All Chapters of Claimed by the Ruthless Biker: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

POV ESMERAYOakhaven wasn’t on any map I had ever studied. It was a ghost town draped in the heavy, humid silence of the valley, a collection of sun-bleached buildings that looked like they were held together by rust and secrets. But as the Phantoms’ engines cut out in front of a nondescript storefront with boarded-up windows, the town came alive. Shadowy figures appeared in doorways, their hands near their waists, their eyes scanning the road for feds. This was a Phantom town—a sanctuary built on loyalty and the cold hard cash Ruan Montague provided."Get him inside! Move!" Ruan’s voice was a whip, cracking through the stagnant air.Jax and Vulture hauled my father out of the SUV. He was barely conscious now, his face a ghostly shade of gray, his breathing a wet, shallow rattle that made my medical instincts scream. I jumped out after them, my boots hitting the gravel, my hands still covered in the drying blood of the man who had raised me and then betrayed me.The "clinic" was hidde

POV ESMERAYThe victory at the Vance estate felt less like a triumph and more like the eye of a hurricane. While the Phantoms were downstairs loading the last of the encrypted servers and heavy safes into the back of the trucks, I stayed in Arthur’s office. The smell of his expensive cologne still lingered, clashing with the metallic tang of gunpowder that had settled into the velvet curtains.Ruan was standing on the balcony, his back to me, looking out at the city he had just set on fire. He hadn't put his shirt back on, and the flickering lights of the police sirens in the distance highlighted every muscle, every scar, and every drop of sweat on his skin. He looked like a king, but I could see the way his shoulders were hunched. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop.I walked over to the mahogany desk, my fingers trembling as I looked at the scattered documents that hadn't been packed yet. My eyes caught a thick, manila envelope tucked into a hidden compartment under the desk.

POV ESMERAYThe Redwoods were silent, ancient giants that had seen empires rise and fall, and tonight, they were witnessing the birth of a new kind of monster. I stood in the center of the ravine, the damp moss soaking into my boots, but I didn't feel the cold. The fire Silas Thorne had lit in Oakhaven was still burning inside my chest, a white-hot coal of rage that had cauterized the last of my fear.Vulture, Jax, and Bear stood around me in a semi-circle. They were seasoned killers, men who had spent their lives bowing to no one but Ruan Montague, and yet, they were looking at me with a deference that bordered on awe. They saw the blood on my emerald silk dress—now torn and knotted into a practical tunic—and they saw the way I held Ruan’s spare keys."The encrypted drive Vance kept," I said, my voice cutting through the mist like a scalpel. "Tell me you have the access codes for the offshore holdings."Vulture nodded, his face grim under the moonlight. "I have the codes, Doc. But Va

POV ESMERAYThe morning mist in the Redwoods didn't bring clarity; it brought a cold, damp weight that seemed to seep into my very bones. I stood by the small, cracked window of the hidden cabin, watching the gray light filter through the towering giants. Ruan was still asleep, his large frame sprawled across the furs, his breathing heavy and rhythmic. Even in sleep, his hand was curled into a fist, as if he were ready to punch his way out of a dream.I felt... different.It wasn't just the lingering ache from our night of desperate, raw reconnection. It was a subtle, persistent nausea that had been humming in the back of my throat since I woke up. I was a nurse; I knew my body better than anyone. I knew the signs of stress, of exhaustion, of adrenaline withdrawal. But this felt like something else. Something biological. Something inevitable.I looked at my hands, the ones that had been covered in blood and grease for weeks. They were steady, but my stomach was in a knot that no amoun

POV ESMERAYThe scent of salt and rotting kelp was thick enough to taste as we approached the Blackridge docks. The ocean here didn't roar like it did at the cliff house; it slapped against the rusted pylons of the piers with a rhythmic, oily sound, like a secret being whispered in a dark room. Blackridge was a city built on industry and secrets, and the harbor was the place where those secrets came to be buried.Ruan hadn't wanted me to come. We had fought for an hour in the cedar-scented hallway of the cliff house, his voice a low, terrifying growl and mine a sharp, unyielding blade. In the end, it was the leather vest—the one with the heavy Phantom patch—that won the argument. I wasn't just a nurse. I was the mother of his heir, and I wasn't going to sit in a glass tower while the man who had tried to sell us out still drew breath."Stay with Jax," Ruan commanded as he killed the engine of the Harley. The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the distant crying of a seagu