The beeping of a monitor was the first thing I heard when I groggily tried to open my eyes. Suddenly, it all started to come back to me. The sight of my father motionless, covered in blood in the back of the van slapped me across my face as my chest tightened.

“Oh my God! Dad!” I screamed as sobbing took over my entire body.

Ryder’s soft voice came from my bedside. “Hey baby.”

He grabbed my hand and I gripped back with as much force as I could. “Tell me it was all a nightmare. Please, Ryder. This cannot be real life.” He stayed quiet, and I forced my stinging eyes to open. “Ryder, please don’t go silent on me now.”

“I am so sorry, Raine. It was a trap.” His head fell onto our clutched hands. “Your father was the target all along.”

His words weren’t registering. “What do you mean? How was it a trap?”

He scooted his chair a little closer. “You were bait to lure us to that warehouse. Abel was the target all along and we walked right into it like fucking idiots. But we didn’t know. There was no way to know. We assumed that they kidnapped you as revenge for a deal that went wrong. We had no way of knowing that killing Abel was their ultimate goal the entire time.”

“That’s why they didn’t hurt me?” My eyes searched Ryder’s as he nodded. I kicked my feet and flailed my arms around as the pain of losing my father took complete control of me.

“Raine, sweetheart, you have to calm down.” Ryder put his hand on my cheek as I gasped for air. “You’re still pregnant and the doctor said that with the stress of everything you have been through, it is a miracle that our little peanut of a kid is still hanging on.”

I started taking in sharp breaths. I couldn’t believe it. After all of it, in the first trimester, there was no way that was true, but it was.

“Crickett? Collin?” I asked Ryder.

“They’re at home. I told them I wanted it to just be us when you woke up,” he said while brushing my hair away from my face.

“Are they okay?” My heart was breaking even more thinking about how the rest of my family was handling all of this.

Ryder tried to smile. “They’re just happy you’re all right. They’ll be on their way soon.”

When the nurse came in to check on Raine, I slipped out into the hallway to call my dad.

“Hey son.” Holt’s gruff voice came through the line quickly.

“Raine just woke up. She’s doing well.”

I could hear Crickett yell, “What about the baby?”

“Tell her the baby is fine as well.”

“Glad to hear it, Ryder. We’ll head your way now.”

“Any word from Bear about the bikes?” I asked before letting my old man hang up.

“They’re already at the shop and fine. I have one of the prospects checking them out for a third time just to be on the safe side.”

“Thanks.”

With everything that had happened, I was beyond paranoid that someone was out to get all of us. I knew I was probably just overreacting, but one death in the family was all I could take right then.

It didn’t take long for Crickett, Collin, and Holt to join us.

“Hey sweetie.” Crickett tried her best to put on a brave face, but it only lasted seconds. I stood in the corner as I watched Crickett climb into bed with Raine. They sobbed together for a least an hour as the three of us stood quietly

I wanted to comfort Collin, but I had no idea where to even begin. Finally, he broke the silence. “At least he went out fighting for our family.” Collin sank down into a chair as his body started shaking.

Holt put his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t hold it in. There’s no shame in letting your emotions out.”

“Dad was the first to say that the life we live is dangerous. I just never thought that it would be him. I always thought that my old man was fucking invincible.” Collin was choking on his words, staring down at the floor.

“None of us are invincible but Abel would tell us to never fear the reaper. He would be sitting here proud of us for saving Raine, not upset because there was a casualty. War has casualties. It’s just a bitter fact about our lives.” Holt was right, but it didn’t matter. Nothing was going to make the situation all right.

We were all grieving. We were together and we were family, but we were missing our heartbeat. Abel had been our guiding light, our core, and it was gone. I didn’t know what to do. He had always directed us, protected us, known the answer. Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

* * *

Raine spent a few days in the hospital and I didn’t leave her side for one second. Crickett brought me changes of clothes and took turns with Collin and Holt, keeping us company.

The bar and the garage were both closed for business while we all dealt with what we had to. My dad was doing his best to keep everyone in the club calm, but people were freaked out and worried. I couldn’t blame them, but the threat was gone. The Sinners had gotten what they wanted, so there was no more reason to be concerned.

“Ryder, that was our turn,” Raine remarked as I passed the street for our house.

“We’re going to be staying at your dad’s place for a bit. Crickett doesn’t want to be alone right now, and I think it will be the best for you too.”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know if I can go in there.”

I put my hand over hers. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I can have Crickett and Collin come to our place.”

She shook her head. “If Crickett needs us there then it is only right that we respect her wishes. Dad would have wanted us to all be in that house anyway.”

We sat in the driveway in silence for a few minutes as Raine stared at her childhood home. “Did you know my mom and grandma were murdered here by my grandfather?”

I knew the general story of what had happened to Raine’s family when she was a baby, but I didn’t know the smaller details like that. “Abel left that part out when he explained things to me.”

Raine laughed. “He didn’t tell me either. I figured it out.” She blinked a few times before continuing, “How did Rave and Abel stay here after something so tragic?”

“Memories,” I answered. “All the wonderful memories they had there. You can’t let one tragedy define anything, not even a home.”

“Explain,” she commanded.

“Think about it, Raine. You had your first steps in this house. Abel probably snuck out of his bedroom window when he was a teenager to go meet up with your mom. All the family Christmases, birthdays, laughter, happiness—it all was contained in these four walls. It probably made him feel better knowing he would have all those memories with you as you grew up.”

“We should move back in,” she stated.

I shifted in my seat to look at her more directly. “Are you sure?” The thought of all the money we had dumped into our home renovations was a little overwhelming, but I wasn’t going to fight her on this. Wherever Raine wanted to live was fine with me as long as I was by her side.

“No…I don’t know. It could just be the hormones. Fuck if I know.” She threw her hands in the air before yanking them through her long dark curls.

“How ’bout we don’t make any rash decisions right now? Let’s just take this one day at a time.”

She gave me a weak smile. “Sounds like a plan to me.”