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“They’re both gone.”
“I know, I know.”
The pain of loss is suffocating. I can’t deal. Not with them gone. I hated being away from them and moving to the city, but I knew they were still where I could see them if I went to visit. Not anymore. I’m lifted in Luca’s arms, and I close my eyes to the brothers looking on with concern.
He puts me down in my seat and leans into the truck. He winds his hand around the back of my neck and pulls me close to him.
“They’ll never truly be gone, Tor. You’ll keep them alive by telling our son all about them. You’ll keep them alive cause you don’t know any other way. The club will never forget them, you know that. You may not be able to see them, but you’ll feel them. And if you can’t, I’m here for you. I’m real, and I’m not going anywhere. I’ll wipe every tear away, and I’ll hold you when you cry. I’ll help you breathe when you struggle.” He presses his lips to my forehead, which linger for the most prolonged moment.
Sometimes, my husband has the ability to surprise me, and I don’t know why. He’s proven over and over his love for me. I trust he’ll be there at my side each and every time I need him. Yet his words help soothe my broken heart.
“Take me home, Luc.”
“With pleasure, babe.”
Chapter Twenty
Mason
Idon’t know what wakes me, but when I listen out, there’s nothing out of the ordinary. It’s just before dawn, by the looks of it, and I already know I won’t be falling back to sleep. Quietly, I climb out of bed, leaving Aspen sleeping peacefully, and head downstairs. Making myself a mug of coffee, I grab my smokes and head out into the backyard. The decking catches my eye, and after lighting a cigarette, I rake my eyes over the wooden beams. Nothing stands out, and I find myself down on my hands and knees, searching closer. Knowing my grandfather, they’ll be an indicator of where he buried the money.
Starting in one corner, I work my way up and down the decking area. It’s not until I come across the last corner by the firepit I spy a small X carved into the wood. If I weren’t looking, I never would’ve noticed it.
Moving the firepit out of my way, I make my way over to the shed and collect a crowbar.
I ply the wood until the panel lifts and then another. Three large metal boxes sit side by side. Grabbing them, I take them into the house and put them on the kitchen table. I count a total of three hundred thousand dollars. A hundred thousand stacked neatly in each box. When the fuck did he hide them here?
My mug of coffee, long gone cold and forgotten, still sits outside. I quickly dress and head across the street to my brother’s house. Slipping through the side gate, I let myself into his backyard. Mom said Grumps had hidden his money under the floorboards in Myles’s shed. Only the shed door is open, and my brother has already pulled up the boards and is counting cash.
“We had the same idea. I just unburied three hundred grand.”
He looks up at me, his eyes wide. “There’s four boxes. Fifty grand in each. Our sister is set to inherit a large fuckin’ sum. And that’s not including the stash at her house or Mom’s.”
“Get dressed. We’ll go over to Victoria's to dig up the cash. We’ll leave the cash at Mom’s until she’s ready for people to go over.”
I head home, grab my keys, and lock up after myself. I wait by my bike, but I’m not waiting long before me and my brother are riding towards the edge of town. The fresh morning breeze whips at us as we ride. Our first sunrise with our father and Grumps laid to rest. As ever, life is moving on. Victoria made it back safely to the city last night—Luca text when they arrived at their clubhouse.
The grass has grown waist-high since Victoria moved to the city, and I promise to come back out here soon and cut it down for her. We park out front of the house and make our way around the back.
“She said by the tree where he built our treehouse.”
“There was an X carved into the wood on my decking. Look for one around here.”
We circle the tree until Myles finds the X carved into the bottom of the tree trunk. Collecting a shovel each from the shed, we start digging. I hit the first box. Only when I pull it up out of the ground, there’s a rope tied around it, connecting it to another. We dig up fourteen more metal boxes, all linked to one another with rope.
“I knew he didn’t trust anyone, but he couldn’t use a bank?” Myles quips.
“He was old school before there was a new school.” I snort.
On the patio, we stack the boxes on the garden table and count through each one—all different amounts, but totalling a healthy four hundred thousand dollars.
“If the stash at Mom’s house is anything like the ones we’ve already dug up, it’s going to be over a million,” Myles points out.
“Why Grumps thought we didn’t need any is beyond me.”
“We’re not exactly doing too bad ourselves, and he knew that. He’s just making sure Victoria can support herself if she needs to.”
Our phones chime within seconds of each other. A message from Zach letting us know Leo has called a meeting in an hour’s time.
