A knock sounds on my front door. When I open it, Highway stands there. I can tell by the set of his jaw that what he’s got to say isn’t going to be pretty. He walks past me and into the living room where Lucy is waiting.
“Lyric, Lucy, sit down.” His voice is gravelly, urgent.
We drop onto the couch, and tension knots in my stomach. Lucy fidgets beside me, her leg bouncing like a piston.
Highway doesn’t waste time and gets straight to the punch. “It was Missy who betrayed us,” he says, looking at Lucy.
“Missy?” Lucy spits out, disbelief sharpening her tone. “She what? How?”
“She gave the Crimson Wheelers everything.”
Lucy’s face twists red, her fury almost palpable. We’ve been double-crossed by one of our own.
“What are we going to do with her?” Lucy growls, her voice strained with wrath.
Highway’s lips press into a thin line. He looks at us, his silence heavy as a hammer.
“Lucy, Lyric…” he pauses, choosing his words. “We deal withtraitors in one way. But right now, we gotta think ahead.”
Highway sits then leans forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped. “She’s out,” he says, voice razor-sharp. “Banished. But we can’t just let her slink away.”
“Can’t we?” I ask, heat flaring in my chest.
“No.” He shakes his head, a predator ready to pounce. “We need her one last time. To feed the Crimson Wheelers bad intel.”
“Bad intel?” Lucy echoes, her brow furrowed.
“About a shipment,” Highway continues. “Drugs that ain’t coming. See if she bites and passes it to them.”
I chew on the inside of my cheek, considering. Could work. Might backfire. “Does Missy have anyone in Jacksonville? Family or friends?”
Highway blinks, confusion clouding his face for a second. “Jacksonville?” He shrugs, a mountain shifting. “No clue.”
“Great,” I mutter. No ties means no leverage. But also, no place for her to run.
“Any other bright ideas?” Lucy asks.
Highway shrugs, and I pace the room, the weight of betrayal sitting like a lead vest on my shoulders. Missy, for all her faults, was one of us. And now? She’s a ghost, haunting the edges of our lives with her treachery.
“Dammit,” I hiss under my breath, anger and something else—a twisted kind of pity—warring inside me. Years she rode with them, her laughter as loud as any.
Who really knew her?
Not a soul.
“Hey.” I lock eyes with Lucy. “What if we find her? Get her to swallow the bait.”
Lucy’s lips press into a thin line, her nod slow but sure. “I’m in. Got a hunch where she might drown her sorrows.”
“Good.” My jaw sets. “We do this together.”
“I don’t like the idea of you in danger, and Reaper wouldn’tlike it either,” Highway says.
Lucy nods and looks him in the eyes. “I know, but she’s never going to believe you or one of the boys, but with us, she might think we’re dumb enough to let something slip.”
He sighs. “You’re right, but I don’t have to like it. If you’re going to do this, it needs to be somewhere public. I don’t want either of you hurt.”
“Trust me when I tell you I’m not going to take any chances with my little sister.”
