All Chapters of THE BIKER'S ACCIDENTAL LADY: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Federal holding was supposed to be safe.Sterile cells. Cameras everywhere. Guards at every checkpoint. Routine. Predictable.I should have known Marcus Ashford did not accept safe spaces.They separated me from Damien immediately. Different floors. Different wings. I screamed until my voice gave out, but no one cared. I was a criminal now. A kidnapper. A danger.My cell was eight by ten feet. Concrete walls. Metal toilet. Thin mattress on a bolted frame. The fluorescent light never turned off, buzzing constantly like insects trapped in my skull.My body screamed for my baby. Milk leaked through my thin jail uniform, leaving wet patches I could not hide. Infection burned through my surgical wounds. They gave me antibiotics but no painkillers—protocol for someone potentially on drugs.I was not on drugs. I was simply dying by degrees.Three days passed. No lawyer. No phone call. No word about Hope.Then the guard appeared at my cell. New guard. One I had not seen before."Visitor for y

Arnold visited me the next morning with a plan that sounded too good to be true."I have been reviewing your case. The arrest was dirty. Illegal search. Coerced statements. I can get the charges dismissed." He spread files across the table between us. "You walk free. Today. Both you and Damien.""What is the catch?""No catch. Just justice. Marcus's influence corrupted your entire arrest. Judge Hendricks agreed to hear an emergency motion this afternoon."Something felt wrong. "Judge Hendricks? Marcus mentioned him once. Said he was 'reasonable.'"Arnold's expression tightened. "What are you saying?""I am saying Marcus does not mention judges unless he owns them." I pushed the files back. "This feels like a trap.""Flora, I vetted everything. Hendricks has a clean record. Twenty years on the bench. No complaints.""Then why is he willing to dismiss federal charges in one afternoon? That does not happen. Not without pressure.""Because I gave him evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.

The hospital became our fortress for two weeks.Damien was in ICU for the first seventy-two hours. Sepsis from infected wounds. Surgery to repair what Marcus had destroyed. Doctors said he was lucky to be alive, though looking at him—barely conscious, machines breathing for him, body wrapped in bandages—luck felt like the wrong word.I stayed in a room three doors down. Under armed guard. Arnold's orders.My body was healing. Slowly. The surgical incisions finally closed properly. The hemorrhaging stopped. But every time I closed my eyes, I saw Damien's missing fingers. Heard his screams through Richard's phone.Saw Richard standing across the street, smiling."You need to eat." Arnold set a tray on my bedside table. Hospital food. Bland. Safe. "You have lost fifteen pounds. The doctors are concerned.""Where is Hope?""Still in protective custody. But I filed emergency motions. Judge is reviewing custody arrangements. You could have her back within the week.""Could. Not will.""Flor

"Victor Kane is dead." Arnold stared at the phone screen. "I saw him die at the clinic. Bull put three rounds in him.""Apparently not." Cassidy took the phone, scrolling through the message history. "This was sent two minutes ago. After Richard died."Damien grabbed the phone from her, his bandaged hand shaking. "The messages go back weeks. They have been coordinating this entire time. Richard was never the real threat. He was the distraction."I felt the world tilt. "All of this—the courthouse escape, the warehouse raid, the bombs—it was theater?""Not theater. Strategy." Arnold pulled up files on his tablet. "Victor knew Marcus would eventually lose. Too many enemies. Too much exposure. So he positioned himself as the hidden partner. Let Richard be the visible threat while Victor rebuilt the Savage Kings in the shadows.""Rebuilt with what resources?" Cassidy asked. "We dismantled his organization—""Did we?" Damien pointed to the phone. "Look at these accounts. Victor has been mov

Richard Ashford's body disappeared from the morgue thirty-six hours after his confirmed death."Explain to me how a corpse with a bullet through its heart just walks away." Arnold stood in the empty examination room, staring at the vacant steel table. "The medical examiner confirmed death. We had guards posted. Cameras everywhere."The morgue attendant, a nervous man in his fifties, pulled up security footage. "See for yourself. Two AM. The guards step away for exactly four minutes. Bathroom break. Coffee. When they return, the body is gone.""Who authorized the bathroom break?""No one. They just... went. Both at the same time.""Bribed," Cassidy said flatly. "Or threatened. Richard has been planning this."I stared at the footage, frame by frame. "Wait. Go back. Before the guards leave."The attendant rewound. We watched in silence.There. A flicker. The body's hand twitched."He was alive." My voice was barely a whisper. "On that table. Alive the entire time.""Impossible. The bull