His lips slowly curl into a smile. “That’s my girl,” he croons like he didn’t ignore me my whole life and hate me after what happened with Liam. “I knew you’d want justice for yourself and for all the other people in Helena who’ve been hurt by that club.”
I grind my teeth together. “He never did anything to me, though. So I don’t know how to help you…”
My father moves fast. He rounds that desk like the athlete he used to be. He actually was a football quarterback in high school, fucking cliché. As if that isn’t enough, he also married my mother, the head cheerleader. Just like the all-American dream, we became the all-American family. Except that it was all a façade, probably right from the start. He came from old money and married old money. It was a fairy tale until I brought it all down around us.
Again.
I am the fuck up. The black sheep. The real threat to the pieced together world that he’s holding onto only by a thread.
I realize when his hands curl around my arms, his fingers biting in painfully, bruising me because he’s an unmerciful asshole and I can tell that he gets off on hurting people, on searing fear into them. Gone is the faux, caring façade only to be replaced by the monster again. His face inches from me as he spits out, “Listen, you little bitch. You’re the entire reason this family is suffering. You killed your brother. You’re the reason your mother can’t bear to leave her room. We’re holding it together by a thread. I won’t have everything I’ve workedhard to build go to shit because of you. I’m not becoming the laughingstock of this town because you can’t keep your fucking legs together. If you know what’s good for you, you’re going to hand over your lover like the Judas you are, and I’m going to burn him at the fucking stake.”
I gag as I thrash against him, trying to pull away, but he holds me fast, rooted to the spot by the sheer force of his will and the horrible dread mounting inside of me.
“I’m asking you to do one thing. One damn thing. You owe it to me! You killed my son!” He shakes me hard just so his words slam in like a battering ram through the pain and the shock. I’m rooted to the spot. His words echo what I’ve told myself ever since Liam died. But hearing the hate from my own father, I realize how wrong I was. I’m not a murderer—it was an accident. A tragic accident, and I have to stop punishing myself.
Drawing strength from that I face my father and absorb his words. I’m bulletproof.
“You see, little cunt, I’m setting a trap for him. I’ve been working hard, all these years, to take that MC down. I couldn’t have planned this better if I tried though. Your betrayal came at the perfect time. You might be a Judas, but you’re a Judas I can use. You’ll lure him into that trap. You’ll be the death of him, and if you do it, I might see fit to spare you. Send you away from here so that you can get an education and make something of yourself. How does that sound,daughter?”
The pure madness of the man in front of me takes my breath away.
“No?” He shakes me again hard, so hard that my neck snaps back and forth like a ragdoll, and I bite my tongue. “I have a little more incentive for you then. Your mother. It’s painfully obvious she needs help. I’ve been thinking about getting herwhat she needs, sending her away to an institution where she can recover, get off the pills, and get her life back. Only, it’s a shame how many horrible places there are. Places where they drug patients and rape them in their sleep. Places where they tie people down and use, shall we call it, more experimental means to get what they want. I’m sure you get the idea. If you don’t do what I want you to do, if you don’t deliver that piece of shit, I will make sure your mother is put away. For good. You’ll never see her again. And I’ll make sure she knows that she’s there because of you.”
Even after he backs off, a wicked smile of triumph splitting his face, my arms ache like he is still pressing on them. I know it’s not an idle threat. I know what I have to do. I will do it. I’ll do it, and I’ll hate myself for the rest of my life, but I’ll come back and save my mother. I’ll save her from that kind of life, from the evil clutches of this monster’s hands.
And Steel… My Steel… I will have to trust that he can take care of himself. I have to trust his brothers to have his back even after I stab my knives in deep. Even if he never forgives me, I just want him to survive.
Survive this.
Survive me.
I raise my head, not even bothering to blink away the tears. “What do you want me to do?”
Chapter Nineteen
Steel
Ican’t sit around and just hope that Leah’s alright. I do more than hope, of course; I use Tracker, one of my men who’s good at finding people and not being seen.
Of course, Leah isn’t hiding. Her father would never want to lose face. She works downtown for some government office. I was surprised she didn’t work for her father, but after what she told me about him, it’s clear he expects her to make her own way in life. She has so much more potential, but in a small town like this there’s not a lot of choice. She should never have come back.
Tracker was able to catch her near an alley by the building as she left for the day. He delivered my message. I was fucking relieved when he reported back to me that she looked well. That she hadn’t been harmed.
I wanted to go to her. Of course I wanted to fucking go to her. I felt like a caged wild animal. I stayed put because I had to.
Now, it’s Monday and five is just around the corner. I’m hidden in that same alley that Leah always walks by on her way home after work.
Since the buildings are tall on either side of the alley, I can’t see her office. Everything is blocked out save for a small section of street. If I edged closer, I might be able to see more, but I can’t do that. I can’t risk being seen myself. So I wait. I nearly lose my fucking mind with the waiting.
And then, suddenly, she’s there.
I have no time to drink her in. To savor her sweet scent or the sight of her honeyed hair and cornflower blue eyes. I thrust a bundle into her surprised arms. “Here. These are Harley’s. Put them on.”
She looks at me in confusion. “Change your clothes. We can’t be seen together.”
She scrambles to obey. And soon she’s standing there in the black, ripped jeans, black sweater, and a leather jacket.
I hand her the full face helmet, saying, “Tuck your hair into your sweater and put this on.”
