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Prologue
Six months earlier—
My fist closed around the crumpled piece of paper in my hand—the note delivered by the prospect who stood before me and nervously shuffled his feet.
“Go,” I growled, unable to think beyond the message Undertaker had sent me. The cruel reminder that he would never forgive my careless mistake.
Abigail Holmes. An eye for an eye.
One child’s life for another.
Fuck!
I couldn’t keep my secret any longer. My daughter wasn’t safe.
There was only one choice to make. Crow needed to hear the truth. The club would protect Abigail. Even if something happened to me, my son would do the right thing.
Not that he was here for me to confide in.
Why the fuck did he have to be so goddamn stubborn?
I felt the presence of my crow and his chitter outside as he hopped around, amused by my question.
“Yeah, he’s just like his old man. Determined. Headstrong. Nobody can tell him a fuckin’ thing. Always got to figure it out himself.”
With a sigh, I scrubbed my hand down my face and over my beard, wondering when my son would return home. He’d have to head this way soon, whether he was ready or not. I needed him. Abigail was in danger.
There was only one thing left to do. I had to pay a visit to Howie Baker.
My gaze lowered to the crinkled paper and the words written on it. I snarled as I stomped across the room to my desk, reaching underneath the front drawer to push a hidden button. The latch released with a click, popping open the secret compartment underneath.
Over the years since Abigail’s birth, I’d added mementos about her accomplishments. The newspaper clipping from when she won the state spelling bee championship at eight years old. When she won the grand prize in a coloring contest at age ten. Her high school and college graduation photos. Some of the happiest moments of her life, as cherished by me, her Uncle Derek, as they had been to her.
Uncle Derek. Fuck, I hated that she never learned the truth.
I could never admit I was her father. It placed a target on her back. After all these years, I’d been sure I’d done the right thing. None of my club brothers knew I had a second child. I kept her birth a secret, a promise to her mother that I wouldn’t bring Abigail into the biker lifestyle.
And now I wondered if that was a colossal mistake. The club knew nothing about her, and with this new threat, there was no one watching her back. What if Undertaker got to her first?
Fuck!
I shoved all the memorabilia back in the compartment, adding the crumpled note and shutting it with enough force that I heard the lock engage again. Someday, Crow would find this drawer, and maybe he’d understand why I kept his sister a secret. I hoped he could forgive me for the deception.
Abigail? I had no idea how she would react to the truth. Would she despise me for all the years I visited and took her on trips to the zoo and the movies without ever revealing why I loved and spoiled her?
Life had been hard on her despite my best intentions. She had a lazy mother and a worthless piece of shit for a stepfather. When I found out he verbally abused her, I showed up at his job and broke every finger in his right hand. He left her alone after that. But it didn’t change the fact that I wondered if I’d made a mistake. Would she have been happier and safer with me and her brother?
I’d never know the answer to that.
There wasn’t time to dwell on it. I needed to leave. Alone.
That would pose a big fucking problem because the president of a notorious biker club never went anywhere without backup. Raven, my V.P., and Hawk, my S.A.A., would try to stop me.
I snatched up my keys, wallet, and smokes, shoving everything into my pockets. For this to work, I needed to leave as quickly as possible. A sense of urgency pulsed through me, and I rushed from my room, taking the stairs two at a time until I reached the bottom.
As soon as I finished the meeting with Howie Baker, I’d ride to Abigail’s house and tell her everything. With any luck, she’d listen and follow me back to the clubhouse, where I’d introduce my daughter and hold church, asking for a vote to protect her from Undertaker and the Dirty Death MC.
It wasn’t a great fucking plan, but it was a plan.
