The garage stayed silent.<\/p>\n
Doc Sutter carefully rolled the fabric above Lila\u2019s knee while Mack Rourke watched from beside her, his jaw tightening harder with every second.<\/p>\n
Dark bruises wrapped around the child\u2019s leg.<\/p>\n
Not from one fall.<\/p>\n
Not from an accident.<\/p>\n
From repeated damage.<\/p>\n
Doc\u2019s voice lowered dangerously.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho told you to stay quiet?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lila\u2019s eyes dropped instantly to the oil-stained floor.<\/p>\n
Nobody in the garage moved.<\/p>\n
The older mechanics already understood the answer they weren\u2019t hearing.<\/p>\n
Mack crouched lower, keeping his voice calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cSweetheart\u2026 did somebody hurt you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lila hesitated.<\/p>\n
Then gave the smallest nod imaginable.<\/p>\n
A wrench clattered loudly somewhere behind them as one of the bikers lost his grip completely.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere inside Wrenchhouse Customs changed instantly.<\/p>\n
The warmth disappeared.<\/p>\n
Only tension remained.<\/p>\n
Doc Sutter stood slowly, wiping grease-covered hands against a rag while anger settled heavily into his expression.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis leg needs a hospital,\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n
Lila panicked immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo!\u201d she cried softly, stepping backward despite the pain. \u201cPlease don\u2019t call anybody\u2026 he said they\u2019d send me back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mack\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
The little girl wrapped trembling arms around herself.<\/p>\n
Her voice barely escaped above a whisper.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy uncle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence crushed the garage again.<\/p>\n
Outside, Heritage Day music drifted faintly through the open bay doors\u2014children laughing, people celebrating, the town pretending life was normal.<\/p>\n
Inside Wrenchhouse Customs, every biker in the room looked ready to tear something apart.<\/p>\n
Mack slowly removed his leather vest and draped it gently around Lila\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re safe here,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n
But Lila didn\u2019t look convinced.<\/p>\n
Then the sound of tires crunching outside the garage broke the silence.<\/p>\n
A truck door slammed.<\/p>\n
Heavy boots hit gravel.<\/p>\n
And Doc Sutter\u2019s expression turned cold as he glanced toward the bay doors.<\/p>\n
Because deep down\u2014<\/p>\n
He already knew exactly who had come looking for her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The garage stayed silent. Doc Sutter carefully rolled the fabric above Lila\u2019s knee while Mack Rourke watched from beside her, his jaw tightening harder with every second. Dark bruises wrapped around the child\u2019s leg. Not from one fall. Not from an accident. From repeated damage. Doc\u2019s voice lowered dangerously. \u201cWho told you to stay quiet?\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3334","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\/3334","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}