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Of course, he knew that. Not much got by Connor. Not then, not now.
“They owed her money,” he said. “I made sure they paid it back.”
“Good of you,” said Connor, taking the seat Isobel had sat in only minutes before. “I thought she scarpered when Luci went rogue, couldn’t take the heat.” He watched Zep with curious eyes.
That was what Zep had wanted everyone to think. In reality, he’d moved Becca out before the cops descended. Kept her clear of trouble. He took a deep breath. The memory of Becca was still fresh in his mind, as if what they’d shared had occurred last week. It had sustained him all these years.
Zep studied Connor. “If that’s what you saw, how the hell did Isobel figure it out? How would he know to follow her inheritance?”
“Figure what out, Zep? You gotta tell me what’s going on if The Devils are going to war with Melbourne’s number one crime family. What exactly are we fighting for?”
His gut churned as acid burned the ice from his veins. For thirty years he’d kept this buried in a box he thought he’d never have to open. “The morning Luci knocked his old lady, Becca found out she was pregnant.”
There was a sharp inhale as Connor put the pieces together.
Zep placed his hands on the table, spreading his fingers wide. “Becca wasn’t cut out for this life, and I didn’t want a kid hanging around my neck like a beacon for assholes like Isobel to use against me.” He studied the faded tattoos on the back of his hands. “I knew she’d be set up for life if I got her inheritance back from her fucked up aunt and uncle. So I did, then I cut her loose.” He could still feel the slice of that blade.
“You loved her.” Connor saw right through him.
Zep gave a shaper nod in response, not able to look him in the eye.
“Aaah, you still love her.”
Now he looked at Connor. There was no need to confirm it with words.
“And the kid?”
“A daughter,” said Zep. A beautiful, strong, independent daughter. Just like her mother.
“You’ve kept tabs on them, obviously.” Connor didn’t wait for a response. “Are you going to warn them?”
“That’s just it,” said Zep. “I don’t think Isobel knows as much as he makes out.”
“How so?”
“He called her Becca. She hasn’t gone by Becca in nearly thirty years.” He was hanging onto this thread. It was the only card he had to play. He couldn’t sit still any longer. Pushing the chair back, he began to pace the length of the kitchen.
Connor scrubbed his hand across the stubble on his cheeks, before stroking the silver beard that covered his double chin and grazed the top of his gut when he sat. “He doesn’t know where she is?”
“Maybe not,” said Zep. “I fuckin’ hope not.” He didn’t believe in God but he was prepared to pray that Becca and their daughter’s location were still unknown to everyone but him.
“You want me to send someone to watch them?”
Zep shook his head. “Nah, that’ll play right into Isobel’s hands. Send someone to watchhim. Not her. I wanna know where he goes, who he talks to and where he sends his boys. I wanna know when Peter Isobel takes a shit and who wipes his ass.”
Connor nodded. “Done.” He rose, ready to relay the message to the brothers waiting outside.
Zep stopped his pacing and came back to the table. “And Connor?”
The older man halted.
“Get Brodie back from Europe. I need him here.”
Zep placed his hands on the table, leaning forward. His heart was pounding inside his chest. He’d given Becca up to keep her and their child safe and it was a decision he’d never regretted, not once. Who the fuck was Peter Isobel to threaten him or them? To threaten The Devils? He didn’t care what it took, but no one was fucking with what was his. Not his woman, not his daughter and not his club.
Chapter 2
Lennox Head, North Coast of New South Wales, Australia.
