ASHES ON THE HIGHWAY

Chapter 67

"That’s not possible," Reaper said, though his voice carried more fury than disbelief. "Frank’s testimony was under federal protection. He was cooperating."

"Apparently he had one more card to play," Okafor’s voice crackled back. "I’m mobilizing everyone available. ETA on backup, twelve minutes."

Twelve minutes felt like an eternity with three unknown vehicles approaching a compound full of unsuspecting wedding guests.

"Get her to the safe room," Ghost’s voice cut in urgently. "Now, Prez. We can’t hold the perimeter and protect you both at the same time."

Reaper’s grip on Rowe’s hand tightened, old protective instinct warring visibly with the president’s need to coordinate the defense of everyone currently celebrating on his compound.

"I’m not hiding while you fight this alone," Rowe said fiercely, even as she allowed him to guide her the final steps toward the safe room’s disguised entrance. "Not on our wedding day, not ever again."

"Rowan, please—"

"I’ll be armed," she said, cutting off his protest. "I’ll be safe. But I am not disappearing while my husband faces down Frank Delgado and Reeves’s entire remaining faction alone."

Something in her tone must have convinced him, because Reaper nodded once, sharp and reluctant, before pulling her into a fierce, brief kiss.

"Stay in the safe room until I come for you myself," he said. "Promise me."

"I promise," Rowe said, though even as she spoke the words, she felt the same restless resolve that had carried her through every previous crisis already calculating how quickly she might need to break that particular promise.

The safe room, disguised as a storage shed near the compound’s kitchen area, proved considerably more sophisticated than its exterior suggested — reinforced walls, a small arsenal of weapons, and a bank of monitors displaying live feed from security cameras positioned throughout the property.

Rowe watched through the screens as chaos began unfolding in careful, controlled stages — Ghost and Viper mobilizing the club’s own security presence with practiced efficiency, allied club members quietly alerted and positioned without triggering panic among the unaware wedding guests, Okafor’s undercover officers shifting from passive observation to active tactical positioning.

On screen, three vehicles rolled to a stop at the compound’s main gate, and Rowe felt her breath catch as Reeves emerged from the lead vehicle — heavyset, tattooed, carrying himself with the particular swagger of a man who believed he’d already won.

Frank Delgado emerged from the second vehicle a moment later, and Rowe’s stomach twisted at the sight of him, older and more haggard than she remembered from the courtroom, but moving with the same careful, calculating confidence that had characterized every previous manipulation.

"Jaxson Kane!" Reeves’s voice carried clearly through the compound’s outdoor speakers, apparently having accessed the same audio system meant for wedding announcements. "Beautiful day for a celebration. Shame it’s about to be interrupted."

Reaper’s voice responded, steady and controlled despite the obvious tension.

"You’re trespassing on private property, Reeves. This ends now, or it ends badly for you."

"I don’t think so," Reeves called back, something gleeful in his tone. "See, I’ve got a business partner here who’s got quite the story to tell your wedding guests. Thought everyone deserved to hear it, given how many of you are apparently celebrating a fresh start built on considerably more lies than you’ve bothered acknowledging publicly."

Frank stepped forward, and Rowe watched with mounting dread as he addressed the gathered crowd directly, his voice carrying the practiced authority of a man accustomed to commanding courtroom attention.

"My name is Frank Delgado," he announced. "I was this family’s attorney for over a decade before discovering the truth about their history — murder, fraud, decades of buried secrets that eventually led me to make some very poor choices of my own. But what none of you know is that my testimony to federal authorities wasn’t entirely truthful."

"He’s lying," Reaper said sharply, though Rowe could hear the underlying uncertainty in his voice, the fear of what fresh manipulation Frank might be constructing even now.

"Am I?" Frank called back. "Or is it possible that everything I told that federal prosecutor about cutting ties with Sterling Vista was simply one more calculated lie, designed to secure my own reduced sentence while I continued orchestrating exactly this kind of confrontation?"

The gathered wedding guests had gone utterly silent, confusion and alarm rippling through the crowd as they struggled to process the sudden, violent interruption of what should have been pure celebration.

"What do you actually want?" Reaper demanded, his voice cutting through the tension with lethal focus.

Frank’s expression shifted, something almost regretful crossing his features despite the manipulation clearly still underlying his performance.

"I want what I’ve always wanted, Jaxson. Justice, properly served, for a family that’s spent forty years believing money and power excuse murder." His gaze found Rowe’s face on the security monitor, though he couldn’t possibly see her watching from within the compound. "I want your new bride to understand exactly what kind of family she’s actually married into, before she spends the rest of her life protecting lies she doesn’t fully comprehend."

"That’s rich," Piper’s voice cut in from somewhere near the ceremony space, apparently having grabbed a second microphone despite the danger. "Coming from the man who financed a murder conspiracy for his own profit."

"I financed exposure of a forty-year cover-up," Frank countered. "The murder was already done, Piper. I simply made sure it finally came to light, regardless of the cost."

Rowe watched the exchange with mounting frustration, old instinct screaming against passive observation while her family faced down this fresh, devastating threat entirely without her.

She made her decision in the space of a single breath, reaching for the weapon Reaper had ensured was accessible, old resolve hardening into fierce, unshakeable determination.

Whatever Frank Delgado and Reeves thought they were accomplishing with this final, theatrical confrontation, Rowe refused to remain hidden while her family fought for the future they’d all sacrificed so much to build.

She was done being protected.

It was time to fight for her own wedding day herself.

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