My upbringing may not have been perfect, but it’s all I know and I’ve always been proud to ride. I’ve seen my share of broken halos but there has never been a time in my life where I wished I was cut from a different cloth. Even after everything that happened in Arlington, I didn’t want to be anything more than what I was. I’ve never wished for more than leather.

Until today.

Until Ally lumped me into the same category as the men who ruined her. She doesn’t know she’s free or that the last twelve years of her life are over. In her tortured mind, she believes the torment will continue. She doesn’t know the Satan’s Knights of Brooklyn aren’t about that life. Ally sees the reaper on our backs and thinks we’re all like Rush. She doesn’t know that heart is the foundation of this charter or that every man with Brooklyn embroidered to their leathers has now vowed to serve and protect her.

She’s not just property of Parrish.

She’s more.

She’s the face of every lost child who never found their way back home.

The door next to me opens, pulling me away from my thoughts and I turn my head a fraction to watch Wolf slide in beside me.

“Fuck me,” he grunts.

“I’ll pass,” I mutter as he pulls a cigarette out of his pack with his teeth and flips me the bird. “Should you be smoking? You just had a fucking heart attack.”

“Remind me why we didn’t leave you in Albany?”

“I think our plates are full, man. Not sure if we can add a funeral to the fucking mix.”

“Then it’s a damn good thing I ain’t dying, yeah?”

Realizing I’m not going to win, that Wolf is his own judge and jury, I grab the pack of cigarettes and take one for myself.

“How you feeling? I thought you would’ve gone up there yourself to deliver Cobra’s little girl to her mama,” he says.

Blowing out a ring of smoke, I consider his words. I’ve become tight with Cobra since we started staying at the motel. I got to know his girl, Celeste, real well too. Well enough that they both trusted me to take care of their little girl. Cobra gave me his most prized possession and in ten minutes I got her kidnapped.

“As long as she’s where she belongs that’s enough,” I tell him finally.

A scream sounds causing both of us to turn our attention to the three-story house.

“What the fuck happened now?”

“That was Celeste,” I growl, throwing the cigarette out the window as I reach for the handle of the door.

“Jesus, fuck,” Wolf grunts. “Don’t worry about the fucking cigarettes killing me, at this rate it’s going to be Cobra and his whole fucking clan,” he says as he climbs out of the truck.

Before either of us can get out of the car, the front door opens and our brothers race down the stairs with Celeste and Ally in tow.

“What the fuck, Parrish?” Wolf calls.

“Cobra’s at the pier making a play on Yankovich,” Jack shouts as he throws his leg over his bike.

“Shit,” I hiss. “He’s going to get himself fucking killed because he thinks Yankovich has Skylar.”

“Don’t let those two out of the car,” Blackie orders, pointing to Celeste and Ally as he revs his engine. I turn around and watch as Celeste pushes a disgruntled Ally into the back seat.

“Wolf, get in the car,” Celeste shrieks.

“Blondie,” I start, trying to calm her but she keeps her eyes pinned on Wolf.

“Do I have to remind you I changed your fucking catheter?” she shrieks, digging her finger into his chest. “Drive the fucking car, Wolf.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replies, sliding into the car.

I barely make it into the passenger seat before he starts to peel away from the curb. Pain shoots through me as he swerves in and out of traffic and I fall forward against the dashboard.

“Shit, sorry, man,” he mutters.

“Just fucking drive,” I grind out.

“He’s going to be okay, right? Deuce, I need you to tell me Jagger is going to be okay,” Celeste pleads with me from the back seat.

Bracing one hand on the dash, I lean back and glance over my shoulder.

“There ain’t no way in hell that man is going to dip out on you and that little girl,” I promise.

“He doesn’t know Skylar’s safe,” she cries, turning to Ally. “God, he needs to see his sister.”

Turning my gaze to Ally, I watch as she closes her eyes. Her nails dig into her skin as she relentlessly scratches until she draws blood. The girl is a mess and has officially disconnected from life. Not that I blame her, in the last twenty-four hours she’s witnessed a murder and started withdrawing. While the world she’s been a part of for the last twelve years may have been full of shit, it’s all she knows. Now, she’s sitting next to a woman she used to call her best friend and is about to see her twin brother for the first time in twelve years.

I only pray we’re not too late and he’s still breathing when we get there.

“Open the glove box,” Wolf orders. “Grab the gun and stay in the car with girls.”

“I’m not staying in the car,” I argue. “If that motherfucker is waging a war then I’m all in.”

“You can barely fucking walk,” he reminds me. “Now, boy, don’t fuck with me. I’m dead on my ass and hungry as fuck. You stay with the girls and let the rest of us do our jobs,” he barks, pulling into the shipping yard.

“Holy shit,” he hisses as he pulls the truck to an abrupt stop and we stare straight ahead.

If you ask any of us with a patch, we’ll tell you there isn’t a thing in this world that surprises us anymore. We’ve seen the shit you fear and have committed some pretty heinous crimes. We’ve all sacrificed our morals and pissed on our beliefs, but I’m certain none of us have crucified ourselves to the cross quite like Cobra is about to.

I suppose that’s what happens when you’ve spent your life looking for answers, desperate for a way to make things right. I suppose it’s what happens to a man when he’s lost everyone he’s ever cared about and thinks he’s the only survivor. I guess you hold nothing back and surrender when you’ve truly found yourself at the end of the line.

That’s my final thought before Wolf jumps out of the truck and starts running behind Jack, Blackie, Riggs and Stryker. Their boots pound the wooden dock in pursuit of Cobra who strips his cut and throws it on the ground.

Locked and loaded, he strides down the pier, shooting at Yankovich’s men with no regard.

No regard for their lives.

No regard for his.

No regard for anything.

Suddenly, Celeste gets out of the car and runs toward them. By the time I grab the gun and get my ass out of the truck, Ally is following her.

Celeste screams as Yankovich’s men fire back at Cobra and she starts running toward the chaos. No one stops and thinks of themselves as we all, including Ally, charge toward Cobra and the stand-off he’s having.

Then the wind changes.

“Riggs, press the fucking button,” Blackie bellows.

Apparently, Jack was anticipating the second shipment on the docks and had ordered Riggs to wire the containers and blow Yankovich’s shit to smithereens. The only way out of this war is to detonate the explosion, but fucking Cobra thinks his daughter is in that goddamn container.

“Cobra, get down,” Riggs shouts.

“Do it now,” Blackie commands.

“No,” Cobra screams, dropping his guns to the floor. Spreading his arms wide, he closes his eyes and drops to his knees, offering himself to Satan. Bullets swirl through the thick fog, piercing his flesh.

The shouting stops.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As Cobra’s scream vibrates through our souls, Riggs presses the button. A blast sounds at the end of the dock, lighting up the sky in hues of orange and red.

“No!” Celeste shouts.

“Jagger,” Ally cries.

I try to chase them, but in my condition, I’m no match for the two women running toward him and they reach his body before I can stop them. Celeste reaches him first. Falling to her knees, she cries and begs him not to leave her.

“I’m sorry…” he rasps. “I…couldn’t…save—”

“She’s okay,” Celeste interrupts. “She’s safe, baby. She’s home. Jack brought her home. Did you hear me? Skylar’s safe, it’s over, Jagger. There’s nothing left to fight except for your life so you can watch her grow up, so you can be there for her and this baby. Please. Please don’t leave me.”

Stopping in her tracks, Ally stands a few feet away from her brother, trembling as she watches him die a slow death. Debating whether or not to comfort her, I hesitantly reach for her but she takes a step forward out of my reach.

She stands over her brother’s body and the world stops.

In that one instant, everything changes. She pushes her hair away from her eyes and he sees her. He looks up into her eyes and the two lost souls who suffered at the hands of tragedy find peace.

They came into the world together.

Innocent and unsuspecting.

Tragedy stole their youth.

Violence stole her future.

Revenge stole his.

Alexandria and Jagger Richardson.

Reunited to face yet another tragedy.

Death.