Chapter 17

Something's happening here, and I don't know if I can just sit and wait it out. It's not my style. I became a lawyer to help people. There has to be something I can do to help the club. To put a stop to everything going on.

"I know you want to help them," Ela murmurs, taking a seat next to me.

"I can't just sit by and let someone else die," I whisper, twisting in order to look at the other woman. I knew the woman, not as well as I would have liked, but I knew her.

"If you don't, then you chance not just your death but that of Lynch and the child you now carry," she warns, looking directly in my eyes.

"What?" The question is no more than a breath whooshing past my lips. "I'm not pregnant." I couldn't be. I was on the pill. Well, not the pill exactly, but I got the shot six months as I'm supposed to, not because I was having sex, but because it helped with my period and the horrible cramps I would get. I've been getting the shot since just before I turned eighteen and knew I wanted to have sex with Lynch, that I'd give him my virginity. I was too young to think of children and wanted to be able to have sex with Lynch without a condom. I wanted to feel all of him that first time and every other time after that.

"But you are, child." Ela nods, smiling softly. "It's still very early, but the child is there. It's a boy, and he's going to grow to be a strong man. However, for him to do that, you must protect him. Keep him safe. Don't go looking for trouble."

"Why are you telling me this?" Didn't Fury say she spoke in riddles and didn't intervene in fate?

"Because Scarlett asked me to protect her grandchild," Ela answers, surprising me.

"Scarlett?" I ask, not recognizing the name.

"Lynch's mother," she explains, patting my thigh. "No one knew the truth of her death until recently. I'd seen her around both Lynch and Harlow, she'd never speak, though. She just watched over both of her children. People think I'm crazy because of the sight I have, for the riddles I speak. I learned so long ago to ignore them, to be who I am, and not let anyone make me feel differently. I love my family, and you are a part of that. Just as Scarlett loved her family, she sacrificed her life to save her son and daughter. To ensure the future for them, she lost the love of her life. Let her family think she was only a wild child and couldn't handle being a mother."

"But she loved her kids," I utter, nodding.

"She did," Ela agrees, looking over my shoulder as if she were listening to someone else. "Scarlett isn't the only one who wants you to stay safe," she whispers, tears filling her eyes. "Your parents both want you to stop feeling the guilt for what has happened between you and Lynch. Your father says guilt should only lay on the shoulders of the ones responsible."That sounds like something my dad would say for sure. "Trust me when I say this from experience, Camilla, you should heed your dad's words. It's not on you or him. You are each other's match."

Lynch's match.

I'm his equal, just as he's mine.

Nodding, I decide once and for all to let the guilt go. To listen to Ela. Let Lynch do what he needs to and pray like hell, whatever that is, he'll make it through.

Hours pass before Lynch comes back inside. He's still wearing the blood-stained clothes, but he's got a bag in his hand as he strolls in, eyes scanning until they land on me.

My eyes scan over him, taking all of him in. Something inside me eases at the sight of all that's Lynch. It's been one hellish day. Between my aunt showing up at the office, our house burning, and the clubhouse being hit, I didn't think something like this could happen, but it has indeed happened. All in less than a twenty-four-hour span.

And from the look of Lynch, it's not over with. Not by a long shot.

"You okay?" I ask him when he's close.

He steps even closer, hands planted on either side of my hips, drawing me flush against him. "I'm good, Cams, but the club is heading out for a while, and I'ma need you to stick close to the other women until we get back. Can you do that for me?"

I bite my lower lip and nod. There's no way I can tell him right now that Ela told me I was pregnant. "I'll stay close to them."

"Thanks, baby." Lynch dips his head to rest against my own. "I hate to have to leave you. I could've lost you earlier, and the thought?—"

"But you didn't," I interrupt, not giving him a chance to finish that statement because the thought went both ways. He lost three of his brothers as it is.

"Yeah." His calm voice doesn't match the tormented look in his eyes. What happened is really bothering him in ways I couldn't imagine.

"Just make sure you come back to me," I tell him, clearing my throat to shield the emotions tumbling over and over in my head.

"That's the plan, Cams. Don't plan on letting anyone stop me from coming back to you," he says and brushes his lips against mine ever so gently. It's a beautiful kiss, one I've never experienced before, not even the first time he kissed me so many years ago.

"Good." It's no more than a whoosh of breath, but Lynch hears me and treats me to one of his amazing smirks.

"Be back, baby." He gives me a squeeze, kisses me one last time, and lets me go.

I suck in a breath and do my hardest to not call him back to me. To beg him to stay. I couldn't do that to him. He needs to do this with his brothers. It's his right, and I know it. Whatever they're about to do, he needs to be a part of it.

All I can do is brace and prepare.

Prepare for the chances of them needing me to defend them in the only way I can, in a courtroom. I also hope this is something that won't come to pass. I'll do it, not because they're clients but because Lynch is my man. My husband. My match. The other half of my soul.