No one wanted Navarro taken down any more than I did. After all he’d done to my club and to Alex, there was nothing I wanted more. If given the chance, I’d wrap my fingers around his fucking throat and squeeze the life right out of him. Better yet, I’d spend a few hundred hours showing him the kind of pain that only a man like me could dish out. I just needed him within my reach, and then, he’d be finished, once and for all. We all wanted to be done with Navarro’s bullshit, but using Alex to flush him out wasn’t an option. While I knew she was willing to do anything to help bring her father down, just the thought of having her in harm’s way made my stomach turn. I couldn’t let that happen, but I could tell from the look on her face that she wasn’t going to give up on the idea.

Her voice was strong and full of determination as she said, “Whether you like it or not, using me is the best way to get to my father, especially now when he’s so adamant about getting me to come back home.”

“There’s got to be another way.”

“I may not know much about how my father runs his business, but I do know that he’s a man who doesn’t like to lose. Right now, he’s got his focus on winning me back. It only makes sense to use that to lure him out. Besides it’s not like you won’t be close by to make sure I’m safe.”

Gus looked over to him and said, “She’s got a point, brother.”

“There’s no way in hell that he’s going to believe she’s suddenly changed her mind and is willing to come back home,” I argued. “He’d have to know that it was a trap.”

“What if I gave him a good reason for changing my mind?”

“And what exactly would that be?” I roared. “You’ve said yourself that your father is a smart man. He’s not going to buy into some bullshit that you’ve suddenly had a change of fucking heart and you are giving up your life here to go back home to him! There’s no way he’ll ever believe that, especially after what happened earlier today. Once he sees that his guy didn’t make it back with you, he’ll know something is up and he’ll plan accordingly. You try this bullshit and there’s no doubt that he’ll turn the tables on you. Then, what are you going to do?”

Her eyes dropped to the ground as she mumbled, “Oh, well. I uh … I hadn’t thought about that.”

Gus could see that I was becoming irritated, so he interrupted our dispute by saying, “Hold on, you two. We’re not getting anywhere like this. We need to take a step back and clear our heads. Why don’t you take her back down to your room, and we can discuss this more in the morning?”

I nodded, then reached for Alex’s hand and led her out of the office. I’d let my frustration get the best of me, and I tried to collect myself as she followed me back to my room. Unfortunately, I wasn’t having much luck calming the storm of emotions that were raging inside of me, mainly because I’d never experienced anything like it before. I wasn’t a man who had these kinds of feelings, and I had no idea how to deal with them. I glanced over at her, and I could see the concern in her eyes as we stepped into my room. She stopped, and without saying a word, she turned and looked at me, waiting for me to speak. I had so many things I wanted to say to her, but I just wasn’t ready. I needed a moment to ground myself, so as I walked past her, I said, “I’m going to take a shower.”

“So, you’re not going to talk to me about all this?”

“I need a minute, Alex,” I growled. “Can you give me that?”

She shrugged her shoulders and waved her hands with sass as she rolled her eyes and spat, “Take all the time you need.”

Ignoring her sarcasm, I walked into the bathroom and started my shower. I removed my clothes and stepped under the hot water, letting it soothe the tension in my shoulders. While I didn’t understand the feelings I had for Alex, there was no denying that they were there. At first, I thought it was just a needed distraction, that seeing her helped make the shadows of my past less daunting, but that in itself proved that this thing between us was more than just an attraction. She was more than that, much more, and as fucked up as it might be, it took me seeing her in danger for me to realize that. That was enough for me to know that I wasn’t good enough for her, but I no longer cared. Selfish as it might be, Alex was mine, and I couldn’t stand the thought of her being in danger. I would do everything in my power to protect her, even if that meant protecting her from herself.

After I got out of the shower, I wrapped my towel around my waist and stepped back into my room where I found Alex already in bed. She was curled up on her side with her back to me and she lay completely still as I dropped my towel and slipped into bed next to her. I slipped my hand around her waist as I eased up behind her, and while she didn’t resist, she didn’t acknowledge my presence. She just quietly stared ahead. I knew I should say something, tell her what I was feeling, but the words just wouldn’t come. After lying there for several moments, she finally asked, “Are you going to tell me why you are so mad at me, because I really don’t understand what I did wrong. I was just trying to come up with a way to help …”

“I’m not mad at you, Alex.”

“Then, what’s wrong?” Her voice trembled as she asked, “Was I right? Did hearing about my past change things for you?”

“No, Alex. Nothing has changed for me.” I lowered my mouth to her shoulder and slowly trailed kisses along the curve her neck. “From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew nothing would ever be the same for me.”

“How did you know that?”

I paused for a moment as I tried to think of the best way to explain it to her. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve lived in darkness, seeing nothing but shadows around me, but when I’m with you … I see everything. I see the light, the colors, and the shadows are no longer there.”

With tears in her eyes, she rolled over, and as she faced me, she placed the palm of her hand on my jaw. “As crazy as it may sound, I feel the same way about you. I didn’t even realize what I was missing until you came along.”

I lowered my mouth to hers, kissing her softly. While it wasn’t my intent, the kiss quickly became demanding and full of hunger. I wanted her, needed her, and my hands became possessive as I pulled her body close to mine. As soon as our bodies touched and I felt the warmth of her skin on mine, there was no way I could resist having her. Without removing my mouth from hers, I eased on top of her, slowly lowering her lace panties down her legs before settling myself between her thighs. We spent the next few hours making love, and once we were both completely sated, she nestled in the crook of my arm and drifted off to sleep. As I looked down at her, studying the delicate lines of her beautiful face, I realized I’d finally found it. The one thing I thought I would never find—love. I had fallen for her, hard and heavy, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Trying my best to accept my new found realization, I closed my eyes and submitted to my own exhaustion.

When I woke the next morning, I was a bit dazed and confused. For the first time in years, the nightmares hadn’t come. I’d actually slept through the entire night with no memories flooding my dreams, and as I glanced over to Alex nestled by my side, I knew it was because of her. She alone had kept them at bay, giving me my first night of freedom. My chest tightened at the thought, and I found myself even more captivated by her. I lowered my mouth to her forehead, gently kissing her, but she didn’t budge. The night had taken its toll on her, and I decided to let her sleep. I carefully eased out of bed, trying my best not to disturb her as I got dressed and left to find Gus. Just as I stepped into the hall, Blaze called out to me.

“Gus just called us all into church.”

Curious why he’d call us in at this hour, I asked, “Something going on?”

“Yeah, but won’t know what it is until we get down there.”

“Damn.”

When we got down to the conference room, Gus and Moose were already sitting down, and they watched as the rest of us quickly filtered into the room. As soon as we were settled, Gus stood up and said, “I know you all have been anxious to hear what’s been going on, but I wanted to wait until I had all the facts before I brought you all together. That’s no longer an option, so I’ll tell you everything we know thus far.”

Gus spent the next twenty minutes updating the brothers on everything we’d learned about Navarro. The tension in the room crackled around us as he explained his connection to the Culebras, and his reasons for sending them here. Emotions were running high as we all thought back to Runt and Lowball’s death which only ran higher when Gus announced, “You all know that he used Jasper to take out four of our men, and while that’s bad enough in itself, we’ve recently discovered that he’s stepping up his game.”

“How’s he doing that?” Gunner asked.

“He tried hacking into our database … but Riggs managed to side rail him by setting up dummy accounts that we can use to send him fabricated intel.”

Gunner smirked as he said, “That a boy, Riggs.”

“Don’t start celebrating just yet, Gunner. Turns out Navarro was able to put a tracking device on one of our SUVs, and from what we can tell, he’s been tailing us for weeks … even more. To make matters worse, if he was tracking our last run, there’s a possibility that he’s monitoring Ronin as well.”

“Fuck,” Murphy growled. “How in the hell did he find out about him?”

Ronin was our main distributor, and he was an invaluable asset when it came to our pipeline. Once we gathered the shipments from the other clubs, it was up to us to deliver the goods to him in Baton Rouge. As soon as we got everything to him, he’d load it on one of his barges and make sure they got to their final destination. The fact that Navarro might have managed to get intel on our connection with Ronin was a huge hit to the pipeline. It was clear that Gus was concerned when he said, “I’ve got no idea, but I intend to find out.”

Tank asked, “So, how are we planning to take this motherfucker down?”

“I’ll tell ya, it’s not gonna be easy with this guy, but we might just have the upper hand.” He turned and looked at me as he said, “Turns out he’s got a daughter—Alejandra Navarro. The story is she ran away from home eight years ago, and since then, he’s been searching for her. It just so happens that we found her first.”

My back stiffened when Blaze asked, “We gonna use her to draw him out?”

“I wish it was that simple.” He let out a deep breath as he explained, “It just so happens that Alejandra changed her name to Alex Carpenter and has been living here in Memphis. Some of you already know that she has a connection with Shadow, and when trouble came knocking at her door, he brought her over to the clubhouse for our protection.”

“He also brought one of Navarro’s men along with her. He might be able to give us some additional intel on Navarro,” Gunner suggested.

“Absolutely.”

“Have you spoken with the daughter?”

“We have, and she’s willing to do whatever she can to help us.”

“If she’s willing to help us out, then what’s the problem?” Blaze pushed.

“The problem is me,” I growled. “I protect what’s mine, and I’m not putting her in danger.”

Knowing her stance on the matter, Riggs argued, “And what does she have to say about it?”

“It doesn’t fucking matter what she says. There’s no way in hell I’m going to put her in jeopardy.”

“Ease there, brother. You gotta have a little more faith in us than that. We can use her without putting her life in jeopardy, Shadow,” Blaze argued.

“If you can guarantee me that she won’t get hurt … that he won’t touch a hair on her head, then and only then will I agree to use her.”

“Consider it done,” Gus announced. “We won’t pursue this until we can come up with a plan we can all agree on.”

“I’m good with that.” I thought back to Jasper and asked, “What do you want to do with Jasper and the others.”

“They knew what they were doing when they went against Fury,” he growled. “I say end ‘em.”

I couldn’t agree more, so I answered, “Consider it done.”

“What about the run?” Gauge asked. “We gonna hold off until we track down Navarro?”

“I’ll talk to Cotton, but consider the run still on. I think it’s time to turn the tables on Navarro and give him a taste of Satan’s Fury.”

As soon as we were dismissed, everyone dispersed, going in their own direction as they considered everything they’d just been told about Navarro. Over the next few days, he became the main topic of all our conversations, and every time his name was mentioned, I found myself becoming more and more wound up, especially if Alex’s name was brought into the discussion. I wanted to do everything I could to protect her, and as I climbed into bed with her each night, I found that feeling growing stronger. When I was close to her, the demons that raged inside of me were silent, including the nightmares. For several nights they hadn’t come, and for the first time in years, I’d been able to sleep without the memories of my past gnawing at me to remember the things I wanted to forget. Unfortunately, the peace was short lived. With all the talk of Navarro, I found myself seeping into the darkness, and after a long, excruciating day at the garage, I was beyond exhausted. I crawled in the bed next to Alex, and I’d only been lying there a few moments when I felt a feeling of dread wash over me.

I’d been living in the Ridley house for just over four years, and I was feeling completely defeated. I’d tried telling Mrs. Haliburton what was going on with the Ridleys many times, but she never believed me. The other kids in the house, including Michele, always denied that anything was going on, and when I tried telling my teachers at school, they’d just end up telling Mr. Ridley what I’d said, causing him to lose his mind and beat the hell out of me as soon as we were alone. I’d finally given up on getting help and decided to accept my fate, but it wasn’t easy, especially when I knew what he was doing to Michele. I wanted to find a way to make it stop, but any time I tried to intervene, I only made things worse.

I was sprawled out on my bed, staring at the ceiling, when I heard the familiar sound of his footsteps creeping up the stairs. My entire body grew tense when I heard him open Michele’s door. Everything stilled around me as I rolled to my side and tried not to think about what was going on, but when I heard a strange thud, I found myself climbing out of bed. I walked over to my doorway and froze. As I stood there, I thought about how much I hated what was happening, and rage started building inside of me. I couldn’t take it anymore. I was determined to end this once and for all, and I charged towards Michele’s room and slammed my shoulder into the door, causing it to burst open.

Mr. Ridley was on top of Michele and had her hands pinned down at her side, and I nearly gagged at the sight. When he finally realized what I’d done, he sprang off of her and rushed towards me. “You’ve got some nerve coming in here again. You’re done, boy!”

I ducked when he took a swing at me and plowed my fist into his stomach, causing him to stumble backwards. “I won’t let you hurt her anymore!”

Once he regained his footing, he charged at me again, this time slamming his shoulder into my chest as he pinned me against the wall. Even though I’d grown bigger and much stronger over the past few years, he still had a good hundred pounds on me, making it difficult to break free from his hold. “I don’t know why I didn’t end you a long time ago.”

With his hand clenched firmly into a fist, he nailed me in the ribs, over and over again. He had me in a position where I could barely move, so I did the only thing I could. I reared back and crashed my head right into his nose, causing him to flail back. When his hands reached up for his nose, I rushed towards him, wrapping my arms around his waist as I tried to tackle him to the ground, but my efforts were in vain. I couldn’t get him off his feet, and in a matter of seconds, he was back on me. Hoping that she might be able to help, Michele came up behind him, tugging at his arm, as she cried, “Please, just stop. Leave him alone.”

Ridley threw up his arm, shoving her out of the way. She stumbled, and with her hands extended in my direction, she fell backwards, hitting her head firmly against her bedside table before collapsing on the floor. There was something about the way her body fell limp that didn’t seem right, and I knew I had to get to her. Once I broke from Ridley’s grasp, I rushed over to Michele. Her eyes were open, but she didn’t acknowledge me as knelt down beside her. I reached for her, but stopped when I saw the blood pooling around her head. My heart started pounding in my chest so loudly that I couldn’t hear anything else. I knew it was bad, but I just couldn’t make myself believe it. I gently shook her, hoping for some kind of response, but got nothing.

She was gone.