I nodded and said to King, “Grab your old man. Just him for now.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you in church.” I walked away, and my brother followed me into church, while King went to get O’Malley.
When the four of us were settled in the room, I began.
“When I took over as president, I went through Steele’s office and found six files with the names of six women.” I looked at King and O’Malley. “You both know Morgan was one of them. But from what we can find, he had no idea we were married.”
“Then why have a file on her?” King asked.
“We think he was looking into her because he saw her with you after the explosion.”
“What?”
“Omen found some evidence that Steele was having you tailed after the explosion and saw you spending time with Morgan.”
“I was checking on her every day, especially after the baby...” His words fell off, and his hands clenched into fists on the table. After a beat, he slammed his hands on the wooden surface and stood to pace the room.
“We think he discovered her link to O’Malley. When she went home to Rosewood, he left her alone. My guess is, he didn’t want to tangle with the Sons of Hell,” Justin said.
King eyed my brother. Everyone knew who he was and what he was capable of. “If Steele found that information so easily, why didn’t you?”
Justin looked at me, and I nodded. “Because Jude asked me not to look into her.”
“And you agreed?” O’Malley asked. He’d been quiet until then.
“Yes,” Justin said without any further explanation.
O’Malley shook his head, then looked at me. “Would it have made a difference?” he asked, and when I pulled my brows in, he answered the question I didn’t ask. “If you’d known she was my daughter, would you have still pursued her? Married her? Left her?”
“Yes. I know you don’t believe this, but I love your daughter. I haven’t looked at another woman since the day I met her. Knowing you were her father wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference. I did what I had to in order to protect her.”
“Maybe you should have thought about that before you made her fall in love with you.”
“Sal,” King warned.
“No, Son. My daughter, your fuckin’ sister, is in danger because of this selfish bastard.”
“I won’t fucking apologize for that,” I spat. “And I won’t fucking back down now because you want me to. I told you, she’s mine.”
“You don’t deserve her,” he snarled.
“I FUCKING KNOW THAT!” I shouted.
“Jude,” Justin said, his hand going to my arm. I shrugged him off and leaned my hands on the table, my eyes piercing O’Malley.
“You want me out of your daughter’s life? You’ll have to fucking kill me. And I don’t die fucking easy. Better men than you have tried and fucking failed.”
O’Malley tried to stand, and King immediately slammed a hand on his shoulder. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. What is the point to this?”
Justin spoke before me and said, “We believe that when the news broke about you being O’Malley’s son, that was what pushed Steele into working with the Death Dogs.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Morgan
I was sitting at the table peeling apples when four women I didn’t know walked in behind Grace. Two of them were holding babies. I quickly stood and gave my sister-in-law a hug.
