LOGINVivienne's POV Three days.It had been three days since Ronan and I had finally torn down every wall between us. Three days since we'd learned the truth about our baby. Three days since he'd promised that whatever came next, I wouldn't face it alone.And yet, I still couldn't shake the feeling that something had changed. Not just between us, but around us.The clubhouse had become quieter in a way that made the back of my neck prickle. Conversations stopped whenever I walked into a room, whispers followed after I left while some people smiled awkwardly before looking away.Others didn't even bother pretending, they simply stared and I could almost hear the questions running through their heads.Was she telling the truth? Did Ronan actually forgive her? Was the baby really his?Nobody dared ask me, especially not after the way Ronan had shut Lana down. That hadn't stopped them from wondering, it just meant they whispered when they thought I couldn't hear."...I still don't know wha
Vivienne's POV No.The word echoed inside my head long before it ever reached my lips.I stared at Ronan without blinking, certain I'd misheard him. I was certain my exhausted mind had twisted his words into something impossible, because it couldn't be.It simply couldn't.My lips parted, but all that came out was a barely audible whisper."...No."He didn't argue and he didn't try to convince me. Instead, he slowly reached for the hem of his shirt."What are you doing?" I asked, my voice sounding strangely distant even to my own ears.He didn't answer. Instead, he lifted the fabric just enough to expose the top of his shoulder and there it was.The tattoo.A wolf.Dark ink stretched across sun bronzed skin, the same fierce design I'd only caught a fleeting glimpse of months ago.My breathing faltered because I knew that tattoo, not because I'd studied it, but because I'd seen it when trembling fingers had pushed a leather jacket off broad shoulders while laughing so hard I could
Ronan's POV The room went deathly quiet after that, and for the next couple of seconds, neither of us moved or spoke. Heck, I could still hear the name of that bar echoing inside my head.Sin and Vibes.It shouldn't have meant anything..It should have been just another place in another city where two strangers had made bad decisions.Instead, it felt like someone had reached into my chest and wrapped a fist around my heart.I lowered myself into the chair behind me before my legs gave out completely. The wood creaked beneath my weight, but believe me when I said that was the least of my worries. "...Ronan?" Vivienne watched me carefully, but I didn't answer. I couldn't, not when my mind had become a mess of scattered memories, each one too blurry to trust.I remembered loud music, laughter, tequila, and a woman whose face I could never quite remember.I swallowed hard."Ronan?" She called again, her tiny voice pulling me back to the present. "I need you to answer something." I
Ronan's POV The heavy slam of the bedroom door upstairs echoed through my skull, but I didn't turn. I couldn't. I was still staring at the spot where Vivienne had stood, the space where the air still felt thin and bruised.Lana stood by the support beam, that smug, jagged grin still plastered across her face. Around us, the club was a graveyard of held breaths. I could feel every eye on me, waiting for the President to react, and waiting for the king to strike or bow.I shifted my weight, the leather of my jacket creaking in the silence. When I finally turned to look at Lana, my blood didn't boil, it froze."If you ever," I started, my voice dropping into a register so low it felt like a warning rumble from a dying engine, "speak to my wife like that again..."I took a slow, measured step toward her. The floorboards groaned under my boots as I stopped inches from her, watching the smirk falter. "...you’ll regret every breath you’ve drawn in this clubhouse.""I was just saying wha
Vivienne's POV The drive back felt longer than it should have, maybe because neither of us spoke or maybe because there was nothing left to say.I sat quietly in the passenger seat, one hand resting carefully over the fresh bandage beneath my shirt while the other twisted nervously in my lap.Ronan drove with both hands on the wheel, his expression unreadable.The silence wasn't uncomfortable, it was fragile, like one wrong word would shatter everything we'd managed to rebuild over the last hour.Call me crazy or whatever, but I couldn't shake off the fact that the reason we were making this drive back to the clubhouse was all because of me. I wasn't sure of their plan when they'd left the clubhouse earlier, but I was sure they hadn't achieved it. Ronan didn't say anything, but I knew for a fact I'd heard him delegating the responsibility to someone else. A part of me felt relief at it though. Perhaps it meant he wanted to spend more time with me, on a turf I was familiar with, o
Vivienne's POV Hours crawled by slowly enough to feel deliberate. At first, I counted the minutes, then I counted the footsteps outside the door.Eventually, I stopped counting altogether because every sound made my mind race somewhere darker.Voices drifted through the hallway in uneven bursts. Doors opened, doors slammed and someone hurried past, boots striking the floor in quick succession before fading away again.Every noise convinced me something had happened and every silence convinced me it was worse.I paced the room despite knowing I shouldn't.One lap first, then another and it didn't help that each step tugged painfully against the stitches in my side, but standing still felt impossible. Every time I tried, another horrible possibility forced me back into motion.What if Grant had done something else?What if Ronan had walked straight into another trap?What if...I squeezed my eyes shut.Stop. Just stop.I pressed both hands against my temples, trying to slow the thou
Vivienne's POV The air thickened the moment Lana’s voice cut through the noise, and I hated that I noticed. I hated that I felt it across my skin almost instantly, and I hated that her mere presence was more than enough to sour my mood for life. That sugary venom slithered across the room, drawing
Vivienne's POV I didn’t sleep. Not really, and it didn't help that no matter how hard I tried, the gift of sleep just wasn't bestowed on me last night. I knew I wasn't exactly mother nature's favorite, but I didn't think it was this bad. Hell, even criminals and worse people could sleep whenever t
Ronan's POV I’d been looking for her for hours, and still, nothing. There was still no glimpse of her hair, no sound of her voice, and not even the damn smell of her perfume. She was good at disappearing, I’d give her that, too good if I was being him with myself, and every second she stayed hidde
Vivienne's POV I thought I’d washed the tears from my face well enough, and even if I had, deep down I just knew for a fact that it wouldn't change anything. Even if I did get to scrub off evidence of me being weak, would it help to stop the ache that was currently coiling in my chest, whose sole







