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There was no love lost between Ghost and me. Jethro had seen to that. He’d played us off from the very beginning, but by the time I’d figured that out, too much water was under the bridge for us to ever go back. Ghost had always eyed the Storm presidency, believing it should have been his. Jethro had other ideas. He marked the position as mine early on, and once Ghost worked that out, he’d gone out of his way to fuck with me. Ivy and Jen had been caught in the crossfire, but again, I hadn’t learnt of that until it was too late.

Ghost had targeted them because Jethro told him to. Jethro had told a few club members to harass both of my women, but the difference with Ghost was that he’d taken it all a step further and tried to force himself on them simply because of his grudge against me. I’d never forgive him for that.

Sitting across from him at the jail later that day, it took a lot of fucking control not to reach across the damn table and choke the life out of him. After my last visit, I’d intended never to return.

“Spit it out, Ghost. Why are we here?” I demanded. “Have the feds come back?”

He shook his head. “No, not the feds.” He paused for a moment, almost as if he was still deciding whether to share his information with us. Finally he said, “Tony Romano paid me a visit, and since all he spoke about was you, I figured you’d want to know.”

“What the fuck?” Hyde muttered, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table.

I was as confused as Hyde. It made no sense. “What did he want?”

Ghost’s smile was one of victory. He squared his shoulders. “I thought you might ask that, but if you think I’ll just hand that kind of information over without getting something in return, you’re mistaken.”

Fucking Ghost. I’d known this was a fucking ambush when Hyde had said Ghost would only talk to me. “You wanna stay a member of Storm, you need to get that mouth moving, Ghost. That’s the only fucking thing up for negotiation here.”

Ghost’s smile disappeared and hatred blared from his eyes. “At this fucking point, King, I couldn’t give a fuck if you kick me out of the club. The only thing important to me is getting the fuck out of here. You make that happen and I’ll give you whatever information you want.”

“I’ve already got shit happening towards your release.”

“And we both know you could be doing more. Stop dragging your feet and make this happen within the next couple of weeks.”

He was right—I was dragging my feet. Helping Ghost get out of here was the last thing I wanted to do, but I’d given him my word, and I never went back on that. Not even when it was given to someone I despised.

“Done.” I leant forward, my eyes boring into his. “Now start fucking talking and don’t stop until you give me everything. I find out you skipped some shit, your release gets pushed back as far as I can make that happen.”

Ghost’s eyes flashed with the same hatred mine did. “And if you don’t get shit done in a few weeks, I’ll find a way to fuck you over.”

Jesus, the motherfucker had a death wish. “Talk!” I barked, coasting close to my threshold of control.

His lips pulled up in a snarl, but he finally spilt what he knew. “Romano wants you dead, and he wants Storm wiped off the map. He has a wealth of knowledge about Storm’s drug trade, who you buy weapons off, the shit Jethro was into…. Fuck, I don’t know how the hell he knows this shit, but I’m telling you, if he went to the cops with any of this, every member of the club would go to prison. He even knows about Moses.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Hyde said, echoing my own thoughts. We have a rat in the club. “What did he want with you?”

“He offered me half a mill to turn on the club. Wants me to go to the cops with what I know.”

“You expect us to believe you’d turn down that kind of cash? To help me?” I said.

“Not to help you, King, but to help the club.”

“Bullshit.”

The hatred in his eyes flared again. “It’s not bullshit. Fuck, think about it. Why would I call you here and tell you this shit if I was gonna take the cash? I’d just fucking take it, talk to the cops and never look back if that was my choice.”

My mind worked as fast as it could to come up with scenarios of how this could all play out, but with all the shit in there, it was a battle I was losing. Ghost had a point, but I still had my doubts.

“If I choose to believe you and you fuck us over, there’s no coming back from that, Ghost. Not for you and not for your sister.”

“Look,” he snapped, agitation getting the best of him, “I’ve always been loyal to the club and I don’t intend to change that. Best I can figure, Romano is fucking insane. I’ve got enough insanity to deal with in you. I don’t wanna get into bed with another crazy asshole.”

“What else did he say?” I pushed. “Nothing you’ve told us helps us in any way. We already knew Romano was coming after the club.”

He contemplated that for a moment. “Now who’s speaking shit?”

“What else?” Hyde almost bellowed. By the looks of him, he was as close to losing his shit as I was.

Ghost scowled at him. “Ivy is the key to all of this. He’s fucking obsessed with her. You get to her and you’ll get to Romano.”

“See now that’s where your info is fucked up, Ghost. We have her and she’s telling us jack,” I said.

Ghost’s eyes met mine again, a flicker of confusion in them now. “She’s with you? And Tony hasn’t turned up looking for her? I find that hard to believe.”

“He’s disappeared,” Hyde said. “Dropped off the radar to avoid the cops who raided him two days ago.”

“And Ivy has left Tony,” I added.

Ghost’s confusion grew, and he frowned. “I don’t see any of that happening. Not from what Tony said the other day. For one, I got the impression he’s in with the cops, and two, I don’t think he’d ever allow Ivy to leave him. I’m telling you, he’s consumed by her. If anyone could cause Tony Romano to fall, it’d be Ivy. She’d be enough for him to not go into hiding from the cops because all he’d be able to think about would be getting her back.”

Fuck.

I glanced at Hyde. “What do you make of all this, brother?”

“We need to head back to the clubhouse and go over it all. Pull Devil and Kick in on it and get their take on it. Bronze too.”

“You also need to work on my release,” Ghost said.

I eyed him. “I have a job for you before that happens.” I detailed the club’s problem with Marx and told Ghost to find someone to fix that problem.

He nodded. “I may already have someone in mind.”

I stood. “Good. Hyde’ll be in touch. Until then, sit tight and call us if you come across anything else.”

As we left the prison, Hyde looked at me with determination. “I’m going to talk to Ivy.”

My reaction surprised me. He’d wanted to talk to her the other day, too, but I didn’t want to inflict him on Ivy. It was a gut-deep response. Hyde interrogated people the same way he took to them with his fists—he was savage and ruthless in his quest to extract information. As much as my head screamed yes to this, every fibre of my being refused to agree.

“No.”

“You sure about that, brother? She could be our best bet to find Romano.”

“No.”

“You’re too close to this. I might get more from her.”

Fuck. “No.”

“King, think with your head and not your dick.”

He was a stubborn fucking bastard. He wouldn’t let this go. “I’m not thinking with my fucking dick, brother.” Or was I? I scrubbed my hand over my face. Jesus fucking Christ. “Just don’t fucking hurt her.”

His stubborn side showed itself. “If she has info the club needs, I’ll go down swinging to get it.”

No fucking way would I allow him to harm her. “I want in that room.”

“King,” his voice hardened, “you’re not setting foot in that room. I don’t give a fuck if I have to knock you out, I’m questioning her, and I’ll do whatever it takes to save our club.”

Fuck.

Shit was spiralling.

And I couldn’t fucking stop it.

I felt ripped apart by my allegiances. I’d loved Ivy for a long time. Could I allow her to become caught up in this? Would I allow Hyde to do whatever it took to get her to talk?

Had I fallen that far down the fucking black hole that I no longer cared what happened to her?

I exhaled a harsh breath and met Hyde’s gaze. “Just get it done. I don’t want to fucking know the details.”