"We can work on that."
She looked toward the dark windows. "I don't want to be the reason somebody gets hurt."
"You're not responsible for what Brandon chooses to do. But we can make plans that don't put you in the middle of another confrontation."
Lily breathed out. "That's what I wanted to hear."
For the next hour, she told him the parts of her story she felt ready to share. She talked about the February visit to the county office and the deputy who had disappeared into a back room after hearing Brandon's name. She described the missing incident number from summer. She showed Cole the list of dated messages without requiring him to read every private word. She told him about Anna and about the apartment where every sound at night had begun to feel like a warning.
Cole listened. He did not interrupt to announce that he knew exactly how she felt. He did not claim his experience was equivalent to hers. When she asked whether he thought she had been foolish for staying, he shook his head.
"I think you were trying to survive the situation you were in with the options you believed you had. I'd rather spend our time expanding those options than grading the choices you made while you were scared."
Lily covered her eyes for a moment. "People are going to say I should've left months ago."
"Some will. They weren't living your days."
"I kept thinking if I could get things back to how they were at the beginning, the problem would disappear."
"The beginning mattered to you," Cole said. "It doesn't mean the rest of it was your fault."
She lowered her hands and stared at him. "Who are you, really?"
He knew the question was coming. He had been answering around it for three years, and the last forty-eight hours had made the evasion feel unfair. He told her he was a longtime Hells Angels member, that he had spent many years on the road, that some parts of his history were things he was proud of and others were not. He did not make the club sound like a secret rescue organization. He told her plainly that its reputation was complicated and that she was entitled to feel uneasy about any role his friends might play.
"Are they coming here?" she asked.
"Only if you want that kind of public support. I won't arrange it behind your back. And I won't ask them to confront Brandon or the sheriff. That would give everybody another problem, including you."
She considered the answer. "You called someone."
"Dex. An old friend. He knows I might need backup if things get ugly. But support can mean standing somewhere, being a witness, or driving someone to a safe place. It doesn't have to mean a fight."
Lily looked down at her hands. "I'm tired of being afraid of men with power. I'm also tired of being told another man with power is going to fix everything."