Brian laughed, and I shook my head. I held the piece of clothing I was packing against my chest as tears filled my eyes.
“Do you think they’ll ever forgive me?”
“I don’t think Jackson knows about you. As far as I know, he still thinks Jane is his mother. But King...”
“What? What about King?”
“He’s having a hard time with it. He blames Sal.”
I sank down onto the bed. “But Sal didn’t know.”
“I don’t think that matters much to King. Everyone in his family lied to him his whole life. You’ll have to give him time.”
I nodded. Time was about the only thing I had left to give.
I stared up at the large brick building. My son was inside. Kingston. I closed my eyes. Praying I would be transported anywhere but here.
“Are you ready?” Dread asked.
Dread was the president of the Twisted Dragons MC. He’d somehow found me. Brian said his club was known for finding the impossible. They must have been good at what they did because they’d found me after almost forty years of hiding.
Dread met me at the airport in Denver and brought me to the Silver Shadows’ clubhouse. Where my son was the president. It didn’t surprise me. I knew he would grow up to be like his father. A leader. That was why I had to protect him.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready, but let’s go.”
We walked up the few steps and opened the door. I knew him as soon as I saw him. He looked so much like my brother, Duncan.
“I am so fucking sick of you fuckers coming out of the goddamn woodwork. Just once I’d like to meet one fucking parent who stuck around,” he barked at the man in front of him.
“Sometimes, son, sticking around is the worst possible outcome.”
Everyone turned in my direction, and when Kingston focused on me, he paled. He was so beautiful. I hadn’t seen him since afew months after he was born. I was struck mute just staring at my firstborn.
“Momma?” Hemlock whispered, moving quickly to my side. “What are you doing here?”
“Who the fuck is that?” someone yelled, but I didn’t know who. I was staring at my son until I heard them.
“Bridgit?” Charles said.
“Gretchen?” Kane snarled.
Another young man walked in behind me with Sal. “Darce?”
The young man looked at me, then Sal, then my son, and cursed, “Oh fuck!”
“I’m fucking done!” Kingston barked, then turned and walked away, slamming his hands against the double doors on the other side of the room. My hand covered my mouth as I tried to hold back my devastation. I knew this was the likely outcome, but it still hurt.
Hemlock stepped in front of me. “How did you get here?” I looked up at my youngest child. The only one who loved me. Shamrock loved me, but he was gone. Taken away from me.
“It’s time, son.”
“It’s not time,” he growled. “This was not the right fucking time. You should have told me you wanted to come here. I would have brought you when it was safe.”
I exhaled a laugh. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, Hemi, it's that I’m never safe.”
Sal, Kane, and Charles moved as a unit toward me. They all started talking as Hemlock shielded me. He stood in front of me, keeping them back.
“You kept my fucking son from me, Darcy!”
