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The utter devastation in her eyes speared his heart like a harpoon.
“I couldn’t sever my last connection to you.” The words were spoken low as though she’d only wanted Mav to hear them, but the room was small, so everyone knew.
At her declaration, Copper lost some of the antagonism in his stance. He looked resigned. Almost as though he knew Mav wasn’t going to let her go without at least trying to hash it all out.
“So what happened?” Maverick asked.
“Bad timing happened, I guess you could say.” She frowned. “Or maybe good timing, I don’t know.” Her shoulders rose and fell with a shrug. She went on to tell them what transpired that night as Jig stitched up her chin, then moved on to clean her palms and knees. With each word that left her mouth, all three men in the room grew more and more tense.
When she got to the part about Lefty’s thugs being sent after her, Mav’s vision clouded. The only thing that kept him from losing his shit entirely was Stephanie’s subtle twitch and slight whimper of pain when Jig pulled a small chunk of gravel out of her knee.
“Fuck,” Copper breathed out.
“It gets worse,” she said, shifting her gaze between the men.
“Just give it to me straight.” Copper said.
“They were planning to take me because they thought I was an ol’ lady. Thought it would send the club into a frenzy and have you all out searching for me. It would leave the clubhouse vulnerable, and they plan to blow it up. One of the guys said someone named Marco is working on bombs.”
Mav’s blood ran cold while Copper’s fists clenched and a vein visibly throbbed in his neck. Jig froze and hissed out a curse.
“Church in an hour,” Copper said. “First step is to beef up security and organize a watch schedule. Mav—”
He drew out his phone with trembling hands and tapped a text to two of his brothers that worked for him. “On it, boss. We’ll add more cameras, alarms, beef up the locks, the works. We’re gonna need to secure the perimeter as well.”
Copper nodded. “We’ll discuss it all in church.” He focused on Steph once again. “I got one more question for you.”
“Okay,” Steph said.
“I’m done,” Jig cut in.
With a nod, she gave him a smile. “Thank you for doing that. I figured I’d end up stuck in a walk-in clinic all night somewhere between here and DC.”
At the mention of her leaving, Mav’s stomach tightened.
Stephanie kept her focus on the prez. “What was your question, Copper?”
“You could have taken this to the feds, probably worked your way back in their good graces. Hell, you could have gone to the local PD. But you came directly to us. Why?”
“The same reason I withheld information from the FBI this whole time.” Her voice was low, almost shy as she ran her fingers over the bandage Jig had applied to her palm.
Copper grunted, seeming satisfied with that cryptic answer. Mav hadn’t been privy to the conversation where he’d ordered Steph to leave town. Apparently, they’d talked about some things the prez hadn’t passed along.
“You did a good thing tonight, fed. A couple of good things. Saved that girl, saved yourself, gave us the information we need to keep our family safe. And you did it knowing there was a chance I wouldn’t listen, or fuck, a chance we’d shoot you on sight.”
She shrugged, the motion full of defeat. “Everything I thought I understood about the world was tossed out the window when my partner turned. For years, I tried to deny the truth, but I’ve had the harsh reality that the world isn’t black and white shoved in my face over and over again. Finally, I’ve accepted it. Now I know that protecting family and loved ones is important above all else. And it needs to be done by any means possible.”
Copper gave her a curt chin lift. “You’re loyal.” He looked to Mav ,who was practically bursting with all his questions. But he’d have his time when the prez and Jig left the room. Stephanie wasn’t going anywhere. Not that night, not ever if he had his way. Sure, they had some shit to work out, but as Copper said, she was loyal, and her loyalty lie lay with the Handlers.
“Gonna take some time to build the trust back up with the folks around here,” Prez said.
Stephanie’s eyes widened. The look of shock on her face was almost comical. She’d genuinely come expecting to be given the boot once again.
Loyal and selfless.
Copper’s lips quirked at her laughable expression. “You up for the challenge?”
She cast a quick sideways glance at Mav, probably gauging his reaction, but he kept his face neutral. “Yes,” she whispered while nodding. Good thing her chin was numb or that probably would have felt like shit.
