For a moment, the room seemed to hold its breath.
Then he answered.
“His access to the charitable fund's accounts has been suspended pending the review, in accordance with the club's process.”
Rook stood abruptly.
“You can't do that.”
Hammer remained still.
“The board can.”
“I built this club with you!”
“Yes.”
“I stood beside you when your boy died!”
The words struck Hammer like a physical blow.
For a moment, he looked down.
Then Rook continued.
“Everything I've done for you, and you're turning the whole damn brotherhood against me because a little girl got frightened?”
Brick stood.
His chair scraped against the floor.
“Don't you talk about that child like she's the problem.”
Rook turned.
“You too?”
Brick's face tightened.
“I've been your friend for thirty years, Ray. That doesn't give you the right to treat missing money like an insult nobody's allowed to investigate.”
A tense silence followed.
Then an older member named Walter “Mack” Sullivan rose slowly.
Mack was seventy-two, had spent much of his life as a machinist, and rarely spoke during arguments unless he believed something important had been forgotten.
He looked toward the Iron Ravens emblem.
Then toward Rook.
“When we started this club,” he said, “you told me brotherhood meant no man got left behind after a crash.”
Rook stared.
Mack continued.
“I believed you.”
For a moment, his voice trembled.
“But tell me something. What happens when the person lying in the road isn't wearing our vest?”
No one spoke.
Mack looked toward Hammer.
“What happens when it's a woman from a hospital? Or a seven-year-old child?”
Hammer closed his eyes.
The older man took a breath.
“If our loyalty ends at the edge of our own jackets, then all we've built is an excuse for being selfish together.”
The room remained silent.
Then Cole removed his vest.
He placed it on the table.
For a moment, Hammer thought the young rider was leaving.
Instead, Cole looked toward him.
“I signed up because you told me this club helped people.”
Hammer nodded.
“It should.”
Cole swallowed.
“Then we help them find the truth. Even if it costs us.”
One by one, other members began agreeing.
Some were angry.
Some frightened.
Several worried that the club would collapse.
And a few insisted that Rook deserved an opportunity to respond to the allegations before anyone treated him as guilty.