Page 130 of Savior

“I’m the one you want,” she mimicked. “Be honest. You thought Saint was in love with you. Look around you, Celia. This is how much I hate you. I’ve hated you since the day you turned up at a clubhouse you didn’t belong in and just snatched up the Pres as if he were yours for the taking.”

“You were married,” I pushed out.

“Oh, yes. Married to a man who fell all over his dick once you came into the picture. Do you know how many times he slipped and called out your name when he was fucking me?”

“How is that my fault?” I watched the windows by the front door. If I kept her talking, Nate and Garrett could go for help. I just had to keep her talking. Michael grew paler by the second, his skin bathed in sweat.

“Nothing is ever your fault, is it?” Betsy shook her head. “Grey was mine. We had a child together—do you know how many club whores I killed just for looking at him? I gave them the good stuff, and the club turned a blind eye, convinced they’d just OD’ed. Ooh, kinda like your mom, Lauren.”

Lauren mashed her lips together, looking as if she was going to burst through her skin. “Why?” she finally got out. “Because she was onto you?”

Betsy smirked again. “She knew too much.”

“Is that why you sent the Sons after me too? Convinced that she’d told me?” The dried blood on Lauren’s face cracked.

“All I wanted was one man I didn’t have to share with Celia. Was that too much to ask? I thought if I kept Mike around Grey enough, he’d see how good we could be together. Instead, Mike just fell under her spell too. It took years to undo that, and then you…” She pointed at Lauren. “You took him from me, just when we were starting to get close again—”

“You were a shit mother, Betsy,” I snapped, hoping to draw her anger away from the others. “You and I both know it. We tried to help Mikey for years, but you kept dragging him back—”

“To keep you away from Grey!” she screamed as if it was the most logical explanation in the world. The bikers seemed unaffected by her outburst.

Dakota’s shoulder dropped at the same time Carnage leaned into her. To a casual observer, it looked as if they were just holding each other up, but from my crouched position near Michael, I realized they were working to free themselves.

There were four Sons and the cop.

Not the best odds, but not impossible.

As if sensing my thoughts, Betsy looked toward the front door. “My men have the cabin surrounded, Celia—”

“See, what I can’t figure out is how you got a biker club to back you.”

“No?” She pursed her lips. “You wouldn’t, would you? I didn’t build this overnight. You see, when Mike killed that kid on the beach, Grey revealed that he was alive. I realized I’d been grieving a man that abandoned his own son… and me.

“Once I got over my initial anger, it gave me an idea. If he could fake his own death, then why couldn’t I create someone more powerful to show him that we were meant to be together?”

“But how?” I pushed, watching as Dakota’s first hand was freed. She discreetly shifted closer to Carnage and began working on his bindings.

“Easy. I tracked down the men who raped you.” Her lip twitched in amusement at my gasp. “Told them I worked for a powerful man who wanted to take down Grey’s organization from the inside out. They had the cash they took from you, but had already blown through most of it. I simply gave them more. Grey always told me I thought with my cunt, but look where it got me.”

Carnage cracked his neck before letting the back of his head rest against the wall as if he was tired.

Two down.

Four to go.

“Money,” I stated as though I was bored. “Seems if it were that easy, then there’d be a woman running every club.”

Betsy jerked her head from side to side. “Nobody could pull off what I have. Do you know how I came up with the name Saint? Fucking Michael lived for months on how he saved you and the things he said when you went into shock. I heard so much about St. Michael that I was ready to hang myself until I realized I could just as easily slip his head through the noose. The only people who know the real Saint are in this room. The rest of the world will see exactly what I wanted them to. For once, Michael will take the fall for my crimes, and I’ll move on somewhere else, finally free of him.”

“You’ve yet to answer my question, Betsy. How did a woman who dropped out of high school end up running the Sons.”

She bristled at the school comment, but quickly let it go in favor of talking about herself some more. “In the beginning, I was Saint’s messenger, delivering money and plans. Never underestimate the power of a woman to lead a man around by his own dick. Can you imagine what Silent Phoenix could’ve been had Grey chosen me?”

“So, you worked in the shadows for years…”

“Until Saint was something like a god. The mice won’t play when they don’t know what the cat looks like or where she might be lurking. I sat back in the clubhouse and listened as Bear got shit-faced and spilled club business to anyone within earshot. Knowing how Grey liked to torture people came in really handy—”

“Fuck you, Betsy,” Molly snapped. “You fucking bitch.”

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