Riven Knight

by Devney Perry

  As soon as we were seated, Leo walked to the wall and hit the button to close the bay door. No one spoke a word until it was lowered.

  “What happened?” I asked Genevieve, my hand firm on hers.

  She sucked in a deep inhale. “Marcus found my mother’s necklace, the one I’ve been searching for, at the cabin. He suspects, maybe he knows, that I was up there.”

  “Fuck.” My nostrils flared. “Then I’ll confess.”

  “What? No.” Her mouth dropped open. “There’s no way I’ll let you do that. You’re not taking the blame.”

  “It was my fault.”

  “No, it wasn’t. If anyone is going to confess to the murder and fire, it’s going to be me.”

  “Over my dead body.”

  “Isa—”

  “Hold up.” Dash cut her off. “Before you both end up confessing, how about we talk this through?”

  She shot me a glare, then turned back to our circle. “Good idea.”

  “Start at the beginning,” Dash ordered.

  Genevieve nodded. “Marcus has a necklace of Mom’s that was missing. The one I told you all about. The one we think her boyfriend stole.”

  “How did Marcus know it was hers?” Isaiah asked.

  “The cops found it when they were investigating the cabin. They thought it was the Warrior’s. Marcus only realized today it was Mom’s when he saw it in a picture in the paper.”

  “Oh, shit.” Bryce’s mouth fell open. “What are the chances?”

  Genevieve’s tired gaze swung to me. “We were almost free.”

  I tugged the arm of her chair, dragging her closer. She gripped my hand tighter and rested her head on my shoulder.

  Free.

  We’d almost been free of this whole thing. We were planning our future. I was looking forward to the move. Genevieve was so excited to start law school. And then this. Our future was on the verge of disappearing before it had even begun.

  Was this my punishment? To get a taste of happiness only to have it ripped free before I could sink my teeth in? Maybe I deserved to go back to prison and rot my life away in a cell.

  Genevieve would slap me if she heard that thought. She was so certain I’d paid for my sins and then some. Her endless faith astounded me.

  I’d actually started to believe we could make it.

  I wasn’t going down without a fight. Maybe we’d get a miracle and come out of this alive and together. I didn’t deserve this kind of happiness, but Genevieve did. And if I was the man who made her happy, if I was her choice, then I’d spend the rest of my life making sure she didn’t regret it for a second.

  I kissed the top of her hair. My God, I loved her. More than I’d loved another soul.

  We’d get through this. We have to.

  “He planted it.” Bryce snapped her fingers, sitting straighter. Xander was over her shoulder and she was patting his back for a burp. “It fits our theory. If the boyfriend was the one who killed your mom and kidnapped us, then he was up there. He had the necklace and planted it during or after the fire.”

  “But why?” I asked. “He got away with this. Why plant evidence when he was in the wind?”

  “There had to be something in that cabin,” Dash answered. “Something that could trace back to him. So he put that necklace in there, hoping it would lead to Genevieve instead of him.”

  “That’s a stretch.” I shook my head. “Marcus didn’t even know it was Amina’s until the paper came out today.”

  “Maybe they were hoping there’d be a fingerprint or DNA or something.” Leo ran a hand over his face. “I don’t fucking know.”

  “I think this has something to do with the Warriors,” Bryce said.

  Genevieve nodded. “That’s what I was thinking too.”

  “All along, we’ve assumed Tucker was telling the truth. Why?” It was something that had always bothered me. “Because Draven thought he was telling the truth. Draven believed Tucker.”

  “So did I,” Dash said. “He said he didn’t have anything to do with Amina’s death and I believed him.”

  “What if he was lying to your face?” I looked down at Genevieve. “Your mom had a thing for bikers, right?”

  “Maybe. She had a thing for Draven, that was for sure.”

  “Tucker.” Emmett’s voice echoed through the shop. “You think the boyfriend was Tucker. He got jealous when he found out Draven and Amina had sex. Killed her. Found a way to pin it on Draven.”

  “But why kidnap me and Genevieve?” Bryce asked.

  “Maybe he thought you were getting too close.” Dash put his hand on her knee. “Asking too many questions.”

  “That makes sense.” She nodded. “But why Genevieve? She’s never been a part of this.”

  “He had to be worried that Mom told me about him,” Genevieve said. “Maybe they keep coming after me because he thinks I can identify him.”

  “But you can’t.” I huffed. “All along, you’ve only ever known this boyfriend as Lee.”

  “Why the fake name?” Emmett asked. “Doesn’t seem like Tucker’s style.”

  No, it didn’t. I didn’t know the guy but giving a fake name to the woman he was banging didn’t seem right. “Is he married?”

  Dash shook his head. “Divorced. Has two daughters in their late twenties. I see no reason he’d give a fake name.”

  I shoved out of the chair to pace along the wall of tool benches. “Let’s run this through. Assume it’s Tucker and see if it gels.”

  “Okay.” Emmett stood too, raking a hand through his hair. “Amina comes here to talk to Draven and they hook up. Tucker must have been following her or found out about it. He goes into a rage, knows there’s probably a weapon or two in the clubhouse because that’s where we’d always kept shit like that. I’m betting the Warrior clubhouse is packed with weapons too.”

  “He breaks in,” Dash continued for Emmett. “He even had on a patch.”

  “But not the current one,” Bryce jumped in.

  “Right.” Leo nodded. “Tucker told us the patch the thief was wearing was an old design. One that only old members would have had. Well, there aren’t many older members of the Warriors than the president himself.”

  We were getting somewhere. My heart started to race as I nodded along. The problem was, I hated where we were getting. Tucker was smart. We’d be up against not just one man, but an entire club.

  Fuck. If this really was to settle an old war, I didn’t like our chances of emerging as victors.

  “So he kills Amina. Frames Draven.” I kept pacing. “Kidnaps Bryce and Genevieve to shut them up. Why didn’t he just kill them in the mountains?”

  “That’s been bugging me too.” Leo frowned. “He had them. Why not kill them and be done with it?”

  My stomach knotted. I didn’t like the mention of anyone killing my wife. I didn’t like thinking about how close I’d been to losing her before I’d even had the chance to know her. From the murderous look on Dash’s face, he didn’t like hearing how close Bryce had been to death either.

  “He wanted Dash to kill me,” Genevieve said. “He was set on it. Why?”

  “To punish Draven,” I answered, coming to the back of her chair. I put my hands on her shoulders. “This entire thing was driven by his hatred for Draven. If Dash kills his mystery daughter, it’s not like he can retaliate against his own son.”

  The room went quiet as everyone thought it over.

  “And he planted the necklace because I got away,” Genevieve whispered. “He must have known that the police would find it. You guys lost him in the trees. He circled back and planted the necklace. Since he didn’t get his way and I survived, he was counting on the cops putting that murder and fire on me.”

  If he couldn’t make Draven suffer by watching his son kill her, then he could watch her be sentenced to prison. In a lot of ways, that punishment was worse.

  “Tucker could have killed us at any time,” Bryce added. “If he wanted us dead, we’d be dead.”r />
  “She’s right.” Dash nodded, going over to his wife and putting his hand on Xander’s head. “When Tucker wants someone dead, they’re in the ground.”

  “And his name isn’t Lee,” Emmett added.

  “Fuck,” Leo barked. “It almost works, but not quite. We know Tucker. He’s also not the kind of guy to hide behind ski masks and sunglasses.”

  “My gut says it’s not Tucker.” Dash growled. “Damn it. But you’re right about one thing, Isaiah, this was always about Dad. Goddamn, I wish he were here. He had a way of looking at things from a different point of view.”

  “What are we missing?” Bryce asked.

  “What if it wasn’t the kidnapper who planted the necklace?” Genevieve’s voice caught our attention. “Maybe I had that wrong.”

  “Then who?”

  She gulped. “A cop. That place would have been swarming with cops.”

  “Which cop?” Dash and Emmett asked in unison.

  “Marcus,” she whispered. “He hates Draven.”

  “No, he doesn’t.” Dash shook his head. “They always got along. Yeah, Marcus had to arrest him a couple of times, but the charges never stuck. After the club disbanded, they’d meet for drinks every couple months at The Betsy.”

  It was hard to picture Draven sitting down across from the chief of police at the local dive bar to eat salty popcorn and shoot the breeze over a beer.

  “I’m telling you,” Genevieve insisted, “there was so much poison in his voice today. He said Draven was a coward for killing himself. And the way he looked was . . . there was something off about it. He hates Draven. Loathes him. I’m sure of it.”

  The room went still except for a gurgle coming from the baby.

  “You’re sure?” I asked Genevieve. Going up against Tucker would have been difficult. Making an accusation against the chief of police was downright impossible.

  She didn’t answer right away. Her eyes stayed narrowed and unfocused at a grease spot on the floor.

  “Genevieve?”

  She lifted her face. “I need to go to the office. I never put him in my notebook. But he could have planted the necklace. He could have framed Draven. It has to be him. Chief Wagner is Lee.”

  “Emmett, what’s Marcus’s middle name?” Dash asked.

  He shrugged. “No fucking clue.”

  “I can look it up, but I need to be at work to do it,” Genevieve said.

  “I got it.” Emmett whipped out his phone, typing with fury. We waited as he scrolled and scrolled. “It’s not listed anywhere public. I need one of my laptops.”

  Chairs went rolling as bodies shot to their feet. Following Emmett’s lead, we all rushed to the side door and into the summer sunshine. Then we marched to the clubhouse, opening the locked doors so Emmett could disappear to wherever Emmett had disappeared to and the rest of us stood in the open room—waiting.

  Xander let out a loud squawk, filling the musty room with his noise. The echo must have startled him, because his eyes got wide.

  “Will you take him?” Bryce asked Dash. “He’s getting heavy.”

  “Sure, babe.” He grinned at his son, scooping him up in his arms. “Come here, little man.”

  I put my arm around Genevieve, pulling her into my side. “You okay?”

  “It stinks in here,” she whispered. “I can’t believe this is happening. What if it’s not him? What if I’m wrong? What if—”

  “V.” I pressed my finger to her rambling lips. “It’ll be okay.”

  “But—”

  “You’re walking away from this.”

  Her eyes turned glassy. “But I don’t want to walk away from this if you’re not with me. Promise me you won’t confess.”

  I gave her a sad smile. “Can’t do it, doll.”

  “I won’t lose you too.” She closed her eyes, dropping her forehead to my chest. “I love you.”

  I wrapped my arms around her. “I love you too.”

  I’d been so hesitant to say those words. The last time I’d told a woman that I loved her, I’d killed her not long after. But seeing Genevieve flanked by two cops had flipped a switch.

  What if I lost her? What if I didn’t get the chance to say those words?

  Life was fleeting. The accident had taught me that.

  The I love you had come out in a panicked rush. I’d slow them down, every day for the rest of her life.

  My wife.

  She’d found me. She’d broken through. She loved me.

  I wasn’t losing her. We’d figure this out or die trying.

  We stood there, holding on to one another as we shifted our weight from one foot to another. We waited for Emmett to return. Bryce and Dash stood by the bar, their attention on their son, while Leo wandered around the room, looking over pieces from the past.

  His fingers lingered on the rack of pool cues. His hand skimmed the green felt on the table. “We should burn this place down.”

  His statement caught the room’s attention, but before anyone could respond, Emmett came running back into the room.

  “It’s Lee,” Emmett panted. “He’s got two middle names. Marcus Ross Lee Wagner.”

  “Fuck.” Dash was on the verge of losing it, but he held it together for the baby in his arms. “He set Dad up. He planned all this. How? Why?”

  “Marcus said something to me once,” Bryce said. “About a year ago. He said that Draven always came away clean. I didn’t think much of it at the time. It was before I knew you guys. But he sounded . . . bitter. Like he’d failed as a cop.”

  “That’s reason enough to take out a personal vendetta.” I nodded. “Add in a relationship with Amina—if he was a jealous lover, it’s believable. And he’s smart. Smart enough to pull it off.”

  “No wonder he didn’t investigate when we printed that article about the knife being stolen.” Bryce was fuming, pacing in a fast circle. “The bastard. He stole it himself.”

  “Now what?” I asked. “We have no evidence. He’s the chief of police.”

  And he’d all but gotten away with murder.

  “We have to get him to admit it,” Genevieve said.

  “Never gonna happen.” Leo shook his head. “Never.”

  “We have to try.” She pointed to her chest. “I have to try. For my mom and dad. I can’t let him get away with this. Maybe if I confront him—”

  “Out of the question.” There was no way in hell she’d ever be around that man again. “It’s too risky.”

  “Isaiah, it’s our only hope.” Her eyes pleaded with me. “If Marcus is behind this, there won’t be any evidence. He’s destroyed it all or made sure it pointed to Draven. The only way to know is if he confesses.”

  She was right. We were trapped. His confession was the only way we’d be free. “Fuck, I hate this.”

  “Me too.” She took my hand. “But we have to try.”

  “How?” Bryce asked.

  “Torture?” Emmett raised an eyebrow. “We haven’t had any guests in the basement for a while. Would be fitting since that was how Draven would have played it.”

  Dash raised an eyebrow, entertaining the idea.

  “No.” Bryce glared. “No more violence. There’s been enough.”

  Beside me, Genevieve shuddered. Her face paled as she met my gaze. “I have an idea.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “We’re going to do what we’ve been doing all year. Lie like our lives depend on it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Genevieve

  “I hate this.” Isaiah cupped my face, dropping his forehead to mine.

  “Me too.”

  “It should be me going in there.”

  I shook my head. “It’ll never work. It can only be me.”

  Our plan was to catch Marcus off guard at home. I was going to waltz up to his door and lie my ass off. A half-cocked plan? Yup. But it was a chance—a slim chance—at putting an end to all of this.

  A chance I was going to take.

  The ch
ief of police wasn’t going to confess to murder. I gave the likelihood of him admitting to stabbing my mother and shoving me in a trunk slightly above zero percent. But we had to try. What was the alternative? Spending my life in prison? Or Isaiah? Or both of us? Hell no.

  At least, not without a fight.

  So after we’d spent a few hours hashing out the plan at the garage, we’d all gone our separate ways. Dash and Bryce had taken Xander home. Bryce would be at home with the baby while her father came over to stay with them at the house. Emmett and Leo had gone to do whatever Emmett and Leo had to do.

  And Isaiah and I had gone to the apartment.

  We’d forced ourselves to eat something. I hadn’t been hungry at first even though I’d missed lunch. But after a few bites of a ham sandwich, my appetite had returned and I’d inhaled the whole thing.

  Isaiah had been too nervous to eat. I’d never seen such worry and fear on his face. We’d sat in a silent apartment, on the couch with our fingers laced, until it had been time to leave. Isaiah had insisted on driving, something I knew he only did when he was really concerned about me.

  We’d driven my car across town and had been the first to arrive at the predetermined meeting location.

  Two blocks away, Marcus Wagner was in his home. Maybe he was watching television with his wife. Maybe he was already in bed. It was nearly ten o’clock at night and dark. At the garage earlier, we’d decided that the time to act was now. We didn’t want to give Marcus any time to talk to a judge and haul me back in for more questions. We didn’t want to give him time to settle or recharge. If there was a time to catch him off guard, it was tonight.

  My stomach knotted.

  “Be careful,” Isaiah whispered. “If you see him reach for a gun or—”

  “I know.” I wrapped my arms around his waist. “We’ve been through it. I’ll be careful. If I think he’ll hurt me, I’ll run.”

  “Stay out of his reach. No matter what, stay back.”

  “I will.”

  He sighed. “We could go to the prosecutor. Or another cop. Maybe one of his officers would like a chance to dethrone the chief.”