Chapter 98 Elena's visit
Sage's POV
Ryder and I stood frozen in the doorway, staring at Elena Vasquez like she was a ghost that had materialized on the front porch. She looked perfectly put together even at this hour, her hair sleek despite her leather jacket, like showing up unannounced in the middle of the night was completely normal.
"Can I come in?" Elena asked, her tone polite but firm. "Or are we going to have this conversation where your neighbors can hear everything?"
Ryder's hand was still on his gun and I could feel the tension radiating off him. "How did you know where to find us?"
"Jaxon told me Sage was here with you." Elena's expression didn't change. "I went to the clubhouse first looking for her, and he said I'd find her at home. So here I am."
The fact that Jaxon had sent Elena to his house made something twist uncomfortably in my stomach. Why would he tell her where I was? Why would he make it easy for Diego's people to find me?
"What do you want?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"I want to talk to you. Privately." Elena's gaze shifted to Ryder. "No offense, but this conversation is between Sage and me. Girl talk, you could say."
"I'm not leaving her alone with you," Ryder said flatly.
"I'm not asking you to leave the house. I'm asking if Sage and I can go somewhere to talk without you hovering." Elena looked at me again. "There's a training arena at your clubhouse. We could go there, have a conversation while we work out some tension. Unless you're too scared to be alone with me for an hour."
The challenge in her voice was clear and I felt my spine straighten in response. "I'm not scared of you."
"Then prove it. Come with me and we'll talk."
Ryder moved closer to me, his voice low. "Sage, this could be a trap. You don't know what she's planning."
"If Elena wanted to hurt me, she could have done it already." I looked at him and tried to convey with my eyes that I needed to do this. "Besides, maybe she has information we can use. Information about Diego or the agreement or what happens next."
"Or maybe she's going to try to convince you to go through with the wedding."
"Then I'll tell her no, the same way I told Jaxon no." I touched his arm. "I'll be careful. I promise."
Ryder didn't look happy about it, but he stepped back. "One hour. If you're not back in one hour, I'm coming to find you."
"Fair enough." I grabbed my jacket from the hook by the door and followed Elena out to her car.
We drove in silence to the club house. Elena parked and led me inside without saying a word, and I followed her to the back where the private training rooms were located.
Elena shrugged off her coat and shoes like she'd come prepared for this.
"You train?" I asked.
"Everyone in the Blood Sisters trains. We're not just pretty faces who ride bikes, marry into powerful families and look good at parties." Elena started wrapping her hands. "We know how to fight, how to protect ourselves, how to handle threats. It's part of the job."
I pulled off my jacket and started wrapping my own hands, watching Elena carefully. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Your wedding to Diego." Elena finished with her hands and moved to the center of the mat. "I know you don't want to marry him."
"Then you know I'm not going through with it."
"I know you think you have a choice in the matter." Elena dropped into a fighting stance. "Come on. Let's train while we talk. I find it easier to have difficult conversations when my body is occupied."
I moved onto the mat and faced her, mirroring her stance. She came at me first, a quick jab that I blocked easily. We circled each other, trading blows while we talked.
"I do have a choice," I said, ducking under her swing. "I can choose not to marry Diego. I can choose to walk away from all of this."
"And then what?" Elena swept my leg but I jumped back in time. "You run away with Ryder? Hide for the rest of your life? Hope that Diego and the Blood Sisters just forget about the deal your father made?"
"My father is dead. The deal is not valid."
"Says who? You?" Elena landed a hit to my side that made me grunt. "It is binding whether you like it or not."
I came back at her harder, landing a punch to her stomach. "Why do you care if I marry Diego? What's in it for you?"
"I care because I'm tired of watching stupid girls make stupid choices that get them killed." Elena blocked my next hit and countered with one of her own. "You think you're the first woman who didn't want to honor a marriage contract? You think you're special because you're in love with someone else?"
"I think I deserve to choose my own future."
"Women like us don't get to choose their own future in this life." Elena's voice was hard. "We all have obligations, responsibilities, deals that were made before we were old enough to understand what they meant. The smart ones accept it and make the best of it. The stupid ones fight it and end up dead."
We broke apart, both of us breathing hard. I wiped sweat from my forehead and tried to read Elena's expression, but her face was a mask.
"Why are you really here?" I asked. "Did Diego send you to convince me? To scare me into going through with the wedding?"
"I'm here because I actually like you, believe it or not." Elena moved back to the center of the mat. "You've got spirit, you fight for what you want, and you're not afraid to stand up to people who are more powerful than you. But spirit doesn't keep you alive when you've got enemies coming at you from all directions."
"What enemies?"
"The ones your father made when he did the things he did." Elena's expression was serious now. "You need to understand something, Sage. Your father wasn't just some club president trying to protect his family. He made deals, he crossed lines, he did things that have consequences beyond what you can imagine."
My stomach clenched. "What things?"
"Things that would get the Steel Wolves destroyed if the wrong people found out about them." Elena took a step closer. "Things that put a target on your back and your brother's back and everyone associated with your family."
"You're talking about the federal cooperation."
"I'm talking about a lot more than that, but yes, cooperating with the feds is part of it." Elena crossed her arms. "If other people discovered the things your dad did, they would likely come for the Steel Wolves. They'd burn the clubhouse to the ground, kill everyone wearing the patch, and make sure the Romano name was erased from existence."
The room felt suddenly colder. "And marrying Diego stops that?"
"If you were with Diego, they wouldn't be able to touch you." Elena's eyes were steady on mine. "The Blood Sisters are powerful enough to protect you from the fallout of your father's choices. Diego can give you immunity, safety, a future where you don't have to look over your shoulder every day wondering when someone's going to put a bullet in you for what daddy did.”