She nodded. “She’s very beautiful and confident-looking. I used to look at her and Alena and I was so intimidated, not because I thought they would hurt me, but because I couldn’t measure up to them.”
That surprised him. He tried to think back to the days she’d ridden with him as his old lady. “Were the girls not nice to you?”
Had they been nice? Lana and Alena had been aloof because, like the rest of them, they really didn’t know the rules of society. They fit better in the motorcycle club world than anywhere else and even there, they sometimes didn’t know exactly what was expected of them. They learned fast and adapted when they had to. Mostly, they stuck to themselves because it was safer.
Riding with the Swords had been a mission every one of them eventually joined. They were there to kill as many as possible without causing suspicion. They disrupted shipments, and every time a chapter acquired new young girls, a team went out either under Czar or Steele and freed the girls, killed the Swords running the portable brothels and disappeared before anyone could identify them. It was what they were good at.
Meanwhile Code went after the books of each chapter, not the ones anyone could find, but the real ones reported to the international president. That was what he was good at. He managed to transfer all the money to their accounts. Then he went after the Greek shipping magnate, Evan Shackler-Gratsos, who had inherited from his brother. It just so happened he was the main target and the international president of the Swords. Code managed to get that money into their accounts as well.
Torpedo Ink was set up financially for life. Every member had access to money. Code managed paperwork so any time they ran into a problem, he could set it right. He did all the things necessary, like making it so Steele was able to practice medicine in the United States, even do surgery legally if he desired. Code was the one who sorted out adoptions if they brought children to Blythe and Czar. Gun permits. Concealed gun permits. Whatever paperwork was needed at any time, Code could easily provide for them.
“Babe.” He said it as a warning.
Her tongue touched her lower lip. “They weren’t mean.”
He groaned. What the hell was wrong with him? He hadn’t told the others Breezy was the one for him back then. He’d had his reasons for being careful, but he should have asked that the girls befriend her.
“I’m sorry, Bree, that’s on me. Czar wouldn’t have let me stay if he’d known how I felt about you, and poor decision or not, I made my choice to stay. I should have noticed that you could have used friends. We were careful all the time. Lana and Alena had to be careful. No one could know that Alena was Czar’s ‘sister’ and not his old lady, or that Lana and Ice weren’t really a couple. That said, there’s no excuse for my oversight.”
“It was three years ago, Steele. I think I’m over it. I had to be careful as well. Anything I told any of the girls in the club would get back to Bridges. If they didn’t tell him, he would beat them. I tried to protect you at all times.”
He stiffened, something in her voice telling him there were things he didn’t know. “What do you mean?”
She tried to step back, but the wall was behind her. Her head was against the window. It was low and long, giving them a good view of the lake and the backyard next door. Even from a distance, it was easy to see how beautiful it was. It never ceased to amaze him how he could be surrounded by beauty and yet evil was still present.
Steele put both hands on either side of her head, holding her captive, looking down into her eyes. He could get lost there. He did every time he looked into that vivid green. She couldn’t hide what she was. All her compassion was centered there. Her capacity to love. He couldn’t have chosen a better woman to be the mother of his children—or his wife.
“It doesn’t matter now.”
“Yeah, baby, it does. It matters to me.” A sudden memory came at him out of nowhere. Walking into their room, that tiny place she always kept immaculate, and finding her eyes red, her face swollen from crying. She was rocking back