Chapter 33 Ryder's rage
Ryder's POV
The moment Elena's motorcycle disappeared down the street, I put my fist through the wall.
The drywall crumbled under my knuckles and pain shot up my arm but I didn't care. I needed to hit something or I was going to lose my mind completely.
"Ryder, calm down," Jaxon yelled.
"Calm down? Your sister was just sold like property and you want me to calm down?"
"Breaking shit isn't going to fix this."
"Neither is sitting here doing nothing." I turned on him. "You knew about this contract. You've known since Vincent died and you didn't tell her."
"I was trying to find a way out of it before she had to know."
"Well, that worked out great, didn't it?"
Sage sat in Vincent's chair holding the contract with both hands. Her face was pale and her eyes were too wide. She looked like she was in shock.
I crossed the room and knelt in front of her. "Look at me."
She blinked and focused on my face.
"You're not marrying him," I said. "I don't care what that paper says. You're not doing it."
"Ryder..." Jaxon started.
"Shut up." I didn't take my eyes off Sage. "Do you hear me? You're not marrying some stranger because your dead father signed a contract."
"It's not that simple," Sage whispered.
"Yes, it is. We tell them no. We deal with whatever comes after."
"What comes after is war." Jaxon's voice was hard. "Do you understand what the Blood Sisters are capable of? They control most of the Southwest. Their reach extends into Mexico, into border towns, into territories we can't even touch. If they declare war over this, we won't survive."
I stood up and faced him. "So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying we need to be smart about this. We need to understand what we're dealing with before we make any decisions."
"Stop talking around it and say what you mean."
Jaxon's jaw clenched. "I mean the Blood Sisters could destroy us. Financially, territorially, physically. They have the numbers and the connections to wipe the Steel Wolves off the map."
Sage's voice cut through our argument. "So I have to marry him to save the club?"
The question hung in the air like smoke. Jaxon looked at his sister and I saw something break in his expression.
"I'm saying we need time to figure this out," he said finally. "To find a way that doesn't end in bloodshed or bankruptcy."
"There is no way," Sage said. Her voice was hollow and dead. "Either I marry Diego or the club loses everything."
"We'll find another option."
"What option? You just said they'll destroy us if I refuse."
"I said we need time to think. To plan. To—"
"To what? Convince me it's not that bad? That marrying a stranger for the club's survival is actually a good idea?"
Jaxon flinched. "That's not what I'm saying."
"Then what are you saying?"
He didn't have an answer. None of us did.
The meeting broke up with nothing resolved. Jaxon went to call the other club members for an emergency session. Sage disappeared somewhere in the clubhouse without a word.
I found her three hours later on the roof.
She was sitting with her back against the air conditioning unit, staring at the stars like they held answers we couldn't find anywhere else. The night air was cold but she didn't seem to notice.
I sat down beside her and we stayed quiet for a while. Just existing together in the darkness.
"I keep thinking about what my dad wrote in those ledgers," she said finally. "All that money moving back and forth. All those secrets he kept. And now this."
"This isn't your fault."
"Isn't it? If I hadn't run away to New York, if I'd stayed here where I belonged, maybe things would be different."
"Or maybe they'd be exactly the same except you wouldn't have had six years of freedom first."
She turned to look at me. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"No. Nothing's going to make this better." I reached for her hand. "But I need you to know that I'm not letting you go without a fight."
"You might not have a choice."
"There's always a choice."
"Not this time." Her voice cracked. "If I refuse, the club loses half its income. You go to war with an MC you can't beat. People die. For what? Because I wanted to choose my own husband?"
"Because you deserve to choose your own life."
"Do I? Because right now it feels like the only choice I have is which disaster to pick."
I pulled her closer and she came willingly, tucking herself against my side like she belonged there.
"Run away with me," I said.
She went still. "What?"
"Right now. Tonight. We get on my bike and we just go. Fuck the club, fuck the contract, fuck all of it. Just you and me."
"Ryder..."
"I'm serious. We could disappear. Mexico, Canada, somewhere they'd never find us. Start over completely."
She pulled back to look at my face. Tears tracked down her cheeks and caught the moonlight.
"You know I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not just about me. It's about Jaxon and Tommy and every other person in this club who would suffer because I was selfish."
"Choosing yourself isn't selfish."
"It is when other people pay the price."
I wanted to argue and I wanted to tell her that she didn't owe the club anything, that her happiness mattered more than territory or money or alliances.
But I could see in her eyes that she'd already made up her mind. She was going to sacrifice herself because that's what Romano women did. They protected their family no matter what it cost them.
"I love you," I said. The words felt inadequate but they were all I had.
"I love you too." Fresh tears spilled over from her eyes. "That's why this hurts so much."
Below us, the sound of motorcycles cut through the night. It was obviously more than one, engines roaring as they approached the clubhouse.
We both tensed. Sage grabbed my arm and I pulled her behind me automatically, scanning the parking lot for the source of the noise.
Multiple motorcycles approached the clubhouse while we were on the roof, vulnerable and exposed.