Pain radiates through my heart. She won’t answer my calls. She won’t see me. She refuses to let me fuckin’ make this better. Now she’s hangin’ around with bikers, asking shit about hitmen.

They’ll do it for her, too.

Fuck me. This shit is serious.

~*~*~*~

KATIA

“What do you want that much cash for?” Ford asks, crossing his arms.

“I’m coming to you, Ford, because I can’t go to anyone else. You’re the only person who will understand.”

He narrows his eyes. “Understand what?”

“I . . . I . . .”

“Katia, what the fuck do you need that kind of money for?”

I need it to pay the Tinman’s Soldiers to kill my husband. The only people who could get away with killing someone and not be questioned. They’re a motorcycle club. It makes sense. It works. They can be subtle, and with Marcus’s past, the police won’t suspect them.

I straighten my shoulders. “I am leaving, and I need cash to help me get started.”

“Why would you leave when you have all this support here?”

“Because.”

“You’re lying.”

His jaw tics and I clench mine. “Please, Ford.”

He crosses his arms over his chest and glares at me. “You tell me or I won’t give it to you.”

I sigh and growl, low and deep. “I need it to pay a motorcycle club.”

He makes a wincing sound. “What the fuck do you need to pay a motorcycle club for?”

“To kill my husband.”

His face goes white. My body jerks. I can’t believe I just said that. I can’t believe it came out of my mouth. He’s staring at me, eyes wide, and his mouth slack. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

“No,” I say, my voice dead. “He took my life. He kept me from my mother. He stripped me of everything real. He needs to go.”

“Katia,” he says, his voice steady. “You have a child.”

I flinch.

“You don’t want to mess with this kind of stuff.”

I turn away. “If you won’t help me, Ford, I’ll find another way, but I won’t stop until Marcus is gone and I’m free to live again.”

“And you think you’ll be free?” he yells after me as I start off down the hall. “You think you’ll feel okay with ending a life?”

I don’t answer him.

He doesn’t understand. No one would.

I’m on my own.

~*~*~*~

The car is hot. I’m sweaty and sticky. My hands are shaking.

The money is in a handbag beside me, ready to be given. I convinced my father I needed a new car and I couldn’t live without one. I’ve been borrowing his but he’s due back at work soon so it was a logical lie. He just handed the money over without question. Of course he’d believe me. Why wouldn’t he?

A tall man in a dark hoodie comes to the car window, and taps three times. I wind it down to stare at him. I found out the man I spoke to is the new president of the Tinman’s Soldiers, the nephew of Howard, the old president. Howard was killed in prison three months ago.

He is hard, dangerous and incredibly good-looking. He was captivating the first time I met him, and he’s just the same now. He’s got dark, messy brown hair. His eyes are bright green, mixed with a tiny bit of yellow. His skin is olive. His body is massive, and covered in tattoos. His jaw is set and his mouth is a straight, but plump line.

“You got the cash?” he asks.

“Yes.”

I push the money towards him. He reaches in and takes it out. He leans in against the car and counts it, then nods, looking down through the window at me.

“You sure this is what you want, girl?”

“Yes.”

He tilts his head to the side. “Seen a lot of things in this world. Seen darkness. Seen pain. Never seen emptiness the way I see it in your eyes. Whoever this man is, he probably deserves the bullet going into his forehead.”

I flinch.

He continues.

“But can you live with that? Can you live with his death?”

“Yes,” I croak.

“We didn’t share names. I don’t know you. You don’t know me. This will be clean and it won’t come back to you. You’ve got forty-eight hours to change your mind. You know where to find me if you do.”

“I won’t.”

“Think long and hard about that.”

I turn to him, and God, does he have beautiful eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be the criminal?”

His lips tip up. “I am. I’m also trying to clean up a lot of mess my uncle left this club in. I’m doing this because the money is needed, but if you change your mind, it’s yours.”

I know these men are the enemies to the Jokers’ Wrath MC, but this man, whoever he is, seems like he isn’t so bad. I supposed, he probably thinks the Jokers are the problem, just like they think he’s the problem. Life is twisted like that. Who is really the bad guy, in the end?

“I’m going to leave now,” I say.

He nods, stepping back. “Forty-eight hours.”

I don’t answer him.

I just drive off.

I won’t change my mind.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

KATIA

The moment I step inside my home, I know something is wrong. Everyone is there: my father, my brothers, Candy and Dusty. They’re waiting for me. Their faces are tight and hard. Candy has Penny in her arms, stroking her arms softly, but her face is a hard mask, boring straight into me.