Page 87 of Carver’s Crusade

I stare at him.

“You’d do that?”

Shield snorts softly. “Carver, the woman kidnapped a child and was working with Tony Martin.” He gestures toward the bodies. “Nobody’s gonna mourn either of them.”

I drag both hands over my face.

“You realize this could destroy your career.”

Shield shrugs. “Maybe.”

Then his expression turns deadly serious.

“But Raven’s not the villain in this story.”

EPILOGUE: RAVEN

Once Shield confirmed the scene told the story he wanted to tell, we all left. Min snagged a top from Nancy’s closet to cover her blood-stained clothing. Once outside, Carver walked me to my car, but before he could open my door, Shield’s phone buzzed.

“It’s Dante,” Shield tells Carver.

“Oh, we didn’t ask about the operation. How did it go?” I ask Carver.

He shrugs. “I think we’re about to find out. Mellor and Banks went hunting. Tony followed a few minutes later, and we followed him.”

“What’s happening?” Shield asks when he shifts the call to speaker.

“Where the fuck are you guys?” Dante demands. I can hear noise behind him—voices, movement, chaos. “The operation’s done.”

Shield gives him the basics, but doesn’t go into too much detail. We don’t want the neighbors to overhear.

“Get here fast.”

“What happened?” Carver barks.

“Rollings shot Izzy. Scar and Tally are working on her.”

“We’re on our way,” Shield snaps as he ends the call.

No one says a word as we pile into my car. The air is heavy with worry as I pull out and follow Shield and Carver back to the clubhouse.

The common room feels suffocating the second we step through the doors. The room is a sea of leather kuttes. Ashlyn, Tanya, and Min rush over to their men. Caitlin heads toward Dante. Evie and Athena are cuddled on their men’s laps. Lenora rushes into Shield’s open arms as Carver leads me over to Dante, too. He’s sitting next to Smoke, who has his face buried in his hands.

“What happened?” Carver asks Dante after squeezing Smoke’s shoulder.

I glance at Jinx, who has come to stand with us. Her dark hair is messy, her makeup smeared, and there’s blood on the sleeve of her shirt.

“Everything went according to plan,” she says. “Izzy and I were both inside our respective bars when Mellor and Banks showed up. We both decided to play it as single women waiting for our friends to arrive. This had the bastards moving in on us fast.”

I can picture the scene. Izzy and Jinx sitting at a table, glancing expectantly at the door. Mellor and Banks honing in on what they assume is vulnerable prey.

“Mellor approached me and chatted me up. The same bullshit about a pretty girl shouldn’t be alone in a bar. He offered to buy me a drink. I agreed, and he went to the bar to get me one. I could hear Izzy through the headphones going through the same thing with Banks. I figured he had already drugged the drink he brought me. I pretended to sip it before placing it back on the table. That was Cole’s clue to switch them out. He bumped into Mellor to distract him before taking the tainted drink and handing me a new one.”

“Good thinking,” I say.

“Yeah, Mellor was pushy about getting me to finish it, so I’m glad we planned out the switch. I finished it and pretended like the drug took effect. Mellor pretended to be my boyfriend, helping me outside. The bastard. He drove me back to Rollings’ house. Izzy was already inside.”

“How did she get shot?” Carver asks.