Page 67 of Ridin' True

‘If you remain a problem, I’ll get rid of you.’

It played on a loop in my head as the cronies took me back to the office.

They didn’t bother with the hood, but now I found no comfort in that.

‘If you remain a problem, I’ll get rid of you.’

I knew it was too good to be true. Jed. The Stallions. My future.

I wasn’t life’s victim, and I didn’t have the luxury of wallowing—but it couldn’t be denied, life had a way of being cruel.

That morning, I was on top of the world.

Now, I had a target on my back.

‘The world is full of pretty faces. It won’t miss yours.’

Fred Hoffman didn’t know he was about to be sacked and replaced by me.

He didn’t know kidnapping me made getting rid of him so much easier.

He didn’t know—and yet he ruined it all anyway.

‘If you remain a problem, I’ll get rid of you.’

I was ready to leave Williams, Pritchard and Pratt. I wanted to start a new chapter. I wanted to venture out on my own—but I didn’t actually want todietrying.

I didn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t betray the Stallions or my integrity. The idea of beingcut inwas repulsive. But the thought of walking away and saying nothing wasn’t an option either. It would have been just as much of a betrayal—to the Stallions. To Jed. To myself.

I replayed our conversation from the beginning, and I tried to piece together what he knew.

Rocco had seen Jed at my office. And I had not one, but four Stallions come to my rescue the night he’d taken me to that storage unit. Fred must have learned all of this and grown suspicious—but he couldn’t have known I wasn’t justworkingfor the Stallions.

Even if I told the club I was done, it wouldn’t be as cut and dry as Fred thought it was. If he’d known that, he probably wouldn’t have been short-sighted enough to kidnap me for our littlechat.

But his ignorance made things worse, not better.

‘If you remain a problem, I’ll get rid of you.’

He gave me three choices, but I really didn’t haveany.

My head was spinning.

I’d been kidnapped twice in the span of two weeks.

Now, it wasn’t my brother who had brought trouble to my doorstep, it was me.

And this time, it came complete with a death threat.

How had this become my life?

“Make him stop calling,” grumbled the man from the front seat.

I looked up from my lap and saw him holding out my phone. I took it right away. It was still buzzing,Jedtrying to reach me.

I knew I couldn’t pick up. I wouldn’t be able to keep it out of my voice. The truth. So, I waited until the call rang through to voicemail, and then I opened our text thread.

So sorry. Lost track of time. Be there soon.