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Her dad sat at a four-person table about fifteen feet from the bar. Holly couldn’t stop staring at the man who’d protected her for most of her life. Who claimed to love her and want only what was best for her. The man who’d once been her hero was a stranger to her now. At the moment, Holly felt stunned and confused. As her brain struggled to process the new state of her life, one where her parents no longer played a role, she had to remind herself everything that happened today had been reality. No matter how fantastic it seemed.
“Sweetheart, you feel like sticking around or is this too much?” Copper asked.
“What?” Holly blinked and tore her attention away from her seething father. The man who just inquired about her wellbeing was so in contrast with the one who’d spoken to her father. Yet they were one and the same. Copper clearly had many layers to him. “I’ll stay.” She sat at the table across from her father. LJ immediately slipped into the seat next to her then pulled her chair so it was flush against his. The warm, solid arm he placed across her back kept her anxiety in check.
Now that the ball was in play, she had to see it through to the finish.
Maybe watching this unfold would provide some kind of closure before she was forced to move on with her life. But the moment she looked up into her father’s face, her heart shattered. Nothing. No guilt, regret, remorse, or even love. Just pure black hatred for the two men flanking her at the table. Nothing mattered to this man beyond his hatred. It ruled his life.
Well, it would no longer rule hers.
Forget what Copper had to say, she had a few things of her own to get off her chest. Just as Copper opened his mouth to begin, Holly pulled her phone out of her back pocked and slapped it down on the table.
All three men whipped their heads in her direction, but she kept her gaze locked with her father’s. With trembling fingers, she unlocked the phone. The recording from earlier still remained open from when she’d played it for the bikers earlier. Without a word—because what the hell could she say about it—Holly pressed play. Schwartz’s voice filled the clubhouse.
Her father instantly paled. “You?” he said in disbelief. “You ran to them?” He started to stand. “You fucking betrayed me!” Both LJ and Copper’s hands landed on his shoulders at the same time, shoving them back into his seat. For the first time, her father seemed to shrink before her eyes. As though he realized his chances of leaving the clubhouse of his own accord weren’t great.
Now he was scared.
“Keep listening,” she said. Who cared about his fear? What about the fear of the man rotting away behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit?
No one spoke as the recording continued to play. Listening to her father admit to framing a man for murder hurt just as much the second time around. But some of the shock had faded, leaving room for sorrow. “Why?” she asked.
Her father tilted his head. “Because he was scum, Holly. His entire club was full of filth. Just like this one.”
“But he didn’t kill her!” A sob lodged in her throat as the pain of losing her twin rose to the surface as though a fresh wound.
“You don’t think he killed others? What about all the kids who OD’d on the drugs he sold? Huh, Holly? Don’t you think they deserve some justice?”
“Not this way!” Holly screamed as her emotions became too much to bear. It all crashed down around her at once. The loss of her sister. The betrayal by her father. The intense fear and anxiety she’d been experiencing all afternoon. The damn finally broke. “Not this way! You can’t swap out one crime for another. You need proof, evidence!” She slapped her palms on the table. “A man is in jail for life. For his entire life because you lied! And you tried to do it again today. All for what? Hatred of a group of men you don’t even know. I’m trying to understand it, but I just can’t wrap my head around it. You’re my father! I thought I knew you.” Her voice broke. Oh, God, she was yelling, rambling, completely losing her shit, but the hole in her heart hurt so bad she couldn’t stem the flow of words.
“Baby,” LJ said. His strong arms encircled her, scooped her up off her chair, and settled her on his lap like she weighed nothing more than a paper doll. It was then she realized her cheeks were wet. “Shh, I’ve got you, sugar,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve always got you.”
She nodded and buried her face in his neck. Looking at her father had just become too painful. LJ stroked his hand up and down her back over and over.
