The Traitor

 

Jaxon’s POV

“Lock the compound down.”

My order had barely left my mouth before Rafe was already moving.

“Seal every entrance. Nobody gets through the gates without my clearance.”

Men scattered through the corridor, radios crackling as security teams took their positions. The atmosphere inside the Black Vipers compound changed within seconds. Doors slammed shut, footsteps pounded across the floors, and weapons were drawn as every member realized something had happened. I stood in the middle of the secure room, staring at the empty space where the document had been.

Victor Devereaux.

That name alone was dangerous. But the missing document wasn’t what bothered me most. Someone had stolen it while the room was locked. The lights had been out for some seconds.. Yet whoever had taken it had known exactly where to find the document.

They hadn’t touched the photographs or taken the silver pendant.They hadn’t gone for the letter Anastasia had been reading or taken one specific piece of information. That meant they knew what they were looking for before they entered the room. And that meant they had access..

“Rafe.”

He turned.

“Yeah?”

“Pull every camera feed from the last two hours starting from this wing.”

“Already on it.” His face was hard and disappeared down the corridor. I turned toward the men gathered outside the secure room.

“Everyone stays where they are.”

Nobody moved.I turned toward the members gathered outside the doorway, my gaze sweeping over them like a spotlight. 

"Nobody leaves their post. I'm asking questions. If you were within fifty yards of this wing tonight, I want timestamps, locations, and names to verify it."

A young prospect near the back shifted nervously, his eyes darting toward the floor. I locked onto him instantly. "Name."

"D-Dylan, boss."

"Where were you when the power cut?"

"The kitchen. Tom and Lewis were with me, we were grabbing coffee."

I shot a sharp glance at Tom, who gave a quick, solemn nod. One by one, I tore through the line. Innocent men give plain, boring truths without needing a second to construct a narrative. Liars overexplain. But as I mentally checked off faces, a jarring absence hit me.

"Where's Connor?"

Rafe’s lieutenant, Mason, blinked, looking over his shoulder. "He was posted on the east perimeter."

"Doing what?"

"Routine patrol."

"Find him. Now."

Mason immediately reached for his radio. I turned back toward the secure room. Anastasia was standing near the table, the letter still in her hand. She looked pale but she wasn’t crying. She wasn’t asking me to tell her everything. She was staring at the missing document as though she were trying to understand what kind of life her mother had hidden from her.

I wanted to walk over and take the letter from her. Instead, I forced myself to think. The thief had entered a restricted room. They had known the lights would go out. They had known which document mattered. And they knew we were going to open the box. That wasn’t luck. It wasn’t an outsider breaking through the compound’s defenses. Someone had helped them. Or someone inside had done it themselves. The realization made my hands curl into fists.

There was a traitor inside my club and I had no idea how close they’d gotten.

“Boss.”

Rafe’s voice came through the radio.

I turned.

“Talk.”

“Security room. You need to see this."

"On my way."

I turned and took three fast strides down the hallway before a sickening instinct made me pause. I looked back. The secure room was completely empty. Something was wrong. Anastasia wasn’t behind me. 

“Where’s Anastasia?”

Nobody answered. I turned toward the hallway.

“Anastasia!” I screamed loudly yet nothing. I moved faster. She was halfway down the corridor when I found her, one hand gripping the wall as she looked toward the security room.

"What the hell are you doing?" I snapped, spinning her around by her shoulder.

"I was looking for you!" she shot back, her voice laced with adrenaline.

"I explicitly told you to stay in the room!"

"That room isn't safe!"

"That doesn't give you license to wander around during a full-scale lockdown!"

"I wasn't wandering!" She took a step into my space, trembling violently, but her dark eyes flared with a defiant heat that caught me off guard. "You don't get to yell at me, Jaxon. You don't know what we're dealing with either, because someone is literally playing us in the dark!"

"This isn't the time, Anastasia—"

"It's never the time with you!" she cried out, her chest heaving. "Every single time my life tears at the seams, you order me into a corner and tell me to hide! I am sick of being treated like fragile glass!"

"I am trying to keep you alive!" The raw anger burst from my lungs before I could filter it. "Do you think I enjoy this? Do you think I like forcing you into rooms because the alternative is watching someone put a bullet through you?"

The words hit harder than they should have. I looked at her carefully. She was scared. I could see it in the slight tremor of her hands and the way her breathing hadn’t completely settled, but she was still standing there. Still challenging me and refusing to let fear decide what she did next.

For the first time, I saw her differently. Not as Clara’s daughter or as the woman I had promised to protect. Not as the innocent kindergarten teacher who had been dragged into a world she never asked for. I saw Anastasia. She was afraid but she wasn’t weak.There was a difference.

You should have stayed in the room," I murmured, my voice very calm.

"And you should stop acting like I'm helpless," she whispered back, her lower lip trembling slightly.

She was right. God help me, she was right. My desperation to protect her was choking her.

Before I could answer, my radio squawked loudly. "Jaxon! Get in here now!"

I grabbed the device, keeping my eyes locked on hers. "Stay right here. Please."

For a second, we simply looked at each other. Then she nodded. I turned and headed for the security room. Rafe was standing in front of the monitors when I entered.

"Rewind it," I commanded, stepping up behind him.

"This is the feed outside the secure room right before the blackout," Rafe said, clicking the mouse.

On screen, we watched ourselves enter, followed by Rafe and Maisie. Normal. Standard. He hit fast-forward. The screen went black as the power was cut.

"Now watch the secondary feed from the south hall," Rafe instructed, switching angles.

The infrared camera showed the dark corridor. Three seconds before the red emergency lights flickered on, a figure glided smoothly into frame. They wore a dark, heavy hoodie, their face completely obscured by shadows. But as they approached the magnetic lock of the secure room, they raised a gloved hand.

In their fingers was a high-level, internal access keycard.

My heart hammered against my ribs. "That's my executive clearance level."

"Yep," Rafe muttered bitterly. "Whoever this is, they have top-tier clearance. But look at what they do next."

I studied the frozen image. The figure turned slightly. For a fraction of a second, the hood shifted. Enough to reveal the side of the face. I didn’t recognize the person. But then the figure lifted a hand toward the camera. Not to hide their face. To disable it. Rafe swore under his breath. The screen went black. I stared at the monitor.

Someone inside Black Vipers had just walked into a restricted room using an internal access card, stolen a document connected to Victor Devereaux, and disabled the camera before disappearing.

This wasn’t an enemy outside our gates anymore. It was someone who knew our security. Someone who knew our routines. Someone who knew exactly where Anastasia was. Rafe looked at me.

“What do we do?”

I reached for my gun.

“Find them.”

Then another camera feed flickered onto the screen. The hallway outside Anastasia’s room. I suddenly feel extremely shocked. The timestamp showed the same person walking past her door twenty minutes before the lights went out.

And this time, the figure stopped.

They turned toward the camera. Then slowly looked directly at Anastasia’s bedroom door.