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“Ah, my girl. You have been so good these years.”
“Papa, what the fuck is happening?” I gesture to the bodies piled up in the middle of the room. Ten, at least. “How and why?”
“A lot of reasons, none of which we have any time to discuss right now, principessa. We can continue back at the clubhouse.”
“Wait!” I hold up my hand. “Why here? What has this MC got to do with us?”
“Me,” a voice echoes from behind me, and even though it sounds familiar, even just a little, it doesn’t.
Rolling my eyes, I turn around to ask who the fuck they are when my stomach drops to the ground. There. Staring back at me, is both the reason for my pain and my solace. The only man who ever had any power to both break me and put me back together again. He was my own personal nightmare. The kind that gave you butterflies.
His eyes are void, even more so than I remember, but he’s bigger. As if he’s grown into the kind of monster he always was. His features are harder, but somehow still beautiful, but his eyes… his eyes aren’t the kind I have in my memories. They’re darker now.
My heart stammers in my chest and my throat closes in. It’s as though something so simple like breathing is almost impossible. All of the years I spent building up my character, my cred, it all crumbles to the ground at his presence.
My mouth opens and I say the first thing I can think of. “I thought you were dead.”
Wicked steps forward, pushing off the wood that he was leaning on. “You fucking wish.”
I clench my jaw tight, holding my breath. “Yeah, I do.” Then I turn back to Papa, searching his eyes. Wrinkles curve into the middle of his forehead, a silent question I’m hounding him an answer for.
He shakes his head softly.No. I didn’t tell him.
Blowing out a steady breath, I take Papa’s arm and direct him out the entry. “This better be good. Why would you lie to Mama and me? Why?” He opens the back door to my Mercedes, gesturing me to slide in first. When the doors are closed and it’s just us inside with Tony in the driver’s seat and Val as the passenger, he finally says, “Because there’s a threat to ourfamily. To me. To your mama. Me being around was only making it worse.”
“So you can come home now?” I ask, searching his face. His beard is longer, his eyes darker.
“Not yet. Soon.” He pats my thigh. “I’ll explain more at the clubhouse, where it’s secure.”
I sigh, looking out the window and catching the horses in the far end of the paddock. The grass is thick and manicured, the trees and shrubs perfectly kept. It’s bizarre how beauty can exist around death.
Tony stops the car outside the clubhouse, and I slide out behind Papa as we make our way up the steps that lead to the patio. Roasted meat and garlic drifts out of the open doors, and before I’ve reached the entry, I can hear laughter.
The laughter stops when I pause. Three women are standing in what looks to be the kitchen that hangs off the patio. It’s higher than the entrance to the actual clubhouse below. As if they wanted the kitchen to be separate from whatever goes on underneath.
Tony and Val stand behind me, Papa right beside. I can see movement from the side, as I’m guessing all of the bikers who were in the barn walked down.
“Oh, hi,” one girl says. She has black hair, bright green eyes, and a smile that’s way too bright this time of day. “You must be Victor’s daughter, right?” One of the other girls comes up beside her. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and the complete opposite of her friend. “I’m Jade, this is Sloane and Silver.” They all look at me with a mixture of emotions on their faces. Jade seems genuinely happy to meet me, Sloane is curious, and Silver, I can see is just happy to be here.
“Girls, yes, this is my daughter.” Papa enters, and I step backward, betrayal wrapping itself around my body and unwilling to let go. For years, I stepped into his shoes and tookon everything he left me. I sacrificed my family, my life, to take capo and handle the family businessas I was supposed to upon his death,but all along he’s been alive, what? Living with his favorite fucking son.
I bang into a hard wall, my foot faltering, and I spin around to say sorry when I see it’s Wicked, staring down at me with hard eyes. “Get in the fucking house, Ruby.” The bite of my name makes me flinch. I don’t bother to look at Tony or Val, who have never really seen me around Wicked. I mean, they don’t count. At least for Tony. He was too busy with Papa to watch my dumb teen angst.
“You were hiding him?” I straighten my shoulders and bend my neck to look up at him anyway. And after all this time, it’s still only him who can force my power to its knees.
“So what if I was?” Wicked murmurs, brushing closer to me. “What the fuck you gonna do about it, hmmm?” My eyes narrow as he sidesteps and makes his way into the kitchen, scooping up a bottle of beer. He lowers himself down onto the barstool, his arm hooking around the blonde girl’s belly as he pulls her between his legs, taking a swig of his beer while his eyes remain on mine.
“You just gonna let that shit slide?” Val mumbles beneath his breath, a half-smirk on his face, just as one of the other bikers from earlier climbs the steps, jumping on Val’s back like a toddler. He’s the younger one with a pretty smile.
“I missed you. You miss me?”
The other biker, older hot one, shakes his head from behind them both. “Go play with each other in the clubhouse. Girls don’t wanna see that.”
“Well….” Jade wiggles her brows.
“Watch it,” he warns, and Jade laughs as he scoops her up. I stand still, unable to wrap my mind around what the fuck is happening.
“Lion,” a growly voice says from beside me. He’s older, but no less good looking than the rest of them. His gray hair is slicked back, his tattoos all on display. He’s big too, not as big as Wicked but still big. He gestures to the bar chairs on the patio that are attached to little round tables. “Wanna take a seat, sweetheart, so we can talk.”
