“No, have,” he said, lifting his dark eyes to mine.
“Are you telling me Delaney is alive?”
He winced at me using her name and for the first time, ever I think, my dad genuinely looked upset.
“War told me what she said to you. About what happened twenty-fiveyears ago when they ran from the Kingsmen. Some of it was true. Some of it was a pack of utter bullshit, but I’d expect no less from Danica Walker.”
He’d let some emotion show there. Shit, he really hated our mother. He turned to War.
“You were right, there are things I’ve kept from you. I know you and Hustle have been trying to figure out what it is, but I’ve kept it a secret for a reason. A deeply personal reason.”
Danica told me he’d killed her sister. Was it remorse for what he’d done? Was that what he was referring to?
“Everything about them turning up at the club and why it happened was true, just that there were two of them. Delaney was younger, barely nineteen. Nothing like her older sister. Danica was brash and intolerant, expected more than what she was entitled to. Delaney was quiet, she was horrified by what her family was willing to do to her and she internalized it a lot. But once she realized she was safe, she opened up.
“She made friends where her sister repelled people. She joined in with club life where Danica tried to railroad everyone into doing what she wanted. I wasn’t the only person Danica tried to get her claws into. What pissed her off most of all, was Delaney. She was jealous of her.
“Not that such things matter, but the truth of it was, Danica was far more beautiful than Delaney but the ugliness inside of her turned everyone off. Everyone except Delaney. She stood up for her sister, got us to give her more chances than she deserved, because Danica was the one who got them to safety, who brought them to us. She was always grateful to her for that.”
He was quiet for a moment. I wasn’t sure I was actually breathing. My father never spoke like this. He’d never been this descriptive or honest about anything to do with his life before he became President, before we were born.
“Danica really lost her shit when she realized Delaney and I were getting closer.”
“What?” I breathed. Warren reached out and put his hand on mine, silently telling me to keep quiet too.
“I fell in love with Delaney. Shit hit me unexpectedly,” he shook his head. “Never thought I’d have an old lady, let alone fall for a woman. But she was different. She was strong, didn’t let people walk all over her but she had this lightness to her, she found joy in a lot of things. Despite the bad deal life handed her. You remind me a lot of her,” he looked my way briefly.
I wanted to ask why the hell he’d killed her then given the way he was talking about her. Then I remembered I didn’t believe Danica. I chewed on my lip, seeing how my father was suddenly struggling with his emotions. Something huge was coming.
“We got married, moved off the compound, had a house nearby. We were happy. Delaney was the sunshine to my storm. I loved her morethan I have ever loved anything in my whole life. And when she got pregnant,” he looked up at both of us one after the other, letting us draw our own conclusions to that pretty impactful statement. “We were thrilled.”
Warren’s mouth dropped open, he looked as if he was at a complete loss for words.
“Delaneyis our mom?”
“Was,” he corrected me.
Oh my God, is he going to tell us she died in childbirth? I didn’t know what to think of that, what to think of any of this. Our whole lives we’d been sold a complete lie about our mother.
“You had just turned one when she died.”
A sob erupted from my throat. Warren got up and moved next to me, pulling me into his arms. His hands were trembling too. “What happened to her?” Warren asked.
“Mugging gone bad,” he said but I could already tell that wasn’t what happened. It wasn’t easy for anyone to get near an Old Lady, never mind mug one.
“The place where she was found, Delaney would never have been there. Danica told the police she’d asked her to babysit you, said she had to go meet someone. It was all bullshit. Delaney would never have left you two with her sister.
“Over the years she had come to see her for who she was. A cold hearted, jealous fucking bitch. She hated Delaney had what she wanted. Hated she’d married me, a man destined to take over the MC. We had our house, our babies, we were happy, and it tore her vile black heart to shreds seeing Del get whatshewanted.”
King hadn’t moved a muscle while he told us his story. A part of me wanted to reach out to him, to hold his hand and let him know how much I loved him, because it was clear this hurt. He’d practically wiped out Delaney’s existence because he was so upset by her death. He’d even forbidden people around him from talking about her. From telling us she was our mother.
All this time, I’d thought our mom abandoned us when really, she’d been murdered? I was so conflicted about demanding to know why he lied and feeling heartbroken for what we’d lost. It went a long wayto explaining why he found it so hard to show his feelings, particularly towards me.
“I lost the love of my life, I had you two to take care of, things were going to shit because of the Kingsmen and the cartel. I was completely lost. And that was when she stepped in. When she started doing things for us, taking care of you two, there when I needed anything. I’d always hated her but suddenly, she was different. Said she was heartbroken her sister would never get to see you both grow up and she wanted to be better. For you both.”
I could see where this was going and suddenly felt like a was going to throw up.
“I won’t go into the details because it ain’t something I’m proud of but I let her in. I didn’t care for her, in fact I felt absolutely nothing for her but she was there for you, and she was content to get the bare minimum from me, in return for having the status she’d always fucking craved.”
