“Maybe, who the fuck knows,” answers Eli. “We were starting to branch out into other states, but we were still flying under the radar. When the club backed Meg, the Riot became very aware of us. The Riot was pissed we never asked their permission to form, never asked for their permission to ride, and we sure as hell didn’t have their permission to keep their daughter and granddaughter.”
“How did they react to that?” I ask.
“For two years it never stopped. Our guys would be hanging out at bars and the Riot would hunt them down and beat the hell out of them. It became a game to them to see how many of our cuts they could collect and hang on their walls. They’d try to run our guys off the road. Cause problems for us at every turn.
“It took a toll on me and a bigger one on Meg. Twice she told me she was going to leave. She packed her and Emily’s stuff, but both times I talked her down. Then one night she got a phone call from her brother, asking if he could meet with her. Meet his niece. He told Meg it was a peace offering.”
I lower my head. Even I know nothing good would have come out of that.
“Meg went, not telling me because your dad had been beaten up bad the night before and I was at the hospital watching his back. Meg thought she could fix everything.”
Eli trails off and my hand tightens into a fist. I’ve never heard this. I’ve never heard that my father was taken down by the Riot so badly he was hospitalized. “What happened?”
“The bastard tried to take Emily. He hit Meg. Multiple times. Her own fucking brother hit her...in front of my daughter. Meg screamed and people heard her, so she and Emily got away, but then Meg came home and I saw the bruises on her body and I saw the terror on Emily’s face.”
I close my eyes. The rage I had felt the night before when I saw that guy grabbing Emily courses through me. “You went after him.”
Pure anger flashes from Eli’s dark eyes. “Fuck yeah, I did. That bastard hurt the woman I loved and my child. His club had sent my best friend to the hospital. Cyrus and the Terror wanted to wait a few days for me to calm down and then vote on how to handle this in Church. I wanted retaliation because every single time we called the police and the Riot faced a judge they got a slap on the hand because the police couldn’t or wouldn’t prove shit.”
This is what I was raised to believe: that Emily’s uncle had hit Meg and Eli had gone after him. They left out the part where this was linked to the Riot. They left out that Emily had always been a target. I was also raised to believe that... “Meg snitched. Dad said that Meg was the one that ratted you out.”
“She did. She told me that if I went after her family in retaliation then I was no better than them. She told me up front that she’d call the police on me and that she’d leave with Emily. Meg knew me. She knew how mad I was and she knew her brother. She knew one of us was going to end up dead and she couldn’t live with me dying. She also knew I couldn’t live with being a killer so when I left to meet her brother, she called the police.”
The police arrived to where Meg had pointed them, catching
Eli in the act. Meg fled with Emily that night and Eli served eight years in prison. This is fucked up.
“Why not tell Emily the truth?”
Eli chuckles bitterly. “Where would you start? Somewhere between learning the ABCs and 123s you inform your kid that her dad’s a felon and that her maternal grandparents would be, too, if the police got their shit together? Meg ran for her life. She ran to save Emily’s life. Shit, Oz, what Meg did that night saved our club from annihilation because if she had stayed, every single one of us would have laid down his life for her and Emily and that’s the game the Riot was playing. But by turning me into the police, Meg branded herself a villain. A snitch. She’s no snitch. She’s a hero.”
I hear him, but... “You gave up custody of Emily.”
“Meg begged me to give Emily up. Pointed out that the Riot wasn’t above kidnapping. I told Olivia and Cyrus to back off and to give Meg room to feel safe, but what I didn’t expect was her marrying Jeff and I sure as shit didn’t expect him to show at my prison with papers to terminate my rights. He could offer my two girls the world and all I could offer was a whole lot of hurt.
“Maybe Meg and I didn’t do it right. Maybe we made every wrong decision, but when I was released from prison and Jeff offered me the opportunity to see Emily at least once a year with the condition that I lie about the past, I jumped on it. Good, bad, ugly, call the decisions whatever you want, but it’s worth any price to see my daughter and to see her happy.”
Eli quickly glances away and I pretend that there wasn’t wetness in his eyes. “Why are you telling me this now?”
He cracks open his door. “Because I’m trusting you’ll keep your word and the moment Emily touches down in Florida you’ll tell her the whole truth.”
He’s out of the truck and a roar fills my ears. Those words felt too final. I’m out after him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Eli knocks on Violet’s window and she rolls it down. Her eyes are red and puffy and she opens her mouth, but Eli holds up his hand. “Get out of here. Don’t make me say it again.”
Violet turns over the engine, and the two of us watch as she pulls a U-turn. As she passes us, I press three fingers to my leg, and pray that Violet remembers the signal she created when we were kids. She meets my eyes then drives away.
When she’s gone, Eli starts down the street again and I keep stride. “That’s your grand plan? Walk up the steps, ring the doorbell and then they’re going to hand over Emily?”
Eli steps in front of me and his entire tense demeanor tells me to shut up and listen. “You are going to do exactly as I say when I say it and you’re going to do exactly what I ask without questioning me. Do you got that?”
“Yes.”
“I brought you with me because Emily trusts you and I cannot have a repeat of last night. She’ll follow you before she’ll follow me and I need her to follow you out. Can you handle this?”
I can more than handle this. “Yes.”
He wraps his hand around my neck and stares into my eyes. “You’re a good man, Oz.”