Page 16

Dante

I was losing him.

After everything we’d been through, the thought of Danny never being in my life shattered my heart. He was the love of my life. The man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him, but he didn’t know that. He didn’t know anything. All because those around us thought it would be better to let his mind rest and heal on its own. I wanted so much to tell him the truth. To tell him about us, our life together, our daughter who I desperately missed so much. I wanted to tell Danny what he did to save our little girl, and that she was out there and she needed us both.

“It’s going to be okay, Dante,” Stella said, leaning over the kitchen island. “The doctor said when his memories returned, they would be confusing for him. We just need to give his mind time.”

“That’s just it, Stella. He doesn’t have time. I don’t have time. The longer it takes means more time away from our daughter. She is out there alone, away from the both of us. She needs us. Maybe I should just leave. Since that dream, he’s been more agitated when I’m around. He won’t even look at me anymore.”

“He’s confused, Dante.”

“Well, I’m not!” I snarked. “I’ve been in love with that man since I first laid eyes on him. I’ve watched as he whored himself out with every female on campus. I held him as he sank deep into his mind, where the darkness almost consumed him. I stood back and did nothing as he’s given himself to everyone around him, never caring about his own health. When does it stop, Stella? Tell me, because if we stay in this world, eventually it will kill him and then where will our daughter and I be?”

“You don’t know that, Dante,” Stella whispered. “Danny grew up in this world. He loves the Biker Federation. It’s what he knows.”

“I know Danny loves the Biker Federation, but at what cost? He’s not the same man I fell in love with. The Danny I know would never have forgotten about our daughter. He doesn’t even recognize me. I’m a stranger to him.” My voice cracked, my pain evident. “I can’t bear the thought of losing him, but I can’t stand idly by and watch him self-destruct. Our daughter needs at least one of us. I won’t let her grow up without a father. Not if I can help it.”

Stella placed her hand on mine, offering what comfort she could. “We’ll get through this, Dante. Danny is a fighter, and he’s lucky to have you by his side. You’re his anchor, and he’ll realize that soon enough. As for your little girl, she’s safe. She will have both of you.”

I took a shuddering breath, steeling myself for the challenges ahead. “I hope you’re right, Stella. I can’t lose them. They are my everything.”

I couldn’t bear the thought of a life without Danny in it. He was my world. The idea of him slipping away, of his memories never returning, was like a knife twisting in my heart. I knew he was struggling, lost in the darkness of his own mind, and it killed me that I couldn’t reach him. I wanted to shake him, to scream at him, to remember—to remember our love, our daughter, and the life we had built together. But I was powerless, trapped in a nightmare where the man I loved didn’t know who I was.

Stella tried to reassure me, but her words offered little comfort. She didn’t understand the depth of my love for Danny, the way my world revolved around him. I had seen his self-destructive tendencies, the way he lost himself in the Biker Federation, but I had always been there to pull him back, to remind him he was worth more than the darkness. Now, I was a stranger to him, and the thought of him slipping further away was unbearable. I knew our daughter needed at least one of us, and the thought of her growing up without a father broke my heart even more.

As I sat there, overwhelmed by my emotions, I made a silent promise to myself. I would do whatever it took to bring Danny back to me. I would remind him of our love, of the life we had built, and of the little girl who needed us both. I refused to accept a future without him. I would be his anchor, his light in the darkness, and I would not let him go without a fight.

“Who is Danika?”

The words hung in the air, thick and venomous. Danny’s furious glare burned into me. The air crackled with unspoken accusations. A palpable heat radiated off him. The scent of his anger was sharp and acrid. His knuckles, white as bone, were clenched tight enough to draw blood. The heavy silence was punctuated only by the ragged rasp of his breath, like a predator circling its prey.

“I will not fucking ask you again,” he hissed, his threat barely contained. “Who. Is. She?”

Stella, her face pale and drawn, whispered, “I’ll leave you two alone to talk,” before she melted away.

I pushed myself to my feet, a sigh escaping my lips.

“She’s my biological daughter.” My words hung in the heavy air.

His jaw clenched. “You... you have a kid?”

“Yes.” The word felt brittle, fragile against the onslaught of his fury.

“So you lied to me. You’re not gay then?”

His question was a cruel twist of the knife, a deliberate attempt to unravel me.

“What?” I choked as my breath caught in my throat. “Yes. I am. Always have been.”

His scoff was a physical blow.

“Then explain it to me, because two sperms don’t make life.” His words dripped with contempt.

“It’s complicated.” I saw his disappointment as he shook his head in disbelief and rage warred on his face.

“Apparently, that’s the first truth you’ve uttered. Tell me, Dante, what else have you been lying about? This charade—this whole fucking performance. Was it your plan from the start?”

My heart hammered a frantic rhythm against my ribs. “What?” My question was a pathetic whimper against the storm he was unleashing.

“Don’t play innocent now that you’ve been cornered. What’s your endgame? To manipulate me? To get me to reveal something? Are you working with Ace? That dream—that fucked up dream of us—was it real, or some twisted, calculated manipulation to get access to one of the clubs?”

His words tumbled out, a torrent of accusations fueled by a pain so raw it was almost palpable. He was unraveling. His anger was a suffocating blanket, obscuring reason, blinding him to truth. He took a step closer, the scent of his cologne, usually comforting, now reeked of aggression.

I stumbled back, raising my hands in a futile gesture of appeasement.

“Danny, I don’t know what you think you know, but I had nothing to do with your accident. I swear it!”

“Someone did. Who?” His voice was a low growl, a chilling promise of violence.

“I can’t tell you!” My words were choked with desperation.

“Liar!” he seethed, closing the distance between us. “You fucking know. All of you know and you won’t say a goddamn thing. Why? What the fuck is really going on here?!”

His roar ripped through the room, sending shivers down my spine.

Digger appeared out of nowhere, his face etched with worry, his usually jovial eyes wide with apprehension, and he stepped between us. “Danny, you need to calm down,” he pleaded, his voice tight with warning. “We’re your family. We’re trying to help.”

“Help me? That’s fucking cute.” Danny’s laughter was devoid of humor, a cruel, broken sound. “By keeping secrets? By lying to my face? How is that helping me, Dig? I thought you were my brother, but it seems like you’re all playing some sick game with my life!” Danny’s voice cracked with rage, and his fists clenched so tight his knuckles shone white against his tanned skin. “I want answers. And I want them right fucking now!”

I took a step forward, my heart a trapped bird beating against my ribs. “Danny, please—try to understand. We’re not hiding things to be malicious. It’s complicated. We’re trying to protect you. About your accident—I swear, I had nothing to do with it. I would never hurt you.”

My words were a plea, lost in the storm of Danny’s fury.

“FUCK ALL OF YOU!” Danny’s roar ripped through the air, a guttural scream that vibrated in my chest. “And fuck you, Dante!” He was a hurricane of fury, a storm of muscle and rage, slamming the door behind him with a thunderous clap that rattled the very foundations of the building. The scent of his sweat, lingered in the air even as he vanished into the night.

I lunged, the raw fear a physical weight, but Digger’s grip clamped down on my arm. His fingers dug into my flesh, a searing pain that momentarily eclipsed the icy dread clawing at my insides. “Let him burn,” Digger growled, his voice low and gravelly. His words were like stones in my gut. “Let the rage consume him.”

“Burn? He’ll be killed out there, Digger! There are people who want him dead!” The city’s harsh neon glow reflected in the manic gleam of my eyes as the city throbbed with a deadly pulse around us.

Digger’s gaze was unwavering, cold and calculating. “The club’s got eyes everywhere, Dante. They’ll shadow him and intervene if needed. Right now, all that matters is buying him time.”

“Time? He thinks I did it! That I orchestrated this bloody mess!”

Each word felt like a shard of glass in my mouth, a testament to the despair that choked me.

Digger’s jaw tightened. “He’s drowning in it, Dante. Blind rage. He ain’t hearing a damn thing right now. Not from you, not from anyone.”

Stella’s hand, cool and soft against the fire of my panic, was a surprising comfort. Her voice, though laced with sorrow, was a balm to my tormented soul. “He’s a Franks man, hun,” she whispered, her hug tight, a desperate anchor against the rising tide of my despair. “And when a Franks man’s fury erupts—it’s a goddamn inferno. You don’t want to be anywhere near it until it burns itself out.”

Her words were laced with a weary wisdom born from years spent navigating the treacherous currents of her world as my heart hammered against my ribs.

“So what do I do? Just stand here while he believes I’m the one who betrayed him? The one who caused all this?”

My question hung in the air between us, heavy and suffocating, a testament to my utter powerlessness.