by K. C. Stone
Looking over at Jules, I didn’t just see but felt the sadness and pain in her eyes. My parents never gave a damn about me, so when they died it wouldn’t bother me in the least. But it was different for her. So, I’d protect Cara with everything I had. I never wanted that look to grace my angel’s face again.
Back at the compound after getting the girls settled and resting, I flagged down one of the prospects. “Hey you! Prospect!” With a whistle and a wave of my hand, I motioned him over.
The prospect, Russell, came running over. “Yeah, Boss?”
“Go let Locke, Ezra, and Viper know I need to meet them in chapel as soon as they can. Tell them it’s very important.” I didn’t even feel like texting anyone, let alone talking to them. Not until I had to. What Tech had given to me earlier was more than I really knew how to deal with.
“You got it, Boss!”
He started to take off and I stopped him. “Prospect, whatever you do, make sure not a single club whore is let in here! I don’t want anyone that isn’t family here today. If they give you hell, tell them to come see me and I’ll deal with it!” I bit out, irritation seeping into my tone.
I headed to chapel. Waiting on everyone to arrive, all I could do was stare at the photos in front of me. Picking up one, the image was Sal at the park down the street from his house, talking to a woman. She appeared to be in her early twenties, with a little girl that couldn’t have been older than two. The girl had dark hair and light blue eyes. The next image was the same setting, but he was kissing the woman while the little girl sat in a stroller.
“Yo! Dom!” I looked up to see Locke walking in, followed closely by Ezra and Viper.
“Hey, brothers. Have a seat. We got some shit to go over.”
“Brother, by the look on your face, it ain’t fuckin’ pretty.” Locke frowned.
I flexed my jaw. “None of this shit is pretty.”
Locke pointed to the pictures. “What’s with the photos?”
I smirked. “Get this shit. This is Sal, but the lady with him is obviously not Cara. So, we can’t just go asking around and fucking things up for her.”
I handed the photo to Locke and he looked it over, then flipped it. “The kid, do you have any idea who she is?”
“No. And I would say it could be perfectly innocent, but the asshole has his tongue down the bitch’s throat in the next photo!”
Ezra spoke up. “So, what are you saying? That Sal was fucking around on his family and has another kid?” he asked in disbelief. “These pictures sure aren’t recent.”
I shrugged. “That’s what it looks like, brother. I mean, the kid looks like him, and I know it isn’t an old picture of Jules. This girl has light eyes and dark hair.”
“Shit, you’re right. That is fucked up. We need to ask Cara. Maybe she knows.” A knock on the door had us all on alert. “What?” Locke barked out.
A prospect stuck his head in. “Boss, Cara is here. She said she needs to talk to you. Should I let her in?”
I shot a look at Locke. He sighed. “Let’s get this shit over with.” He nodded.
“Let her in,” I said, honestly scared shitless of what the outcome would be and how much damage this would cause.
Watching and waiting for Cara to come in, the tension grew thick. She sat at the end of the table, so poised and together. If it wasn’t for the cuts and bruises on her face and the sadness radiating from her eyes, I’d never have believed that her husband was killed days ago.
I gave her a smile. “Cara, you wanted to talk to us. What can we do for you?”
Her chin lifted. “I want to talk to you about Sal.” The silence that filled the room was deafening. Nobody wanted to be the first one to say something, so we patiently waited for her to speak. “I know that you’re trying to figure out what happened, but there is something you need to know about Sal.” I nodded for her to continue. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and then opened them. “My husband wasn’t the easiest guy to get along with. We tried as much as we could to keep Jules in the dark about everything, and for a while he was only legitimate and didn’t deal in the shady side of the business at all. But the past couple of years, I noticed that large chunks of money would come up missing. When I’d ask him, he’d get so angry and downright mean sometimes. I didn’t even recognize the man I’d married.”
“So why did you stay? Why didn’t you just leave with Jules?” Ezra asked.
She cut him the mom eye and he sank lower in his seat. “Let me finish. Sal became paranoid. He was always sure that someone was after me and Jules. He never left us alone. If it wasn’t Sal himself, he had not one but three of his goons with us. So, leaving wasn’t an option. But that isn’t why I’m here. I’m here because I need you to do me a favor. When you find out what I’m sure you will, please let me talk to Jules first, because she won’t take it very well.”
“Cara, does it have to do with these?” Locke asked, sliding the photos over.
Watching her pick up the images, I cringed a little, knowing how bad it would hurt Cara, and that I would have to keep this information from Jules for a little while. She couldn’t take anymore right now.
With a nod of her head, she said, “Yes. I found out five years ago. Though I don’t think Sal was ever aware that I knew. If he did, he didn’t care that I knew because he never said anything about it.”
Clearing my throat, I had to ask. “How did you find out?”
“Five years ago, during a remodel at his office. We’d moved around a bunch of stuff and I was going through some boxes they found in one of the storage rooms. Inside there were photos of the girls. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Gia and Jules were raised together. Our families spent almost every holiday together. It wasn’t until I found the letters from Dawn, Gia’s mother, to Sal that the pieces snapped together.”
“What was in the letters, Cara?” I asked quietly.
She had a heartbreaking look in her eyes. She glanced up at Locke and cleared her throat. Her voice was shaky, but there was strength in it.
“In short, the letters basically said that they had been sleeping together for years. They even talked about when it started. Just weeks after we got married. We’d made plans for this huge run. The night before, I’d started feeling really bad. At the time I didn’t know that it was morning sickness. I decided to stay home and told them to go ahead without me. They had all gone on the run. Of course, they partied, and from what the letters said, Angelo, Dawn’s husband, passed out before them. They took advantage of the moment and slept together and she ended up pregnant with Gia. They knew from the start that Gia was his. I think Angelo knew in his heart that Gia wasn’t his, he just didn’t want to know. They’d been trying for a while and they wanted more after Gia, but it never happened. He was so happy about Gia. Because the girls were so close, it was never an issue that Sal was always there for them both.” She nodded at the photos. “These photos were taken because he wanted to spend time getting to know her without having to pretend she was just his goddaughter.” She wiped a stray tear and put the photo down, then looked me in the eye as we all sat there with our mouths hanging open. “I don’t think Gia knows the truth. After her father died, I don’t think her mother had the heart to tell her.”
“Cara,” Locke said. He placed his hand on top of hers, rubbing his thumb along her knuckles. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”
“I do know that Sal was still seeing her. Sal and I have been separated for the last five years.” At our gasps, she raised a brow. “I know. But we kept up appearances. The night of the accident, I had just told him I was planning on leaving.” Taking a deep breath, she looked visibly lighter.
Sitting in silence, dumbfounded by all the information that we had just been given, I was unable to even fathom where to start.
“Well damn!” Ezra said, banging his fist on the table, causing Cara to look up.
I finally found my voice. “That changes things. Now we know that it will most l
ikely be someone that had close ties to Sal. We might want to expand this list of enemies.”
Locke pointed at Cara. “You and the girls stay here on the compound until we get this figured out. Nobody but us gets close to them.” He tipped his chin at Ezra. “Tell Tech to look into Gia, see what he can find. Something tells me she knows more than she’s letting on.”
While Locke finished barking orders, I couldn’t help but look at Cara. I saw the weight that she’d been carrying from all the secrets lifting off her.
Locke’s voice brought me out of my shocked state. “So, you do realize that you have to tell her. She deserves to know.”
I realized he was talking to Cara. Looking into her eyes, I saw someone who had been beat down for so long but was finding her strength.
With a weary smile and a quivering lip, she whispered, “I know,” and walked out of the room.
That’s when it hit me that she was going to tell Jules exactly what a lying piece of shit her father had been, and that her best friend was actually her sister.
33
Jules
The day after my dad’s funeral might have been harder than the funeral itself.
I woke up and the pain started all over again. It hit me hard that he was gone. The rawness that accompanied the emptiness was almost more than I could bear.
I forced myself to get out of bed and head downstairs. That’s where I found my mom sitting at the kitchen table, staring into space, a coffee cup clenched in her hands. The pain of the last few days was plastered on her face. Most of the physical traces of the accident had either healed or were fading away. Now, sadness and exhaustion seemed to have dulled her spark. The trauma had taken a toll on her.
I cleared my throat to alert her that I was in the room.
She turned and pasted on a smile. “Hey, honey. How are you doing?”
I shrugged. “I’m okay. Where’s Grace?”
“She’s upstairs with Leah and Ezra.”
My gaze wondered around the kitchen. “I should go talk to her later.”
Mom got up and took my hand. “We can do it together.” She smiled again and I nodded. She sat her coffee cup down. “Now, what can I make you for breakfast?”
I waved the suggestion aside. “Oh, Mom, don’t worry about it.”
“No,” she snapped. “I need to do something other than sitting at the table and dwelling on what I can’t change.” I saw her control slipping.
“Okay, Mom.” I touched her arm. “I’d really like pancakes, if you’re up for it.”
Smiling, she raided the cabinets for all the ingredients for chocolate chip pancakes. A few minutes later, she was stirring batter. “I wonder if the other girls and the boys would like some.”
I shrugged again. “Go ahead. I’m sure they’d love it.”
She motioned toward the cabinets. “See if you can find a platter and let’s give them a breakfast they’ll never forget.” She set the bowl down and rummaged through the fridge. “They don’t have much here. I might have to go to the store later and stock the kitchen.”
I knew by her constant rambling she needed to keep working and talking about anything other than Dad. If making the guys breakfast helped, then I’d cook all morning if she wanted. Everyone handled grief in their own way. This was apparently her way.
“Momma, you know you can stay here for as long as you like. Locke already said that you could.”
She looked up at me and smiled. Her glistening eyes and quivering lip told me she was barely hanging on. I put my arms around her and gave her all my strength.
When the guys came in, their eyes had gotten big as they saw what she’d made, and they dug in, smiling. I ate and headed to my room, collapsing on the bed. The weight of the past months bore down on me. Except for Dom, my world was in ruins. Complete and utter chaos. I thought getting past the kidnapping was the worst thing I’d have to go through. I was so wrong.
I laid back, thinking about Storm and how thankful I was she wasn’t here. This whole mess would’ve destroyed her. Then I started thinking about the circumstances of my father’s death. There was an air of secrecy around the place. Even from Dom. Everyone was keeping something from me, getting quiet when I came around. They didn’t think I knew, but I’d seen some of the emails and photos. I didn’t know what it all meant, but I could figure out my dad had cheated on Mom, and he had some really pissed off people on his ass. The sadness was slowly turning into anger and frustration. Right now, I just wanted to know who’d killed my dad.
My phone alerted me to a text and stopped my mental rant.
Gia: I miss you. Wanna hang out?
Me: Miss you too. But I can’t. Under house arrest.
Gia: Sneak out and come hang with me. I have a guard dog too.
I didn’t bother responding. She didn’t take no very well. I was placing my phone back on the dresser when Dom came in.
“What are you doing, angel?”
I sighed. “Sitting here thinking about how I’m being beaten down by life’s hammer.”
His look of sympathy frustrated me for some reason. “Baby, I need you to hold on for just a little bit longer. Can you do that?”
I looked away from him. “Yes. I’m just so sick of having to be strong.”
He pulled me up into his arms. “I know, baby.”
That comment made all the anger I had inside burst out, turning toward Dom. I shoved him. “No! You don’t get it! You don’t understand what it’s like to have someone take you and keep you in some basement to torture you!” My anger bubbled over and I couldn’t seem to control it. The hurt on his face twisted my gut, but I couldn’t stop. “You aren’t the one that’s being tormented, stalked, and having random photos taken of you.” My voice kept rising as he stared. “You didn’t just bury your father. You don’t have to watch your mom turn herself inside out because she’s holding onto a secret she’s too afraid to tell you!” I spit the words at him.
I stormed past him and out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I was fuming and didn’t know why or what to do. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I snuck out and around the side of the clubhouse and climbed into my car. I took the back way out, watching for guards.
My brain was on autopilot. I didn’t even realize I’d headed to Gia’s place until I pulled up, hoping to find solace. I knocked on her door.
“Come in,” was yelled from somewhere in the apartment. The man standing by the door seemed familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on where I’d seen him before. Knowing he must be from the club, I just smiled. At his nod, I walked into the apartment and headed down the hall.
I found Gia in her bedroom. “Hey.” She hugged me. “I’m so glad you decided to come.”
“I wasn’t going to, but Dom and I kind of got into it, so I snuck out.”
“Well, either way, I’m glad you’re here.” There was a weird look on her face, but I didn’t think anything of it. We were all stressed. “You want a drink?”
I nodded. “Yes! That would be amazing. I’ll take anything as long as it’s strong.”
“Sure thing, kiddo. Be right back.” She said cheerfully as she headed out of the room.
The photo album on the bed caught my eye. I flipped through the pages, finding pictures of Gia and I as babies. I smiled. We were so cute at that age. I quickly lost the smile as I turned to the next photos. My stomach dropped. I gazed at the images in disbelief, sickness swirling in the pit of my stomach. I stared, not comprehending what my eyes were seeing.
There was an image of my father with his arms around a woman that was not my mother. It was Gia’s mom. There was more. An image of Gia’s mom, again wrapped in the arms of my dad. This time, they were gazing at the baby girl in her arms. With shaking hands, I pulled out the picture and flipped it over. The back read, “Gia, Mommy, and Daddy.”
I was fighting the chaos in my belly and didn’t hear Gia when she came back in the room.
“Oh, I see you found my family album. My m
om gave that to me. She thought I might like it.” I looked up at her, disbelief still pounding my brain. The look on her face was one I’d never seen before. Her sinister smile sent a chill through my bones. Handing me a glass of amber liquid, she smirked. “Here, drink up, big sister,” she said with a sneer.
I sniffed the glass, immediately knowing it was brandy. Without a thought, I downed it, welcoming the burn that followed.
“Let me tell you a little story about a girl that got sick and had her world turned upside down.” A shiver raced down my spine. “Remember a couple years back, right before my dad had his heart attack? I had appendicitis and had to have surgery.”
I shook my head and held up my hand. “Gia, don’t.” I didn’t want to hear what I knew she was about to say. The fog in my brain grew thicker.
Gia glared at me. “No! You’re going to listen!” She looked at me with disdain and sadness mixed together. “I overheard Mom talking to the doctor about how Sal had come in to donate blood, just in case, because we were a perfect match. The doctor said that was best, since he was my father.”
I shook my head again, then stopped when the room started spinning. “No. It’s not true.” I couldn’t believe it. It was all too much.
She sneered and went on. I couldn’t make out the words, though. The world faded around the edges, and my head was swimming.
Feeling suddenly dizzy, I swayed back and forth, grabbing the wall. The overwhelming dizziness took ahold of me.
Gia stood over me, smiling as I fell back on the bed. “That’s it. Go to sleep, dear sister,” I heard her say right before everything went black.
34
Dom
“Fucking hell! I can’t catch a break!” I roared, punching the wall. Pain radiated through my hand from the cinderblock lining the hallway.
