Chapter 76 Overwhelmed
Ryder's POV
"How would that invalidate the contracts?” I asked Jaxon, not really getting what he was driving at.
"Because both agreements were made under the assumption that Vincent was acting in Sage's best interest and trying to protect her. If we can prove that he was being manipulated or blackmailed into making those deals, then we can argue that the contracts aren't binding since they were signed and made under duress."
Jaxon thought about it for a moment before nodding slowly. "That might actually work if we can find enough evidence to support it. But we'd need proof of the blackmail and we'd need to identify who was pulling the strings behind dad's decisions."
"Which brings us back to this list and figuring out which one of these other people is our traitor." I picked up the paper and studied the names again. "We start with phone records and financial statements. Look for any unusual patterns or contacts that don't make sense. Then we cross-reference that with their movements on the night Vincent died."
"And if we find our killer? What then?"
"Then we make them confess to everything they did and we use that confession to blow up both contracts before Sage has to make any decisions about marrying Dante or Diego." I stood up and headed for the door. "I'm going to start gathering information on these three. You should talk to Sage and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid like actually accepting Dante's offer while we're working on this."
"She won't accept it. I know I hate the idea of it, but she seems to love you too much to marry someone else." Jaxon's voice sounded more annoyed than his expression looked. "Right?"
I wanted to agree with him but the truth was that I didn't know what Sage would do when backed into a corner with no good options. She might choose Dante over Diego if she thought it would protect the people she loved. She might choose running away over either of them and disappear before anyone could stop her.
Or she might choose me and trust that I'd find a way to protect her even when I had no idea how to actually do that.
"I hope you're right because if she marries Dante or Diego, I don't know what I'll do." I opened the door and looked back at Jaxon. "But I know it won't be pretty and it won't be peaceful and a lot of people are going to get hurt before it's over."
I left before he could respond and went looking for Sage because an hour was too long to let her be alone with her thoughts when there were so many people trying to manipulate her into making decisions that would destroy her.
I found her sitting on the back steps of the clubhouse with her face buried in her hands and her shoulders shaking in a way that told me she was crying even though she was trying to hide it.
"Hey." I sat down beside her and put my arm around her shoulders. "Talk to me."
"I don't want to talk. I just want all of this to be over." Her voice was muffled against her hands. "I want to go back to when my biggest problem was Bradley cheating on me and I could just walk away from my fake New York life without any consequences."
"I know, but we can't go back. We can only move forward and figure out how to get through this together."
"What if there is no getting through this? What if no matter what I choose, someone gets hurt and someone dies and it's all my fault?" She finally looked up at me with tears streaming down her face. "What if the only way to protect everyone is to just pick the least terrible option and live with the consequences?"
"The least terrible option is not marrying Dante or Diego. The least terrible option is you and me getting on my bike right now and riding until we hit a place where neither of them can find us."
"And then what? We spend the rest of our lives running and hiding and looking over our shoulders? That's not a life, Ryder. That's just a different kind of prison."
"It's better than watching you marry someone else and knowing I didn't do everything I could to stop it." I cupped her face in my hands and made her look at me. "I love you and I'm not giving up on us just because things are hard right now. I don't care about contracts or agreements or who has legal rights. All I care about is that you're mine and I'm yours and nothing else matters."
"Everything else matters when people's lives are at stake." She pulled away from me and stood up. "Jaxon could lose the club if I refuse Diego. Brothers could die if the Blood Sisters attack because I broke the contract. And my father's killer is still out there planning their next move while we sit here arguing about love and marriage and stupid contracts that shouldn't exist in the first place."
She was spiraling and I could see the panic building in her eyes as the weight of everything crashed down on her all at once.
"Sage, listen to me very carefully." I stood up and moved in front of her. "We're going to figure this out. We're going to find your father's killer and we're going to expose them before Diego's deadline. And once we have that information, we're going to use it as leverage to invalidate both contracts and give you your freedom back."
"You can't promise that."
"I know, but I'm promising it anyway because the alternative is unacceptable." I pulled her into my arms and held her tight. "Trust me. Trust us. We'll find a way out of this that doesn't end with you married to Dante or Diego."
She relaxed against me for a moment before going rigid and pulling away. "Someone's coming."
I turned to see Diego walking across the parking lot toward us with Elena beside him and half a dozen Blood Sisters members flanking them.
My blood turned to ice because Diego wasn't supposed to be here for another two weeks and his early arrival meant something had changed.
Something bad.