Remi
One day before the wedding…
Sitting on one of the small sofas in the common room, I waited nervously for her return. I knew where she was going and if I could have gone with her, I would have. I only just recently learned about Max’s other child. I know he is scared to tell me. He shouldn’t be. Her conception wasn’t his fault. He was as much a victim as she was. I was there when they brought him in and put him in a cage next to me. He was angry and scared for the first few days, but when they took him from me. I knew he wasn’t going to be the same.
And he wasn’t.
The boy they brought back to me was different. I didn’t need to ask what they did to him. I saw the bruises, scars, blood, his dead soulless eyes when he looked at me. Whatever they did to him changed him forever, but none of that mattered to me. All I cared about was that he survived it. When his father and club rescued us, it damn near broke my heart to be separated from him, but we couldn’t stay together. We were both still so young.
I never told Max this, but I knew, even at eight years old, that I was going to marry him. He probably would have laughed if I ever told him, thinking it was just a small girl's childish dreams, but I knew.
I knew from the first moment I saw him.
Even after everything we’ve been through, I still feel that way. Max is my sun and stars. There is nothing about him that I don’t love. Even his demon that dwells deep inside him. The monster that only comes out to protect him. Since my return, Max has tried to shield me from the dangers of this world and I have let him. I’ve seen enough horror in my life. I don’t want to see it anymore.
But what Max fails to realize is that though he believes I need to be protected, I am more than capable of taking care of myself. I appreciate his strength, but it’s not always necessary.
With the tension ramping up in the clubhouse, I know the horror is about to return. When Ari asked me to cover for her with Ghost, I made her tell me the truth. It wasn’t my best moment, but Ari was pregnant and if anything happened to her, Ghost would lose his shit. I remember how he acted when he thought she died in that plane crash. No one wanted a repeat of that.
So, when she finally spilled the beans about Max having another child, I took it with a grain of salt. Then when the math kicked in, it didn’t take me long to figure out what really happened when Max was kidnapped. When I reached out to Layla, she filled in the rest.
I now knew everything that was going on in the club.
Why Max had been so distant these last few months?
Why everyone was waiting on pens and needles?
Why brothers were disappearing left and right.
War was coming to my home. All because of one innocent child who didn’t ask to be born into this nightmare.
It wasn’t her fault. She was just a victim like the rest of us.
Anger that I never knew existed came forth when Layla told me what they used that child for. I wanted so much to protect her, to make sure that no one could ever use her again for anything. She was innocent in all this, yet she was at the heart of it all.
Men were stupid. They believed that they could make us do what they wanted just because they were stronger. They always saw us as fragile, soft-hearted beings that needed to be protected. But fuck with a child and God help them all. Every woman on the planet would rise up and tear a mother fucker apart for hurting a kid.
Myself included.
I wasn’t just a woman to be fucked and loved. I was a mother myself now. Just thinking of someone using my baby as a pawn would unleash a fury of hellish proportions unlike anyone had ever seen. This child of Max’s wasn’t of my body, but she was mine. She was Max’s child. I would fight until my last breath to ensure she lived. No parent would do less.
For years Max tried to hide the truth, not only from me but from his brothers, thinking it was the only way to protect his child. Well, no more. This shit ends tonight. Tonight, we were taking their bargaining chip away from them. There was nothing else they could hold over Max’s head. Tonight, we were not only freeing a child, but their hold on Max and I couldn’t wait to see what my Max did next.
Tonight, the game changed.
While Max tried to brush everything off, blaming wedding crap, I now knew the real truth. If he wanted to tell me a little white lie to help ease his fears, then I would let him. I wasn’t lying when I told him I didn’t give a damn about this wedding. I didn’t. I would be happy going to a fucking justice of the peace, but if Max wanted this party, he could have it. He could play the doting husband all he wanted. I knew better. He was using the wedding as a guise to do something else. I hadn’t figured out what that was, but I would. And when I did, I was going to make sure whatever he had planned came to fruition.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew when trouble was coming.
And it was at our doorsteps.
The sound of a vehicle approaching made me jump to my feet as I ran outside to see a black SUV stop. Phantom, Gadget and Ari exited the vehicle looking tired from their long drive. When I didn’t see Reaper’s daughter, I approached. “Where is she?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Phantom fumed. “You know?”
“Of course, I know. I had to cover for Ari.”
“Reaper will lose his shit when he finds out you’re involved.”