Page 82 of Devil in Disguise

Danny

Sitting at a table, I watched Danika play with Tabby, Ryder’s little girl, as a mangy mutt kept giving me the stink eye, and I couldn’t shake Ghost’s words. He’d only been trying to protect Melissa, but that ass-chewing he gave me about Jane Craven... he was right.

God, he was brutally, terrifyingly right.

What the hell had I been thinking? I knew better. I knew I was outmatched, a hacker behind a keyboard, not a street fighter like the rest of the club. I could handle myself, sure, but Jane Craven was a viper, and she’d played me like a fiddle. I saw it then, even as I was doing it; the slow, deliberate tightening of the noose. And the worst part? A sick, twisted part of me liked the danger, the thrill of the game, even as the cost mounted.

This cost... my memories, the stolen time with Danika... it gnawed at me.

Ghost was right about Melissa too. She’d saved Danika, coaxed her out of her shell. My little girl was blossoming, laughing, vibrant—all thanks to a woman who sacrificed everything for her. The debt was unpayable. But how could I even show my gratitude, given how much I had kept from her, how much I continued to withhold? The truth about Jane, the extent of my involvement... I owed her more than thanks, more than words.

I owed her the truth.

And yet... the thought of telling her everything, of revealing the full extent of my involvement, the lies, the betrayals—it felt like a betrayal in itself. It would shatter the fragile peace she’d built around Danika and expose them both to the same danger that haunted me. The thought of that, of their innocence crumbling, was unbearable. My promise to protect them seemed to clash violently with my desperate need for redemption.

The messed-up part? I’d do it all again. In a heartbeat. For Dante, for Danika, I’d walk through hell. But Jane Craven... she was a shadow, a constant threat and the thought of her slithering closer, closer to my family... it choked the air from my lungs.

I shook my head, trying to clear it, focusing on Danika’s laughter. But even her joy felt tainted, overshadowed by the crushing weight of my inadequacy, of my choices, of my inevitable failure. Because I knew, with a chilling certainty, that Jane Craven wasn’t done. She wouldn’t rest until she had destroyed everything I held dear. And I’d let her. I’d let her get so close, allowed myself to be played so easily.

The mangy mutt’s gaze burned into me, its silent judgment a mirror reflecting my self-loathing. I wanted to run, to escape the weight of it all, but I was paralyzed, trapped in the cage of my own making. The animal seemed to know my secrets, see the rot at my core, the cowardice hidden beneath the veneer of protection. It saw the man I was—not the hero I pretended to be for my daughter. And the knowledge was almost unbearable.

Lost in my own world, I didn’t hear or see Melissa enter through the front doors until I heard Ghost ask, “What’s wrong, Princess?”

Looking up, I could clearly see the woman was shaken. Something had happened, and for the first time since I’d met the woman, something rose deep within me as my eyes narrowed.

“I got another note.”

“Fuck, where is it?” Ghost asked as Haizley handed him a sheet of paper. Reading it, I saw his shoulders stiffen and my gut coiled with tension. Bracing myself, Ghost turned to look at me as I slowly rose from my chair.

“What?”

“We need to talk,” he simply said, which was code for shit was about to hit the fan. Reaching for his phone, he made a call before sending off a text. I assumed it was to gather the rest of the officers, having been on the receiving end of those texts before.

Looking around the room, I found Dante and Amber playing with Danika and Tabby and walked over to them. “Babe, need you to come with me. Amber, can you keep an eye on Danika?”

I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but I could clearly see Melissa’s worry etched onto her face and Ghost’s stiff shoulders as he protectively held her.

Part of me—the cold, hard part that had clawed its way to the surface during the past agonizing months—didn’t give a shit. The woman did her fucking job, and I had my daughter back. As far as that part of me was concerned, our transaction was completed.

Her debt was paid. End of story.

But another part—a sickening, gnawing part—was screaming. It was the part that remembered the terrified look in Dante’s eyes, his pleas for me to stay, the hollow ache in my chest I felt when I left. I did that. I walked away and vowed never to again.

Melissa was just a child therapist. What the hell could she possibly have gotten herself into that warranted this... this level of protection? Some kid steal her cookies? The thought felt ludicrous, a pathetically inadequate explanation for the grim faces and the palpable tension radiating from the pair.

My gut churned.

Ghost, that hulking brute, was a man who dealt in shadows; I’d seen enough of his work to know that. His presence here meant serious trouble; trouble I’d inadvertently dragged Melissa into by my desperate actions. Was this my fault?

I’d promised myself, sworn on everything I held sacred, that I’d never involve any innocent in club business again. And here I was, staring at the potential consequences of my selfish disregard for the safety of others. This wasn’t just about the safety of my family anymore. This was about the weight of my actions, the ripples of my desperation expanding outward, potentially crushing someone innocent. The thought of leaving Melissa to face whatever was coming, leaving her vulnerable because of me, felt like a knife twisted in my chest. But leaving meant risking everything I’d fought for. It meant admitting failure, admitting that my ruthless pragmatism had failed to protect the people who mattered most.

My choice was a cruel mockery: betray my principles and involve myself further, or abandon Melissa and risk living with the agonizing guilt of my inaction.

Either way, I knew I was going to lose.

And the worst part? I knew, deep down, which choice I was going to make.

“—after Dante stopped communication, Mellie started making plans for her and Dani to disappear—” And just like that, every kind of nice, protective thought I had for the woman vanished.

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