Here I Stand √ Juice Ortiz.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ: ʀᴏᴍᴇᴏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴊᴜʟɪᴇᴛ

                    A bitter silence took over the Chapel as the rough-looking men surrounding the long wooden table gave Juan Carlos Ortiz regard of grief. Juan, only a Prospect, wasn't quite sure what to say and how to say it. If he had known the woman he took in held a history with the club, Juan might have done everything differently. Still, thinking about it now wasn't going to change the fact that Clove Knox managed to slip through his fingers. Without fully realizing it until it was too late.

"Well?" Filip "Chibs" Telford grunted. His thick fingers grasped the woman-sized kutte with desperation. For too long the man thought his niece was dead, along with his half-brother Arthur Knox. Two years had gone by. Those years were the worst years of his life. Every holiday held grievances knowing his older brother and his two youngest children were dead. Now, the club had caught wind that Clove Knox is alive. Alive and not so well. "What happened?!"

Juan flinched at Chibs' loud voice and thawed appearance.

"I found her at a bridge just a few miles from my apartment," Juan began, his head fuzzy from the events prior. The heavy air of cigarette smoke gave rise to his inability to focus on each detail. "She stood there like she wasn't sure what she wanted. So, I did what I could and managed to get Clove not to jump. It was like, she was waitin' for someone to save her -" Juan bowed his head, wringing his hands together. Recognizing this feeling.

Clay Morrow sat at the head of the table, his blue eyes scanned his stepsons, sitting beside him, thoughtful face. Clove and Jax were best friends alongside Opie Winston. The three were inseparable as children when Clove visited from England. Despite her gender and skin color, Samcro saw the girl as family and one of them. A girl with pure talent and mischievous behaviors that benefitted the club. The Charter in Essex made it known that she would be the first woman to ever join the brotherhood and the first woman to become vice president.

If Clay knew anything, this newfound knowledge of knowing Clove survived Essex's massacre, will change Jax's direction. Something Clay did not need or want at this particular time. Opie had been sent away for five years, giving Jax more energy into the club. This could cause a problem, cause a flaw in Clay's plan.

"I don't get it," Alexander "Tig" Trager scratched his brow, examining the cigarette ash on the table surface. "Why didn't she reach out? I mean, we are family, ain't we?"

"She might have -" Juan began, but it is cut off by a shaky Chibs.

"She would have contacted me if she might have. Somethin' ain't right. No, it isn't and I do not like it." Chibs suddenly rose from his seat, glaring towards Clay, the president of Redwood. Morrow suspiciously appeared to be nonchalant. Unmoved by this.

Why?

"We need to find her," Chibs demands.

"Hold on," Clay spoke up, "We got shit to do. If Jinx wanted to be found, she would have came to us. But she didn't."

Chibs gave his president a look before slowly settling back down in his seat.

"We can't go chasing ghosts."

"So, we let my baby sister be left alone?" a young man spoke. His hazel eyes pulled away from Juan to glare at Clay. Juan turned his attention onto who he had known as Hades. A few years his senior with a scar going down his right brow and eyelid; Hades was known for his ruthlessness yet calm composure. He, much like his sister, became the first black man to be a part of SAMCRO. Due to his father being Arthur Knox. The Knox siblings held that privilege. Their name being stuck to SAMCRO royalty.

Clay tapped the tips of his fingers against the table, leaning back in his chair. Hades wasn't even supposed to be here. After all, Hades decided to become a nomad after his family's untimely death. To Clay, this man had no right to question him.