Hyde's Absolution (Sydney Storm MC 4)

Nodding, I said, “I’m with you, brother.” I signalled to Nitro, letting him know we were going up.

King pulled the ladder down while Nitro moved to the bottom of the ladder, his gun aimed up. I followed King, wondering what the hell we’d find. Hoping like fuck it wasn’t a trap.

“Fucking hell,” King muttered when he reached the attic. I took the last couple of steps, shocked to shit when I reached the top and discovered what King already had.

“Hello, King. It’s been a long time.”

No fucking shit it had been a long time.

A woman stood in the empty room watching us.

Ivy.

The fucking love of King’s life.

I pointed my gun at her, fully expecting King to as well, but he didn’t. Instead, he simply stared at her in silence. Stunned. I’d never seen him lost for words like this.

She didn’t acknowledge me, but rather kept her eyes firmly glued to King. She had no weapons; truth be told, she was a weapon. To King, anyway. Fuck knew how many ways she could screw with him. I imagined she could wreak more havoc on him than any manmade weapon. “Are you going to say anything?”

He took a step closer to her. She allowed that. Didn’t flinch. Didn’t appear to be concerned that a gun was pointed at her either.

“You look well,” King finally said.

Ivy was a beautiful woman. Stunning, in fact, with her olive skin, long legs, toned body, sultry eyes, and dark hair that fell to her waist. And he was right—she did look well. The last time I’d seen her was over a decade ago when King had walked away from her. He’d broken her back then, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen someone so ruined by a breakup as she had been.

“Looks can be deceiving,” she said.

“What’s going on, Ivy? Are you not well?” he demanded, concern lacing his question. He was wound tight, the muscles in his back bunched, his arms locked by his side.

“Nothing that would ever concern you. But I didn’t come here to talk to you about that.” She was all business with her flat eyes, blank face and cool tone.

She knew we were coming?

“Ivy,” King said in a low, warning tone. “I asked you a question.”

Her eyes blazed with bitterness. “You gave up that right a long time ago, King.”

“Answer me!” he roared, his body coming to life with an urgent ferocity.

Ivy snapped as fast as King did. Hostility radiated from her as she took the last step that closed the distance between them and went head to head with the man she’d once loved and promised forever to. “You don’t get to demand answers from me, King, so don’t fucking ask them! Now, if you want me to tell you what I know about the shit going down with your club, have Hyde take his gun off me.”

“I’m fucking confused here, Ivy. You came here, knowing we’d be here? And what the fuck are you doing in the attic?” I shared all his confusion. Was this a fucking setup?

“Yes, I organised this meeting. This is a house I own. And I waited up here because I didn’t want all of your men pointing their guns at me.”

King was silent for a few moments. The only sounds coming from him were the heavy breaths he took. He surprised me for the second time since we’d made our way into the attic when he ordered, “Put the gun down, Hyde.”

I kept my aim on Ivy. “You sure about that, brother?” It felt like a bad fucking idea to me.

“Yes,” he barked.

“Fuck,” I muttered as I did what he said.

Ivy watched me for a beat before looking back at King. I kept my eyes fucking cemented to her, watching for any sign that she was about to turn on us.

“There’s an attack coming,” she finally said. “I don’t know when and I don’t know how, but I’ve heard him talk about it for weeks. And it won’t be just on your club, it’ll be on your families, too. He wants them all dead.” She paused. “He wants to wipe everyone and everything you care about off the face of the earth. And I believe he could do it.”

Jesus fucking Christ.