Page 65 of Talon

I take a deep breath and hug her back. I can’t let my anger and frustration consume me. There’s still so much I don’t understand about this place and the people in it. I probably haven’t asked the right questions, but I’ve also been a little bit afraid of what they might tell me. Now, I need to know more. If I’m going to trust in and believe in the club, then I want to find out how it all started. A person doesn’t just wake up one day and decide they’re going to put their life on the line for other people. There has to be a reason why they do this.

“Nina,” I begin, turning to face her,“how did you end up here at the club?”

Nina sets down the knife she’s been using to chop vegetables and leans back against the counter.“Well, that’s a long story, but I’ll give you the short version. My old man, Winchester, founded Underground Vengeance MC. Started it thirty years ago.”

“Wow, so it’s been around that long?”

“Yep. One of Winchester’s friends, Grant, had a problem with his ex. Grant’s ex-wife had custody of their son because she was a liar. Her new husband was bad news.”

“How so?”

“He was a sex offender.”

“She let a man like that be around her child?” I ask, appalled.

“Yeah. She was a real piece of shit mother.”

“What happened?”

“Grant tried to get custody through legal means. Tried showing the judge his son was being neglected, but back then, courts almost always sided with the mother.”

“That’s terrible.” I brace myself for the rest of the story.

“The judge refused to grant Grant custody, even after we gave him overwhelming evidence that he wasn’t safe there. The fucker wouldn’t listen. So, we decided to do things another way.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, that’s one of those things you’re better off not knowing. But suffice to say, she wasn’t a problem anymore.”

“And her husband?”

“He’s gone, too. Winchester and Grant took care of everything.”

“Where are they now?” I ask.

“In Louisiana. Grant calls me every Christmas to catch up.” She smiles.“Anyway, that’s how we got started. We saw a need to protect people who couldn’t get help from law enforcement. That was decades ago, and we’re still here. Still helping any way we can.”

“How is …” My voice trails off because I don’t know if I should ask her this question.

“What is it, hon? You’re almost family now, so if you want to know something, shoot.”

“Almost family?”

“Well, if Talon gets his way.”

My face burns. I don’t know how close he is to Nina, but I hope he didn’t tell her about last night. What Talon and I do behind closed doors is no one else’s business.“Um, I was going to ask, how do you pay for all of this?”

“Winchester had a lot of money. He left it to me when he died. I make sure the club has everything they need.”

“What do they give you in return?” Nobody gives money away for free. The world doesn’t work like that.

“Love. They treat me like I’m their mom, and I get to have the kids I always wanted.”

“Did you adopt them?”

“In a way. Not officially, of course.”

“I’m assuming this was after Talon lived with Jonathan Blackstone?”