My phone went off early in the morning. When I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock, it flashed the time, six fifteen, in blue light. I groaned and dragged my hand down my face as I fumbled around for my phone on my nightstand.

I remembered it wasn’t there. It was in the pocket of my jeans somewhere on the floor. I pulled the covers off slowly and slipped out of bed so as not to disturb Evelyn. She’d rolled over at some point in the night and was curled up facing the other way. She took up such a small portion of the bed, I hadn't even felt her when I first woke up.

I found my jeans and rummaged through the pockets for my phone. I pulled it out and saw that I had four missed calls from Warren. “Damn it.”

I padded out down the hall into the living room and called him back. “Sorry, I was—”

“I don’t have time,” Warren said. “Can you meet me in an hour? Our spot? I have shit you need to know. Come alone.”

“I’ll be there. Are you safe?”

Warren hung up the phone.

The call left me wide awake. I had an hour to get prepared to meet up with him. I padded back into the bedroom and past the bed into the bathroom, where I pissed and took a quick shower. When I came out of the bathroom, Evelyn was rolling over and rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Is everything okay?” she asked. Her voice was thick with fatigue.

“Yes. Go back to sleep, baby.” I stepped into a clean pair of jeans and did a little jump to pull them up. I could feel her eyes on me as I zipped up the fly and did up the button.

“Are you sure? Where are you going?”

“I have to meet someone. MC business. I won’t be gone long.”

She pushed herself up and didn’t bother to pull the blankets with her. They fell around her waist. I wanted to go to her and bury my face between her perfect tits, but I couldn’t. She watched me go to the closet and throw on a shirt. “Derek … I can tell something is wrong. If this is going to keep happening between us, I need to know what’s going on. I can’t be in the dark. It’s scarier than knowing.”

This gave me pause. I opened my mouth and closed it again.

“Derek,” she said a little more firmly. “I mean it. It’s all in or not in at all with me.”

Damn. She could play hardball. I sighed and went to the edge of the bed. I sat down and took her hand in mine. “This is my life, all right? Early mornings and dangerous calls. I have to go meet up with my old employer. He has information about The Hand, and at this point, I’ll take anything I can get. Jason is depending on it.”

“You’re going alone?”

“I was told specifically to.”

“So?”

“This isn’t a movie, baby. This is real life. Sometimes, you have to obey the orders. If you don’t, you could end up dead. For the first time, I care about staying alive. I’ll come back to you. I promise.”

“You’d better. Because I’m really starting to care about you, Derek.”

I gave her a sweet kiss. “Go back to sleep. I’ll be back up with hot coffees and breakfast before you wake. Deal?”

She gave me one of her trademark smiles. “Deal.”

Warren was sitting at our usual park bench when I arrived just after seven o’clock in the morning. The park was empty except for a few pigeons pecking at the ground beneath an old tree. I crossed the open field to join Warren at the bench.

He didn’t look over at me. “You’re late.”

“I’m not,” I said smoothly.

“I said an hour.”

“It’s been fifty-six minutes,” I snapped. I was in no mood for games. “You better have called me here for a good reason, Warren. My plate is full enough without you yanking my chain. Do you have information for me or not?”

He looked at me. There was something in his eyes that set me on edge. “Jason Moretti is working for him.”

“That’s not news to me,” I said slowly. Why was my gut clenched like this? Why did I feel so uneasy all of a sudden?

I turned sharply and looked over my shoulder.

Four men had appeared from what felt like thin air. They were dressed in simple black suits and all had the same buzz cut. I nodded knowingly and looked slowly back to Warren, who was looking down at his hands. “So, that’s how it’s gonna be?” I asked.

Warren didn’t answer me.

“You cowardly piece of fucking shit,” I snarled.

He leaned away from me. “There are people in this life who you don’t say no to, Derek. I’m sorry it has to end this way.”

End this way? “Fuck you, too, Warren.”

The men behind me moved in. I stood from the bench and spun to face them. This wasn’t how I was going to go out. Not after everything. I’d been through hell and back and lived to tell the tale. Four goons and a crime boss were not going to get the credit for killing Derek Baxter.

I clenched my fists. “Come on, you bastards. Let’s see what you’re made of.”

None of them said a damn thing as they moved around the bench. Warren never moved a muscle. He just sat there, hands fidgeting in his lap, watching me with cold eyes. I detected a hint of regret in him. He didn’t want to do this, but like Jason, he was backed into a corner. Why did everyone fear The Hand so much? Was I that blind to how big of a threat he was?

Sure, he was a powerful guy, but he was just a man. He had weaknesses. He’d die if he was poked with something sharp just like the rest of us.

The first man came for me in a succession of rapid punches. They came, one after the other, and he never lost momentum as he pushed me back, step after step, as I tried to catch a break in his defenses.

I spotted one and went for it. I struck out and landed a punch to his shoulder. He, unfortunately, connected a hit with my jaw.

I growled and stumbled back. He was pushed back a couple of paces, too, but he had the advantage of reinforcements. The other three closed in on me. Fuckers.

One drove his knee up to my ribs. I blocked him with my forearms and pushed his leg down before driving my elbow into his gut. He doubled over, and I slammed my elbow into the back of his neck. He fell face-first on the grass at my feet as one of the others attacked me from behind.

He landed three quick hits to my ribs. I grimaced and leaned over to protect my side and then kicked out at him. I connected with something solid that cracked. He let out a wail and crumpled sideways. I assumed by the way he was kneeling with one leg stretched outward that I’d kicked him in the knee.

“That’s a bitch,” I snarled before decking him right in the nose.

Apparently, I’d used up all of my luck by that point. The first guy who’d attacked had circled around behind me. He managed to get me in a chokehold and kicked my legs out from under me. He didn’t loosen his grip when I fell to my knees. He tightened it, cutting off my air supply.

The last man stood over me, watching, expressionless, as little stars burst behind my eyelids.

It couldn’t end this way. It just couldn’t. I had Evelyn sleeping in my bed at home. I’d promised I’d get to her. Now that I finally had something worth living for, everything was going to be taken away.

I squeezed my eyes closed against the burning in my lungs. I tried to shake the guy off me, but his hold was precise. There were no weaknesses in it. I had only one move left, which was to fall to my back and try to force him to let go.

As I prepared to do so, the man in front of me toppled sideways.

I thought, for a moment, that I was just seeing things due to a lack of air to my brain. But then, someone appeared before me who was not dressed in a black suit. He wore blue jeans and a plaid shirt. He looked incredibly familiar, someone I hadn’t seen in a long, long time.

“Rhys?” I asked. My voice was barely more than a whisper, and it crackled.

Then, the man behind me let go and the man in plaid went after him. I pitched forward and braced myself with my hands. I clutched at my burning throat and stumbled clumsily to my feet to watch as my savior unleashed his fury on the men who had tried to kill me.

Warren, in all his useless glory, remained motionless on the bench. He knew running was futile. I’d have caught up with him.

I rushed over to him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “You think you can betray me like that and get away with it?” I snarled.

Rhys came up beside me and grabbed my shoulder.

“What?” I yelled, spinning to face him.

He retreated a step and held up his hands. “Derek, it’s me. Calm down.”

“I know it’s you,” I seethed.

Rhys had grown up with me in this city, and we’d gone our separate ways when things got a little too dicey for him working for Warren. He’d up and left in the middle of a job and slipped away, leaving me to clean up his mess. Rhys grimaced.

“I know you’re probably still pissed at me—”

“Probably?”

“Hear me out,” Rhys said. “I came back because I heard Isaac Reed had a hit out on you.”

“And who the fuck is Isaac Reed?” I hissed. Warren’s shirt was still wrapped up in my fist, and he was looking back and forth between me and Rhys.

Rhys sighed. “The Hand, you dumbass.”

“You know his name?” I asked, straightening and letting go of Warren.

“Yeah. Among other things. He and I have had dealings in the past. Similar to what you and your boys are going through right now. I thought I could come back and help,” Rhys said.

This was too much information for me to process all at once. I glared down at Warren, who shrank away from my stare. He held up his hands, and I could see that they were shaking. “I’m sorry, Derek. I’m sorry. I had to. Otherwise, he was going to hurt someone I cared about. You understand. I couldn’t let that happen. It had to be someone else.”

“Someone else?” I asked.

Warren’s eyes widened. He’d said too much.

I grabbed hold of his shirt again and yanked him to his feet. He whimpered as he dangled uselessly in my grasp. “What do you mean, someone else?” I roared.

Warren stammered. “A-a girl. He said he had a score to settle with a girl.”