Chapter: 1 The Runaway

The night Emily Parker ran, the rain chased her down the highway like it wanted to drag her back.

Her sneakers were soaked through, her backpack half-empty, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t look behind her. Not once. Whatever life she’d left behind wasn’t worth saving.

Neon light bled through the storm ahead, buzzing from a crooked roadside sign shaped like a serpent. A bar. The kind her mother used to warn her about — the kind of place that swallows girls whole.

Rows of motorcycles glistened under the downpour, chrome teeth flashing each time lightning split the sky. On their tanks, painted in black and green, coiled a serpent with bared fangs. The emblem was unmistakable.

Emily froze under the humming sign, her heart hammering. She should have turned back. She should have kept walking.

That’s when she saw him.

Rhett Maddox leaned against the biggest bike in the row, head ducked against the rain. His jacket was heavy black leather, patched with the same serpent emblem, shoulders broad, jaw shadowed in the dim light. He lifted his gaze, and when his eyes met hers, the storm seemed to still.

Everything about him said danger. The tattoos on his hands. The scar splitting his eyebrow. The patch that tied him to the Black Vipers.

But instead of fear, something else flickered in her chest. Curiosity. Recognition. Like fate had been waiting for this moment all along.

“You lost, sweetheart?” he asked, voice steady and deep.

Emily opened her mouth, but nothing came. Her silence was enough.

Rhett pushed off the bike, boots splashing. He stopped close, steady eyes searching hers. Then, without another word, he opened the bar door.

“Come on,” he said. “You’ll drown out here.”

Inside, the bar was thick with smoke and heat. Leather cuts with the Viper emblem filled every table. Music thudded from an old jukebox, laughter rolled like thunder, and the air smelled of whiskey and motor oil.

Emily hugged her backpack tight, wishing she could vanish.

Two men staggered past, their patches gleaming in the light. One of them paused, eyes crawling over her.

“What’s this?” he drawled. “Little bird lost her way?”

Rhett’s shoulders squared, the calm in his face sharpening. “Back off, Trigger.”

The man smirked. “Didn’t know you were babysitting now, Maddox. I thought your old man had bigger plans for you.”

But Rhett’s voice cut low, edged with steel. “She’s with me.”

The words hit Emily harder than the rain. She wasn’t, not really. She’d only just met him. But the way he said it — steady, unflinching — left no room for anyone to question.

Trigger muttered something and moved on. Rhett guided Emily to a booth in the back.

“Rhett,” a gravelly voice boomed.

The room seemed to shift as a man stepped forward. Broad-shouldered, gray streaking his beard, he carried the same hard jawline as Rhett. His presence was commanding, but when his gaze landed on his son, his eyes softened.

“Thought you were working the parking lot tonight,” the man said, clapping Rhett’s shoulder with obvious pride.

“Was,” Rhett answered simply. “Found her outside.”

The man’s attention moved to Emily. She stiffened. It wasn’t cruel, just assessing — protective, the way fathers look at something that might matter to their only child.

“Name’s Grim,” he said finally. “President of the Black Vipers. And that’s my boy.” His hand squeezed Rhett’s shoulder again, affection clear, almost startling in a place like this.

Emily’s voice scraped out: “Emily.”

Grim’s eyes lingered a moment longer, then he gave a slow nod and moved back toward the bar.

Rhett slid her a glass of water. “Sit.”

Emily obeyed, her legs trembling despite her best effort to stay steady. She felt every gaze in the room on her back.

“You’re not from here,” Rhett said, studying her.

She shook her head. “Does it matter?”

“Yeah,” he said after a beat. “Around here, it matters a lot.”

The question lingered. Emily’s throat tightened. Her chest seized like a fist had closed around it. She could still hear his voice — the man she’d run from — sharp, poisonous, echoing in her head. Her pulse quickened. She pressed the water glass hard between her hands to hide the tremor.

“I… I don’t want to talk about it.”

Rhett noticed the shift — her shoulders curling inward, her gaze darting toward the door, the faint panic rising in her eyes. He leaned back, not pushing, letting the silence stretch.

But Grim noticed too. He stepped back toward the booth, his voice quiet now, meant for Rhett as much as for her.

“Easy, son,” he said, eyes never leaving Emily. There was no judgment there, only recognition — the weight of a man who had seen pain and carried it himself. “She’s carrying something heavy. You press too hard, you’ll break her clean in two.”

Rhett frowned slightly. “I wasn’t—”

“I know,” Grim cut him off gently, resting a hand on his son’s shoulder. “But listen. I’ve seen that look before. That kind of fear doesn’t come from nothing. You give her space. You give her time. You don’t terrify her.”

Emily’s chest ached at his words, panic curling tighter until she had to look down, hiding her face behind the curtain of her wet hair. She hated that they could see it. Hated that they knew.

Grim shifted his gaze, his tone firm but reverent. “In this club, we don’t raise a hand to a woman. We don’t turn our backs on a kid in need. Every man here would lay his life down to protect them. You remember that, Rhett.”

Rhett’s jaw tightened, but he nodded.

Emily blinked, her vision hot and blurry. She wasn’t ready to believe them. Not yet. But for the first time since she’d run, the storm inside her stilled, if only for a heartbeat. Grim’s words hung in the air even after he walked back toward the bar, his broad frame swallowed by the smoke and shadows. The weight of what he’d said lingered though, heavy but not cruel — like an anchor Emily hadn’t asked for but somehow needed.