Chapter 43 Consequences
Sage's POV
Dr. Martinez slumped against the wall, looking older than he had an hour ago.
The words hung in the air like poison.
Federal informant. My father. The man who taught me that loyalty to the club came before everything else. He was working with the government.
"What information was he feeding them?" Ryder's voice cut through my shock.
Dr. Martinez shook his head. "I don't know. Vincent kept those details private. He just said it was the only way to keep everyone safe."
"Safe from what?" I heard myself ask.
"From whoever was coming after the club. From people who wanted to destroy us." Martinez wiped his face with shaking hands. "He never told me specifics. The less I knew, the safer I was. That's everything I know. Everything I've been carrying for five years." Martinez looked at us with empty eyes. "Can I go now? Can my family go?"
Ryder pulled out his phone and made a phone call. "Let them go. We're done here."
"You got what you needed?" The person on the other end asked.
"Yeah. We got it."
He hung up and looked at Dr. Martinez. "Your family will be home in an hour. Unharmed.”
Jaxon stood up so fast his chair crashed backward. "Everyone out. Now."
"Jax, we need to talk about this," Ryder started.
"I said out!" Jaxon's voice was raw. "Martinez, go home. Not a word of this to anyone. You understand me? If you run, if you talk to anyone about what happened here today, if you even think about going to the cops, I will find you."
"I'm not running anymore," Martinez said quietly. "I'm too tired to run."
We let him leave and he stumbled toward the door. Tommy helped him as he walked out of the clubhouse like a broken man, blood still on his face.
After he was gone, the three of us sat in silence as the weight of what we just learned pressed down on all of us.
"That means you too," Jaxon said to Ryder.
"I'm not leaving Sage."
"She's my sister. I'll take care of her."
"Like you took care of telling her about the marriage contract?" Ryder shot back.
Jaxon's jaw clenched. I stepped between them before things could escalate again.
"Ryder, please. Give us a minute."
He looked at me as if I slapped him but nodded and left. The door closed behind him and the office went into sudden silence.
I turned on Jaxon the second we were alone. "Did you know?"
"Sage—"
"Did you know Dad was working with the government?"
His silence was answer enough.
"How long?" My voice cracked. "How long have you known?"
"Since he died. I found documents in his files. He had communications with federal agents, there were payment records, immunity agreements." Jaxon ran his hands through his hair. "I was trying to figure out how deep it went before I told anyone."
"You've been lying to me for weeks."
"I was protecting you."
"From what? From the truth about who our father really was?" I let out a huge huff. "You've been preventing me from investigating his murder while hiding that he was a federal informant. Do you have any idea how that looks?"
"He was trying to keep us safe!" Jaxon shouted. "The feds were closing in on the club. Other MCs were testing our borders. Dad made a deal to protect his family and his brothers. That's what leaders do."
"Leaders don't sell out their own people."
"He didn't sell anyone out. He gave them information on rivals, on enemies who were already coming after us. He used the government as a weapon against people who wanted us dead."
"And Robert Cordova? Was he an enemy?" I stepped closer. "Is that why Dad had him killed? Because Robert found out about the federal deal?"
Jaxon flinched. "I don't know what happened with Robert."
"Liar. You know something. I can see it on your face."
"Sage, there are things you don't need to know. Things that will only hurt you."
"I'm already hurt! My father signed a contract selling me to a stranger. He was working with the government behind everyone's backs. He might have had one of his own men murdered to cover it up." Tears burned my eyes but I refused to let them fall. "How much worse could the truth possibly be?"
Jaxon looked at me with such pain in his eyes that I almost backed down. Almost.
"Dad did what he thought was right," he said quietly. "He made impossible choices to protect the people he loved. And now he's dead and we're stuck dealing with the consequences."
"So you're just going to keep his secrets? Even if they got him killed?"
"I'm going to do what he would have wanted. Protect the club. Protect you. Even if that means keeping certain truths buried."
The betrayal cut deeper than any knife. My own brother was choosing our fad's lies over my right to know what happened.
"I can't be here right now," I said.
"Sage, wait."
But I was already walking out. I couldn't look at Jaxon without seeing all the lies he told and all the secrets he was still keeping. I couldn't breathe in that office surrounded by my dad's things and his ghost and the weight of everything he had done.
I found Ryder in the hallway. He took one look at my face and pulled me into his arms.
"Come on," he said quietly. "You need to get out of here."
He led me to a room at the clubhouse. It was small and sparse but it was away from Jaxon and away from all the questions I didn't have answers to.
The second the door closed behind us, I broke.
Sobs tore out of my chest so hard they hurt. Ryder held me while I cried for the father I thought I knew and the brother who was becoming a stranger and the life that kept falling apart no matter how hard I tried to hold it together.
"I've got you," Ryder whispered against my hair. "I've got you Princess."
I looked up at him and saw the same pain reflected in his gray eyes. My dad was like a father to him. He'd lost him too. He trusted my father just like I had and now that trust was shattered into pieces neither of us could put back together.
Then without thinking, I kissed him.
It was desperate and messy and full of all the things I felt that I couldn't put into words. Ryder hesitated for just a second before kissing me back with the same desperate need.
We moved toward the bed without breaking apart. His hands tangled in my hair while mine fumbled with his shirt. There was no grace to it, no careful seduction. Just two broken people seeking comfort in the only way that made sense.
Our clothes were on the floor within seconds. Ryder's mouth moved down my neck and I arched into him, needing to feel something other than betrayal and confusion. Needing to feel alive when everything else felt like it was dying.
He lowered me onto the bed and I pulled him down with me. The world narrowed to just this, just us, just the desperate connection that drowned out everything else.
Neither of us thought to lock the door.
Neither of us heard footsteps in the hallway.
Neither of us heard someone approaching until it was too late.
The door swung open.
Jaxon stood in the doorway, his face frozen in shock.