Semua Bab Her Reckoning: Bab 1 - Bab 10

She stared down at the glass in her hands, her knuckles white against the condensation. The noise of the bar pressed in on her, laughter, shouts, music, but all she could hear was the pounding of her own pulse. Emily woke to the sound of engines. The low rumble shook the walls and rattled the glass of the window above the spare bed. For a heartbeat, she thought she was back there — in the place she’d sworn she’d never return to. Her chest tightened, air locking in her lungs, but then the smell of motor oil and coffee drifted through the crack under the door. Not her old life. Somewhere new. The thin blanket clutched in her hands was warm, but her palms were slick with sweat. She forced herself to sit up, swallowing back the panic before it took root. She’d spent the night above the Black Vipers’ clubhouse, a spare room Rhett had shown her after Grim’s quiet nod of approval. The bed was hard, the sheets smelled faintly of smoke, but she’d slept deeper than she had in weeks. Until no

Morning sunlight filtered through the thin curtains, pale and unforgiving. Emily lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Sleep hadn’t come — only flashes of panic, the memory of her breath collapsing in her chest, the way Rhett’s eyes had anchored her back. But now, Rhett was gone. His chair at the bar empty. His Harley missing from the lot. Maybe she was too broken. Maybe even Rhett Maddox couldn’t carry pieces this jagged. The thought hollowed her out. ________________ By midday, the clubhouse was alive with noise — pool balls cracking, laughter spilling from the bar, boots scuffing the floor. Emily kept her head down, moving through the hall like a ghost herself. That was when the prospect stepped in her way. He was young, sweat plastering his shirt, his cut stitched with the word PROSPECT where a patch should have been. His grin was loose, careless, the kind that made Emily’s stomach knot. “Didn’t know Grim was letting strays hang around,” he said, voice low. “Guess you’re just

The clubhouse came into view just as the sun bled out across the horizon, streaking the sky in bruised colors. Rhett cut the Harley’s engine and let the silence swallow him for a beat before swinging his leg over. His knuckles ached where the skin had split, the scabs torn from gripping the bars too tight. The door creaked when he pushed inside. The noise hit him immediately — laughter, music, the thud of boots on wood. But it didn’t feel the same. It felt like judgment. “’Bout damn time,” Hawk called from the bar, a grin tugging his mouth. “Where the hell you been, kid? We were starting to think you ran off chasing tail.” Rhett didn’t answer. He moved toward the counter, shrugging off the question. Tank squinted at his hands, the raw, bloody knuckles catching the light. “Looks like you found a fight instead,” Tank muttered. Grim leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, eyes sharp as knives. He didn’t speak, but the weight of his gaze pressed harder than words. Even Emily was th

The world slammed into her like a fistful of broken glass.Emily’s lungs convulsed, air tearing into them in ragged bursts. Her chest burned, her throat raw, her eyes flying open against the harsh white glare of the hospital lights.“Rhett!” she screamed, voice jagged, her hands clawing at the sheets as if she could tear herself free of the wires and tubes that tethered her down.The nurses gasped, voices shouting over the sudden storm of monitors, but Emily didn’t hear them. All she saw was the door.And then—he was there.Rhett burst through, wild-eyed, his cut half torn, blood pooling thick at his side. His hand clutched the wound, crimson running down his fingers, but his gaze locked on hers with a fire that made her chest seize.“Em,” he rasped, reaching for her.Her hands shot out, desperate to meet his—But before she could touch him, his knees buckled. His hand slipped from his side, leaving a smear of blood across the tile, and he collapsed just short of her reach.“Rhett!”H

Engines thundered in the night, dozens of Harleys rumbling like thunder rolling low across the lot. The rally drew riders from every corner of the county — cuts with patches she didn’t recognize, strangers laughing too loud, smoke curling from fires burning in rusted barrels.Emily stuck close to Rhett’s side, her fingers curled around his arm, the leather of his cut warm under her hand. The Vipers were everywhere — Tank, Hawk, Ghost — standing tall in the crowd, keeping order by their presence alone.But this wasn’t just Vipers.This was the outlaw world she had stepped into. And for the first time, Emily felt the eyes.Some curious. Some skeptical. Some sharp, like they were waiting for her to flinch.She stayed close to Rhett, her hand clamped around his arm, every stare in the crowd reminding her she was new here. Some curious, some sharp, some waiting for her to stumble.And then it happened.A woman cut straight into their path — leather pants, dark hair spilling wild, confidenc