The Queen They Burned

Chapter Eleven - Grim

Nobody moved.

The words from the intercom seemed to hang over the clubhouse.

"She says her name is Mara Vale... and she's been looking for Eyelyn Cross for twenty

years."

I looked at my father.

The color had drained from his face again.

Not fear.

Recognition.

He knew exactly who was standing outside our gates.

Cal knew too.

The old biker had gone so still he looked carved out of stone.

"Dad," Dani whispered, "who is Mara Vale?"

Silas didn't answer.

His eyes stayed fixed on the old speaker mounted on the wall.

Finally, he looked at me.

"Bring her inside."

I frowned.

"That's a bad idea."

"So is leaving her out there."

"She could be with the people in those SUVs."

Silas shook his head.

"No."

"How can you be sure?"

A sad smile crossed his face.

"Because if Mara wanted us dead, son..." He paused. "We would've been dead years

ago."

That wasn't exactly comforting.

I reached for the pistol tucked into the back of my jeans.

"Nobody comes inside until I talk to her."

Cal stepped beside me.

"I'm coming with you."

Silas nodded once.

"And Jax..."

I looked back.

"Be respectful."

I almost laughed.

The old man had spent the last hour dropping secrets like grenades into the middle

of the clubhouse, and now he wanted me to be polite.

The heavy front door creaked open.

The storm had finally passed, leaving the night cool and silent. The yard lights cast

long shadows across the gravel as Cal and I walked towards the front gate.

A single black Sedan sat outside.

No SUVs.

No armed men.

Just one woman leaning against the driver's side door.

She looked like she belonged in a courtroom or the boardroom of a Fortune 500

company, not standing outside an outlaw motorcycle club in the middle of nowhere.

She wore a long black wool coat over a charcoal-gray dress. Her dark hair was

pinned neatly back, not a strand out of place despite the weather. In one hand she

held a leather briefcase.

The second she saw me, she smiled.

"You must be Jaxon Mercer."

I stopped a few feet from the gate.

"And you must be trespassing."

Her smile widened just a little.

"You have your father's eyes."

"You know my father?"

"I know your entire family."

I didn't like the confidence in her voice.

People who showed up at Iron Crown usually looked nervous.

This woman looked like she owned the place.

Cal stepped closer to the gate.

"Mara."

She turned towards him.

"Hello, Calvin."

I glanced between them.

"You two know each other?"

"We've met," Cal muttered.

She tilted her head.

"That's one way to describe it."

I crossed my arms.

"You said you were looking for Evelyn Cross."

"I am."

"Why?"

Her gaze drifted towards the clubhouse behind me.

"Because I made a promise to her mother."

The words hit me harder than I expected.

"You knew Charlotte."

"I knew Charlotte very well."

Something about the way she said it made me believe her.

I hated that.

I hated that all these strangers seemed to know more about what was happening

than I did.

"You're not seeing Eve," I said.

Mara looked back at me.

"That's not your decision."

"It is tonight."

For the first time, the smile disappeared from her face.

She took a slow step towards the gate.

"Listen carefully, Mr. Mercer. For twenty years, Thomas Cross did exactly what he

promised he would do. He kept Evelyn hidden. He protected her. He gave her the

chance to grow up far away from the mistakes your generation made."

The accusation in her voice was impossible to miss.

"Our generation?" I shot back.

She looked at Cal.

Then back at me.

"Do you know why Thomas never let her wear expensive jewelry?"

I frowned.

"What?"

"Do you know why he never let her travel alone? Why he insisted she stay in Ash

Creek? Why he taught her to check her mirrors every time she drove?"

A cold feeling settled in my stomach.

The black SUV.

The one she'd noticed following her.

Mara's eyes hardened.

"Because he knew one day they would come looking for her."

Cal cursed under his breath.

I tightened my grip on the gate.

"Who?"

She didn't answer immediately.

Instead, she looked towards the dark tree line beyond the road.

"They call themselves businessmen now," she said quietly. "Investors. Developers.

Philanthropists."

Her eyes met mine again.

"But twenty years ago, they were killers."

The night suddenly felt colder.

I thought about the men in the SUVs.

The shooting.

The missing page from Thomas's letter.

"What do they want with Eve?"

Mara's expression softened.

"They don't want Evelyn."

I frowned.

"Then who?"

She looked directly towards the clubhouse.

Towards the room where Eve was waiting for answers.

"They want what she doesn't know she has."

Before I could ask what she meant, the sound of an engine echoed through the

darkness.

Cal turned first.

A motorcycle came flying down the old access road, moving far too fast. The rider

skidded to a stop just inside the property, gravel spraying beneath the tires.

It was Hawk.

He ripped off his helmet, breathing hard.

"Grim!"

I was already moving.

"What happened?"

Hawk looked from me to Mara and then to Cal.

His face had gone pale.

"We've got a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

He swallowed.

"The old farmhouse."

My heart dropped.

Eve's home.

"What about it?"

Hawk took a shaky breath.

"It burned to the ground an hour ago."

The world seemed to stop.

Mara closed her eyes.

Cal whispered a curse.

I thought of Eve upstairs, already carrying the weight of losing her father.

Now she had lost the last place that had ever been home.

Hawk reached into his coat and pulled out a small object wrapped in a handkerchief.

"I found this in the mailbox."

He handed it to me.

I unfolded the cloth.

Inside was a scorched piece of silver.

A broken pendant charm.

And wrapped around it was a single strip of paper with four words typed across it.

She should have stayed hidden.