15. Sage

Eight fucking years.

I don't know how Lyla can look exactly the same and like an entirely different person all at once, but she manages it.

It's those eyes—violet in certain lights. An inhuman purple that's impossible to forget. Since the moment she branded me with them when she first stepped out of her mom's car, I knew I'd never see eyes like that again.

One blink and she changed my life until slowly she ripped it to shreds.

Last time I looked Lyla in the eyes, she tore my soul from my chest. Now, she has the nerve to come back here and ask me questions.

She'd know the answers if she'd stuck around. If she bothered to give a shit. If she'd trusted me to do better than her father ever did.

What he allowed to happen to his daughters is half the reason I never patched in. But for her to think I'm just like him is like taking a bullet.

I'd give it all up for her—I did.

When I watched Lyla disappear eight years ago, I knew I'd signed my own death warrant. I'd broken a direct order from the president of the Twisted Kings on the night I should have been patched in.

But for her, I would have done anything. She was broken, beaten. And it was the result of her orbiting too close to the club I was dedicating my life to. I couldn't bring her back there. Not when she asked me not to.

Even if Kane would ruin me for letting his daughter disappear. It was worth it if she could escape the hell she'd be damned to by being related to him.

So I saved her life.

I spilled blood for her. Took my first life for her. Gave up my future for her.

I handed that girl every good part of me and then I never heard from her again.

When the dust settled, Lyla was gone. Ellie was dead. And her body wasn't the only one we carried out of that house. My father was caught in the crossfire of her escape, and I was all that was left of a night I'll never scrub clean from my memories.

Still, Lyla has the nerve to point out that I never patched in when that's the least of what haunts me from back then.

"How is she?" Kane stops in front of me with Blaze at his side, and I'm surprised he even cares.

"She'd be better if you didn't lock her in a fucking horse stall." Not that she doesn't deserve a little time to sit and think about all the shit she's caused.

Kane narrows his gaze at me, but I don't care. It's been a long night, I'm running on zero sleep, and he's asking stupid questions.

And even if he's annoyed, he doesn't correct me.

I'm not a member. I might owe him a lifelong debt for letting Lyla get away from me eight years ago, but I reserve the right to tell him when he's being an asshole. Which right now, he is.

Doesn't matter if Lyla pisses me off, the horse stalls are where Kane brings traitors—the trash. Not his fucking daughter.

Just like back then, he doesn't see much of a difference. Kane's a shit father who treated his girls worse than the members of his own club. In his mind, everyone is beneath him, and Lyla's getting what she deserves for trying to run.

Kane grinds his teeth, and I'm pretty sure he's imagining planting a bullet between my eyes for my comment, while Blaze is amused, grinning beside him.

After Dad died, Blaze was given the vice-president patch, and he took me under his wing. He mentored me at Twisted Roses, and I continued to room with him and Jude in the apartment above the shop. When he finally decided to sell both, I bought the apartment and joined Crew, Jude, and Echo in buying the shop. And he's still the person I'm closest to at the club.

"You know why she's in there." Kane grits his teeth.

Knowing isn't the same as agreeing, but there's no point in arguing. Plus, the fewer people who know she's back the better. Kane's enemies will use anyone he cares about against him.

"I get why she's here." I cross my arms over my chest. "But it's unnecessary. I'm not letting her get away again."

I let her slip between my fingers once. This time, it won't be as easy.

Back then I was blind to her smile—to those bright violet eyes. Now, I'm older, smarter, and I'm better at distancing myself.

"Good." Kane glances over my shoulder, talking low enough that she won't be able to hear. "Because now's your chance to earn good on your debt."

"Earn good, as in…"

"You help me with this, it's paid back in full."

Kane is a lot of things: a ruthless leader, a terrible father, a twisted fuck. But a forgiving man isn't one of them. He doesn't erase debts until you're six feet under, so I'm not sure what his angle is.

"You're saying no more debt, as in no more favors?"

"No more favors." Kane stands up tall, looking me in the eyes. "Unless you change your mind about joining the club."

"Won't happen."

He nods like he agrees, but we both know he'll continue to ask again and again. He might hate me for letting Lyla slip through my fingers all those years ago, costing my father his life in the process, but it doesn't mean he didn't still want me to patch in afterward.

Up until that night, I was one of the most loyal people in the clubhouse. I had Kane's back from before I was even a prospect. He trusted me at a time when people in his own club were turning on him.

I still left.

Kane drags his palm down his face, then glances over at Blaze, who nods back. Whatever they're planning, they've already decided it, and from the way Blaze's jaw tenses, I'm pretty sure I won't like what Kane has to say.

"Whoever went after my girls has returned to town," Kane says, gritting his teeth. "It's why I needed to get Lyla back."

My blood turns to ice because it doesn't matter if I hate Lyla for leaving, I hate what they did to her more. "How do you know?"

"They sent the club a message." Kane reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, flipping through it and then handing it to me.

On the screen is a picture of Tank, one of the new members. His skin is pale, and his eyes are sewn shut. And on his corpse is a message carved in his chest.

Your daughter is next.

"We took down Satan's Reapers." The club we assumed at the time was behind it.

When we searched Nick's room and phone, we found all the damning evidence we could need. He'd been working with Satan's Reapers behind Kane's back and feeding them information. He was helping their leader with a plan to strip Kane of his patch and his club.

We took care of them before they got the chance.

It was over, or so I thought.

I stayed long enough to get revenge for my father. To take out my aggression on the fact that Lyla was gone. I bled dry anyone wearing a Satan's Reaper cut before walking away from the Twisted Kings.

"I didn't think there were any of them left." I glance at the photo again. "What makes you think it's the same guys?"

"Because of what's in his hand."

I look a little closer and spot a shriveled piece of flesh and cartilage—an ear.

I'm guessing it's the one Ellie was missing when we buried her body.

"Fuck." I shove his phone back at him, feeling like I'm going to be sick.

Lyla and Ellie were good girls who didn't deserve the shit they got for being Kane's daughters. And even if Lyla disappearing fucked me up in the head, that ear is a reminder of why she did it.

"She's not safe out there on her own." Kane tucks his phone back in his pocket. "At least, not until we know for sure who's doing this."

"Well, if it's not Satan's Reapers, then who?"

Kane shakes his head, but it's Blaze who answers with a chuckle. "Long list."

Being the president of the Twisted Kings Los Angeles chapter will put a pretty big target on your back. Especially when you're a merciless bastard like Kane who enjoys pissing people off.

"So what do you want from me?"

Kane glances over at Blaze, and Blaze starts to chuckle as he dips his chin and shakes his head. He finds something about my question amusing, but Kane clearly doesn't agree as he knocks Blaze on the shoulder and frowns.

"Hey, this isn't on me." Blaze shrugs, still trying to bury his smile.

"Go make yourself useful and have the guys meet me in church. I'll be there in ten."

"Whatever you say, Prez."

Blaze grins at me when he walks past, which only seems to agitate Kane more.

"What's his problem?" I ask.

Kane shakes his head. "Nothing."

"Didn't look like it."

Kane's gaze drifts off again to the stalls behind me, where his daughter is caged forty feet away. And when he finally looks back at me, his expression changes.

"Lyla doesn't trust me."

No shit.

"But I need to protect her." He scratches the scruff on his jaw." I'm not risking my only living daughter over some stupid club vendetta."

"Then why'd you have me lure her back here when you found her? You and I both know she was safer where she was at."

It might have been a shit apartment in Denver, but she was off the grid. Working. Happy. Or so she seemed from the surveillance footage. She was living under the radar, not making waves and keeping to herself.

Mostly.

The only reason we even figured out where she was is because she just couldn't stop digging.

While we thought the club was safe after going to war with the men who took Ellie's life, Lyla didn't seem to buy it. On the outside, she stayed under the radar, but she was still searching for answers as to who killed her sister. She tripped an online trap Kane had one of his best tech guys set up, and that's the first time we got wind of her in years.

Using that tip, we traced Lyla back to Denver, and Kane had Terrance keeping an eye on her. He'd been sending surveillance footage to Kane daily and giving him updates.

"Someone's been watching her."

I hitch an eyebrow.

"Someone besides me."

"How do you know?"

"Terrance found signs someone broke into her apartment."

My fists clench at the thought of someone getting close to her again. "That's why you had me lure her back with that text?"

Kane nods.

"Well, she's not going to agree to stay at the clubhouse." She hated that place by the time she left. "And it'd be a shit idea to put her in there with the guys even if she didn't mind it."

"Which is why I don't want her there," Kane snaps. "Hence the debt…"

He dips his hands in his pockets and leans back, his gaze darting from me to the stalls behind me, and back again.

"No." I shake my head. "I'm not putting up your fucking daughter."

"She can't stay where she was, and I can't have her at the club with all those handsy assholes. There's no one else I trust."

"I'd rather just kill someone."

"Me too," Kane agrees. "But until I know who deserves a bullet, she needs to be kept safe. Keep an eye on her. Give her a job at the shop if she gets bored. Do whatever the fuck you have to, and don't take your eyes off her."

I open my mouth to argue, but he holds up a hand.

"Settle the debt or don't. It's your choice, but we both know you want to."

I do, but I'd rather annihilate another club than be stuck babysitting the girl who planted a landmine in my chest and then stepped on it.

"You owe me," Kane reminds me, like I don't already know.

"I'm not a babysitter."

"If I wanted a babysitter, I'd hit up one of my friends in the city and have her crash with them for a while." Kane steps closer, darkness overshadowing any light in his eyes. "I need someone who understands what needs to be done if anyone tries to get to her. Someone who isn't afraid to do it. Can I count on you, Sage?"

He knows he can.

I don't like this situation or what he's asking of me. But as I did eight years ago when I thought I still wanted to be part of his crew, I follow him into the darkness to save people who have no business being dragged down by his sins.

And for her, I'll do a hell of a lot worse.

"Yes," I choke out through gritted teeth.

"Good." Kane straightens up, stepping back. "I'll let her know."

He starts to walk away but pauses when he gets past me, looking over his shoulder. "I told the guys at the club they'll lose any part of them that touches her. That applies to you too. Patched or not, keep your fucking hands off my daughter, Sage."

He walks away, and I close my eyes, holding my breath.

It's a little too late for that.