“Oh God, Harrison, why haven’t you ever told me before? Now I understand your pain so much better. Her death was a terrible thing. But the baby—” I slapped my hand over my mouth. Finally I was getting why Harrison carried so much hatred toward bikers and MC clubs, and refused to let it go.

His shoulders slumped as he leaned forward, his head in his hands. “All of that was taken from me. By bikers with illegal guns. I can never let that go. I will hunt fuckers like them down, and stop that from happening to anyone else,” he ranted, his pain in his eyes.

“That’s noble of you, Harrison. I get where you’re coming from. But Amy—she would never have wanted you to suffer this much and for this long. She’d want you to be happy—even without her. That’s how much she loved you.”

He ran a hand through his hair, despair evident on his face. “There isn’t a day that passes that I don’t think about her, about what could’ve been . . . you’re probably right in saying that Amy would’ve wanted me to move on, but it’s not that simple.”

I rubbed slowly up and down his arm. “You’re not going to like what I’m going to say to you now. But just hear me out.” I took a deep breath. Giving my older brother advice wasn’t something I’d done before—especially about matters of the heart. But seeing him still hurting this badly, made my heart squeeze. “Maybe there is someone else out there for you. Someone who can bring you happiness.”

Waiting with bated breath for his reaction, my heart pounded in my ears. Had I gone too far?

Harrison shook his head. “I doubt I can even allow myself to love again. It’s just too painful. And if something ever happened to you, I don’t think I’d be able to cope with that. That’s why you have to promise me to stay away from the biker guy. It can't work out—you’re from two completely different worlds. I don’t want to see you get hurt, but even worse, if he so much as damages a hair on your head, I’ll be after him. And it won't be pretty.”

“You’re my big brother, and you care about me—I get that. But you can't stop me from seeing who I want to. I'm a big girl now. If I want to see Ryder . . .”

“So you are seeing him then!” he barked.

Damn. I walked straight into that one. Harrison outwitted me after all by catching me off-guard. He grabbed my upper arms and shook me. “Jade. Have you forgotten what kind of people they are? That they kill innocent people? How could you?”

“It’s not like that,” I retorted, annoyed that he was jumping to conclusions before knowing the story. “I’ve known Ryder for a while now. Yes, his background is different to mine, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. It merely means we are different in some ways. But we are both humans, with the same wants and desires. Besides, I’m not dating him, so calm down.”

“Calm down? Shit, Jade, I’ve got news for you. Ryder Knox and his little gang are on my radar. The shooting that went down a few months ago? That was based on illegal guns being shipped around. The same kind of guns that killed Amy and my friends back then, and that still kill innocent people every day now. I will bring those motherfuckers down, even if it costs me my life.”

I jumped up, my hands on my hips, and stared at my brother through narrowed eyes. “For a smart man, you’re so damn stubborn. Like Ryder said, even the law gives him more credit than we do, by believing he is innocent till proven guilty,” I huffed.

Harrison shook his head. “Fuck me. It’s worse than I’d thought. What? You’re quoting a biker now? Jesus, Jade, what’s gotten into you? I think I need to hunt that fucker down and put an end to this shit before it gets out of hand. You’re going nowhere near Biker Boy again. Are we clear? I’ll arrest him, and throw his fucking ass into jail if you don’t listen to me.”

“On what grounds?”

”You don’t realize I have a whole fucking file on the Scorpio Stinger MC and their rivals. I can dig up dirt and make it stick. And I will if you don’t stay away. You have no fucking idea what you’re getting into. These bikers are criminals. They deal in illegal guns, and drugs, and extortion.” A vein ticked in his neck. His lips were drawn into a thin line as he stared at me through narrowed eyes. It’s not pretty. And I won't allow you to be any part of that shit. Do. You. Understand?”

Blood rushed to my head and anger swirled in my gut. “Just because Ryder had a tough upbringing doesn’t make him a goddamn criminal. You can't generalize like that.”

Harrison’s fists clenched and unclenched. The frown between his eyes deepened. “OK. I wasn’t going to tell you this . . .” He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them, they were hard and calculating. “Ryder killed a man. His own father, no less, when he was only a kid of eleven.” His voice had a hard edge I couldn’t ignore. ”That just smells like trouble. He was in juvie for years. That’s how he got tangled up with the Scorpio Stinger MC. And now he’s their VP. Come-on Sis, even you know what all of that means.”

Harrison wouldn’t lie to me.

All the blood drained from my face as I went cold.

“Yeah, I can see Ryder omitted to tell you about his childhood. Killing a man is a big deal. And he did it in cold blood, and had no remorse after. That makes him a psycho killer. Dangerous. Like fuck am I letting him anywhere near my little sister.”

“Harrison!”

“Do you hear me Jade? Over my fucking dead body are you hooking up with a biker. I’ll kill him with my bare hands if he touches you.”

For the first time since meeting Cobra that fateful day in juvenile detention, I wanted to kill him. I’d never have believed that this day would come. But it had. Cobra was staring me down, anger seething from his pores. In his neck, a thick vein protruded and throbbed, and a grim expression was on his face.

“Look, I'm mad as hell at Mia for inviting Jade in the first place. But Mia didn't know about the connection with her cop brother. But you, Ryder . . . you could have stopped it all from happening. I don’t appreciate the fucking cops showing up at the compound. It could’ve turned nasty. For fuck’s sake, we had old ladies and kids here.” He closed his eyes for a minute. When he opened them again, pain was etched across his face. “I have nothing against Jade as a person. But I can never allow the bloodshed and loss of our family again on my watch.”

“I know, brother. This is on me, not you.”

He scrubbed a big hand over his face. Cobra looked tired. All of this had taken a toll on him—the shootout, him nearly dying, Mia losing the baby, the cop raid last night. He looked older than his thirty-six years.

“I tossed and turned all night about this. And I’ve come to a decision. Neither Jade nor Lexi can ever come to the compound again. It’s too fucking risky. And I'm all done with taking risks where my family’s lives are involved.”

The blood drained from my face. “What are you saying, Cobra?” I snarled. My gut turned upside down—I knew what was coming, and I didn't like it one bit.

“I’m saying that you should forget about that woman. I’ll deal with Razor and Ox about Lexi. But now, I’m telling you—brother to brother—that you should walk away from Jade while you still can, and before it brings more shit to the club.”

I shook my head. Had I heard right? Cobra was telling me in no uncertain terms to end it with Jade? Fuck.

“Cobra. You don’t know what you are asking, man.” Sweat formed on my brow, and I felt a trickle run down my back. Cobra didn't understand. Give up Jade? I was beyond that stage. The realization hit me with full force, making my knees so weak that I had to grip the ends of his desk to keep myself standing upright. My knuckles were white as I held on, my brain in a whirl.