Cruz (Dark and Dirty Sinners' MC #5) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,65

this fucker was, he’d tried to attack her, because Indy wasn’t violent. She was a brat, sure, and had more attitude than frickin’ hair, but she wasn’t a danger to other people. And I’d know, because I lived with a shit ton of guys who were dangerous to the general pop.

At my words, however, she didn’t respond. The gun stayed pointed at me, quivering as it wavered in her grip.

“Indy,” I intoned, trying to imbue her name with a bark she’d be used to hearing by now, “put the gun down.”

Only, she shook her head. Not just once, but twice, three times even. “N-No. Who the hell are you?”

Surprised, I blinked at her. “What do you mean? I’m Cruz.” Jesus, was she heading into some kind of fugue state? She was more fragile than people knew, but I’d never have thought she’d crumble—

“Liar,” she spat, and though her vitriol was out of place, I didn’t let it stop me from dropping down so that I could turn the body over.

When I did, she let out a soft cry, and seeing David, her assistant, as well as the scissors that were burrowed in his throat, I knew that, whatever he’d taught her, Nyx had made sure Indy knew how to handle herself.

I’d figured that, to be honest, but had just never thought I’d be seeing it firsthand.

“I’m not a liar,” I told her calmly. “I’m Cruz. You know this.”

She stopped bracing the hand that held the gun and blindly sought something out on her worktop. I caught a glimpse of the phone, but the next second, it was flying through the air at me. Catching it, I peered at the screen, then sighed when I recognized where I was.

And with whom.

A couple of swipes into the gallery and I saw that I’d not only picked up a tail but the fucker had caught me with my mom.

Shit.

No wonder she was quaking like a fucking leaf.

“I can explain,” I told her calmly, even as I was deleting the images on the phone. It wasn’t Indy’s iPhone, but a Samsung, so I had to reason that it belonged to David. “But first you need to tell me what the hell happened here? Did he try to hurt you?”

“He’s been spying on me. Spying on us, and…” She sucked down a breath. “The MC.”

Tension hit me. “No way. That’s not possible.”

“Isn’t it?” she rasped, but she jerked the gun at the cell in my hands. “How do you think he knew to catch you there, huh?”

“David took the photos?” I asked, because though I’d assumed it, confirmation would come in handy. I thought back to that black SUV that’d been hovering in my mom’s street—had that been David?

“Which part of ‘he’s been spying on me,’ didn’t you understand?”

“I’m not you.”

“No, but you’ve been fucking me. That means the same thing to David.” She pressed her hand to her mouth, took a shaky breath, then corrected, “Meant the same thing.”

Frowning, I asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“David’s been my shadow since the last year of my apprenticeship in New Orleans,” she whispered. “He was obsessed with me. That’s what this is about. He was trying to show me that you couldn’t be trusted.” She swallowed. “Apparently he was right.”

“No, he wasn’t,” I countered, annoyed as hell that she was questioning me. “For fuck’s sake, Indy, are you going to take a goddamn stalker’s word over mine?”

“Apparently he’s been listening in to shit that I’m not able to hear… He said the woman in the photo is a Fed. Is that true?”

“It’s true,” I confirmed, regret hitting me when she released a pain-filled gasp. “But, what he didn’t tell you, is that she’s my mother.”

Her eyes rounded. “No. No way. The Sinners would never have let you in if you had ties to law enforcement.”

“Well, I’m a brother, and I’m privy to a lot of their secrets, so I can tell you, categorically, that’s not true.” I gritted my teeth when her hands clenched around the gun. “Indy, put the damn gun down. You’re not going to shoot me.”

A shaky laugh escaped her. “No? Aren’t I? You’ve seen what I can do—”

I eyed David’s body, unable to feel sorry for the fucker when he’d been spying on us.

Only the council had known about my mother, only they’d known where I was going that day. So unless David had just followed me to NYC, and it had been luck or a coincidence, that meant someone had told