Thane lifted his head just enough to look at Silas, and Silas was shocked at the tears shimmering in his brother’s eyes.
“She’s mine,” he said hoarsely. “My family. She’s all I have left.”
Silas glanced sharply up at Drake to see that Drake was as stunned as Silas and the rest of their brothers were. Thanehadno family. Or so he’d claimed. No one had ever questioned him further on the matter. All of their pasts weren’t pretty, and only peripheral details about anyone’s had ever been discussed.
Jax knelt on the other side of Gia and brushed her hair away fromher face, baring the damage. “One of the club’s security guys is getting the car now, brother. We’ll get her taken care of. You have my word.” He paused a moment and then carefully wiped the blood from one of her eyes before glancing inquiringly back up at Thane. “Where did she come from? You said you didn’t have any family.”
A shudder shook the big man’s body and more agony creased his face. “She’s my stepsister. When she was just a kid, she followed me around everywhere. She was the sweetest little girl I’d ever known. I kept her safe from my bastard father, making sure he never put a hand on her, but just before I turned eighteen, the abusive son of a bitch finally pissed off the wrong person and ate a bullet that took off half his face. After that I left because she and her mom would be much better off without me around as a constant reminder of my old man. But I always made sure they had what they needed. Sent them money and checked in when I could.”
He broke off, his hands trembling as he closed his eyes in a visible effort to maintain his control.
“Two years ago, Gia’s mom passed away and she had no one. No money for college and no job options that I would ever entertain her having. She’s better than that and I was determined she would have better. So I brought her to the city. Told no one. Set her up in a nice place, made sure she was enrolled in college and put enough money in a bank account for her so she’d never have to worry about working and she could focus on school and living her life. I was such a fool,” he whispered, his pain and guilt shaking Silas’s entire foundation.
“She’s perfect and innocent and so fucking beautiful and smart. I didn’t want to expose her to my life or put a target on her by anyone ever knowing of my connection to her. I wanted her to be happy, to have all the goodness in life she deserved and not the shit we live every goddamn day. Look at Evangeline.”
Drake immediately bristled, a low growl sounding from deep withinhis throat as he stepped forward. Thane ignored him and continued his bitter diatribe.
“Evangeline lives in complete isolation. She has no friends in the city. Her only family lives hours away and she rarely gets to see them. She can’t even go for a fucking walk because we’re too terrified someone will put a bullet in her. She doesn’t go anywhere. She stays all day in that fucking apartment and never complains, and the only people she ever sees or interacts with are us. And she and the rest of us will live in fear every single goddamn day, especially after she has her baby, that something will happen to her, and so we put a shorter and tighter leash on her all the time, and that’s a hell of a way for a woman to live just because she fell in love with one of us. I never wanted that for Gia, and in my arrogance I thought I could be careful enough and give her all the things I wanted her to have and let her live close enough that I could see her from time to time, take her to lunch or simply sit with her at her place and talk and see her smile, and now she’s the one who’s paying for my stupidity and my inability to keep her safe. We have no business bringing women into our world, no matter how much they love us or we love them,” he bit out. “Because if we loved them, really loved them and weren’t so damn selfish, we’d put them as far away from us as possible so they don’t live every single day in fear of being beaten, raped or killed. No one we love or care about will ever be safe, and you’re deluding yourselves if you ever think otherwise.”
The car roared up, cutting off Thane’s bitter words, and without another glance in his brothers’ direction, Thane lifted Gia into his arms and hurried to the waiting car. He got into the backseat, cradling Gia in his lap, and as soon as he was settled, the car tore off again, heading toward the clinic.
The others silently filed back into the club, tension so thick in the air that it was stifling.
“This means fucking war,” Jax ground out as soon as they were back in Drake’s office.
He stared at his three remaining brothers as if daring them to argue.
Silas merely nodded his agreement, too numb and devastated by the painful truth that Thane had leveled at all of them. But especially Silas.
“As soon as we know how Gia’s doing, I’ll go over what security measures Thane had in place for her and then figure out a way to beef things up so this shit doesn’t happen again,” Maddox said in a surly, pissed-off voice. “But he’s a paranoid bastard. No fucking way he just left her in the wind without adequate protection. Hell, none of us even had the slightest fucking clue about her, so how the fuck did the Vanuccis tag her when we didn’t even know about her?”
Drake’s face was so rigid a rock would break if it hit him in the face. “One moment of inattention. That’s all it takes. Evangeline is going nowhere until she has our baby and then I’m taking her away on an extended vacation so she can get out and be a normal human being. She’s going to hate having her freedom taken until our child is born, but she’ll understand. She’d never do anything to put our child at risk. I won’t give them another chance at her.”
“Fuck,” Maddox said in a weary voice. “We’re stretched too goddamn thin! With Zander in the hospital we can’t afford to leave him vulnerable. We have to have men on Evangeline at all times and now we have to protect Gia. Silas, what about Hayley and her classes? How long before she finishes this semester? She can’t go out every day without as much protection as we can throw at her. Fuck it all, we don’t have enough men to put on Zander and the women, and I don’t want any of us going anywhere alone, for that matter.”
“I’m pulling Ghost as soon as he gets his hands on information pertaining to the Vanuccis’ planned hits,” Silas said tightly. “He has twomen loyal to him in the Vanucci organization as well who will come with him. He’s very good and he’ll be useful in pulling a security detail. We’ll manage. We always do.”
“And what about Hayley?” Maddox persisted.
Silas curled his fingers into tight fists at his side. “I’ll handle things with Hayley. I know what has to be done.”
“I’m heading home and sending Justice back to you, Silas,” Drake said. “Jax, can you go relieve Hartley at the hospital and fill him in on what’s going on? Have him report in with Silas and tell him and Zander to be on alert at all times. That goes for all of you.”
Drake left, Jax on his heels, leaving Maddox and Silas alone in the office. Maddox turned and stared at Silas, his gaze peeling back Silas’s skin until he felt completely dissected and scrutinized.
“I don’t like the way you said you were handling things with Hayley and that you knew what had to be done,” Maddox said in a low voice. “Don’t be stupid, Silas. Don’t do something you’ll regret for the rest of your fucking life.”
Silas turned his back, effectively shutting his brother out, then pulled out his phone and put it to his ear. “I have a phone call to make,” he clipped out, effectively dismissing Maddox.
Maddox swore a string of curses that would have a grown man paling. Silas closed his eyes and finished punching in the number and started the process of giving Hayley what Thane wanted his sister to have. The good in life and not the shit he and his brothers lived in every day. Thane had been right about that much. Theirs was a life that no woman should ever be forced to live.
He closed his eyes as sorrow swept over him such as he’d never felt.Forgive me, princess.
32
Hayley walked to the side exit of the school that Silas and the others had told her to use from now on and peeked out the door, surprised when she saw not one, but two cars parked close by the entrance. Maddox and Justice stood by one, arms folded over their chests, looks of utter seriousness etched into their features. Silas stood alone by another and when he saw her, he gave her a quick motion for her to come to him.
She dashed for the car, surprised when suddenly Maddox was there to open the passenger door for her. To her further shock, before she got in, he suddenly enfolded her in a bone-crunching hug that stole all the breath from her. Grateful her wound was completely healed, she returned his hug, uncertain of what else to do.
