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“From everything. From this place, from Dante… What is it you want?”

“I…” It was my turn to sigh. “I don’t know.”

“Let me rephrase. Do you want Dante?”

“It’s not as simple as that.”

“From where I’m sitting, it's exactly that simple. If two people love each other, then it’s a very easy yes or no.”

“I do want Dante. Love? I’m not sure. But I know that I want to be with him.”

“So, what is the issue?” He asked softly. There was no judgement in his voice, no anger. He was just willing to talk to me, to listen to me.

“I don’t want all of this.”

“And you think we do?” He said with a chuckle. “If we could put an end to all of this right now, don’t you think we would?”

“But you could!” I hissed, feeling the same frustration building.

“I’ve heard your arguments, Rachel. But it doesn’t work like that. Don’t interrupt,” he warned when I opened my mouth. “Just listen. Please.” He raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question, and I nodded reluctantly.

May as well get this lecture over and done with.

“When you join a club like this… it’s not a lifestyle.

It’s a calling. It’s difficult to explain to those who don’t live it, who haven’t experienced it.

But to be a member of a club like this, to have a purpose in life, a role to fulfil…

It might seem silly and trivial to you, but to us, it’s the very essence of our being.

Look at the leaders of the world – they go to war every day over things that you and I would probably scoff at.

But it matters to them. It’s important to them.

And it’s the same with us. The Rough Riders are bad people, Rachel.

And whilst we’re far from perfect, if we’re not here to keep them in line, the streets of Leeds would be a wildly different place.

Trust me. Think about it… why do you think they were happy to work with Ben and Callum?

It wasn’t just about fucking over Dante. ”

My eyes widened, absorbing what he was saying.

He nodded at me. “We’ve all heard stories about what the Rough Riders do with their women.

Half the prostitutes in Leeds are under their control.

They have an entire brothel in their London charter.

We fight for territory, because otherwise the streets would be overrun with guns, violence, drugs…

Not even the police would be able to keep them under control.

We can, because we don’t follow the same laws the police are bound by. ”

I stayed silent again, and so he pressed on.

“When you ask Dante to leave this place… you’re asking him to risk his daughter growing up with the Riders in charge.

You think she’s unsafe being a part of this club?

This club offers her protection you couldn’t begin to imagine.

They wouldn’t touch her, because she’s the princess of the Devil’s, and they know the fury it would unleash.

It’s why they immediately distanced themselves from what Macbeth did.

But without us keeping them under control, Bee would be growing up with them owning Leeds.

And that control would eventually spread as their other charters grew bolder. ”

“Dante never explained… He never said…”

“Old ladies aren’t supposed to know any of this. We’re bastards, but not to our women. We want you to live here without any of this knowledge. We want you to be happy and to live as normal a life as possible.”

“I guess I can understand that.”

“For what it’s worth, I’ve never understood not telling the women the truth.

You ladies are sharp as a knife, and I know that you’ll offer fresh perspective – just like you did when Dante was kidnapped.

But Crash is as old school as they come, and he’s not willing to change the rules Warrior, his dad, put in place.

Maybe Dante will when he’s president. Who knows?

He’s already told you more than he should. But—”

“But with knowledge comes danger,” I finished for him.

“Exactly. It’s a risk. But it could be a calculated one. We wouldn’t know at the time. Hindsight is a blessing and a curse.”

“You can say that again.”

“So, what are you going to do?” He asked, still in the same kind and patient voice.

“I don’t know. I really don’t. You guys killed the president of the Rough Riders. You know they’re not going to leave that unchallenged. ”

“I know,” he nodded. “And Dante is already planning on them calling in members from their other charters. Crash is too blind by grief to see it. He thinks we’ve killed too many today for them to think it’s worth it.

But we, Dante and I, know Damien better than that.

He’ll want to avenge his father’s death, just as much as we wanted to avenge Zach’s. ”

“So this could get worse?”

“It could.”

“That’s not very reassuring.”

“Would you rather I lie to you?”

“No,” I sighed again. I was doing a lot of that this evening. “Do you think Dante would ever leave all this behind?”

“The club?”

“Not entirely. But when we visited my dad, we were talking about one of your guys who was a… what was it called? Noman?”

“Nomad. And no,” he shook his head. “Dante would rather die than be a nomad. You know what it’s like, Rachel, to have family within your reach, and yet always feel like an outsider.

That’s what it’s like being a nomad. We call on them when we need them, but we’re not there when they need us.

Times are dangerous right now, but do you see any of us panicking more than necessary?

No, because we have each other. We’re a family, and we support each other when times are tough.

Nomads don’t have such protection. You need to remember who Dante is.

He’s Crash’s son, and the King family has made a lot of enemies along the way.

If he was on his own, he’d survive, but he’s not. He has—”

“He has Bee,” I finished for him. “This all comes back to her, doesn’t it?”

“Yep,” he said, popping the P and nodding his head. “That little girl is his life. Even if he wasn’t bound by his own loyalty to his brothers, he’s bound by his love for that girl.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of gunfire in the distance. Vienna was alert, coming off his seat, his head cocking to the side as he listened.

“Shit,” he hissed.

“What? What is it?”

More guns fired, followed by hollering and laughter .

“It’s them, isn’t it?” I breathed, my heart stopping for a split second before it started pounding so hard in my chest I could barely breathe.

He looked at me, his face set in a grim line.

“That wasn’t a warning shot, was it?”

He shook his head. “That was the sound of war beginning. Looks like they called in the other charters faster than we expected.”