The biker stared at the little girl like the world had suddenly stopped turning.<\/p>\n
Around them, the noisy biker yard slowly fell silent.<\/p>\n
A few mechanics stopped working.
\nChains stopped rattling.
\nEven the laughter near the garage faded away.<\/p>\n
The giant biker lowered himself to one knee, unable to take his eyes off her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you say your mother\u2019s name was?\u201d he asked carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnna.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word hit him harder than any punch ever could.<\/p>\n
His name was Cade Walker, former enforcer of the Iron Wolves motorcycle club. A man feared across three states.<\/p>\n
But hearing Anna\u2019s name made him look broken.<\/p>\n
The little girl held onto the straps of her tiny backpack nervously. \u201cMom said you\u2019d recognize me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cade swallowed hard. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name, kid?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLucy.\u201d<\/p>\n
A painful breath escaped his chest.<\/p>\n
Anna once told him that if they ever had a daughter, she wanted to name her Lucy.<\/p>\n
Back then, they were young.
\nBefore the violence.
\nBefore the betrayal.
\nBefore Cade disappeared without saying goodbye.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t be\u2026\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n
Lucy slowly pulled something from her pocket.<\/p>\n
An old silver guitar pick hanging from a chain.<\/p>\n
Cade\u2019s eyes widened instantly.<\/p>\n
Years ago, he gave that guitar pick to Anna after singing to her beside a desert bonfire during a long ride through Nevada.<\/p>\n
Nobody else knew about it.<\/p>\n
Nobody.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom wore it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cade looked away, emotions crashing through him all at once.<\/p>\n
For ten years, he believed Anna hated him.<\/p>\n
Because the night he vanished, someone told him she had betrayed the Wolves to save herself.<\/p>\n
So Cade rode away before the club could go after her.<\/p>\n
But now\u2026<\/p>\n
None of it made sense anymore.<\/p>\n
Lucy looked up at him carefully. \u201cMom said you left because somebody lied to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cade\u2019s face darkened instantly.<\/p>\n
Across the yard, several older bikers were suddenly watching very closely.<\/p>\n
Especially one man standing beside the garage door.<\/p>\n
Rex Holloway.<\/p>\n
The current vice president of the Iron Wolves.<\/p>\n
And the same man who delivered the message about Anna all those years ago.<\/p>\n
Rex slowly stepped forward, forcing a smile. \u201cCade\u2026 maybe this isn\u2019t the best place for this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cade stood up slowly.<\/p>\n
The air around him changed.<\/p>\n
Dangerous.
\nHeavy.<\/p>\n
Lucy noticed it immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom said if I ever found you\u2026\u201d she whispered softly, \u201c\u2026I should warn you not to trust the Wolves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The entire yard went still.<\/p>\n
Rex\u2019s smile vanished.<\/p>\n
Cade turned toward him slowly. \u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Rex could answer, the sound of motorcycles echoed from the highway outside the yard.<\/p>\n
Fast.<\/p>\n
Too fast.<\/p>\n
A younger biker ran through the gate in panic.<\/p>\n
\u201cRiders coming in armed!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he stopped after seeing Lucy.<\/p>\n
His face turned pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh no\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Cade stepped protectively in front of the little girl.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
The biker looked terrified.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Black Vipers found her first.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The biker stared at the little girl like the world had suddenly stopped turning. Around them, the noisy biker yard slowly fell silent. A few mechanics stopped working. Chains stopped rattling. Even the laughter near the garage faded away. The giant biker lowered himself to one knee, unable to take his eyes off her. \u201cWhat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}