Page 75 of Blackbeard
Officer Shepard deliberated. I held my breath. He moved to the back of the truck, opened the hatch, and peered inside. He consulted Leigh’s phone, squinting at it. Checked inside the truck again.
After several minutes, he returned to Leigh and handed over her phone.
“How do you explain the fact that these bikers were following the truck in the first place?”
Leigh shrugged.
“That’s not my job, Officer. The Makarovs and those guns are my concern, nothing more. In fact, I’m doing you a favor byshowing you that footage. If you prefer, you can waste valuable time, resources, and manpower interrogating these men only to find out they’re innocent. That’s your call to make.”
I ducked my head to hide a smile. Pride bloomed in my chest.
That’s my wife.
Officer Shepard glanced over us and lingered for several seconds on Baby Doll before flicking away quickly.
She had pried favors out of him on more than one occasion, including a recent incident involving Hattie and Kingpin just last year. But she wouldn’t tell me if they were sleeping together. In fact, she was locked up tight when it came to any mention of Officer Shepard.
That’s how I knew she was serious about him. Which was not good, since he was a cop and she was an outlaw biker.
But I trusted Baby Doll. She had a good head on her shoulders. Whatever her relationship was with this cop, I hoped she was making the right decisions that wouldn’t get her into trouble with him.
Officer Shepard gestured to the cops standing guard over us.
“Release them,” he said. “They’re free to go.”
The Blackjacks clubhouse was in an uproar at two o’clock in the morning. Leigh sat at a table, alone, while everyone stood across from her in a half moon arc. As if she was infected with some deadly disease and they didn’t dare get close for fear she might be contagious.
“I understand you’re upset,” Leigh said.
Gatling scoffed, arms crossed, seething and silent on the farthest side of the room.
“You’re really gonna sit there on your pretty little ass and spout bullshit like that?”
“Upset doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Kingpin put in.
I glanced at Baby Doll. She sat at the bar, leaning back on her elbows. And she met my gaze with a cool, level look. But she did not breathe a single word.
She didn’t have to. From the very beginning, she’d been warning me about this.
Leigh sighed and unbuttoned her blazer, adjusting in her seat for a more comfortable position.
“Yes, I knew about the setup. I knew my father would make you take the fall.”
A tense silence filled the air. I swallowed hard, my mind reeling as I tried to process this. I should have been spitting mad with rage. I should have been gutted. Leigh had hidden so much from me. Used me. Lied to my face for weeks.
Instead, I simply felt…numb.
Vlad braced his hands on the table and leaned into Leigh’s face with a growl.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t crush you like a bug, little girl. You betrayed us. You betrayed Blackbeard, yourhusband.”
“No, I didn’t,” she said, sharp, clipped. “I saved you. I threw a fucking bomb into my father’s plan. Yes, Dad sent me to spy on you—all of you. He planted me here to weaken you. You have every right to hate me for that. But I was supposed to walk away tonight. And I—”
The door opened, cutting Leigh off.
Torch barreled into the room, his face red with fury.
“You,” he spat, voice vibrating, jabbing a finger at Leigh. “You tipped off the cops. You pinned this whole thing on us and now your father is going tofucking rotin prison because of what you did.”
