Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Kyle needed to know the truth. She had to hear it from him.
It was like she was throwing herself into the fire, daring the world to take her out. And I got it, I’d done the same damn thing when I’d first patched into my old man’s chapter. I lived reckless, rode fast, partied harder, anything to escape the shit in my head. Then Preacher accepted my transfer, sat me down, and gave me some hard truths that I hadn’t wanted to hear, but ones I had needed to. I saw the same self-destruction in a lot of the younger guys now. We let them burn it out, then hit them with wisdom when they were ready to listen.
The Knights MC wasn’t about chaos and indulgence anymore. We weren’t just a gang playing out biker fantasies—we were boots on the ground, helping people who had no one else to turn to.
This human trafficking case wasn’t the first time the government had reached out to us for help, but it was by far the biggest and most dangerous. These weren’t just back-alley criminals slinging dope or running guns for clout. These were men designing weapons meant to kill in volume, selling them to street kids who didn’t even know what they had in their hands. The drugs? We’d already covered that earlier, but if you’ve ever seen a child dead from rat poison-laced heroin, or a girl so high she gnawed through her own arm, you’d understand the kind of hell these bastards were creating.
And then, the worst of it—human trafficking.
Tiny kids, teenagers, women, all sold off like fucking livestock to be used, broken, and sold again. Some never made it past the first transaction. The ones who did? Well, their nightmare only got worse. This was a war we’d never walk away from.
But now, with the Ghosts backing us? We had a shot at actually making a dent in it.
Reaching Preacher’s door, I rapped my knuckles against it, waiting for his inevitable gruff response before stepping inside. He barely glanced up at first, still focused on the papers in front of him, but when he caught the look on my face, his pen hit the desk. His full attention was on me now.
“You need to talk to Kyle.”
I stood rigid, arms crossed. Normally, I’d show a little more deference when talking to our president but today wasn’t normal. My blood was running hot over the guy’s daughter, and I wasn’t about to bite my tongue about it.
Preacher ran a hand across his chin, messing up the usually neat edges of his beard. “Why?”
I sighed and moved to the chair across from him, settling in. The moment he heard what I had to say, it’d be him punching walls, and I figured making myself a smaller target was a good idea. I’d thrown hands with Preacher before, and he was like the fucking Hulk when he got worked up.
But at the end of the day, only he could fix this. And if we were going to take down the bastards we were up against, we couldn’t afford to be fighting our own demons in the process.
Chapter 3
Jagger
Trudging through the tall grass behind the clubhouse, I listened to a few of the guys groaning about being up at the ass crack of dawn. Technically, 11 a.m. wasn’t exactly dawn, but these idiots had been partying hard last night, throwing back drinks with a few club girls, completely ignoring the late-night briefing Preacher had given us. Now, they were paying for it.
Duke had decided that this morning was about identifying the club’s best shooters. He and the Ghosts had set up a makeshift shooting range, complete with an assortment of targets—watermelons, tin cans, and, oddly, matchboxes perched on top of some crates. The matchboxes didn’t fit with the others, but something about their placement nagged at me.
As I scanned the setup, I realized someone was missing. Kyle.
Several of the other Ghosts weren’t present either. Maybe she was getting a pass since she’d just returned? It seemed out of character, but I didn’t see her anywhere.
Leaning against a tree, I crossed my arms and waited for the rest of the group to catch up, watching as the Ghosts methodically prepped their equipment. They inserted earpieces, checked their rifles, and fine-tuned their sights with precision. I had been looking forward to seeing Kyle in action—word was, she was a hell of a shot—so her absence was disappointing.
Not that I should care. I usually went for women who were feminine, polished, and more concerned with their looks than their combat skills. But Kyle, she had a natural femininity that didn’t need embellishment. And the fact that she was a highly trained operator? That was just fucking attractive.
“Dearly beloved, we’re gathered here today…” Duke’s voice rang out, catching everyone’s attention.