Page 103 of Vegas Baby!

“That’s like trying to talk to a brick wall, but I can give it a go.”

We talked for about an hour, staring at the sun playing over the canyon stones. Nathan wasn’t wholly in it, remaining distracted. I told him everything I knew about Ava’s situation with Andrew in between telling him all about my pack and my life since I’d left.

“I have an idea,” Nathan eventually said. “I don’t think Ava’s going to like it, though.”

“Do I get to hear it?”

“Might as well tell me if you think it’s stupid or not.”

In fairness, the plan he spilled out to mewasstupid. Reckless, even.But, if we could execute it properly, it could solve a lot of our problems. I wasn’t at all convinced Ava would be chill about it. Didn’t hurt to bring up the option to her.

“I don’thateit,” I said slowly. “It could probably work, but Ava would have to be like a thousand percent on board with it for it to go down like you’re imagining.”

“Well, let’s head back and ask her.” Nathan started up the car.

“You think we should ask so quickly?”

“She’s kinda on a time limit. It’ll take time to enact if she wants to do it, so no time like the present.”

“Fair enough.” I mused the whole way back. Ava wasn’t really an actress, and I was pretty sure deception wasn’t her forte, but she’d have to get good at both for this to work. We’d find a way to give her peace even if she didn’t want to go along with Nathan’s idea. No matter what, Andrew wasn’t getting our baby. This would just be a bonus for ruining his life the way he’d done his best to ruin Ava’s.

We pulled to a stop at the pack house. It still felt surreal that I lived there now.

Nathan marched up the door alongside me and swung it open once I unlocked it, yelling into the house, “All right, motherfuckers, get down here. I’ve got a plan to protect my sister.”

My brother was absolutely out of his mind.

“Okay, let me get this straight. You think I shouldlieto Andrew and Charlotte, pretend I changed my mind about giving them the baby, and lure Charlotte here to tell her the truth?”

“I mean, yeah.”

Jesse laid a comforting hand on my knee. “It might actually be the best way to get Charlotte out of her situation. Assuming she wants to leave, that is.”

“She might not want to?”

“She’s been with him for a long time. It’s possible she’ll want to stay even knowing the truth.”

“How do I even start this?”

Nathan clapped his hands together. “Phase One is convincing this bastard he was right so he won’t be suspicious when you ask his wife to come visit so you can meet her. Tell him the doctors say it’s not safe for you to fly.”

“For the record, I hate everything about all of this.” I pulled out my phone, desperate for a solution, and hating what had been offered. Nathan wasn’t wrong that it could work, but a lot of it hinged on me not cracking.

Ava:

You were right

The pack doesn’t really want the baby

My stomach turned as I typed out the words. It didn’t matter how far from the truth I knew them to be; I had to live and breathe it if Andrew was going to believe me. I almost threw up when the phone rang. Luckily, the rush of panic and my hustling into the bathroom so I didn’t have all their eyes staring at me made me sound out of breath and panicky when I answered.

“Andrew, I don’t know what to do.”

It wasn’t a lie.

“You should’ve listened to me from the start.” He sighed. “I can’t say I’m surprised I was right.”

“I thought they would want it because they wanted me. It’s not fair! I don’t?—”

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