Page 11

Remi

I heard them before I saw them.

Peeking out the front window, I watched with bated breath as their vehicle slowed to a stop. Dakota and two of his men greeted them when they stepped out of the vehicle.

“Remi, come sit down. I made coffee,” Angelica said sweetly as they turned to look at the house.

Closing the curtain, I sat in my chair, pulling my legs up to my chest while I waited for whatever they wanted.

“Why are they here? I’ve told them everything I know.”

Placing a hot cup of coffee near me, she stood and looked at the door. “I don’t know. But if they’re here, it’s for a reason.”

Biting my thumbnail, I tried to think of anything I may have left out that would account for this unexpected visit.

“Take a deep breath for me, Remi. They won’t hurt you.”

“I know,” I muttered. “They just make me nervous.”

The front door opened and in walked Dakota, followed by his brother, Montana Stone. What shocked me was that Mr. Stone wasn’t alone. With him, walked in Maxim Fedorov and his right-hand man, Vladmir Ivenok. Both men I met when they came to Tennessee to help the Golden Skulls end the Society . Bringing up the rear was the last person I ever thought I’d see again.

Rushing to my feet, I ran to him and jumped into his strong embrace as he hugged me tightly.

Holding onto him like he was my lifeline, I whispered, “You’re here.”

“I promised you long ago. If you ever needed me, I would be there for you, remember?”

Nodding, I sniffed as tears ran down my face.

“Remi, we apologize for the late visit, but we needed to talk with you,” Montana Stone said, taking a seat once Sandman lowered me to the ground, refusing to let go of me.

Looking at the men gathered in my house, I noticed they didn’t look happy to be here. That what they wanted to talk with me about worried them, upset them.

Curious, I took my seat again as Sandman stood next to me.

Protecting me as he always did.

“Fuck, this is harder than I thought,” Montana cursed.

“Tell her,” Dakota growled, crossing his arms over his broad chest angrily as Angelica stood next to him, confused but worried.

Whatever he was here to tell me, his brother knew and wasn’t happy about it.

Mr. Fedorov leaned forward and sighed.

“What we are about to tell you is going to be hard for you to understand, Remi. Neither of us is proud of our part, but it’s time we set the record straight.”

“Okay?” I said, my heart picking up fast.

“Where do we begin?” Montana asked, looking at Maxim.

“How about at the fucking beginning, asshole?” Dakota sneered.

Montana glared at his brother before nodding.

“It started before you married Reaper. A few days before your wedding, Maxim and I met with Reaper and hatched a plan. It was a shit plan, but with no time, we went with what we had.”

“The plan was intricate yet straightforward,” added Fedorov. “After the wedding, you and Reaper would go into hiding until we found the Society’s middleman. A man we later learned was Boris Petrovitch. He worked closely with Capribella and Bianchi. Back then, the Society really didn’t give a damn about the Golden Skulls. Reaper’s club was merely a nuisance. What they really wanted was our organizations—the Soulless Sinners and the East Coast Bratva—but we refused.”

“I don’t understand. We did just that. After the wedding, we moved the club to Tennessee and stayed to ourselves until the Society found us again.”

Montana shook his head.

“No, Remi. The Society didn’t find you. Reaper went after them. He couldn’t stand the idea that the threat to you was still out there, so he forced our hands.”

“The Society didn’t want me. They wanted him because of who his father was.”

Maxim looked over at his friend, Vladmir Ivenok, who took a deep breath and admitted.

“No, sweetheart. The Society didn’t care about Reaper or the Golden Skulls. Like Maxim said, they were merely a nuisance. The only reason the Society went after Reaper and the club was because of... well, because they learned they could use you to get to me.”

“You?” I muttered, confused. “I’m sorry, Mr. Ivenok, but I only met you when you came to Tennessee to help the club get rid of the Society . I’ve never met you before.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Vladmir said, looking directly at me and causing the hairs on the back of my neck to perk up.

There was something compelling in his eyes he was trying to relay to me. I could see the sorrow in his blue eyes. The trepidation of what he was about to say. “I held you in my hands when you took your first breath. You were so small. I didn’t understand how something so small could be so perfect.”

“Vladmir had a choice that day, Remi,” Maxim interrupted. “We knew we couldn’t protect you, so Vladmir found you a loving family. Only we never expected what came next. Not even twenty-four hours after he placed you with the Greysons, someone took you. If we had known. God, Remi. We are so sorry. Because of what we did, you endured a horrible life.”

Shaking my head, I tried to assimilate what he was implying.

It was impossible.

There was no way. My birth parents were Benjamin and Diana Greyson. The club said as much. Player and the others investigated me. The entire club did. They found the paper trail.

“When I learned what happened, I tried to find you. I traced you to Saint Mary’s Orphanage in San Francisco, but by the time I got there, they had already placed you with another family. The names were fake. I had no way of locating you.”

“Remi?”

Looking up, I noticed Angelica kneeling next to me.

“What are you thinking, sweetie?”

“It’s not true,” I whispered as tears ran down my face. “It can’t be. My whole life, I knew. I knew I didn’t belong to anyone. I thought when the club found my birth parents, I’d finally found my family. They found Sunny and Jax for me. Even Sunny said our parents never stopped looking for me. Sunny showed me a picture with my mom holding me right after I was born.”

“The Greysons had just lost their biological daughter to a misdiagnosed heart defect. They were distraught when I approached them. I couldn’t give them back their daughter, but I could give them you. The second Diana saw you, she fell in love with you. They wanted you, Remi. Sunny never lied to you. Benjamin and Diana never stopped looking for you,” Vladmir said, kneeling before me, reaching for my hand. “Sunny and Jax may not be your blood, but they are your family. They love you dearly. You have always been wanted, sweetheart. Always.”

“You are my father, aren’t you?”

“Yes, moi malenkiy lev . My little lion. I am.”

“I think we all need to take a break,” Angelica said, getting to her feet.

“We don’t have the time. There is so much more we need to tell her, Angelica. If there was any other way, we would. I hate doing this, but it needs to be done,” Montana said.

“She’s just had a bomb dropped in her lap. She needs time to absorb it all.”

“Reaper’s alive.”

I gasped.

Leaning against the railing on the back porch, I watched the waves crash against the sand.

The surf was angry tonight. Like a storm was brewing off in the distance. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was there, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

The second they told me he lived, I ran from the room.

I couldn’t listen to any more.

But nothing could drown out their voices as they continued to argue. Even outside, under the cover of night, I could still hear them clearly.

“Well, don’t keep us waiting. What the fuck did you fucknuts leave out?” Dakota roared.

“The truth about that night and much more,” Maxim Fedorov clearly admitted when no one else would speak up.

“The truth about what?” Angelica asked.

Even I had to admit, I was curious. What more could there be? Was I some long-lost heiress? Was my mother the fucking Queen of England? What more could they possibly say that I didn’t know?

“The truth about who she is.”

Ah. Damn, I hated it when I was right.

Taking a seat on one of the lounge chairs, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes as I listened to their conversation.

This ought to be good.

“As Remi’s therapist, I’m going to need a little more than that. I will not allow any of you to upset the tentative balance I’ve made with her.”

“What Doc said,” Dakota growled.

“Dakota, this is serious,” Montana groaned.

“Always is with you. Stop fucking around and just tell us why you’re really here.”

“CliffsNotes version. We made a deal with Reaper before the Golden Wedding to protect Remi while we took down the Society .”

“Why?”

“Because Remi is my daughter,” Vladmir Ivenok said. “We were trying to protect her.”

Why would he say that again?

It made no sense.

He already told everyone he was my father.

What more was he hiding?

“And how did that work out for you?” Dakota snipped angrily.

“Hey, it’s not all on us. Reaper couldn’t wait. He forced our hand,” Montana added.

I smirked at that. I fucking knew what that meant.

He never was a patient man.

Could have told them that if they’d ever asked.

Dakota growled. “What the fuck did you do?”

“We promised Reaper,” Fedorov said, trying to ease the tension.

“I won’t ask again,” Dakota reiterated.

“We are the reason Remi believes Reaper cheated on her,” Montana said.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Dakota roared, right before I heard a loud bang and glass shattering. Didn’t take a fucking genius to know that Dakota had punched his brother. I would have done more, but I refused to be in there with them. “Do you fucking know what you’ve done? Do you fucking care?!”

“Dakota, let him go,” Angelica shouted.

“I had my team look into her past, Montana. It was shit, but you knew that and did it anyway, right? Congratu-fuckin’-lations, asshole. You fucking won. You broke her. She will never trust, never love, never be happy again. It was all part of the plan, right? But hey, it’s okay, ‘cause you still get to sleep happily in your bed at night. She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t eat. She doesn’t sleep. She cries until she’s so damn exhausted her body gives out. She’s shut herself off from the world. She doesn’t care anymore. You broke her heart. It’s all your fault. I hope you’re fucking happy.”

“We didn’t have a choice!”

Now see, that’s where I disagreed.

Everyone had a choice.

He taught me that.

“Yes, you did,” Angelica accused angrily. “You always have a choice, Montana. You are going to destroy the progress she’s made. She’s barely hanging on as it is. You tell her this, it will be the straw that broke the camel’s back. She won’t be able to handle it.”

That’s what she thought.

I’d survived rougher shit than the truth.

The truth was just words. Meaningless unless backed up by action. I didn’t need to see his face to know that what Montana did, he did it for his own gain. I could hear the truth in his voice.

“What is your professional opinion, Dr. Morales?” Vladmir asked worriedly. “I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have, but as much as it pains me to say this, they are right. My daughter deserves to know the truth. We at least owe her that.”

“And I agree, but I don’t think right now is the time to do that. Remi has been going through the motions. On the outside, she looks like a single mom raising two kids. But on the inside, she lives in darkness. It shrouds her like a cloak. She flat out refuses to talk about Reaper. She won’t even mention his name. For her, it’s like he never existed. She’s fallen into a deep depression. When she’s not with the kids, she wanders the beach alone at night, searching for something to hold on to. She screams out her pain into the darkness, Mr. Ivenok. It’s heartbreaking.”

“She’s right,” Dakota seethed. “My team watches her and the kids like a hawk. We know every move they make. It’s not just Remi. Emma rarely speaks or engages with others. She doesn’t smile. Hell, I’ve never heard the girl laugh. Even Jessie. He’s a little boy. He should be happy, laughing and playing with everything. That kid just sits in the sand and digs holes. They are mimicking their mother. They see Remi’s sadness and emulate it. In their minds, there is nothing to be happy about.”

“But won’t this help?” Vladmir asked. “I mean, if we tell her the truth. Won’t that give her hope, something to cling onto?”

Angelica sighed. “You don’t understand. It’s how you all went about this. Remi’s life has been a series of deceptions, neglect, exploitation, and abuse since the day she was born. You are her biological father, Mr. Ivenok. Instead of fighting for her, loving her, raising Remi yourself, you handed her off. You threw her away. Now, I know why you did what you did, but in Remi’s mind, that’s all she’s going to understand. I know all of you had good intentions, but as her therapist, I am warning you. If you insist on telling her this, you will destroy her.”

“We don’t have a choice, Dr. Morales.” Fedorov groaned. “Reaper is out there. He’s hunting. Killing people left and right to ensure her safety. When he’s done, he will seek her out.”

“Not necessarily,” Angelica replied. “From what I’ve read about the two of them, and trust me, the file Montana gave me was extensive. My gut is telling me he won’t approach her. According to the file, everything Reaper has done, he’s done for her. What he values most is her belief in him. With her believing the lie, he won’t feel worthy of her. That because of his actions alone, he destroyed her faith in him.”

Now that was the damn truth!

“But he didn’t fuck that whore,” Sandman said, joining the conversation. “It only looked like he did.”

Well now.

That was interesting.

Sitting up, I leaned closer so I could hear better.

“What do you mean?” Angelica asked, confused.

“I was the one who took the pictures and sent them to Remi. Reaper was so damn drunk that night. Stumbling around, making a fool out of himself. Wendy tried everything to get him to participate, but he refused. He kept telling the bitch no. Bitch even tried to get him to sniff some coke, but he wanted nothing to do with her. I’d received the text from Montana earlier, telling me it was urgent that I got Remi and the kids out of there that night. So, I knocked him out.”

“How?” she asked.

Sandman added, “Only took one hit. He was that drunk. Knocked him clean out. Wendy didn’t waste any time and stripped his pants off him and climbed on top of him. She told me to snap a few pics and send them to Remi. Sent them to Montana too. I was heading upstairs when I heard the back door open. It was Remi. She headed straight for the office. I knew what she was going to see. I thought the pictures would have been sufficient, but she opened the office door and saw Wendy dry humping Reaper. I didn’t see the gun until it was too late. Remi fired. She killed Wendy instantly. When Wendy fell to the side, Remi dropped the gun and gasped. The bullet had gone through Wendy and into Reaper. Remi ran.”

“She didn’t know the bullet only grazed him,” Montana whispered. “She thinks she killed him.”

“That’s explains so much.” Angelica groaned. “It’s one thing to find the love of your life having sexual intercourse with another person, but to think you are the reason for them not walking the earth. Well, for someone like Remi, that was enough to shatter her mind. From the moment she was eight years old, in a cage next to Reaper, he was the embodiment of her white knight in shining armor. For a little girl, that is a big deal, especially for someone in Remi’s situation.”

“And you sick fucks destroyed her one belief in the world. I fucking hope you are happy with what you’ve done. You’ve taken a beautiful, loving woman and wrecked her. She will never trust anyone again. Never believe in anything again,” Dakota sneered, before storming out of the house, slamming the front door behind him.

Sitting on the lounger, with my arms wrapped around my legs, I let everything I’d heard sink in as I tried to filter through the truth and lies.

It was a lot. That was for damn sure.

But they failed to realize one thing.

The biggest component.

My faith in the one man who had betrayed me.

Oh, he may not have actually done the deed, but what he did was much worse. Because of him, I lost faith in the one man I held above everyone else, and for that alone, I was going to make damn sure he atoned.

Getting to my feet, I looked up as Dakota rounded the corner of the house. The man rarely spoke, which was fine with me. I didn’t want to talk anyway, but when he saw me sitting there with the back door open, I knew he knew I’d heard everything.

“Remi?”

Shaking my head, I said nothing as the man walked up the back steps and pulled me into an embrace and cursed.

“Goddammit. You heard it all, didn’t you?”

My silence was his answer.