“Has he been this upset before?”

“Zane!” She shrieked and pushed him away. “Viper has him. I KNOW it.”

“The police won’t be able to help you.” He grabbed her shoulders to hold her still. “Viper pays them off to look the other way, and the ones who aren’t on the take are too afraid to get involved. If he has Ty, then the Sinners will get him back. But Viper’s been quiet for weeks so I’m not sure if that’s what has happened. We need to make sure he’s not in the area before we set something in motion that could escalate the war. Does he have any friends on the street?”

“The blue house at the end of the road.”

“You check with them and I’ll ride around the area, and check the backyards, the park and the school. If we don’t find him in ten minutes, I’ll call the MC. I had Hacker put a GPS tracker in Ty’s watch the last time he was at the clubhouse.”

“You what?”

He cupped her face between his hands. “We’ll find him, Evie. I promise.”

Returning to Evie’s house ten minutes later, with still no sight of Ty, he began to suspect that Evie was right. And if Viper was prepared to victimize children to win the war, the MC would have some difficult decisions to make.

He called Jagger first. Then he called Benson and told him to get his damn deputy ass out to Evie’s house and issue a police alert, although it would do no good. Hacker claimed to be out of town, but said could be at the clubhouse in an hour. He gave Zane detailed instructions about how to work the computer and the tracking system. Zane asked what language he was speaking. He suggested if Hacker wasn’t at the clubhouse in twenty minutes, he could say good-bye to his face.

Unable to sit still, Zane went outside to meet Benson and the brothers who were coming to help with the search. Had the Jacks found Evie’s new house? Had they seen his bike parked outside? Was this about Viper’s obsession with Evie or was it directed at the MC? Not wanting to leave Evie alone, he headed back inside, and then he froze.

“What the hell?” He knew exactly what she was planning to do the moment he saw her dressed in that slinky black dress, her breasts barely covered by the plunging neckline, all legs in her black stilettoes. Her hair was loose and spread across her bare shoulders, and her face was barely recognizable beneath the thick layer of makeup.

“I’m going to see Viper. He had one of his minions call me on my landline. Stupid of me not to change the number when we moved. I’m supposed to go to a certain location, and after they make sure I’m alone, they’ll text me the address.” She pulled the contents from her bag and dropped the items one by one into a shiny black purse.

“No. Absolutely not.” Zane folded his arms and stood in front of the door, all his past fears coming to a head in an instant. She was distraught and emotionally unstable if she thought for a moment he would let her go to meet Viper.

“You can’t stop me. I’m not your wife, or your girlfriend, or your old lady. Not that it would make any difference.” She snapped her purse closed and he had to admit she appeared calm and rational despite the crazy words coming out of her mouth.

“I won’t let you go,” Zane said. “I won’t let you do this. You’re mine, Evie.”

“Yes. I am yours,” she whispered. “No matter what happens, in my heart I will always be yours. But this isn’t about you and me. It’s about Ty. And I will do anything to get him back.”

“Then wait. Trust me. The Sinners will handle this.”

“Trust me, Zane. Believe in me this time and how I feel about you. I love you. Nothing will ever change that. Even if I don’t see you again, I will never stop loving you.”

Even if I don’t see you again. Did she really think it would go that far?

He had no hesitation about what he had to do. Evie was his to love, his to protect, and he would keep her and Ty safe until he drew his last breath. “If that’s what you want.”

“That’s what I want.” Her eyes glistened, her emotions belying her words, and it was that, more than anything, that gave him the strength to act.

“Gimme one minute before you leave.” He didn’t wait for an answer, but jogged down the street until he found Benson coming up the sidewalk toward him.

“Need your cuffs.”

Benson handed them over without question. “I probably won’t need them again. This is my last week on the job. I gave in my notice after escaping the fire.”

“You did a good job with that truck.”

“Yeah about that,” Benson said. “Maybe next time you want to blow up a building with a truck you should drive.”

Zane made his way back to the house where Evie was waiting and shrugged at her questioning glance. “Had to talk to Benson before he started his search.” He stepped to the side, giving her a clear path to the door, but as she reached for the handle, he yanked the cuffs from his pocket and snapped one around her wrist.

“What the…?” She stared at him aghast. Before she could react, he dragged her over to the radiator and snapped the second cuff to the metal frame. Thank fuck for old houses and old-fashioned heating systems.

“No!” She yanked against the radiator and her face contorted in fury. “You can’t do this. Let me go.”

Nausea roiled in his belly and he took a step back. “I can’t let you sacrifice yourself for Ty. I can’t let you give yourself to Viper. He will never let you go, Evie. You must know that.”

“It’s my choice,” she shouted. “You can’t take that from me.”

“I can. And I will.” He reached for the door. “I made a mistake, Evie. We don’t choose the biker life. It chooses us. I thought I could give it up, but it won’t let me go. This is my world, and I need to deal with it my way. It’s the only way to keep you and Ty safe. I’ll bring him back to you. I swear.”

“You bastard.” She yanked on the cuffs so hard blood welled up on her skin. “Take these off.”

Zane pulled open the door and looked back over his shoulder. “I lost you once. It won’t happen again. I love you, Evie, and I will never let you go.”

TWENTY-FIVE

Repair and repair again. That’s the nature of the beast. So learn your skills well.

—SINNER’S TRIBE MOTORCYCLE REPAIR MANUAL

She was going to kill him. No doubt about it. The second she got these damn cuffs off she would hunt him down and then …

No. Death would be too good for him. She would make him suffer instead. Then she would kill him. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

But first, she needed to get to Ty.

A wave of nausea crashed over Evie at the thought of Ty running down the street, so distressed he’d left in his pajamas, only to be grabbed by strangers. He would have been so frightened and he didn’t even have his bear. Despair gripped her throat and she forced herself to take a breath. And then another. She couldn’t help Ty if she broke down now.

The handcuffs rattled as she pulled against the chain. Damn radiator refused to move and her wrist was raw and bleeding from trying to work her hand free; it looked so easy in the movies.

“Help!” She kneeled beside the window and shouted through the glass. But, of course, so early on a Saturday morning, no one was around.

She slumped against the wall and cursed Zane under her breath using every single bad word she’d ever learned. Damn him. Damn him for being protective and loving, and then railroading over her wishes when it mattered the most.

Her phone buzzed in her purse and Evie groaned. She’d already tried to reach her bag, but it was near the door and there was nothing close she could use to pull it toward her. But what about a push?

Her gaze fell on the toy box she’d emptied in her first attempt to reach her purse. Lego bricks, superhero figures, trucks and spaceships, and a remote-control car Zane had bought for Ty yesterday after the funeral. Evie picked up the remote and turned the car on. Ty had been impressed with her ability to maneuver the car around the furniture, but was it strong enough to push her purse? She cleared a path around her and steered it toward the door, the tiny taillights flashing as she drove it under the coffee table and into the tiled entrance way. So far so good. She turned it the vehicle around and aimed it at her purse. Go, car, go.