I’m writing this as a precaution. If you’re getting it, then it’s because I’m gone, and our daughter is now with you. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but the last time we were together, I ended up pregnant. At first, I wasn’t going to tell you. Then I thought more about it, and knew that if anything happened to me, she’d be safe with you.
Please love her for the both of us. And I hope that someday, you’ll find it in yourself to forgive me.
Always,
Monica
The fucking bitch didn’t tell me she was pregnant. Left me. Left with my kid and got herself killed. She nearly got my daughter killed.
Fuck.
How do I wrap my head around all of this?
“Styxx?” Scythe calls.
Clearing my throat, I hand the letter to Scythe and look at the woman. “Appreciate you bringing her to me. I don’t know what Monica told you, but I’ll take care of her.”
“I know who you are,” she states, watching me closely. “I’ll be heading back to Florida, but I’d like to stay in touch and get to know my granddaughter.”
“Give me your number, and you can always see her,” I tell her. “What’s your name?”
“Mona,” she replies before giving me her phone number. Thankfully, my brother put it in his phone and sent it to me. “What are you going to name her?” Mona asks, nodding to the little one in my arms.
For the first time, I look down at the precious bundle in my arms. She’s beautiful. More so than I ever thought a baby could look. Even sleeping peacefully. She has no clue how close she came to dying before her life even began.
“Eabha,” I whisper. Her name came to me with just this one look.
I look over to my brother to see him nodding at me. It was our mother’s name, and now it was going to be my daughter’s. Eabha was the perfect name for her. Not just because it was our mother’s, but it’s also Irish and like the name Ava.
I didn’t know what to do with a little girl. I’ve only ever been around my club brothers’ kids. Though some of them had girls, I hadn’t done what I’ve done with my nephew. It didn’t matter, though, I’d learn. This sweet little princess is mine, and I’m going to make sure no one, and I mean no one, could get close enough to hurt her again. I’ll die before that happens.
CHAPTER 1
STYXX
Six Months Later . . .
“You know, Styxx, you didn’t have to move,” Josephine says, setting a coffee in front of me.
“It had to happen sooner or later, Jose,” I tell her, lifting the mug to my lips, taking a sip before setting the mug back down. “I can’t depend on you guys all the time.”
Josephine and the other ol’ ladies, they’ve been there for my daughter and me from day one. They’ve helped me without me having to ask. But now, it’s time for me and Eabha to do this on our own. My girl’s six months old and needs to know her dad could do this without going to someone to help every damn time she cries.
For the most part, she sleeps through the night now. That’s not to say she doesn’t have her times when she wakes up. At first, it’d been rough. Here I’d been thinking since my nephew was such an easy-going baby, Eabha would be good as well.
Nope.
My girl is true to being a princess and demanding my attention. She didn’t like to be held but a certain way. She hated when someone else tried to burp her. Her favorite thing to do was to curl up against my bare chest and suck on her hand while she slept. My little Eabha is definitely a daddy’s girl. A total princess.
“How’s she doing at night?” Josephine asks, taking the seat across from me, eyes on Eabha in her bouncy seat.
“She’s good,” I lie straight through my teeth.
This past week, since moving into the house after staying at the clubhouse for so long, hasn’t been a good transition for my baby girl. She’s used to sleeping in my room with me. Also, it doesn’t help that yesterday the doctor said she had colic. Again, something I wasn’t going to share. I could handle this on my own.
“That’s good.” Josephine nods and looks over to her own son sleeping away in the Pack ’n Play that I had set up in the corner of the living room.
With the open floor plan of the house, we could see him from the kitchen table. It’s one of the things that sold me on this place. I like the openness of it. As my daughter grows and becomes active, I’ll be able to see her unless she’s in her room and I’m in mine. The house is a five-bedroom. Way too big for the two of us, but I’d gotten it and the two houses on either side of mine for a steal. They’d been in foreclosure, and I scooped them up, figuring I’d used the other two as an investment. Both houses have been rented out. One of them had been done immediately, the other, the smaller of the three, Ivy said, was rented out yesterday.
