CHAPTER 4 - Blood and Vows

I did not sleep.

How could I, knowing someone was out there with a rifle, waiting for the perfect shot? Every sound made me jump—footsteps in the hallway, doors slamming below, the rumble of motorcycles coming and going through the night.

Albert sat in a chair by the door, gun resting on his thigh, watching me like I might disappear if he blinked. We had not spoken since the second message. What was there to say? Someone wanted me dead, and we had no idea who.

Dawn light crept through the edges of the curtains. Two days until the wedding. Forty-eight hours until I became Eva Morrison.

If I lived that long.

"You should eat something," Albert said, his voice rough from lack of sleep.

"I am not hungry."

"You need to keep your strength up."

"For what? Walking down the aisle to marry a stranger while someone takes aim at my head?" I laughed, but it came out brittle. "Forgive me if I am not concerned about breakfast right now."

He stood, crossed to the bed. In the early light, I could see the exhaustion on his face, the tension in his shoulders. He had stayed awake all night guarding me.

"We are going to find who is doing this," he said.

"You sound so sure."

"I am sure. Because the alternative is unacceptable."

A knock on the door made us both tense. Albert moved fast, gun raised, positioning himself between me and the entrance.

"Ghost, it is Jacks. Knox wants to see you both. Now."

Albert looked at me. "Stay behind me. We go straight to his office. No detours."

The hallway was lined with Vipers, all armed, all watching me with expressions ranging from curiosity to outright hostility. I kept my eyes forward, chin up. I would not give them the satisfaction of seeing my fear.

Knox's office was at the back of the clubhouse, reinforced door and no windows. Smart. The president sat behind his desk, and my father was already there, standing with his arms crossed.

Marcus looked older than he had two days ago. Grayer. The cancer was eating him alive and I had been too blind to see it.

"Sit," Knox said, gesturing to chairs.

I sat. Albert remained standing behind me, close enough that I could feel the heat of him.

"Someone is trying to kill my daughter," Marcus said, his voice tight with barely controlled rage. "And I want to know who."

"We are working on it," Knox replied. "But the sniper got away. Professional work. Clean extraction."

"Professional means hired," Albert said. "Someone paid for this."

"The question is who." Knox lit a cigar. "Who benefits from Eva dying before the wedding?"

"Anyone who wants the war to continue," I said quietly. Everyone looked at me. "Think about it. If I die, the Reapers will blame the Vipers. The alliance collapses. We go back to killing each other."

"She is right," Albert said. "This is about sabotaging the peace."

Marcus moved closer to me, and I saw something crack in his armor. "Eva, I need you to understand—"

"You are dying." I looked up at him. "You are dying and you did not tell me. You just decided my entire future without asking because you will not be here to protect me yourself."

"I am trying to keep you alive!" His voice broke. "Do you think I want this? To force you into a marriage you do not want? But I am out of time, baby girl. I need to know you are protected before I am gone."

Baby girl. He had not called me that since Mom died.

"There has to be another way," I whispered.

"There is not." He knelt in front of me, something I had never seen my father do. "Albert is the most dangerous man I know besides myself. If anyone can keep you safe, it is him. Please, Eva. Trust me on this."

I wanted to hate him. Wanted to scream and rage and blame him for everything.

Instead, I just felt tired.

"Fine," I said. "I will do it. I will marry him. But after you are gone, after the alliance is secure, I want my freedom back. That is the deal."

Marcus looked at Albert. "You hear that, Ghost? One year. Then you let her go if she wants."

Albert's hand came down on my shoulder, possessive and firm. "We will discuss it when the time comes."

"That was not a negotiation," I said, turning to glare at him.

"Neither was this marriage." His gray eyes held mine. "We survive first. Everything else is secondary."

Before I could respond, the door burst open. Jacks stood there, breathing hard.

"We have got a bigger problem. Derek just showed up demanding to see you, Knox. Says he has information about who is trying to kill Eva."

Albert's whole body went rigid. "My brother is here?"

"Yeah, and he brought half the damn club with him." Jacks looked worried. "Says he will only talk to you and Eva together. Some kind of peace offering."

Knox stood. "This could be a trap."

"Of course it is a trap," Albert said. "Derek hates that I made VP. He has been gunning for my position for years."

"Then why would he help?" I asked.

"Because Derek never does anything unless it benefits him." Albert's hand tightened on my shoulder. "But we need information, and he knows something."

Marcus checked his gun. "Then we meet him. Together. Both clubs present so nobody tries anything stupid."

We moved as a group toward the main hall, Vipers and Reapers forming a protective circle around me. Through the crowd, I saw him—Derek Morrison. He looked like a younger, crueler version of Albert. Same build, same dark hair, but where Albert's eyes were cold calculation, Derek's held something wild and unstable.

He smiled when he saw me, and every instinct screamed danger.

"There she is," Derek said, voice carrying across the room. "The princess who is going to save us all."

"What do you want, Derek?" Albert's voice was pure ice.

"I want to help, brother. Someone is trying to kill your bride, and I know who."

"Talk," Knox ordered.

Derek pulled out his phone, showed us a photo. A meeting between someone I did not recognize and—my blood went cold.

"No," I whispered.

Because the person in the photo, the one planning my murder, was wearing a Crimson Reapers cut.

One of my father's own men was the traitor.