Page 37 of The Riders’ Reign

“I’d really like that, Vani.” Camile wipes at a tear threatening to spill down her cheek.

“I’ve got to go. Zane is here to take me home for a change of clothes. If you want to come and see Dad, Camile, I won’t stand in your way.”

She hangs up without a goodbye or any soft words.

Camile sighs. “She’s trying, but she’s not forgiven me.”

I put down the cell phone and cup her face in my hands, making sure she’s looking me in the eye. “First, there’s nothing to forgive. You’ve not committed a crime, Princess, you’ve just fallen in love. Second, she will come around. She’s already made the first move. It will take time is all.”

She nods. “God, I can’t bear to think how close we came to losing him, Ace.”

“I know.” I can’t either. “We just have to make sure we stop him from overdoing things when he gets back.” I brighten. “Hey, you can be his naughty nurse. Gives bed baths a whole new meaning.”

“Ace!” She digs me in the ribs. “Trust you to let your mind go straight to the gutter.”

I grin and kiss her. “You feel up to heading to the club and seeing what’s going on? We can fill Rook in on what we’ve been told about Jack, too.”

“Yep, that sounds like a plan.”

“Come on, then, beautiful.”

I stand and offer her my hand, pulling her up off the couch when she takes it.

We head out of the door to find Rook and fill him in on the news.

15

CAMILE

Jack’s office is a hive of activity. Rook has a map out on a desk and has drawn a route.

“This is where the fucker I want to payback lives,” he says. “It’s not that far from here. I’ve been planning on dealing with him one way or another after he betrayed me to Ledger, and this is the perfect chance to remove that piece of shit from the earth.”

Rook is angry, and no wonder. I still think about what happened in that outbuilding, and without Jarrod betraying him, Rook would never have been there. The thought causes mixed feelings. Though what we went through together was horrific, the idea of having been there alone, with those men, is so, so much worse. Despite this, Rook still has every right to get his revenge on that bastard. He’d gone to him as a friend, and he’d betrayed him.

“Does he have a lot of friends?” Big Mike asks. “Is there a chance he won’t be alone?”

“He does have some friends, but the majority are either in jail, or the guys involved with the Revenants, and they’ve been dealt with already.”

“Okay.” Saul looks around. “It’s a crazy fucking plan, but it might just work, and it’s the only one we’ve got. So, we go there, smack him around, gag him, cover his head, and tie his hands, and swap him for Ghost?”

Rook nods. “He’s a similar size to Ledger, height and build wise, so with his face covered it might work.”

Big Mike folds his arms across his massive chest. “We do have Ledger’s clothes.”

“You do?” I blurt, ensuring all heads turn to look at me.

“Had to take them off, in order to get him delivered to the pig farm. They’ve been tossed into a landfill site, but we should be able to get them back again.”

“Is ‘pig farm’ a euphemism?” I ask hopefully.

“Nope, he was fed to the pigs. It’s the best way to get rid of the body. We scalped him first, because they can’t digest hair. Then we went back a few days later to find and remove the bigger bones that they can’t eat.”

“Isn’t that dangerous, law enforcement finding out wise?” The room feels a little spinney, and I’m suddenly hot all over.

Big Mike grins. “Not when the farmer is one of us.”

Okay, well, I guess that makes sense.