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“Do you swear, Rage? Because if I have to come back and do it, I will. Cassie is here with you, so I know she’ll always be safe, but I will risk prison if it means he’s gone from this world.”
“We’ll take care of him, little sister,” Sting said, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You’ve managed to scare Rage.” He gave Pepper a gentle smile when she gasped and looked over her shoulder at him. “Let him take you out so he can settle down.”
She blinked rapidly, as if coming out of a trance. “Of course,” she said softly. “I’m sorry. I --”
“Nothing to be sorry about. Any good mother and daughter would react the same.”
Pepper took one last look at Dustin. I thought she’d go with me then, but she shook her head once, taking a deep breath.
“Why, Dustin? Why did you need all that money?”
“I owed money.”
“They said you had a gambling problem. Was that it, or was it drugs too?”
He shrugged, looking from Pepper to Sting and back. Little fucker ignored me altogether. “I owed La Sal for some drugs I was supposed to deliver.”
“Explains the trouble La Sal was in with his club,” Wylde said. “I didn’t have time to dig that far, so I can’t verify.”
“I’d never have hurt you or the baby, Pepper. You gotta believe me!”
Pepper studied him for a moment, then shook her head. “No. I don’t.” Then she turned and stepped into my arms. “Take me outta here, Rage.”
I picked her up and carried her out of Church and back to the common room. When we were outside, we both took a deep, cleansing breath. She trembled in my arms, and I’m not sure I wasn’t shaking as bad as she was.
“He took a parent from both of us,” she whispered.
“Yeah, baby. He’ll never hurt anyone again, though. Not after tonight.”
“You’re sure? What about that man he owed money to?”
“Someone else took care of him. They’ll let us know when it’s done, but they’re not part of Iron Tzars, so they don’t report to us until they’re ready. Even then, we won’t get the details. Only that it’s done.”
“I don’t need details. I just want to know Cassie’s safe.”
“You both are, baby. That’s one thing I’ll make Goddamned good and sure of.”
“Why did I stay with him for six years? Six years, Rage! Six fucking years!”
“I don’t know, baby. You always see the best in people. You loved him.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t think I did. That’s the thing. I’m not sure I ever loved him.” Tears filled her eyes and tracked from the corners down her cheeks. “There were times I hated him. He was never very good to me. I guess I got used to being with him.”
“It’s easily done, honey. Especially someone as compassionate and loyal as you. As to not loving him, did you think you did at the time?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“You’re not the type of woman to leave someone you loved without a good reason. It’s my good fortune my brother didn’t realize what he had. But I’d give you up to spare you this pain, Pepper.”
“I want the pain. And it’s not because of Dustin’s betrayal. It’s because that pain gave me a better protector for Cassie. A man who’ll be the father she deserves and love her the way she should be loved. I should have broken things off with him long before I got pregnant. If I had, my mom might be here today.”
“You know that’s not on you, honey. That’s on Dustin.”
“I know. I was just thinking that… well, if I’d broken up with Dustin, we might have gotten together sooner.”
I thought about that. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’d probably never have sought you out. It would have been more than a little awkward, taking my brother’s woman away. But if you hadn’t stayed with him, you wouldn’t have Cassie. And I know how much you love her.”
“But to trade my mother’s life for her?” She sounded so lost, I felt her pain like a physical ache.
“Baby, that’s why they call it fate. We have no control over what happens. We make the best of what we have in front of us and try to make the best decisions we can. So don’t think of it as trading one life for another. You were doing what you thought was best for you at the time.”
Pepper took a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m just…”
“I get it. Me too, sweetheart. Now, let’s go check on Cassie. I’m sure you want to assure yourself she’s OK.”
“Yes. Please.”
I helped her onto my bike. It wasn’t the first time she’d ridden with me since we got inked. She often wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her face against my back as we rode. Tonight, she was tense. Lost. I could feel her pulling away from me, though I didn’t think she meant to. Her grief was raw. While I was angry over how my father had died, we hadn’t been close. Did I miss him? Maybe. Even when he and my mother were together, he wasn’t much of a father. But he was still family. She’d lost a mother she loved with all her heart. Her best friend. To find out someone she thought she loved had done this had to be devastating.
