Chapter 2

Prologue continued

“Wait,” she said, too numb to even be shocked or angry at the swearing and name-calling. “I don’t –”

“Did I stutter?”

She froze at the vitriol in his voice, really hearing him now. At a loss and in an effort to buy some time to gather her thoughts, she looked at the papers again, more carefully. She flipped all the way to the last page, and that’s when she saw the signature lines.

“But – but Cole hasn’t signed this,” she protested. “How can he divorce me if –”

Before she knew it, Wheels had her pinned against the side of the building, hidden from view, his body right up against hers, his tattooed forearm across her throat, his hot, foul breath in her face. For a big man with a bigger gut, he moved fast, and she never saw him coming. She froze completely, barely breathing as those black eyes bored into her; it came to her that he could snap her neck here and now, right next to the goddamn prison.

And he’d probably get away with it too.

“What part of this am I not being clear about?” Wheels hissed. “You are getting divorced. It is happening right now. Then you are fucking off and for good.”

Her eyes started watering as he leaned harder on her windpipe, cutting off her air completely.

“If you understand, blink,” he snarled. “Dumb whore.”

Nala blinked rapidly, tears running down her cheeks, panic fully setting in now. When he stepped back and away, she doubled over, gripping her knees, coughing and gasping. He watched her impassively, and it came to her that seeing women fight for their lives was probably nothing new to him, and that was when her self-preservation kicked in and hard.

Nala straightened up, rubbing her throat, eyeing him warily. She retrieved the papers from the ground where she’d dropped them, looked at them again. She understood none of this – not one single goddamn thing – and she knew that Wheels wasn’t going to explain any of it.

Did Cole want a divorce? She couldn’t believe that, not based on how he’d spoken to her at her last prison visit just the week before, when he’d told her that he loved her and was counting the minutes until he could come back home to her. She had never wondered if Cole was in it and fully committed to her, not for one second of their three-year relationship or their six months of marriage.

He’d gone against the grain by getting involved with her, and she knew it – everybody knew it. Nala was very aware that the MC culture wasn’t open to outsiders, and even less so when the outsiders looked like her. Cole accepted her fully, and he always had, and he’d fought for them and their relationship, but maybe he was giving in to his club’s pressure now?

But even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew that was wrong. Cole had nothing to do with this. She’d be willing to bet that he didn’t know anything about it.

So did that mean that Wheels was pushing the divorce? Nala was starting to believe it, but she couldn’t wrap her head around it, not completely. Oh, sure, he hated her for obvious reasons, but she’d hoped that he’d finally just acknowledged that she was in Cole’s life for good, that the fact that Cole had married her would force Wheels to accept her, even begrudgingly. Clearly, she’d been wrong about that.

He was staring at her, his lip curled up in its usual display of disgust. “You gonna sign those papers, or do I have to break your fucking arm? Leg?” He paused, narrowed his eyes at her. “Face?”

Her heart stopped dead in her chest. She’d idly wondered how he’d react if she flatly refused to sign and now she knew for sure: he’d hurt her, and hurt her badly. That was always the plan, she was sure. To threaten her with serious bodily harm unless and until she agreed and did what he wanted.

And I’d be lucky to just walk away with a few broken bones… let’s be honest, I’d be lucky to walk away at all.

“Does Cole know what you’re doing?” she dared to ask. “That you’ve instigated this?”

“It was Cole’s idea.”

“I don’t believe that,” she said before she could stop herself. “Why would he?”

Wheels shrugged. “He made a huge mistake marrying you, and when he gets out of jail, he wants a fresh start. You’re not part of that.”

Nala knew that was a lie, but the words stung anyway.

Then, out of sheer desperation, trying so hard to reach a human part of Wheels, Nala spoke the words that would seal her fate, and end her marriage:

“I’m pregnant.”