him where I was going.
I believed in neither luck nor coincidences, however, which meant there was someone definitely on the inside.
It wouldn’t be a brother. We knew the risks of turning rat, and a bullet hole between the eyes or a pair of scissors to the gullet wouldn’t be the end. No, those fates would be relatively pleasant in comparison to what happened to men who betrayed the MC.
That meant it was a woman.
I discounted the Old Ladies because they knew shit about the place, Lodestar—well, she seemed a likely option considering I’d seen her break Dog’s fucking neck. There were the clubwhores who fit the MO better, though. I highly doubted Lodestar would work with someone like David, whereas clubwhores were like rats abandoning a sinking ship—they always tried to find dry ground before anyone else and didn’t care how or who they screwed to find it—and they not only had more access but knew the place like the backs of their hands because the clubhouse, depressing though it might seem, was the center of their universe.
Had to be one of them.
While I needed to inform the council of the threat, more than anything, David’s body was the priority. And Indy’s safety.
“I need to dispose of the body, Indy. I’m not about to get the police involved in this. I don’t particularly want the Sinners to know he’s dead either—”
“Why? So you can keep the truth from them? That you are really a fucking narc?”
“No, because I don’t want them to know we have a leak. At least, not the lower ranks.” I reached up and plucked my bottom lip. “I’m going to get my cell phone. It’s in my left jeans’ pocket.” Then, because I’d be pissed if she did, I groused, “There’s no need to shoot it out of my hand. I’m going to call Nyx.”
She blinked at me. “What? Why? Nyx? What can he do?”
“Confirm everything I’ve said, all while keeping this shit under wraps.”
Her mouth trembled. “You’re really going to call Nyx?”
I scowled at her, not appreciating her lack of faith when I’d gone out of my way to prove that she could trust me over our time together. “Yeah, I am.”
A shaky sob escaped her, and within seconds, the gun was on the bench, and she was flinging herself toward me. At first, I wasn’t sure if she was going to hit me or hug me, then she burrowed into me, her arms coming around my waist in a chokehold that spoke of her distress.
Indy wasn’t affectionate by nature, something that made complete sense to me now, but apparently after killing someone, she was.
Who knew?
Unashamedly taking advantage of the rare embrace, I hugged her back and murmured, “The council knows about my mother. I swear to you, Indy. I have no need to lie to you about that.”
Her sobs echoed in my head, and the fact I’d promised myself to protect her, to keep her safe, only for shit to turn around like this, was an ice pick to the skull I wasn’t sure I’d ever heal from.
“Why did you kill him?” I whispered, my arms tightening about her when she froze in my arms.
“He backed me into a corner.” She pulled back to stare at me with tear-sore eyes, her eyelashes bunching together in tiny triangles that glistened with droplets. “No man will ever back me into a corner again.”
The vow came from an adult, but I only heard the whisper of a little girl who’d been betrayed by someone close to her, who swore she’d never let herself be vulnerable again.
I wasn’t the most emotional of men. I preferred cold logic, reason, and hard science to feelings. But for that little girl, I almost started crying too.
Palming the back of her head, I shoved her face into my throat, turned mine into her hair and just held her.
“Cruz, what do I do?” she whispered rawly. “I-I wasn’t thinking, not really. I grabbed the scissors before he pulled the gun on me, but when he cocked it, I just reacted. I wasn’t thinking,” she repeated. “But then, he was threatening us all. I knew he’d put the MC in danger—I couldn’t let him—”
I hushed her. “It’s okay. I’ll sort it out.”
She shook her head, making the silk of her hair brush against the prickly stubble on my cheek. “That isn’t fair to you.”
“Fair? Indy, this is what I do. This is my job.” Not just getting rid of corpses, but protecting her. Tangling