He nodded slowly, the weight of memory etched deeply into his face. “Yeah. He saw Ghost with Danny and smiled. Aimed his gun right at them. Ghost saw the man before Sypher did and jumped in front of him. He took the hit to save Danny.”
A wave of pain crashed over me. I closed my eyes and bowed my head, a whisper escaping my lips. “Of course he did.” The ache inside was unbearable as I rose unsteadily to my feet. Tears spilled down my cheeks, unstoppable, mourning the man I loved with every piece of myself. Travis was supposed to be my forever. I’d imagined our future together, cherished the hope of watching our child grow with him by my side. But now, that future was gone. Our child would never know the depth of his father’s love or how fiercely he wanted to be there. They would never feel the strength, the protection, the warmth that Travis gave so freely.
He was gone and never coming back. The finality of it broke something inside me, a sharp and unyielding grief settling into the empty space he left behind.
The grief was suffocating, yet beneath it simmered a rage I couldn’t ignore. I wanted to scream, to demand answers that would never bring Travis back. My fingers curled into trembling fists at my sides as I tried to steady myself, but every breath felt heavier than the last as a thought sprang forward in my mind, pushing all my grief to the side.
Spinning back around, I looked at Rowen. “Wait a minute. You said the man smiled.”
Rowen’s brow furrowed. “Yeah.”
“Why did he smile?”
“Jesus Christ, Melissa,” Rowen groaned, growing agitated as he raked his hands through his hair. “I don’t know. Maybe because killing Sypher—the guy who’s basically the information highway for all the biker clubs—would be a big win for the Death Dogs. If Sypher’s gone, so is the flow of information. What does it matter? He’s dead.”
“I know he’s dead!” My voice broke; the rage I’d been holding back finally spilled out. “But I want to know why. I need to know why! You don’t even know who that asshole was smiling at. You said Travis was with Danny—Travis, who always tried to shieldme from club politics, protecting his best friend. You said the guy sawthemand smiled.” The anger in my chest twisted with grief; the two feelings battling for control.
“That’s right.” Rowen’s frown deepened, uncertainty flickering in his eyes. “Wait a minute. Are you suggesting he wasn’t after Sypher? That he wanted to kill Ghost instead?”
I hesitated, anger giving way to vulnerability as my voice softened. “Maybe—I’m not sure, but it’s a possibility,” I admitted, struggling to steady my breath as I tried to piece together the tangled threads of the past few months. “Travis and I were together for only five months. With everything surrounding Danika and this stupid war between the clubs, I know next to nothing about him. I know I loved him and he loved me, but we barely had time to truly get to know each other. Not in any real, normal way.” I let out a shaky sigh, my anger slipping further away as confusion and pain took over. “Look, Rowen, I never wanted this life for myself. Travis knew that. I don’t pretend to understand how biker clubs or their enemies work. All I have are the facts—what you said you saw. You told me you knew the guy, even tried to kill him once, but now he’s with the Death Dogs during the attack. He sees Travis and Danny, smiles, then fires. What happened after that?”
“Honey, you don’t need to know this shit.”
I stared at him, my resolve solidifying through the pain. “You keep telling me that, but I can’t just let this go. There are too many missing pieces, and I need to understand what happened. If you know something, anything, please—don’t shut me out.” My words lingered between us, heavy with desperation, as my anger faded and only my plea remained. Rowen exhaled slowly, the anger in his eyes softening to reluctant empathy as he finally realized I wasn’t going to back down this time.
Rowen’s voice was cautious as he placed the laptop in front of me while I sat in Sinclair’s chair in the office. “Are you sure about this, Melissa?” he asked. I hesitated, uncertainty swirling inside me. The truth was, I didn’t know what I was sure of anymore. What I did know was that I was exhausted—tired of being left in the dark, tired of being protected from things that affected my own life.
It seemed like everyone who was supposed to care about me thought shielding me from the truth was the same as loving me. My mother did it first, always evasive whenever I asked about my dad. My brother followed suit, keeping me at arm’s length and away from his world. And then there was Travis, who thought walking away would save me from pain, but only left me with more questions.
I couldn’t keep my frustration contained any longer. “I’m not sure about anything anymore. All I know is that I’m tired of the lies, the secrets, everyone telling me what’s best for me.” The exhaustion from months of confusion pressed on my shoulders, making it harder to breathe and harder still to trust anyone’s version of the truth.
Rowen kneeled beside me and let out a long sigh, the weight of what he was about to say evident in his voice. “Alright, Melissa, no more secrets, then. I wasn’t sure how to tell you this. I’m still trying to understand it myself. I only learned the truth after Travis left for Nebraska.” His admission hung in the air, heavy with anticipation and uncertainty.
Barely able to speak, I whispered, “What truth?” My heart pounded in my chest as I waited for him to finally reveal what he’d been keeping from me.
Rowen took a deep breath before continuing, his words gentle but impossible to ignore. “Travis Foley is my brother. Well, half-brother.” The revelation sent a shockwave through me as the pieces of the puzzle shifted in my mind.
I tried to process what he’d said, but the confusion was overwhelming. “Travis has—” I sputtered, shaking my head. “—had a brother, but I know nothing about him. Not even his name.” My voice fell to a whisper. “What else don’t I know?”
Rowen nodded, understanding my desperation for answers. “His name is Tucker Foley. He’s a brother in the Brotherhood of Bastards. From what I know, which isn’t much, he and Travis grew up together.” The information added another layer to the tangled web of connections I was only beginning to unravel.
The question spilled from my lips before I could stop it. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
Rowen’s expression softened, and he gave a quiet reply, “I don’t know, honey.”
Shaking my head, I looked at Rowen, searching his face for any sign of the truth. “Did he know about you? Being his half-brother, I mean?”
Rowen shook his head. “I don’t think so. He never said.” The uncertainty lingered between us, but for the first time, the truth had begun to surface, fragile and incomplete, yet more honest than anything I’d heard before.
Taking a deep breath, I felt numb as I spoke, the words barely registering in my own ears. “Well, I don’t know how to process that information yet. Thank you for telling me, but I still want to see the video.” The weight of everything Rowen had just revealed lingered in the air, but my need for answers pushed me forward.
Sighing, Rowen nodded in understanding. He opened the laptop in front of me, and the screen flickered to life. Without another word, he pressed play, and the room fell silent except for the faint hum of the device. For the next twenty minutes orso, my eyes never left the screen as I watched in utter horror at the death and destruction before my eyes. The blatant disregard for life was paramount as men fired their weapons without a second thought and when the video ended, I sat there frozen to my spot, trying to assimilate everything I had just witnessed and wondering how I would ever look at any of them ever again.
It was something out of a movie or a war zone.
It couldn’t be real.
Slowly getting up from the seat, I walked around Sinclair’s desk and left the office, needing a moment to myself.
