and standing rules the club needed to adopt and follow. Today’s meeting was about wording them to meet their needs. The legalized language was giving him a migraine already.

“It says we need a two-thirds majority quorum in order to enact a vote. What the hell is a quorum?”

“Point of order!”

“We haven’t discussed anything yet.”

“I know. I just always wanted to say that.”

Fuck me! Wolf pulled out his phone and fired off a text.

Wolf: Yo, Stud. You guys have bylaws and shit like that?

The reply came in seconds.

Stud: Yeah. What’s up?

Wolf: Can you share them with me? I’m trying to herd cats here and could use some direction.

Stud: I can’t make a unilateral decision for my club, but I’ll bring it up to Brick and see if it’s possible. I’ll let you know.

He closed his phone only to see Melter rolling a blunt. “I don’t see what the big deal is. A few sales now and then won’t hurt us. We can take over where the hippie guy left off. It’s just a little weed.”

That was the last straw. Wolf rose from the round table and took a breath to cuss the shit out of the older man when his phone jangled. His blood ran cold as he heard the sound. It was the one he’d put in for Jazzy in trouble.

Just then, someone started banging on the front door.

“It’s Denny,” Camshaft announced.

“Denny, we’re busy right now?—

“You need to get un-busy,” the officer said as he entered the room.

“We got a tip that a girl got taken by the Slaggers on the Fleming Bridge. Someone sent us CCTV footage proof, or at least that’s what we think.

The video showed up at the office on every computer screen.

Hard to tell from the angle, but I’m pretty sure that’s your woman. ”

Wolf’s blood froze in his veins. “What the fuck did you just say?”

Denny turned his phone around and showed Wolf a short reel. The image was grainy, but he could clearly see Ramrod with his hand around a woman’s throat. A moment later, a bike sailed over the safety rails of the bridge, and she was forced on the back of another man’s motorcycle.

“Meeting adjourned. Get the fuck out.”

No one questioned his decision. Not even Melter.

Wolf turned to Denny, his voice harder than titanium steel. “Where?”

“We don’t know. Got them getting off the bridge and heading north, but the traffic cams are out. We… I was hoping you would know.”

Wolf checked the text he’d received on Jazz’s ringtone.

It wasn’t a message but a map link. Somehow, Jazz got ahold of a computer and sent out an SOS.

He swallowed the fury building in his throat and chose his words carefully.

“That wasn’t Jazz on the bridge. Probably some chick Ramrod wants to get to know better. ”

Denny’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure about that?”

Wolf’s gaze dropped to a frosty zero. “Positive.”

Denny sighed as if resolved. “All right. We’re gonna dig up some information and find the Slaggers’ place. Prolly take a few hours. I’ll give you as much time as I can, but my help will only go so far. You get caught, you’re paying for it.”

“Thank you, Officer.”

Denny shook his head. “Just do me a big favor and don’t do something that will make me arrest you for real, yeah?” He muttered several curses under his breath as he left the club.

Wolf was alone. He didn’t roar with unfettered, burning rage. He calmly walked to the back locker room and picked up a hard-sided case he’d stored there. A few minutes later, he was on his bike and heading north.

* * *

“What the fuck is taking so gawddamn long?”

Ramrod sucked back a lungful of sweet smoke and blew plumes of it in the air. Jazz coughed at the pungent smell of pot and typed in another random line. “I’ve pulled out the funds from the orphanage and got them deposited in your account. The other transactions are processing.”

She silently prayed her message got through.

She’d piggybacked a link into a text when she hacked into her own phone.

Then she set up several phony accounts that showed huge amounts of money.

Every time she “transferred” from one of them to the Slaggers’ account, it showed up as pending approval.

That was enough to keep Ramrod happy and smoking as he saw his numbers go up.

Jazz had no idea if she was fooling the other guy.

He hadn’t said much since she started pressing buttons.

“Fucking cunt. So stupid to spread my money all over the place.”

“A really big deposit would trigger an automatic audit. I didn’t want any of those charities to get in trouble.

” She didn’t know if that was true or not, but it sounded like a legit excuse.

The longer she took, the more time she gave Wolf to find her.

She had visions of him and the club bursting in and razing the place to the ground.

Or maybe Wolf would have an unstoppable John Wick moment.

There was also the chance that he hadn’t received the text or would get here too late.

“My family doesn’t know a thing about this.

As far as they’re concerned, I’m the big fuckup. There’s no reason to go after them.”

“Stupid bitch.” Ramrod took another long drag and held his breath. He spun the shaky chair around and backhanded Jazz across the face. The chair tilted, and she ended up on the floor.

A small quick chink accompanied her cry of pain. Ramrod’s head snapped back, and a clean red hole appeared in his forehead. The look of surprise on his face stayed there as he crumpled next to Jazz.

“ Madarchod! ” The word burst from the assassin’s mouth, and he seized Jazz’s hair to yank her up and put her body between his and the window. “You did this, didn’t you?”

Jazz’s mouth filled with a warm coppery taste. Ramrod’s blow had reopened the cut on her lip, and blood was flowing again. “I never touched my phone. Ramrod still has it.”

He laughed. “Do you think I’m stupid? You don’t have to use your phone to call someone. The question is, did you call many or only one?”

His grip tightened in her hair. “I think only one.”

He stepped back to hide in the shadows of the small room and placed Jazz in front of him as a shield, pulling her head back and slightly to the side so she was forced to stand tall and arch her back.

He rested a large handgun on her shoulder with the barrel pointed at the windows.

The angle of the sun shone down on Ramrod’s body, still bleeding from the head wound.

Minutes passed. Jazz’s head burned from the unrelenting grip, and her shoulders were starting to cramp from being held in the awkward position.

“Call him.”

“What?”

“I said call him.” He pressed a burner phone into her hand. “I want to hear what he has to say.”

The first time she called, it was ignored. It took three times before Wolf picked up.

“Hello.”

“Wolf?”

“Tell him I’m going to kill him.”

The line went dead. Jazz whimpered at the matter-of-fact tone in Wolf’s flat voice. Just like Stefan in The Vampire Diaries , his emotions were turned off. The person he hated from his past, he’d gone there again.

“H-h-he said?—”

“Yes, I heard him. Funny, as I believe I’ll kill him first. Pity, as I feel this man and I are brothers in a way. We now play a game of waiting and stamina. Who will win?”

“You sound amused.”

“I am, priya . This is the first time in a very long while that I’ve had a challenge. Most of my assignments are simple and boring. This one has entertained me more than anything else in years.”

Jazz’s voice was crushed under the need to cry or scream. “I don’t suppose you’d consider letting me go? I’m so done with the scam-shielder thing. I just want to protect my family.”

He clicked his tongue. “It’s nothing personal. Just a job.”

“I find this very personal.”

The assassin gave a short laugh. “I see what my rival likes so much about you. We have several options. We can wait for him to make a move. From this angle, I can see everything. The movement of the sun, the shadows, anything that comes through those windows. From the trajectory of that bullet, he’s not that far away.

Probably on one of those higher rooftops a few streets over.

It would take him quite a bit of time to break down his weapon and move to a more advantageous location.

The problem he has is there is no other alternative but to target us directly through those windows. ”

Jazz’s eyes welled up, but she didn’t move to dash away the tears. Through the film of moisture, she looked up and envisioned Wolf spotting them and lifting a gun just before the assassin took him out. Would she be able to stop it? Push the guy or become deadweight he couldn’t hold on to?

The man continued to talk as if he was ordering a pizza over the phone.

“The second option is to move to the exit. This would require exposure but very little risk to me, as you’re a very good shield.

The sunlight will enhance your coloring more than mine; therefore, I’ll be invisible as you radiate.

He won’t be able to see me. That is if he’s still in position.

If he’s moved to get closer, he won’t have any sort of visual.

He will also have to handle more than one man.

There are many guns in this place. With so many targets, he would be hard-pressed to kill us all.

” He chuckled. “It might not even be me who shoots him.”

A new emotion rose in Jazz’s mind. Anger.

“I will never understand why anyone thinks it’s okay to rob older people of a lifetime of work.

To take advantage of someone who’s desperate and lonely.

Or cheat someone out of their hard-earned money when they’re looking for a break.

People who just want to work, pay their bills, and live in peace. It’s not right, and it never will be.”

“What does that have to do with me killing your boyfriend?”

“You wouldn’t be here if those scummy scammers weren’t in business.”

“You’re right, but you’ll never stop it. Con men have been around for a long time, priya . Centuries. They’ve just moved into the internet realm, that’s all.”

She sniffed. “Yeah, well, I changed my mind. When I get out of here, I’m gonna keep being a pain in the ass to them.”

This time his laugh was deafening in her ear. “Oh, my precious girl, you’re not getting out of here.”

Jazz’s heart clenched. Both she and Wolf would die today. Someone would find the bodies and wonder how they got there. Hugo would be devastated. Her mother would beat her chest and cry to all the neighbors. Liz would mourn in her own way. The boys… what would happen to them?

“I think we’ll use option two. Let’s move.

” He started to shuffle against the wall, keeping her body in front of his and always facing the rectangular windows.

The gun stayed resting on her shoulder, the barrel next to her ear.

The sun was blinding for a moment as they moved, and Jazz squinted against the bright light.

The movement was awkward, and several times she tripped over her own feet, causing her hair to be pulled in the man’s tight fist. It felt like her scalp was going to rip from her skull.

She had the absurd thought that she hoped someone would get her a pretty blue wig for the funeral.

Who’m I kidding? Mom will donate my body to science. She won’t spring for a casket. Maybe cremation? “Spring for my body cream.”

She didn’t realize she’d spoken out loud until the man behind her stopped. “What are you talking about?”

There was no little chink this time. One moment she stood next to the office door, her back pressed tightly to the front of the assassin.

The next seconds were a blur. The door opened, and Wolf suddenly appeared with no sound or warning.

His arm was up. Jazz heard a single pew , and the man behind her crumpled.

The gun he held over her shoulder fell to the ground.

The man didn’t have time to react or even see Wolf until the bullet had traveled through his head and out the other side.

His dead face sported the same surprised look as Ramrod’s.

For a millisecond, Jazz was scared. Scared of Wolf.

His eyes were completely devoid of emotion.

No color. No life. No love. The gun was still in his hand, pointing at the spot where he’d fired into the assassin’s head.

Then she saw it. Those green-and-gold orbs changed as if a switch had been flipped.

With a single anguished noise, he pulled her into his arms, and she felt his trembling body.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” he chanted. His shaking got worse as he clutched her to him.

She put her arms around him as best she could.

This was Wolf. The man she’d loved for years before he really became hers.

This was the man who accepted all of her and her crazy family.

This was the man who saved her life and the lives of her nephews.

This was also the man who gave up a piece of his hard-won humanity to come save her again. “I’m okay, love. I’m okay.”

For minutes they stood simply holding each other as close as possible. Wolf finally let her go and lifted the palm of one hand to his wet eyes. “We need to go. Denny is probably on his way by now, and we can’t be here.”

“What about the other Slaggers?”

“They don’t know anything has happened yet. Between the loud music and the drinking, they didn’t hear anything. Plus, the suppressor did its job.”

“The silencer?”

“We call them suppressors. They reduce the sound a lot, but they don’t eliminate it.”

“Oh. How did you get in?”

“There’s a side entrance that was blocked. I unblocked it.”

“Oh.”

So simple.

“I’m gonna block it again when we’re out. We need to make that now, baby.”

“Oh.”

“Jazz. I need to know you’re with me.”

Shock was setting in, and Jazz sensed she was shutting down. “Yeah, I’m with you. I just need to do something real quick.”

“What?”

She moved from his arms to the computer, leaning over the keyboard and rapidly typing in a stream of code.

“I’m setting up a false front and erasing any traces of me on these transactions.

They’re all fake, but if anyone digs in, I don’t want anything to be left behind that could be traced.

Maybe it will seem like they had a fight and shot each other. ”

“The men in the other room will remember you being here.”

She shook her head. “It’s their word against mine, and I’m hacking the cameras at Attic and adding footage that shows both of us at the club when all of this happened.

I’ll purge the bridge video, too, so there’s nothing that can tie me to them at all.

” She tapped the keys, filling the small space with fast rhythmic clicks.

A faint siren grazed the air.

“Are you finished, babe?”

Jazz hit the Enter key. “Yes, let’s go.”