As I drove down the street, away from Cassidy for the last time, I felt so much worse. I shouldn’t have even gone to see her, but I hoped it was the closure she needed. It sure as shit wasn’t the closure I had wanted, but my feelings and desires didn’t matter.

I wanted nothing more than to rip Cass away from everything she knew and make her my old lady. I wanted her riding down the gravel road on the back of my bike. I wanted her name tattooed on my forearm in the one empty spot I’d left blank, just for her. I wanted to make love to her again in the back of the Bronco under the stars in the middle of an empty field wrapped in blankets on a cold fall night, but I couldn’t have anything I wanted because her happiness and wellbeing needed to come first.

Walking up the front porch steps, I sat next to Ryder while he rocked his sleeping baby in his arms. “Rough night?” he asked, looking over at me.

“One hell of a goodbye.” I cracked my neck.

“If she’s the one, then you’re an idiot.” Ryder laughed a little as he kissed his son’s forehead. “I tried to walk away from Raine once—didn’t stick. She’s the only thing that truly matters to me in this whole damn world.”

“You’re one of the lucky ones, brother. Not all of us can have everything and still wear that cut.”

“If you say so, brother. See you in a few hours.” He got up and went into the house.

The plan was in motion, the trucks were loaded, the guys were ready—it was do-or-die time. I gripped the steering wheel of Cameron’s Bronco, riding her down the highway to battle. Mac was quiet in the passenger’s seat.

We were just down the road from our exit.

“Time to check in with the others,” I instructed.

After calling the other three groups and confirming that we were all in place, Mac and I tossed our burners out the window.

“Ready?” Mac’s sneer lit up his face before he covered it with his black mask.

“For Abel,” I whispered as I shoved my hunting knife down into my boot.

I looked through the night vision goggles and saw there was only one lookout around the back. We knew the house had six men in it, and I was ready to take all of them out in one fell swoop.

“You take the back, one guard. I’ll head into the front and do some damage.”

“Aye, brother.” Mac hopped out of the passenger’s seat and grabbed our duffle bag from under the bench seat in the back.

Blanketed in darkness, Mac and I moved like a tactical team with our MP5 A3s at the ready. Mac skirted around the side of the house and I heard a quick shot. The largest grin was plastered on my face. One down.

With the collapsible stock resting in the crook of my shoulder, I kicked in the front door. Five Sinners were already leaping to their feet to see what the sound was.

“Surprise boys!” I yelled over the sound of bullets exploding from the barrel of my machine gun. The peppering shot through their chests and heads as all five bodies fell to the floor.

I walked over them, kicking each lifeless corpse to make sure they were not just playing opossum.

“Fuck yes!” Mac called from the back door.

Right as he was about to rip his mask off, I spotted a camera. “Mac! No!” I pointed above his head and he trotted over to stand next to me.

“Good call man.” He was breathing heavy, his gun hanging to his side.

“This was almost too easy,” I remarked, walking through the house. It was empty. The six had been sitting ducks, the two of us able to take them down instantly. I knew we had planned it this way, that it was supposed to be handled like this, but it just felt like something was off. Deep in my gut, it gnawed at me.

“Ax, we did it. It fucking worked like a damn charm.” Mac was following me around the house, backing me up while I triple-checked every door, all the closets and under each bed.

I got back into the Bronco, pulled a new burner out of the glove box, and called Buck.

“Done. Have the others checked in?”

His gruff voice came through quickly. “All are accounted for. All is good. See you when y’all get back into town.”