33. Luna

33

Luna

Before leaving Ghost’s office, I use everything he taught me over the past year to get off the property without him knowing.

He saved me once; now I’ll save him.

I send a text message to one of the prospects at the front gate, masking it to look like it came from Ghost’s phone, letting them know I’m leaving to see a family member who was just admitted to the hospital.

Ghost will be able to trace back everything I’m doing, but by the time he does, it won’t matter. I’ll have either made a deal to set this right or gotten so deep that I wouldn’t want Ghost dragged down with me.

By the time Ghost returns, I’ll be gone.

Maybe in time, after I clean up this mess and give them what they want, I’ll be free to come back. If I do, I hope he’ll forgive me .

The prospect at the gate checks his phone when I pull to a stop in my car. He reads the message he thinks is from Ghost and doesn’t think twice about waving me through. I hope I didn’t sign his death warrant by sneaking past him.

It’s not his fault.

It’s no one’s except mine.

I try not to glance at the rearview mirror as the Twisted Kings compound shrinks in the distance. The compound is the first place that ever felt like a home, and with every mile, it aches to leave it behind.

It’s not a long drive to the industrial district, but it feels like an entirely different world as I pull up. I abandon my car a building down and go the rest of the way on foot so I can scope out what I’m walking into without them hearing me.

When I finally reach the warehouse that matches the address they messaged, I take a deep breath and close my eyes. This is it. My moment of truth. Ghost has kept me in the dark over what I’ve done, but it’s time I pay for my sins.

I step into the warehouse, and it’s dark, except for a path of light that streams from an office to the left.

“Hello,” I call out.

The air is dusty and reeks of chemicals.

“I guess miracles do happen.” I hear a voice echo from the shadows. “Didn’t think Ghost would actually let you out of his hold. Kind of hoped he’d give us a reason to come in for the retrieval. ”

“Ghost doesn’t know I’m here,” I yell back to the mystery man.

“That makes more sense.” The man chuckles, and it echoes through the walls. “He always had a soft spot for a pretty face that needed saving.”

I clench my fists at my sides, wondering if he’s talking about Paulina. “I’m here. What do you want?”

A scuffling of shoes on concrete comes from my left, and I spin to face it. The man’s boots drag on the warehouse floor with every step until a figure finally forms in the shadows. And when he finally comes into view, my heart pounds in my chest.

“Steven?”

My former foster brother has aged since I last saw him, but he also somehow looks exactly the same. His hazel eyes are distant, and I never could decide if they were warm or cold.

He smirks, and it tugs on the deep scar that cuts through his lip. I remember him getting it when he stepped in and took a beating for his brother.

“Been a while, Luna.” Steven pops his knuckles. “But I don’t go by Steven anymore, so you can call me Grimm.”

It’s an unsettling name—the bringer of death. And I wonder if the rumors I heard after we cut ties were true. He might have protected me while we lived together, but there was always a side of him that reminded me a little too much of his father.

A relentless side.

A dark side .

He was impatient and thought he was owed something for what he was forced to live with.

Back then, I wanted to believe him. He and his brother had been through enough that when he taught me how he would hack the school’s computer to change his grades to avoid a beating, I understood his reasoning. I even got it when he broke into the city utility billing system and zeroed out the water bill so they wouldn’t shut it off when his dad was too broke to pay it.

But looking at him now, I see the ripple effect of those small actions. Of taking and taking, not considering who is on the other end of it.

Grimm cracks his knuckles again, and my gaze drops to the patch on his cut.

“You’re an Iron Sinner.”

“Thought you were the only one who made new friends after you disappeared, doll?” He smirks, and my spine tingles with the nickname. “Who do you think led you to them?”

“You’re the one who hired me to hack the Twisted Kings?”

“Titan asked if I knew anyone as good as I was since we couldn’t risk the Twisted Kings chasing it back to my club at the time. So I looked you up. It’s too bad you ended up being such a disappointment. I thought I taught you better than to get caught.”

His words sting, even if they shouldn’t. Steven doesn’t know me. What little hacking we did when we were younger is nothing compared to what I was up against in Ghost’s system. I doubt he could have gotten in either .

Still, it stings, drawing out the insecurity I had back when I lived with his family. I was a fifteen-year-old girl who didn’t know what she wanted or where she belonged. Someone who relied on Steven to help me through it. I thought it was because he cared, but now, I’m starting to think it was manipulation. He weaponized my insecurities to make me compliant, and I fell for it.

“You surprised me with one thing though.” He steps closer, wagging a finger at me. “I didn’t expect you to follow them back here. Thought you’d wait for me.”

“I didn’t even know where you were. We haven’t spoken since your father kicked me out.”

“You mean since you left.” He storms forward, grabbing the back of my head and pulling me closer so I’m forced to smell his cigarette breath. “I offered to help you. Remember?”

Steven offered to get an apartment together, but all I wanted to do was get away. And now, looking back, maybe I suspected this side existed in him all along. I considered being his roommate, but it always gave me a bad feeling. Now I know why.

“We needed to move on.” I swallow hard.

“Move on? Like I’d ever forget you. You were the only good thing in that hellhole, Luna. You might have disappeared on me after high school, but I was always going to find you again.”

He dips his face by my neck and breathes me in. I try to push him off me, but he laughs when I shove him back a step .

“You always were feisty. Happy to see the Twisted Kings didn’t beat that out of you.”

“They’d never do anything like that.”

“They’re bikers, doll.” He hitches an eyebrow. “Or do you think your boyfriend actually likes you just because right now he’s treating you okay? I guess you always were a sucker for someone willing to save you. I’m sure you’re a good fuck, but he’ll get tired and move on. That’s what they all do. That’s why you’ve always belonged with me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I saved you first, Luna. I stopped my dad from beating on you… or doing worse.” He steps toward me, and I mirror him with a step back. “You weren’t my first foster sister, you know? You should have seen what he did to them. He kept them quiet, but they were thin walls in that apartment. And they felt even thinner in the silence of the night.”

Tears sting my eyes when I realize what he’s saying.

“You’re lucky I was older by the time you came around. And he was drunk more often than not, making him easier to control. I redirected him for you. I took those beatings for you. I kept him in line for you because you were mine. And now you owe me.”

His gaze roams over my body, and I process the altered version of the life we shared. Grimm’s memory of those years is different from mine, and I see how it could have been worse. But if he thinks he’s owed me because of it, he’s wrong .

Grimm drags his dark hair off his forehead, and his nearly black eyes have my stomach in knots. Any kindness that once existed in him has hardened.

“You were like a brother to me, Steven.”

“Grimm.” His frown deepens.

“Grimm,” I repeat, stepping back. “You were my brother. That’s it.”

His fingers wrap around my wrist so hard it hurts, and he’s nothing like the boy I remember.

“Don’t lie to yourself. We weren’t actually siblings. This is okay. You’re allowed to like me.”

“Like you? I don’t even know you. Not anymore.” I try to pull away, but he won’t let me go. “I’m in love with Ghost.”

His eyes flare at my comment, and the invisible band around my chest tightens. I still haven’t said that to Ghost, and I don’t like that the first time the words are out loud, they were to Grimm. Especially when his gaze darkens with his irritation.

“You only think that because you’ve been around him, and he’s brainwashed you. But I know you, Luna. In ways he never will.” Grimm grabs my arm, and I wince from how hard he holds onto me. “You don’t belong with them.”

“Where do I belong then?” I already suspect his answer, but I need to hear it to wrap my head around what’s happening.

“With me, baby doll. With the Iron Sinners. Where you were always meant to be.” His face softens as he steps closer. “Think about it; you were always one of us. Helping us out against those assholes.”

“I didn’t know that. I didn’t want to. ”

“You think you’re loyal to them, I get it.” He brushes my cheek with his hand. “I let you stay too long. I should have pulled you out sooner.”

“You knew I was there?”

“Of course I knew.” His eyebrows scrunch. “I didn’t want you to go with them, but once you did, I knew you would make it work for me.”

My blood chills. I came here planning to bargain with the person who hired me, but that’s not what this is at all. This isn’t about a job I did or didn’t do. Grimm thinks I’m his.

“Titan needed someone on the inside, just in case. And after I saw how the hacker looked at you, I knew he’d trust you enough to let you close.” Grimm’s eyes flare. “Reyes was prospecting, but he was a little shit. He was bound to fuck it up. I told Titan we could trust you. That when you came home, you’d know enough to help us take down those Twisted Kings assholes.”

“I can’t.” My entire body shakes as I process what he’s saying. “I won’t.”

What he’s suggesting is the opposite of what I intended by coming here.

“Oh, doll, they’ve really broken you, haven’t they? You’ve lost where you belong. Don’t worry, I’ve got you now.”

“I’m not telling you anything. You’ll have to kill me.”

Grimm smiles, and it’s filled with so much malice that it makes my stomach turn. “Don’t say reckless things, Luna. I waited for you. I trusted you to do what my president needs. If you’re not careful, he’ll turn you to mulch like that bitch Paulina.”

“What do you know about Paulina?” It’s nearly a whisper.

“How do you think I met the Iron Sinners, Luna?” He steps forward. “Don’t you remember them from back when we were teenagers, always coming and going in the middle of the night?”

I think back to living with Steven and his family. His dad had lots of visitors, and they usually came by late at night, but I never knew what they were doing.

“Your dad was an Iron Sinner?”

“Fuck no.” Grimm laughs. “He was a fucking drunk who couldn’t be trusted to hold a whiskey bottle upright, much less a gun. But he had connections in Glendale, so he hooked them up with people who could sell product for them. In return, they loaned him one of their girls when they came through town.”

I think back to that time—to a night in particular. I woke up for some water and walked in on him and some girl I didn’t recognize in the living room. She was much younger than him, with long dark hair. She was the girl in the photograph in Ghost’s desk.

My stomach turns, and I wonder how much of that Ghost knows. He seemed to think Paulina was the one being cheated on, but Grimm is saying they were using her as payment.

“She wouldn’t do that.”

“Are you sure?” Grimm leans in, grinning. “How do you think Titan knew she was going to turn on the club? She confided in dear old Dad that she was done and that she had a friend in the Twisted Kings who was going to help. Who knows, maybe he would have if I hadn’t spilled her plans to Titan first.”

“You got Paulina killed.” A tear slips down my cheek. “They tortured her.”

“Don’t say it like I’m the villain. She knew what she was getting into when she started letting them pimp her out. She’d do anything for a bump. Girls like that don’t give a shit. She wasn’t loyal, and she got what she deserved.”

“You’re sick.” I shove at his chest, and he grabs me by the cheeks.

He pulls me so close I almost vomit at the smell of him.

“You’re right, Luna. I am sick. Sick for you. If you’re smart, you’ll remember that, or you’ll end up like her. These next few weeks might be rough while you learn your new place, but it could be worse. I promise.”