Chapter 1

The clubhouse air was thick with stale beer and old leather, a smell I once thought meant safety.

Rex' s arm was heavy around my shoulders, his thumb stroking my arm like I was his favorite thing.

He called me his old lady, and for years, I believed it.

Clare was across the room, laughing with Marcus.

Her eyes, usually so bright, had a shadow in them lately, but she always smiled for him.

Marcus was Wrench, the club' s enforcer, quiet but with a presence you couldn' t ignore.

Rex was King, president of The Devil' s Brigade. My king.

We' d been with them for years, since that night on the highway.

A rival gang, they said, ambushed us. Rex and Marcus rode in like heroes, saved us.

Or so I thought.

Tonight, the party was winding down. Most of the guys had stumbled off or passed out.

Rex squeezed me.

"Go on up, Amy. I'll be there in a bit. Gotta talk shop with Wrench."

I nodded, kissed his rough cheek, and headed towards the stairs to our room.

Clare caught my eye and gave a small, tired wave. I waved back.

Our room was at the end of the hall. I was almost there when I heard their voices from the office, Rex' s office, door slightly ajar.

I didn't mean to listen.

But the words froze me. Rex' s voice, low and satisfied.

"Silas loved it, man. Said it was the best show she' s seen in ages."

Marcus grunted. "Good. Worth the trouble then."

Trouble? What trouble?

My hand hovered near the doorknob to our room. I couldn't move.

"That ambush," Rex continued, a chuckle in his voice, "perfect. Got those two little birds right where we wanted them. Indebted. Scared."

My blood turned to ice. Ambush?

He was talking about our ambush. The one that threw me and Clare into their arms.

"Amy still talks about how I saved her," Rex said, and I could hear the smirk. "Thinks I' m her goddamn knight in shining armor."

"Clare too," Marcus said, his voice flat. "Still wakes up screaming sometimes. But she clings to me after."

A cold dread filled me. No. It couldn' t be.

"Silas got a real kick out of them being so broken," Rex said. "Especially after she saw Amy' s face when I told her those bikers were after her bike. Made her vulnerable. Easy to make her mine."

My unique motorcycle, the one my dad built, my legacy. They' d targeted it?

"And Clare' s spirit," Marcus added, a strange note in his voice I couldn' t place. "Silas liked seeing that fire almost go out."

The floor beneath my feet felt like it was tilting.

This wasn't a rescue.

It was a setup.

Years. Years of lies.

My breath hitched. I pressed my hand to my mouth to stifle a sob.

Rex' s next words were a hammer blow.

"Best part is, they' ll never know. They think we' re their saviors. They' re ours, bought and paid for with a little bit of fear."

He laughed, a harsh, ugly sound.

"All for Silas."

Silas. The name dripped like poison. A woman I' d barely seen, always on the fringes, but Rex and Marcus... they lit up when she was around.

My world, the world I thought was real, shattered.

Love. Protection. It was all a game.

A sick, twisted offering for some woman named Silas.

I backed away from the door, silent, my heart a stone in my chest.

My king was a monster.

And I was his fool.