Page 13

Chapter

Thirteen

LUNA

“ W ho’s Sarah?”

John’s face crumbles. “Sarah was my daughter. But you’re not her.” He turns away from me, and the act of it makes my heart feel like it’s constricting on itself.

“Why did you think I was your daughter?”

“You look just like my wife. But my daughter is long gone. You can’t be her.”

“Maybe I am. I never knew my birth parents. I was raised by a man named Ed. That’s all I know.”

He inhales sharply. “Ed Martin?”

“I don’t know his last name.”

“Ed Martin lives on our street. Well, lived. We haven’t seen him in a while. Was he the one who took you?”

“I’m not sure.” Watching John’s face deflate at my words hurts. “I wish I could give you the answers you’re looking for. All I know is that a man named Ed took me. He held me captive all my life. Maxim saved me. And now, here I am.”

“So, you’re not Sarah?”

“My name is Luna.”

He nods, looking defeated. “It was a fool’s dream to hope you’d be my daughter. My daughter is long gone.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more.”

Rose comes back, no more tears spilling down her face. “All right. We’re ready to buy.”

“Right.” He stands up straighter, fixing his tie. “This way.”

For the rest of the coffin-buying process, he doesn’t look at me once.

“I think that man was my father,” I tell Rose when we head out to her car.

She stops in her tracks. “What?”

“He thought I was some girl named Sarah, but he also said I looked just like his wife. He said he lost his daughter. You don’t think …”

Rose sighs, wrapping her arm around me and pilling me in close. “I think now that you’re free, you’re going to be looking for answers. It’s natural to want to know who your birth parents are. Ask Maxim to help you find them. I know he will.”

“But still.” I glance back at the funeral home. “He just seemed so convinced I was his daughter for a moment. Maybe I should go talk to him some more.”

“Sweetie, you don’t want to get hurt. Don’t get attached to someone if they’re not your real father. Maxim will help you. He always does.”

I know he does, and it’s why I’m falling in love with him.

But I just wish there were more things I could do on my own.

MAXIM

The new clubhouse is a rundown bar with a few rooms on the second floor.

It’s not as nice as our previous one, but beggars can’t be choosers.

“This place is shit,” Sal grumbles, looking around at the dust-stained floors and moldy walls.

“I know, but once we fix it up, it will be a good place for us. It’ll just take some TLC.”

Lucas scoffs. “We’ll need a lot more than some TLC to get this place up and running. I have an idea. We go kill that Anton bastard and make his home our clubhouse.”

“Not happening,” I warn, but I can feel the unrest in the air. They’re itching to go after him, and I’m barely keeping them at bay. “Just focus on fixing this place up. Make that your new project. Not Anton.”

I leave the men to clean the place then return home to check on Luna. I haven’t been able to get her off my mind since I touched her. Her naked body below me will forever be cemented in my memory.

But when I return home, I find Luna pacing the room, looking worried. “Hey, are you all right?”

She leans into my arms. “I want to find my parents.”

I try not to wince. I never wanted to keep anything from Luna, but what if John and Ashley don’t turn out to be her parents? Then I’m back to square one, and Luna will be disappointed.

“Ok,” I say slowly. “We can look into them for you. Don’t worry.” I kiss her forehead, but she pulls back.

“I met a man today named John. He thought I was his daughter, Sarah. Somehow, he knew your name.”

“How did you meet him?”

“When Rose and I went to pick out a coffin for Colin. He was the funeral director.”

Shit, shit, shit. “Ok. I have something to tell you, but I want you to be careful. Before Ed died, he told me he took you from a couple named John and Ashley Walker. I looked into it. I spoke to them. John didn’t want to take a DNA test, but Ashley did. I’m waiting on the results. It can take a couple of weeks.”

She inhales sharply. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“Because I didn’t want you to get your hopes up in case they’re not your parents. I’m sorry, Luna. I should have included you. You’ve just been through so much. I wanted to protect you a little longer.”

For the first time since meeting Luna, I see a flash of anger in her eyes. Anger directed at me . “I’m not a child, Maxim! Stop treating me like one. You should’ve told me from the get-go.”

“I know. You’re right. I made a mistake. But if they’re not your parents, Luna, you need to be prepared for that.”

She goes silent, her eyes staring off in another direction before snapping back onto me. “I want more friends.”

The sudden change in conversation startles me. “What?”

“I want more friends. I only have you and Rose. And you’ve kept something from me. I want more friends because I don’t like feeling like my life isn’t full. You promised to always be honest with me, and you weren’t. So, I’d like to meet more people so I don’t always have to rely on you and Rose for everything.”

“Luna …”

She puts her hand up. “No. You know I’m right. I need to expand my world. You said you were ok with that.”

“I am.”

“So, give that to me. That’s how you can make this up to me.”

“Of course.”

She doesn’t smile at me like she normally does.

Instead, she walks away without another look at me.

LUNA

Maxim brings me to a large mansion owned by a man named Nikolai Petrov.

“He’s a business partner of mine. You’re going to be meeting his wife, Ava, and Evie and Katya, the wife and sister of Dimitri, my other business partner. I don’t know many other women for you to become friends with. Hopefully, you’ll like them, and they like you.”

“And if they don’t, that’s ok. I’m a big girl, Maxim. I can handle more than you think I can.”

“I know. And I’m sorry again, Luna. I never meant to keep that from you.”

“But you did, and that’s what hurts.” For the past couple of days, I haven’t been able to look at Maxim. Knowing he was looking into my parents and kept that from me is heartbreaking. I trusted him, and he showed he wasn’t the perfect man I thought he was.

I can hear Rose telling me that’s life. Men will disappoint you, she’d say. Well, Maxim disappointed me.

We head up to the house and are let inside by a beautiful blonde woman whose smile makes me feel instantly better.

“I’m Ava,” she says. Behind her is a brown-haired woman who’s pretty in an understated way. “That’s Evie. And that’s Katya.”

Katya is the most stunning out of them. Tall and blonde, she looks like she could be a model. God always told me I was too short to be a model, which always hurt my feelings. He’d say things like that purposefully to make me feel bad about myself.

“Come on in,” Ava says. “We can all get to know one another.”

“Thanks for this,” Maxim tells her.

“No problem.” As Ava leads me away into the living room, I lose sight of Maxim. Soon after, I can hear the door shut, and Maxim is gone.

The three of them settle onto the couches while I remain standing. “I don’t really know what to do.”

“My husband told me a little about what you went through,” Ava says. “Growing up in a lighthouse.”

“I was kidnapped.”

Evie gasps. “I’m so sorry.”

“We don’t have to talk about that if you don’t want to.” Ava nods at the seat next to her. “Come on. You can sit down.”

“I’m mostly just looking for friends. I want my life to feel fuller.”

“Not sure how full our lives are,” Katya says, stretching out her legs. “Our lives mostly consist of staying in our houses and keeping safe from evil Mafia men. Case in point, ever since my brother got shot, he won’t let Evie and me leave the house.”

“Maxim didn’t tell me that.”

“My husband is fine,” Evie says. “One bullet can’t take down Dimitri. I’m sure Maxim thought there wasn’t much to tell.”

Still … It’s one more thing Maxim has kept from me.

I look around at the women. “I don’t know how to have friends. What do we do?”

A secretive smile crosses Katya’s lips. “We talk.”

Turns out talking means discussing clothes, the men in their lives, and sex.

“I haven’t had sex,” I blurt out.

Katya laughs. “It’s ok. Neither have I. A good Bratva girl waits for her wedding night.” She rolls her eyes. “If that’s ever gonna happen. Dimitri has to make a good match for me, and so far, he’s done nothing in that department.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one. Sometimes, I feel insecure for what little I know.”

“Are you happy to be with Maxim?” Ava asks, bringing a mug to her lips. We now all have cups of coffee in front of us.

“I am. He makes me feel … good. But lately, he’s been keeping things from me. That’s his one problem: He treats me like a kid sometimes, and I want him to treat me like a woman.”

Evie offers me a kind smile. “Hopefully in time. That’s one thing I learned through my marriage: You can’t give up. You have to keep going. You fight.”

“I had to do the same with Nik,” Ava says. “You don’t give up on love.”

“God,” Katya groans, dropping her head back. “I wish I had a husband I could complain about.”

“Someday,” Evie says. “And when that day happens, you won’t be happy about it.”

“True. I’m never satisfied. Dimitri’s probably going to pick a boring husband for me, and my life will therefore be boring. Luna, you’re lucky. Maxim is hot. Make the most out of it with him, especially since you’re not bound to Bratva rules. You don’t even have to marry him if you don’t want to.”

Marriage? With Maxim? The thought makes my heart flutter even more. I want that, I realize. I want a life with him.

The only obstacle in our way is Maxim himself.

“Marriage isn’t so bad,” Ava says. “Our husbands protect us.”

“And they don’t object to us working,” Evie says. “I’m a librarian at the New York City Library, and Ava is getting her masters to become a professor.”

“I didn’t even know women had jobs,” I murmur.

Katya flips her hair over her shoulder. “It’s ok. I don’t. And I never intend to, so Dimitri better marry me to a rich man.”

“You can have a job if you want,” Evie tells me. “You can have more in life if you choose.”

I’m starting to see it now—my future. It’s not a life stuck in the lighthouse. It’s a life filled with friends and love. With options.

And I can't wait to explore it all.

Rose takes me to the new clubhouse to work on fixing it up.

When we arrive, a lot of Maxim’s men are here, cleaning and scrubbing and making the place look nice. They all keep their distance since they know Maxim will kick them out if they hurt me.

“The place looks …” I take in the dirty floorboards and ugly walls.

Rose laughs. “Yeah, I know. It’s hideous, but it was the fattest place Maxim could find on short notice. Besides, these men could learn a lesson in cleaning. Serves them well.”

“What we should be doing is going after the bastard who blew up our other clubhouse,” Sal mutters.

She nudges his arm as she walks past. “Oh, shush. Maxim doesn’t want any of you doing anything stupid, so don’t be stupid.” She settles behind the bar space. It’s not as good as the previous clubhouse, but I’m sure Rose will fix it up in no time.

The clatter of the men goes quiet.

I look over to the door to see what’s going on, and what I see sets my body on edge.

It’s Jasper, standing in the doorway, looking like he belongs here.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Rose asks. “Leave! You’re not a Knight anymore.”

He sets his cold gaze on Rose. “Funny. Neither are you.”

Lucas storms over to Jasper and grabs his shoulders. “You need to leave. If Maxim sees you here, all hell will break loose. We already lost our clubhouse. I don’t want more shit to happen.”

“I just wanted to come check in on Luna.” He sidesteps Lucas and heads straight for me. “See how she’s doing. Where are you staying now that the clubhouse is gone?”

“None of your business,” Rose answers for me.

Something flickers in Jasper’s eyes, and it makes my voice catch in my throat. I can’t speak even if I wanted to.

“At Maxim’s apartment, I bet,” he says.

“What are you doing here?” Rose asks.

“I’m here because I wanted to see how Luna’s doing.”

“Ok, you saw her. Now, leave.”

Jasper rakes his eyes over me and smirks before walking away. The moment he’s gone, I slump against the counter.

“What was that about?”

Rose scoffs, shaking her head as she aggressively cleans the bar. “I have no idea. But if he’s sniffing around, it means danger’s coming. He’s got to be mad that Maxim kicked him out. And he probably wants to use you to hurt Maxim.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because Maxim cares about you, sweetie. Jasper knows you’re Maxim’s weakness. He’s probably testing the waters. Seeing what he can get away with.”

“But everything will be fine, won’t it?”

Rose looks me dead in the eye as she says, “I honestly have no idea.”

MAXIM

I check in on Dimitri at his club.

Of course, he’d be at his fucking club. Shot only a week ago and back on his feet.

“Maxim!” he says cheerfully. Despite his happy countenance, Dimitri is moving slower than normal. He’s still hurt and can’t hide it.

“Glad to see you up and about.”

“No. You’re just happy you don’t have to look for a new business partner.”

“I still have Nikolai.”

“True.” He pats the bar top as he leans against it. In the middle of the day, his dance club is empty, making the whole place kind of fucking eerie. “So, I heard your girl met my wife. Becoming friends. That’s bad news for us.”

“Why is that bad news? It’s good that Luna is making friends. She needs that.” Especially after I didn’t tell her about her potential parents. The DNA results should arrive in a few days, and then Luna will know if John and Ashley Walker are her real parents.

“It’s bad news because if our women join forces, they can team up against us.”

“Your sister is one of those women.”

Dimitri snorts. “I know. And Katya is the worst. She’ll find any way to bring me down if she can. She’s not happy that I’m in charge of her marriage prospects.”

“Found anyone good?”

“Sure. But none she’ll be happy with, and one thing I’ve learned in life, happy annoying baby sister equals happy life.” He claps me on the shoulder. “I’ll grab you a beer.”

I watch him walk around the bar. “So, we have to deal with Anton. My men are itching for a fight.”

“I know. We’ll find a way to kill him. Somehow.”

“We have to surprise him when he’s least expecting it.”

Dimitri hands me a beer then frowns, sniffing the air. “Do you smell … gas? Shit. I better not have a gas leak in the kitchen.”

He takes one step toward the back kitchen door when everything goes up in flames.

The explosion knocks us both onto our backs. I groan as I sit up, looking around at the club as flames quickly engulf it.

“What the fuck,” Dimitri grunts. I offer him my hand to help him up, which he takes without complaint. That’s not typical Dimitri. But then again, his club going up in flames isn’t typical either.

“We need to get out of here,” I say, running for the exit. He quickly follows. The flames have engulfed the back door, but when I look to the front, all I see is a wall of fire.

“Here,” Dimitri says, grabbing a fire extinguisher off the wall. My throat and lungs are filling with smoke. I can’t see past a foot in front of me.

Dimitri manages to get enough of the flames extinguished so we can run through the back door into the alleyway behind.

“We need to keep moving,” I say, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him forward.

“But my club.”

“I know. Keep moving.”

When we reach the main street, I stop and suck in a large breath.

And then I see him—Anton. Standing across the street, smirking. He did this; that much is obvious.

“Fucking bastard!” Dimitri shouts, noticing Anton as well. He takes out his gun and starts to fire, but Anton quickly gets into a car and drives away. With another shout, Dimitri tosses his gun onto the ground. “This is war.”

“I know. But we have to be smart about it.”

“Fuck being smart. He just blew up my club! He shot me! He keeps ruining our business. We need to do something about this.”

“I know. but right now, I want to get as far away from your club as we can. Who knows if Anton will come back and who he’ll bring with him. Get home to your wife and sister. Make sure they’re ok. I’m going to check in on Luna.”

“Fuck,” he mutters, running his hand down his face. “You’re right. Fuck!”

My phone rings with an incoming call from Sal. “What?” I bark.

“Where are you?”

“At Dimitri’s club. Anton blew it up. I was inside, but I got out.”

“Wait. Anton came after you? He tried to kill you? Maxim, we need to end him. Now.”

“I know. But we’ll wait until we can discuss this. I’m only telling you this information because I will not lie to my men. But, Sal, don’t do anything stupid.” I hang up on him before he can say more.

I leave Dimitri shouting in the street as I return to my apartment. The moment I step foot inside and see Luna safe, I walk right over to her, hold her in my arms, and kiss her deeply.

“Maxim?” She pulls back. “Are you ok? You’re covered in …”

“Ash. Soot. I was at Dimitri’s club, and Anton blew it up with us inside. We survived, obviously. By some miracle, we survived.” I slump onto the couch, my heart pounding fast and panic clawing my throat. “I could have died today. Fuck.”

Tentatively, Luna sits down next to me. “But you didn’t. You’re right here.”

“I know. Thank god you’re ok, too.” I pull her back into my arms, but Luna squirms away. “What is it?”

“This is probably terrible timing, but you need to know. Jasper showed up at the new clubhouse today.”

“What?”

“He didn’t do anything. But I think he’s planning something. It was … weird. Scary. I don’t want him coming after me, Maxim.”

Luna looks so afraid with her arms around her knees. I never want to see her look like this again.

“I’ll deal with him,” I say, getting up.

“But you’re tired. Hurt. You can’t go deal with him now.”

“I can, and I will. I won’t stand back while he makes you feel that way. I know Jasper. I can tell him to back off, and he will.”

“But you kicked him out of the Knights, and he hasn’t backed off.”

“Then I’ll kill him.”

She gasps. “You can’t.”

“I can, and I will.” I cup her face. “Luna, if it means you’re safe, I’ll do anything. Right now, Jasper is a problem I can deal with. Anton isn’t. So, let me go deal with Jasper. Let me do something right.”

Her eyes rake over my face, searching for something. When she finds it, she nods. “Ok. Just be safe.”

“As long as you’re safe, that’s all I care about. Just don’t leave the apartment. I’ll send Rose over to stay with you.”

“I won’t leave.”

“Good.” I kiss her deeply once more before letting her go. Anton is proving to be a problem, but he’s too unpredictable of a threat to me. I don’t know what he’ll do next.

But I do know Jasper, and I know he wants Luna. I know he wants to hurt me for kicking him out of the Knights. I can kill him and have one less thing to worry about.

I already got rid of Ed for Luna. I can do the same with Jasper.

Despite the heat in my lungs, I get on my bike and drive straight to Jasper’s apartment. Every minute of the drive, my breathing gets heavier and heavier. I should really go to the hospital, but there’s no fucking time.

If Jasper is trying to start something, I need to end it before it becomes a problem like Anton.

His apartment is some shitty, crumbling place I know he bought for cheap. A lot of the money the Knights bring in goes back into the clubhouse, not to its members. We all get a cut to keep us living, but it doesn’t make all of us rich.

I pound on his door, but no one answers. Not surprising.

I kick his door in and step inside. The small studio apartment is empty. “Jasper? If you’re in here, you better come out and face me.”

From the bathroom, Jasper emerges. “Maxim.”

“What are you doing with Luna? If you don’t leave her alone, I’ll fucking end you.”

“That’s fine by me. Because I’ll end you right here and now.”

“You don’t have a gun,” I say, pointing my own at him. “You lose.”

“Do I?”

I hear someone behind me before I can react.

And then I hear the gunshot and the pain in my leg. I drop to the ground and look behind me.

Jack is there. Fucking Jack Clark.

Jasper leans over me. “You messed up, Maxim, by letting me go. You never should have kicked me out of the Knights to begin with. Now, we’re going to take Luna for ourselves and have some fun with her, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.”

Looking between each of the men, I know I messed up.

LUNA

I gasp when I hear a frantic knock on the door.

Rose isn’t here yet, and she has a spare key to let herself in. My gut tells me this isn’t Rose knocking on the door.

With trembling legs, I walk over to the door and crack it open.

Sal is there, covered in blood. “We failed.”