Royal Mess (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation 3)

“I’m not going with you,” I repeated.

“If you don’t come with me, you and your baby will be dead within the week.” He leaned toward me. “And that would be the best case scenario. Unless, of course, you want to take a trip to Mexico with your boyfriend.”

My skin crawled at the mention of Rider even being my boyfriend. “What do you mean?”

“Do you really think the death of Grit is going to be enough for Biff and Rider? They are coming for what they think belongs to them, and that is you.”

“I don’t belong to anyone,” I hissed. Least of all Rider Meeks. That man was a mistake I wished I could go back and fix. I never would have told him I was pregnant and would have just run up here to Rockton with Indiana. None of this would be happening if I had just done that. But no, naïve and stupid Royal thought she could be the woman to change Rider Meeks.

I was a damn fool.

“I don’t belong to them.”

Marco shook his head. “And you think they care about what you think? To them, you’re just a payday. You’re coming with me. The Devil’s Knights have enough to worry about without getting their noses anymore into this.”

“I’m not leaving Indiana. She’s all I have left in this world besides my baby.” I laid a hand on my stomach. “No one is taking either of them away from me.”

“You stay here, and Meeks finds you. You really think he won’t hurt and kill anyone who gets in his way? He’ll take out this whole club and just chalk it up to another body in the ground that got in his way.”

“As if he wouldn’t do the same to you and Apollo.”

A dark, chilling calm settled over the room. “No one fucks with the Banachis, lovely. You either get up, put your shoes on, and walk out of this club on your own, or I take matters into my own hands.”

“You’re not touching me.”

Marco stood and stepped back from the bad. “Then I suggest you get up and put your shoes on.”

There was a firmness in his voice that scared me. He wasn’t pretending. He wasn’t messing around.

“I don’t understand why I need to go with you. Just fix this mess you made and leave me out of it.”

He stepped forward and leaned into my space. “But therein lies the problem, Royal. You are in the center of the mess. You stay here and Indiana will be dead, right next to Grit. That guilt will lie solely on your doorstep, not mine.”

“You admit you’re the one to blame for my brother’s death,” I spat.

“I never deny something that belongs to me. I will forever have the death of your brother on my hands. I will not have yours on my hands. Get. Up.” His words fell heavily and slammed right into my chest. “Now.”

“Step back,” I whispered.

Marco moved back.

I swung my legs from the bed and stood. I shoved my feet into my slip-on shoes, and my eyes connected with Marco’s. He wasn’t going to have my blood on his hands, well, I wasn’t going to have Indiana’s or anyone else in the club’s blood on my hands, either. “Let’s go.”

*

Marco

“Royal!”

I grabbed Royal’s elbow and wheeled her forward to the car.

“You don’t have to do this, Marco,” King called.

I knew I wasn’t going to be able to leave without some resistance from King and the rest of the club.

“There isn’t any other choice,” I called.

“No!” A woman I didn’t know grabbed onto Royal and yanked her backward.