Page 2 of Colt
“Hey!” The protective twin—the one with fire in his eyes—stepped forward again. “Watch how you speak to my mama!”
His brother grabbed his arm, pulling him back. “Luca, don’t—”
“He’s being mean to her, Knox!” Luca yanked free and planted himself directly in my path again. “You can’t talk to people like that! Grandma Betty says words can hurt just as much as fists, and you’re hurting her!”
I stared down at this miniature warrior, this tiny defender who’d positioned himself between a six-foot-two biker and his mother without a second’s hesitation. The kid had balls, I’d give him that.
“Luca, Knox—” Lilac’s voice was strained now, her face pale. “We should go.”
“Yes, you should.” I heard myself speaking like I was listening from a distance. “Before I say something I’ll regret.”
Lilac grabbed the cart with shaking hands and started to push past me. But she stopped when we were shoulder to shoulder. “I don’t know who you think I am,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “But you’re scaring my children. Please leave us alone.”
She didn’t wait for a response. Just pushed the cart toward the checkout lanes, both boys tucked close to her sides. I watched them go—watched Lilac walk away with her children and felt the last seven years of carefully constructed indifference shatter.
She was here, in Millfield. Living her life like she hadn’t destroyed mine.
And she’d looked at me like I was nobody.
I don’t remember driving to the clubhouse. Don’t remember parking or walking through the front door. The next thing I was fully aware of was Dutch’s voice cutting through the fog in my head.
“Colt. Brother. Talk to me.”
I looked up to find half the club watching me—Dutch directly in front of me, Holden and Glitch flanking him, Handful, already nursing another beer in the corner, was looking puzzled. Even Indira was there, perched on a stool at the bar with that sharp-eyed look she got when something was wrong.
“I saw her.” My voice came out strange. Hollow. “Lilac. At the grocery store.”
The room went dead silent. Then it erupted.
“What the fuck?” Handful slammed his beer down so hard it foamed over. “That cheating bitch has the nerve to show her face in Millfield?”
“After what she did to you?” Holden snorted. “She’s got some balls.”
“She had kids with her,” I continued, my voice flat. “Twins. Boys. Must be the other guy’s—proof she was already pregnant when she ran off, just like my brothers said.”
“Un-fucking-believable.” Dutch shook his head in disgust. “She destroys your life, runs off with another man’s babies in her belly, and now she’s here?” He shook his head again. “Bitch like that has no right to be in Venom Riders territory.”
Indira slid off her stool, her heels clicking against the concrete as she walked toward me. Her expression was tight with anger. “Colt, I’m so sorry. I know we don’t talk about it much, but what she did to you…” She shook her head. “No one deserves that kind of betrayal.”
It meant something, hearing that from Indira. She and I had always had a prickly relationship—I was too rough around the edges for her taste, and she was too quick to call me on my bullshit. But she was Dutch’s old lady, which made her family. And right now, family was closing ranks around me.
“That’s not the worst part,” I said. “She pretended not to know me. Asked if we’d met before. Like we weren’t married for three years, like I wasn’t—” I broke off, the rage choking me.
“Playing games,” Holden said darkly. “Trying to gaslight you.”
“Fucking with your head,” Handful agreed. “Classic female manipulator shit.”
Glitch had been quiet, his fingers flying across his laptop keyboard. Now he looked up with a cold smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You know, brother, I could make her life very uncomfortable. Parking tickets that never go away. Credit cards that mysteriously stop working. Bank account that drains itself dry.” He shrugged. “She fucked with your life. I could return the favor. Make her regret ever messing with you.”
Part of me—the wounded, furious part—wanted to say yes. Wanted to watch her suffer the way I’d suffered. Wanted her to know what it felt like to have your whole world ripped away without warning.
But then I remembered the boys. The way they’d looked at me with fear in their eyes. The way the fierce one had planted himself between me and his mother.
Those kids hadn’t done anything wrong. They were innocent in all this. “No,” I heard myself say. “Not yet. I want to know why she’s here first. What she’s playing at.”
“Smart,” Dutch said, nodding.
“I can dig into her background,” Glitch offered. “Find out where she’s been, what she’s been doing. See if there’s anything we can use.”
