The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 272

Chapter 135-3

Charm

“None of it happened. Instead, they buried the whole damn file. They deliberately sat on the information because the resulting fallout from the attack gave them the exact political leverage they needed to push a massive defense bill through Congress. It was millions of dollars that fell into their pockets – as a direct result of those bombings.”

A cold chill runs down my spine, making me hold my breath as I look at his profile.

“I sat in a secure room, staring at a computer screen, knowing innocent people were going to die in a matter of days, and I was legally barred from stopping it,” Locke says, his voice thick with a cold, buried rage. “They weaponized my research to facilitate murder and profit from it.”

“Oh, my God…”

“I put in my formal resignation that next day. I couldn’t sit behind a desk, wear a tie and expensive shoes, and watch people get slaughtered, all just to feed a bureaucrat’s appetite for fucking funding.”

He reaches out, his large, warm palm covering my knee over the fleece blanket.

“I was completely burnt out, disgusted, and disillusioned with everything. I spent months off the grid, trying to figure out what a clean, honest life looked like. And that’s where Rook came in.”

I tilt my head, genuinely surprised. “Rook?”

Locke nods. “You know that Rook was in black ops before he ever patched into the Skulls.”

“Sort of. I mean, I knew he was some kind of special forces, and it’s that background that made Dad tap him as Sergeant-at-Arms, defending the club.”

“Exactly. The man is the perfect chief of security, chief enforcer, and executive disciplinarian.”

“Dad says so.”

“Well, I can’t say too much, but Rook was an elite tactical operator attached to a joint task force I did work for,” Locke says. “We were deployed on the same intelligence sweep in the Middle East. Rook was on the ground kicking down doors, and I was in the mobile command unit tracking the funding behind the cell.”

“Wow.”

“We went through one hell of a situation together when a mission went sideways, and we developed a mutual, unshakeable trust. We knew each other’s ethics. We knew neither of us could be bought.”

“I had no idea Rook had that kind of background,” I say, thinking of the quiet man who usually kept to himself in the corner of the clubhouse. “I thought maybe he was a Marine, or something.”

“Rook keeps his mouth shut, but he’s one of the most lethal men I’ve ever met,” Locke says. “When Rook left the service and joined the Grinning Skulls, we stayed in touch. Then, about three years ago, everything in the club shifted.”

He pauses, looking over at me with a meaningful gaze.

“Why?” I ask, perplexed. “What shifted?”

1/2

Trapter 115+

Comments

LUCK DRAW >

M

Vote

314

Claim

212