Page 44 of Racer

Fox gave me a chin lift before disappearing down the hall.

I stayed where I was, watching Jude walk away. I had his heart. I knew that much.

But maybe I wanted more.

Maybe I wanted the words stitched on leather that would make it official. His old lady. Hiseverything.

15

RACER

They didn’t beg when we snatched them off the street.

But then, I never gave them the chance.

Dez Franklin and his two pit bulls just sat in silent arrogance, even when we had them bound, gagged, and covered in hoods in the back of the transport van.

The Redline Kings didn’t waste time. After the race, Kane gave a single nod, and that was all it took. The three men were yanked off the asphalt and tossed into a cage on wheels. Then we drove them straight to hell.

Two levels beneath the Redline Kings’ garage was the hidden underbelly that Edge had mentioned, but few ever got to see. Like the garage bays, the rooms were reinforced concrete, industrial-grade steel, and had tile floors that were easy to clean. But down here, there was also a security system that could rival any federal lockup. No cell signal. No cameras. No chance of anyone screaming loud enough for the outside world to hear.

This wasn’t a place for mercy. It was for monsters to meet the men who hunted them.

The door thudded shut behind us as I followed Kane, Edge, and Nitro down the stairs. With each step, the air grew cooler,but remained damp from the humidity, causing the walls to sweat with condensation. The faint scent of bleach lingered in the air.

The Iron Rogues, the Redline Kings, Hounds of Hellfire…we all had blood on our hands. We were outlaw clubs. Not fucking choirboys. The world liked black and white, but we lived in gray. The place no one without a patch ever wanted to admit was necessary to humanity. Some of us leaned closer to the shadows than others, but there were always lines. Limits. A code. And when that code was broken—when someone fucked with our people—that was when the hunters got unleashed.

And tonight, I was the executioner.

Franklin and his boys weren’t in the cells for slinging cheap parts or screwing up a race. They were here because they’d rigged cars to fucking explode, buried drivers in twisted metal, and tried to kill me to cover it up.

And worse—they targeted Emily.

That was what sealed their fate. There’d be no trial. No lawyer. No redemption arc.

Nothing but judgment. They weren’t going to rot in some prison. They were going to pay in blood. Drop by drop.

Kane nodded to one of his enforcers, and the door to the first room swung open. Dez sat chained to a steel chair, hood pulled off, wrists cut and bruised from the zip ties we’d replaced with shackles. He looked up at me through one swollen eye, sneering as if he thought he was the smartest guy in the room. His delusions of grandeur would quickly be shattered.

“About time,” he grunted. “You wanna get on with your little show so I can get back to my blow and pussy?”

I rolled my shoulders and stepped into the room. His words had no effect on me.

Most of the time, I was a laid-back guy with a ready smile. But here? And in The Room back in Old Bridge? They werethe only places that knew this side of me. Calm, solid as the walls, unmovable. I lacked emotion. Only the icy need for justice trickled through my veins.

The fluorescent lighting flickered above me, casting shadows on the walls that were streaked with rust, sweat, and old stains that would never fully fade.

“You seem to misunderstand what’s happening here,” I deadpanned. “You’re here to do penance.”

Dez’s smirk twitched. “You some kinda priest now?”

“Nope,” I murmured, slowly circling his chair. “But I’m the one who’s going to make sure no one else ends up in a hospital or a coffin because you got greedy.”

“Business is business,” he spat. “You’re in the game, you know that. Collateral damage happens.”

“Business?” I stopped in front of him and knelt so we were eye to eye. “You almost killed my friend. Put my woman’s brother in a coma. Had your goons try to scare her off, to run her over with a car. You tried to blow up my car on the track, with her in the pit.” I smoothly stood back up and walked toward the stainless-steel table against the back wall that was covered in tools. Despite listing out his sins, I remained detached and unemotional. “That wasn’t business. That was personal. And so is this.”

“What the fuck do you want from me?” he snapped.

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