My gaze falls to the baby in her arms. I don’t know shit about kids, but this one’s face is so small and innocent. She can’t be more than a few weeks old, which tells meeverything I need to know about the secrets Emery has been keeping.
“You remember me then?” Emery bites her lip.
Her perfect, plump lip.
“Remember you?” I huff out a laugh. “Are you fucking kidding me? I’ve been looking for you everywhere. It’s like you disappeared.”
“I know. I had to. I’m sorry, Hayes. It was for the best.”
“What—why—” I shake my head, my fingers flexing.
My gaze moves back and forth between her and the baby, and that same feeling I had on New Year’s creeps through. The universe is whispering in my ear, warning me. Everything in my life is about to change.
Legacy is still outside with Reagan sleeping in his arms on the lounger, but Havoc and Steel have stepped into the room.
There’s nothing like a baby at a clubhouse party to make everyone sober up really fucking fast and pay attention.
“I’m sorry to come here like this.” The baby cries softly and a knot forms in my chest.
Emery brushes her finger down the ridge of the baby’s nose. She’s so fucking tiny, with wisps of dark hair on her head. It’s a shade lighter than her mother’s. Her face scrunches at first. Until Emery brushes her finger down the ridge of her nose again, and she relaxes.
“We didn’t have anywhere else to go.” Emery forces a smile through her nerves, looking up at me. “There’s someone I want you to meet. Charlotte. Charlie, for short. Your daughter.”
“My daughter.” All the blood leaves my face.
I’m not even sure I’m still standing.
“Yes. I know I shouldn’t do this to you. The trouble it will cause. If my uncle finds out where I am, he’ll kill us both.” Emery shivers, nervously looking around.
The same fear I remember from the night we met swells up now.
“Your uncle?”
“Rick Zane.” Tears fill Emery’s eyes as she looks up at me, and everyone in the room goes silent at that name. “Please, Hayes. We need your help.”
6
Emery
I shouldn’t have comehere.
The moment I turned the corner and saw Hayes, I realized my mistake. Not because I didn’t want to see him—or that I haven’t thought about him every day since New Year’s. But what if he doesn’t feel the same way about me?
What if he forgot me the moment I disappeared from the bed?
After all, one look around the clubhouse confirms everything I guessed about him when we first met. He’s trouble wrapped in a gorgeous package. Half the people here are barely wearing clothes. The room reeks of alcohol. There are women and guns everywhere.
Maybe it should bother me.
Or, at the very least, intimidate me.
But women and guns are the least of my problems when I’m in enemy territory.
All around the room, bikers watch me. Talking ceased at the mention of my uncle. I’m standing at the brink of a war that’s been brewing between Hayes’s club and my family, and coming here will be the final straw.
Looking up into Hayes’s eyes, it doesn’t matter. I had to come. He deserved to know the truth. And even if he hates me for leaving in the middle of the night, or for sharing the last name Zane with my uncle, I hope he shows mercy on his daughter.
Charlie wiggles, and I hold her closer. It’s as if she senses something is wrong. These past twenty-four hours, she’s been restless, and there’s little I can do about it with the position we’re in right now.
