The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 227

Chapter 116-2

Silence settles back over us, but the initial, blinding rage is starting to wear off, leaving a strange, hollow exhaustion in its wake. The snow is coming down harder now, heavy sheets of white sweeping across the

oad.

watch the windshield wipers sweep back and forth, the rhythmic thump-click anchoring the quiet.

Did Locke look… I don’t know,” Jade starts softly her voice losing its sharp edge, sounding smaller now. Did he look off to you this morning?”

pause, keeping my eyes on the highway. “He looked like he hadn’t slept a second.”

Mayhem didn’t either,” Jade admits quietly, her fingers tracing a line in the condensation on her window. Every time I moved last night, he was wide awake, just staring at the door. He was holding his gun under his pillow the whole night, Zara. I can’t think the last time he did that.”

swallow hard, feeling the tight knot in my stomach shift slightly. “Locke washed his hands three times before he came out of the bathroom this morning. He didn’t even realize I was watching him. He was just eaning over the sink, staring at the drain like he was miles away.”

Jade turns to look at me, her green eyes guarded. “Why do you think they’re pulling back so hard?”

Because they’re terrified,” I say slowly, the words feeling heavy on my tongue as I process it myself. “I mean… they are being arrogant, patronizing assholes. Absolutely. But…”

‘But what?”

‘Think about it, Jade,” I say. “Knox might not even know it was the Skulls who hijacked his chemicals – for all he knows, it was a rival syndicate or a rogue crew – but the risk is what’s eating at them.”

‘The ‘what if,” Jade says.

‘Exactly,” I say, the truth settling in my chest with a cold, dull thud. “If Knox ever connects the dots, it brings a full-scale war right to our doorstep. Guys like Locke and Mayhem built their entire lives on being untouchable. On keeping the club – and us – safe.”

“Yeah.”

“I mean… the mere possibility that Knox could find out it was us is enough to drive them insane. Locking us out is the only way their caveman brains know how to build a wall around the threat.”

Jade stares out the window at the passing brick warehouses, her face pale under the gray morning light. “It still doesn’t give them the right to talk to us like we’re stupid. Or useless.”

“No,” I agree. “It doesn’t. Explaining why they’re acting like pricks doesn’t mean we have to validate it. They were way out of line, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But… I get why they retreated behind the patch.”

“I hate that I get it too,” Jade says.

“We hold our ground,” I say. “We don’t play along, and we don’t let them treat us like children. But we don’t start unnecessary fires either. They want space to carry the weight? Let them carry it.”

1/2

Chapter 19

Claim

Jade turns her head and looks at me, a quiet, serious expression settling over her features. “Fair enough.”

We pull down the long, gravel alleyway leading to the rear entrance of the MC compound. The heavy iron gates loom ahead, stick under the overcast sky.

As the initial anger settles into a quiet, stubborn resolve, the solidarity between us feels solid and real. We aren’t just two club women throwing a fit because our men wouldn’t talk to us. We’re two women who understand the stakes just as well as they do, and we refuse to be shoved into a corner while the threat hangs in the air.

“So what’s the plan?” Jade asks as I hit the brakes beside the gate security pad. “If Knox does figure it out… if things get as bad as Cobra fears… what do we do?”

I roll down my window, the cold, rain-scented air rushing into the warm cab. I punch our access code into the worn rubber keypad, nod at Hammer as he steps out to check that it’s us.

“We do our jobs,” I say, my voice steady. “We stay sharp. We keep our eyes open. They want to draw a line to keep us safe on the inside? Fine. That means we watch the perimeter from where we’re standing.”

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