Chapter 3: The Warning Nia Left Behind
I read the words again.
Then again.
Like somehow the letters would rearrange themselves into something else.
They didn’t.
Don’t trust Cole.
The paper trembled between my fingers.
Across from me, Cole looked like he already knew what was written.
That hurt more than the warning itself.
“Bear…”
I looked up.
“Did you know?””
Cole’s face changed.
Just slightly.
But I saw it.
A man preparing for a storm.
“I knew she was angry.””
“Angry?””
My voice rose.
“My sister disappeared for fifteen years, and your explanation is that she was angry?””
Eli covered his ears slightly at the shouting.
I noticed.
Immediately, I lowered my voice.
I had spent years protecting my club.
Protecting my family.
And standing in front of me was a child who had probably spent his entire life hearing adults fight about things he didn’t understand.
I folded the paper.
“Eli, did your mother send you here?””
The boy nodded.
“She said I had to find you if things got worse.””
“What things?””
He looked toward the road.
“The people looking for her.””
The words changed the atmosphere instantly.
Cole looked toward the street.
The other bikers noticed.
We all had the same instinct.
Danger.
“What people?”” I asked.
Eli shook his head.
“She never told me.””
“Did she say why?””
“She said some things were safer if I didn’t know.””
I looked at Cole.
“You knew about this?””
Cole didn’t answer.
That was enough.
I walked away from him and toward the diner.
Not because I was done.
Because I needed a second before I said something I couldn’t take back.
Inside, the diner was warm and bright.
The smell of coffee and grilled food filled the room.
It felt strange.
Normal.
Like the world wasn’t breaking apart outside.
I sat Eli in a booth near the window.
The waitress came over, looked at the boy, then looked at me.
“Everything okay?””
I nodded.
“Get him a full meal.””
Eli opened his mouth.
“I don’t need—”
“You do.””
He looked at me.
For the first time all day, he looked like a child.
Not someone carrying a burden.
Just a kid.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
I sat across from him.
“Tell me about your mom.””
His face softened.
“She sings when she cooks.””
I smiled slightly.
“That sounds like Nia.””
“She dances too.””
I looked down.
That was definitely my sister.
“She’s always saying sorry.””
My smile disappeared.
“Sorry?””
“Yeah.””
“Why?””
Eli stared at the table.
“Because she says she took me away from people who loved her.””
The words cut deep.
I leaned forward.
“Did she ever talk about me?””
He nodded.
“All the time.””
My chest tightened.
“What did she say?””
“That you were the person who would never stop looking.””
For a moment, I couldn’t speak.
Fifteen years.
She knew.
She knew I was searching.
She knew I was waiting.
And still, she stayed away.
Why?
I looked back outside.
Cole was standing alone near the motorcycles.
The man who had been my brother.
The man who had shared every fight.
Every victory.
Every loss.
And now I didn’t know if I knew him at all.
I walked back outside.
“Start talking.””
Cole looked at me.
“I can explain.””
“You have five minutes.””
He took a breath.
“Fifteen years ago, Nia wasn’t running from you.””
“Then who was she running from?””
Cole looked at Eli through the diner window.
Then back at me.
“Bear…”
My patience snapped.
“Who?””
Cole lowered his voice.
“She found out something about the club.””
I stared at him.
“What?””
He looked around the parking lot.
Making sure nobody else was listening.
Then he said the one sentence I never expected.
“Your sister discovered someone inside the Iron Saints betrayed you.””
The sunset had almost disappeared.
The motorcycles sat silent.
And suddenly, the question wasn’t where Nia had been for fifteen years.
The question was who had helped hide her.
I looked at Cole.
“Who betrayed me?””
Cole opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
His eyes moved past me.
Toward the diner window.
Toward Eli.
His face changed.
Fear returned.
But this time, it wasn’t because of the past.
It was because of something happening right now.
I turned around.
May you like
A black truck had just pulled into the parking lot.
And the person sitting inside was staring directly at Eli.
