The Ruthless Biker's Ex-Convict Bride

Chapter 5

Wren’s Point of View

I’m crazy for even asking Ash to stay. Crazier still for letting the last few days feel almost normal, like we are two friends instead of two people who barely know each other. He never talks much, but I keep trying to fill the silence anyway, telling him about my day. Other days, I’m too exhausted to pretend, so I just come home, eat, and sleep.

Today, he offered to pick up the garlic paste I forgot for the lasagna I’m making.

I’m still checking the ingredients when a knock rattles the door, and Kara’s voice cuts through the apartment, frantic and loud. “Wren! Open up!” she shouts. She’s out of breath when I reach her, and I know before she says another word that it isn’t good news.

“Wren.“ She’s already talking before I get the door fully open, words tumbling too fast. “Wren, you need to hear this now.“

“What happened?“ I’m already moving, already grabbing my coat off the hook, some part of me deciding already there’s something wrong before my brain catches up.

“Copperhead picked up Ash a few hours ago,“ she says, her voice out of breath.

“What?” I’m shocked because how did he end up there?

“I don’t know, Wren. Ben came running to inform me that he’s in a room getting questioned by their new president, and Wren—he’s not doing well.“

The coat’s half on. My hands go still on the sleeve as I turn to face her because what?

“Yes. He was with…”

“Which room?“ I say, cutting her off because I need to get to him. I need to get him out of there as fast as possible. “Where?“

“Wren—“

“Where.“

Kara grabs my arm before I reach the door, and there’s something in her face that stops me harder than her grip does. Like she’s about to say something that might actually hurt.

“There’s more,“ she says, her eyes searching mine, and I wait for her to say something. “And you need to hear it before you walk in there blind.“

“Then say it walking.“

“The new president.“ She swallows, her eyes roaming over my face. “It’s Elias.“

I freeze, looking at her because this wasn’t what I was expecting to hear from her.

“Okay,“ I say, because it’s the only word that comes. “Okay. Fine. He’s president now. Doesn’t change that Ash has been taken by his men.“

“Wren,“ Kara’s voice drops in a warning. “The woman standing next to him at every club function, the one who ran the memorial for Ro and those kids while you were still locked up. That’s his wife.“

I don’t say anything because I can’t bring myself to think of Elias and that he chose another woman.

“Miranda Voss,“ Kara says. “Damon’s daughter.“

I stand there for one second too long, feeling the ground where three years of my life used to be stop existing, and then I start moving again, because there isn’t a part of me tonight where I get to fall apart. Ash doesn’t have that kind of time. If Elias thinks he is an enemy, then he will kill him.

Kara catches me at the door.

“Don’t,“ she says. “Wren, don’t do this. Miranda runs that clubhouse now as the ol’ lady. You show up there to help Ash, that’s asking for something worse.“

“I hear you,“ I say, keeping my voice level, but if I don’t show up for him, no one will.

“I don’t think you do—“

“I hear you, Kara.“ I meet her eyes so she knows I mean it. “And I’m going anyway.“

“Wren—“

“Ash is the only person I’ve got left.“ My voice doesn’t shake. I don’t let it. “There’s no way I don’t go get him. So, either you’re coming, or you’re moving.“

She looks at me for a long moment, jaw tight, and then she steps aside.

**

The clubhouse hasn’t changed that much since the last time I was here. I know this building. I used to belong in it, used to walk through that door like it was mine to walk through. Now it looks at me like a stranger’s face wearing a memory.

Two guys are posted at the front, and I recognize both of them before they recognize me, which gives me half a second I don’t waste. My heart is racing, and people start whispering when I walk in.

“Move,“ I say.

“Not a chance.“ The bigger one, Alex, steps squarely in front of the door, and there’s something almost satisfied in the way he says it, like he’s been waiting years for a reason to say no to me. “You are not welcome here.“

“Elias,“ I say. Just the name. It tastes like sand in my mouth, but it’s the only password that still works for me in this building, and we both know it.

He hesitates. That’s all I need. They still fear him, just as they did before.

“He knows you’re coming?“

“He’s about to.“

The second guy mutters something to the first, and after a beat too long, they step aside. Not out of respect, but because no one knows what Elias wants tonight.

I walk through the doors, and someone spots me crossing the main room, and I hear it before I clear the hallway, loud enough that it’s meant for me, not just about me.

“—nerve to show up here, after everything—“

I keep walking. My hands don’t shake. I don’t let them. I don’t care what they say. I need to get Ash out of here.

Downstairs, there’s a door I have to talk my way through twice, a guy who plants himself in front of it with his arms crossed until I say Elias’ name again, and they let me through. Then a second door, and somebody finally steps aside because arguing with me is pointless at this point since I have gotten this far.

I hear it before I see it. I hear a ragged sound of someone breathing through pain they’re trying not to show.

Ash is chained to a support post in the middle of the room, and he’s lost so much blood, dark down the front of his shirt, one eye swollen nearly shut. My chest does something at the sight of him.

I can’t believe this. I hate seeing him like this.

The man running the interrogation looks up at the sound of my boots on the concrete.

It’s Elias. He still looks every bit the man I fell in love with.

I freeze, and my chest twists because he is covered in the blood of the man who saved me.

“Wren?“ His voice comes out cracked, and his eyes widen at the sight of me. “You’re back?“