Page 19 of Judge's Justice

"Everything okay?" she asks.

"Club business. Nothing urgent."

"You should go. You've been here all night. You must be exhausted."

I am. My eyes are gritty, my back's stiff from sitting on the bike for hours, and I can feel the exhaustion pulling at me. But the thought of leaving them here… Alone, unprotected, with Vipers potentially coming, makes my jaw clench.

"I'm fine."

"Judge." Nora takes a step closer. Her voice drops lower. "I appreciate everything you've done. More than I can say. But I can't ask you to keep sacrificing for us. You have your own life. Your own responsibilities."

"This is my responsibility."

"We're strangers."

"You stopped being strangers the second that Viper put his hands on you."

She looks at me for a long moment. Then she glances at Grace, who's still on the bike, signing to herself about something. When Nora speaks again, her voice is even quieter.

"What happens now? With the Vipers. With us. What happens?"

"I don't know yet. Depends on whether they decide you're worth pursuing. Whether they think using you as leverage against me is worth the risk."

"And if they do?"

"Then we deal with it."

"We?"

"The Iron Phoenix. Me and my brothers. We'll keep you safe."

"You can't promise that."

"Yeah," I say. "I can."

Nora's eyes search my face like she's looking for the lie. The catch. The moment where I reveal this is all conditional, that protection comes with a price.

She's not going to find it.

I don't know how to explain that to her. Don't know how to tell her that I haven't felt this certain about anything in years. That protecting her and Grace feels less like a duty and more like…

Like purpose.

"Why?" Nora asks finally. "Why do you care so much? You don't know us. We're nothing to you."

Grace chooses that moment to sign at me from the bike. "Judge, can you teach me how to ride when I'm older? Not thirty like Mama said. Maybe fifteen?"

I sign back. "Ask me when you're fifteen."

"That's not a no!" She pumps her fist in victory.

I look back at Nora. Her eyes are shining with unshed tears again, but she's smiling. Actually smiling.

"That's why," I say. "Because she's five years old and she deserves to grow up without being scared. Because you deserve to sleep without checking over your shoulder. Because if I can give you that, even for a little while, then all of this is worth it."

Nora's breath hitches. "Judge…"

My phone rings. Phoenix again. I answer.