Page 180 of Broken Bonds

Shawn barks a laugh. “Alizée says I’m having twins.”

I’m certain my shocked expression mirrors Todd’s. “Twins?” we echo.

“Yup.” Shawn throws a loving glare at Jax. “I guess if something’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.”

Jax chuckles. “Hey, you’re the one who drank the extra insurance. I can’t help it if you’re an accidentally genius mixologist.”

“Well, keep this a secret, too,” I say, “But Alizée told us we’re having a girl.”

“Congrats!” Jax says. “Not telling Iris yet?”

“Fuck no,” Todd says. “Are you nuts?”

“According to Alizée,” Jax says, “she’s nearly 100% accurate in predicting genders. So…” He shrugs. “We haven’t decided if we want to know what we’re having yet, although she offered to tell us.”

“I’m still trying to process twins,” Shawn says. “Let that finish sinking in before we break my brain again.”

“No offense,” I say, “but I’m kinda glad that’s not my problem. I’m terrified enough.”

Todd gently nudges me. “Hey,” he says. “Remember what Alizée told us—she’ll be born healthy, and to not stress.”

“What else did she say?” Jax asks. “If you don’t mind telling us.”

I look up at Todd. “Might as well.” I focus on Jax. “She said my mom will be here for the birth and our wedding. To trust the process. But I have no clue how that’s supposed to work. Not like I can contact her. And even if she did try to come, my father would figure it out and have her followed, trying to track me through her.”

“Funny you should mention that,” Jax says, and quickly relates another of his discussions with Alizée yesterday.

I’m…stunned. “I can’t let you risk the pack over that plan.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do anything to risk the pack,” Jax assures me. “But the more I think about the idea, the better I like it. We can attack and distract your father through unconventional warfare.”

“Through whut?”

“Believe it or not, your father’s inflated opinion of himself and his superiority is his greatest weakness,” Jax says.

“What do you mean?”

“I have a friend in California who works for the federal government. Once I give him the okay, he’ll send your father an anonymous letter ordering him to forget about your very existence or else the whole country will learn he’s covering up he’s a shifter and he will get charged with fraud for not revealing it when he filed to run for office.”

“I’m not tracking. There’s nothing illegal about him being a shifter and running for office.”

Jax smiles. “Ah, but it is very illegal to lie on FEC forms about facts such as one’s date of birth and social security number. Your father’s 74 and he’s telling everyone he’s in his 50s.”

“The fucker’s younger than me,” Shawn says. “I’m 87. Hell, Pops is twice as old as him.”

“Yep,” Jax says. “And, obviously, it’s illegal to obtain fake identification documents. It’s also illegal to use those fake documents to fraudulently obtain loans, open bank accounts, and everything else. Your father never filed amnesty papers or registered properly with his correct birth info to update everything. Since he’s lied, the IRS will swarm him like flies on horse shit to pry open his books and bank accounts to see what else he’s lying about, guaranteed. Because they passed a law ten years ago that anyone caught falsifying records after the amnesty period earns an automatic IRS audit of all business entities they’re affiliated with, and all personal accounts. Failure to comply triggers immediate freezing and sometimes even seizure of all assets until the audits are completed. Plus, he’d immediately be rendered ineligible to run for office and prosecuted by the FEC for lying on his forms, which is a federal crime.”

I gasp. “Holy crap!” I didn’t even know all of that because I was a kid who didn’t give a shit about that stuff, because I was too busy avoiding the attention of my dad and brothers.

“Exactly. I’m certain your father never intended to disclose he was a shifter. And never in his wildest dreams did he imagine anyone who knows he’s a shifter would reveal it.”

An evil smile curls Jax’s handsome lips. “Also, my friend will inform him that if they have to out him, they will also out every single other shifter who’s in office who lied about who they are and who didn’t file amnesty paperwork. And they will tell them Sterling outed them to save his own ass. Plus, my friend will out every single shifter in Sterling’s pack that they can locate who hasn’t filed amnesty papers. If that happens, it will make your father the least popular person among pretty much every shifter in North America who doesn’t already hate his guts. Paint a target on his forehead.”

“That’ll piss him off.”

“It certainly will, but he’ll have no way of tracking the letter or the sender. They’ll send enough proof with it, and he’ll know they’re not bluffing. Your father talks a tough game, but he’s far from the biggest fish out there. He just happens to be a big fish in a tiny pond and is narcissistically blind to how big the other fish and ponds are. Even some of the smaller fish in the larger ponds are still so much bigger than him that they can swallow him in one gulp. He’s never been told ‘no’ before in a meaningful way by someone far more powerful than him who has the balls to stand fast against him.”

“Why can’t we start there? Just out him now and grab Mom while he’s distracted.”