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“I can come out and visit you in your home this evening?”
“Great.” I reel off the address and set a time to meet.
I hang up, and Lexi fixes me with a hard stare. “Okay, this place needs a clean and, Axel, get all the things together that show what this club does for the community, every charity you’ve helped, and your plans for the future. They need to see this club as a pilar of the community and not a criminal gang.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” I ask.
“You’ll need a safe place to live with Ivy. Go and find Luna. She was heading back to her place. I’ll come.”
“No,” I say firmly. “I need to see her alone.”
She glances at Axel for the final decision. He gives a nod, and I head out before he changes his mind.
Luna is sleeping. She’s fucking sleeping! I slam her bedroom door open, and she sits up, looking around dazed. I pick up the empty wine bottle lying beside her and throw it across the room. It smashes against the wall, spraying tiny pieces in every direction. She ducks, a small scream escaping her.
I know why the front door is unlocked—it’s so punters can turn up. She had my daughter here, in a flat where she’d left the front door unlocked for men to turn up to fuck. The thought makes me sick.
“Get up and shower. Now.”
“Grizz,” she mutters, scrubbing her hands over her face.
I head into the living room, frowning when I see the state of the place. Moving to the coffee table, I lift a half-drunk bottle of Ivy’s milk. The teat is covered in ash from the nearby ashtray. No wonder social took Ivy if they saw this shitshow. I hear her approach. “Grizz, what are you doing here?” I don’t miss the way her voice trembles in fear.
“This is where she’s been living?” I ask, turning my angry gaze to her. She shrinks back slightly and folds her arms over her chest. “You let her live in this fucking shithole?” I yell, swiping my arm through the stacked takeaway boxes and empty vodka bottles. The mess sprays across the room.
“Things have been hard,” she cries.
I close the gap between us until she’s backed up against the door. “Don’t you dare fucking cry again. If you’d have told me the truth, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“If you’d told me the truth, I wouldn’t have got into this mess,” she screams, shoving me away. I stumble back a couple steps. “You think I wanted this for her?” She waves her arms around at the mess. “I became exactly what you said . . . your mother.” She spits the final word like there’s a bad taste in her mouth. “And I hate myself for it.”
“I didn’t make promises,” I argue.
“But you made me feel seen,” she cries, letting her hands drop to her sides like she’s defeated. “For the first time, I felt wanted.” My heart twists a little as I fight the urge to hold her. “And then in the end, when you got bored, you wasted no time reminding me what I was—a whore.”
The front door opens and Nate waltzes in like he’s not got a care in the world. Behind him is an older man who looks higher than a kite. Nate’s eyes settle on me and he looks mildly annoyed. “You’re back so soon,” he comments.
“Nasty black eyes you got there,” I tell him.
“Luna, are you ready?” he asks, ignoring me.
“Not now, Nate,” she mutters.
“Look, unless you’re paying, get the fuck out,” he tells me.
I grin. “I warned you what would happen if you didn’t stay away from her.”
“You two are done, take the fucking hint.”
“And I bet that suits you,” I snap.
“What the fuck do you want with her anyway? She’s a whore, and you’ve got a club full of them. What makes this one so damn special?”
I close the distance in two steps, smirking at the flicker of fear in his eyes. I look past him to the old fucker who’s about shitting himself. “Get out,” I tell him, and he wastes no time escaping.
Nate uses my short break in eye contact to pull out a blade. I catch the glint of the metal, but not quick enough to avoid the tip slashing across my stomach as he waves it around wildly. I take a few steps back, and Luna notices the knife. She jumps in front of me, screaming at Nate to stop. “I’m sick of him sticking his nose in our business,” he snaps. “Move out the goddamn way or you’ll be joining him.”
I pull her back behind me. “Touch her and I’ll break your fucking neck,” I warn.
