“I saw how hard you fought to keep me safe during our meeting. It must have been hard to stand up to your club president and then have me decide to do it anyway.” My chest tightens as I continue, “I know why you’re scared. I would be too if our roles were reversed. But this isn’t something I’m doing because Siege asked me to. I’m doing it because I need to do it.”
Finally, he turns in my arms and cups my face with his hands. “I’m not stupid, Nat. I know there’s something else going on that you’re not telling us about.”
Glancing away, I say, “It’s not just about the inheritance. It’s about every kid who never had a way out, every kid who was turned into a paycheck instead of a person.” I think of that house, the quiet cruelty that lived inside its walls, and my resolve doubles.
“There’s something more. Why won’t you share that with me? Don’t you trust me?”
My arms drop away from his waist, and I take a step back. The expression on his face is so earnest that it breaks something in me. I take his hand and lead him over to the bed. “Sit down and I’ll tell you my secret.”
“You really have secrets?” he asks, sounding more bewildered than worried.
“Yeah, I don’t know if you would really call it a true secret, but it’s something I never told a living soul.”
Bear perks up. “You can trust me, Nat. You know that I’d do any fuckin’ thing in the world for you.”
I lean over and give him a quick kiss before explaining. “I’ve always had questions about how Granny Ellie died. She was doing fine one day and dead the next. They said it was a heart attack, but she didn’t have heart problems.”
He takes my hand, giving me an empathetic look. “You said she was old and bedridden. Those are the kinds of people who have heart attacks.”
“I know, but that wasn’t the only strange thing going on at the time. Jeremiah was obsessed with renovating the basement of the church into a reception area, so they could rent it out for wedding receptions. I heard him talking with his mother one night. I was her caregiver, and I’d just left her room. I heard raised voices, so I sneaked back upstairs. He was trying to persuade her to release some funds, and she refused.”
“That is weird, but it sounds par for the course with your fucked up foster family.”
“That’s not the weird part. The weird part is I overheard him and my foster father talking a few days later. David said to go ahead and hire the construction crew, that she’d soon be gone, and the money would be theirs. A few days later, she died and they finished his building project a month and a half later.”
“Where do you think he got the money? Zen said she left everything to you, so if they killed her for the cash, they’d be disappointed.” Bear asks with a frown on his face.
“I didn’t know that at the time. I honestly think he either took money out of her bank account or charged it to her credit cards.”
“You’re not suggesting he has something to do with the old woman’s death, are you?”
I shrug. “Maybe. I’ve often wondered if he might have done something that caused her heart attack.”
Bear’s expression changes, his voice rough. “I keep seeing how this could go wrong, especially if you’re right about them killing her. My gut feeling is that you shouldn’t go.” He drags a hand down his face. “I don’t like the odds of something popping off before we can get to you.”
I climb face first into his lap.
“I hear you,” I say quietly. “And I’m not pretending the risk isn’t real. But there’s no other way. We have no proof of anything. I really feel like I need to do this, find out one way or another. I owe her that much.”
My hand comes up to cup the side of his face. His jaw tightens, then releases a notch when I rub my thumb over his cheek.
“I trust the club. I trust you to do whatever it takes to keep me safe,” I continue. “And I need you to trust me too.”
He studies me in silence, his breath uneven, eyes searching my face like he’s trying to memorize me. Then, slowly, something in his expression eases.
“Alright, darlin’, if this is what you want to do, I’ll back you up,” he states quietly.
“Thank you,” I tell him.
Both of us relax a little. I’ve been keeping my worries about Granny Ellie inside for so long. But after learning what Bear’s club brothers found out, it made me all the more certain to get justice for her. David and Jeremiah have to be stopped, and the only way that could happen was if someone found real evidence of their wrongdoing.
When I slide my arms around his neck, he pulls me closer into his lap. When we’re chest to chest, I can feel the warmth of his big solid body against mine. My fingers slide along the edge of his shirt, and I slowly lift it up and over his head. Starting at his rugged tattoos, I trace one of them with my finger.
Glancing up at him, I tell him shyly, “In case I haven’t mentioned it before, I love your ink.”
A slow smile spreads across his face. “You’ve mentioned that before. I’ve got a big chest, room enough for a tattoo artist to go a little wild.”
Spreading my hand against his chest, I smile up at him. “Well, it suits you.”
