Page 23

Remi

I’d been here two days, waiting for Sunny to wake up.

The second I arrived, a woman named Valhalla informed me how close my sister was to death when she arrived.

I wanted to beat the hell out of Sandman.

He should have known better than to put Sunny on the back of a bike in her condition.

“She should be waking up soon.”

“Will she be able to have more babies?” Wraith asked.

“Yes,” Valhalla sighed. “It was touch and go for a while, but I was able to save her uterus.”

Nodding, I rubbed the back of my neck and asked the one question we all wanted to know, “Any word from Solomon?”

“No,” the beautiful woman replied. “I’ve sent someone to find him, but she hasn’t checked in. All I know is that after Satan’s Angels hit the clubhouses in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Virginia, they went underground. As for Sandman and Reaper, they too have disappeared.”

Moaning captured our attention, and we turned to see Sunny looking at us.

“Remi?”

“Hi, sweetheart.”

“What are you doing here?” my sister asked, looking around the room. “What happened?”

“Sunny, my name is Valhalla. You are in the Nyght Nymphs clubhouse, just south of Las Vegas.”

“Where is Solomon?”

Valhalla looked at me and I sighed. I really hated this for her. My sister was too sweet, too gentle for this life.

I could kill Sandman for forcing her to live this shit.

“He’s not here, honey. We don’t know where he is.”

“What happened?”

“Sunny, when you arrived, you were hemorrhaging badly. You ripped the cervical cerclage stitch, which set off a chain of events I couldn’t stop. I tried everything but I’m so sorry. You lost the baby.”

Taking a deep breath, my sister looked around the room before her eyes landed on mine.

“Where is Solomon?”

“He’s hunting, baby.”

“No. He wouldn’t leave me. Not when I need him. What happened?”

Valhalla pulled up a chair and sat. “Satan’s Angels attacked several clubs five days ago. We’ve been in lockdown ever since. They systematically hit several clubs from Virginia to Nevada. It was a coordinated attack.”

“Valhalla,” Wraith growled.

“No,” Valhalla sneered. “This is my club. Mine. You run yours however you want, but you don’t have the right to tell me what to do in my own club.”

“She’s Golden, Valhalla. They do things differently. You have to respect that.”

“The fuck I do,” the woman argued. “It’s because of that difference Sunny, Remi, and the others are in the predicament they are in. Look, Sunny, you are married to a club brother and while most clubs don’t like their women involved in club shit, I have no such inclination. The moment you married Solomon, you chose club life. Therefore, I believe you have the right to know the score.”

“Okay,” my sister whispered.

“The Satan’s Angels have declared war on the Golden Skulls. They are going after the women and children. They want to make the Golden Skulls suffer for what happened to Steele. That’s problem number one.”

Wraith nodded, adding, “Problem number two is Scab. He is personally hunting you and Sandman. He blames you for killing his brother and Sandman for interfering.”

“But I didn’t kill Scab’s brother. Daphne killed him to protect her brother, Torque,” Sunny stated flatly.

“Sunny’s right,” I said, backing my sister up. “It was Daphne, Ink’s woman.”

Valhalla sighed. “Never said those idiots were smart. Look, it doesn’t matter who killed who. All you need to know is that you and the rest of the women of the Golden Skulls are in danger. We need to get word to them. Do you have any idea where they are? Because when we reached out to the Tennessee Chapter, the lines were dead. We can’t even get ahold of Sypher.”

Sunny shook her head asking, “My daughter?”

“My niece is perfectly fine.” Wraith smiled warmly. “And so is Jax. Red’s been checking in regularly. Remi, you’ll be happy to know that your kids have arrived as well. Jax and Soleil were very happy to see Emma and Jesse.”

“Thank you, Wraith,” I said.

“Didn’t know you knew Zeus, Remi.”

“Who?” I asked, looking at the handsome man.

“Arizona Stone. His call sign is Zeus. He owns and operates a vast mercenary group called the Olympian Group.”

“Gossip later,” Valhalla groaned. “We need to warn those other women. Think, Sunny. You too, Remi. Where would the Golden Skulls hide their women?”

Frowning, I bit one of my nails, when Sunny whispered, “Maybe King and the Sons of Hell? His club is the closest, right? Plus, he’s Jessica’s uncle.”

“Maybe, but it’s a small club. They don’t have room for all the women. When I saw Solomon in Oklahoma, he told me they attacked the Diamondbacks to get to me. That they wanted me. What if Satan’s Angels are only going after specific women? I mean, Stella and Julie were born and raised in the Smoky Mountains. The Tennessee Chapter has been there almost as long as the California Chapter. The only reason we were there was to hide from the Society .”

“Solomon said we were going home,” Sunny muttered. “What if Solomon knew that Satan’s Angels were coming for me? He wouldn’t think twice before getting me and the kids out of there.”

“True. It was a shock to see him in Oklahoma. Max was there too,” I muttered as my sister reached for my hand and held tight.

“He is still protecting you, Sis. You know that, right?”

I shook my head. “Not talking about him. But it makes sense. The night Dakota whisked me and the kids away from our safe house, I swear I saw him in the shadows, right before Petrovitch’s men attacked. He was there. I know it. What if Satan’s Angels are only going after the California Chapter? Take out the descendants of the Original Seven and the club falls.”

“Which means you, me, Phantom, and Jessica are the ones in danger.”

“Phantom would never leave Bullseye. Where one is, the other isn’t far behind. That only leaves Jessica.”

I looked over at Valhalla and Wraith. “Jessica would go to her uncles. I’m betting she only took the California chapter ol’ ladies.”

Wraith quickly left the room as Valhalla nodded while saying, “Thank you.” She too got up and left the room.

“Are you coming home?”

“I don’t know where home is, sweetie.”

“Yes, you do. You just need to forgive him.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Remi,” Sunny whispered, taking a breath. “You’ve loved Max since you were eight years old. There will never be another and you know it. When you ran away from your captors, where did you run to?”

“I ran to Max.”

“That’s right. You could have gone anywhere, but you followed your heart and it led you to the man you trusted above all others. And I think on some level you still do. Loving a man with darkness inside of them isn’t easy. There are many things that Solomon has yet to tell me, but I don’t push. He will tell me his story when he’s ready. But you and Max share the same story. You know every one of his secrets, all the horrors, every demon. He’s been honest with you from the beginning. All he’s ever wanted was to protect you. To give you the life he believes you deserve, free of the torment you suffered.”

“I only wanted him,” I whispered as a tear fell down my cheek.

“There is nothing Max won’t do for you, Remi. Both of you have been through so much already, but I know for a fact the one thing he would never do is betray you. He would destroy the world if it meant keeping you safe.”

“He didn’t trust me, Sunny. He could have told me the truth and I would have supported him. Stood beside him.”

“Would you have?”

I looked at her, confused.

“I know the whole story, Sis. We all do. Massacre told us. I know your birth father gave you away to my parents just days after your birth. Then a man named Sergio Pavlov found you and handed you over to Petrovitch, who placed you with a family within the Society , where you suffered unspeakable acts of depravity, until you escaped on your own. While Max tried to protect you, he learned that a man he trusted took you and gave you back to one of your tormentors, who then handed you over to the head of the Bratva. But do you know something? Max never stopped looking for you until he found you in Louisiana. Your husband slaughtered the entire chapter down there, just so you could have peace of mind that those bastards were dead. Everything Max has done was to give you peace of mind, Remi, and my gut is telling me he’s not done yet.”

“It’s not just that.”

“Yes, it is. Only you are too damn stubborn to see it. From the moment you took your first breath, every man who was supposed to love you and protect you, abandoned you. Your birth father gave you away. My father couldn’t protect you. Hellhound let his greed take root. Even Montana and Maxim Fedorov, who manipulated your marriage to get what they wanted. The only one who stayed true to you was Max. Max didn’t abandon you, Remi. He is out there right now, still keeping his promise to you.”

I slowly raised my head and whispered, “He promised to keep the demons away.”

“Every threat to you, Max has removed. The only threat left is you.”

Not every threat, but she was right about one thing.

There was no Remi without Max.

We were one and the same. We shared the same soul. As dark as it was, it was ours and we prospered, survived to live a life we both wanted. It wasn’t pretty. Not by a long shot, but it was ours. Of our own making.

I was as much to blame as he was because I believed the lie.

Deep down I knew he would never betray me. Not after what we both survived. It wasn’t in his nature. All he ever wanted was to see me happy. To love me regardless of what time we had left on this earth. And what did I do? I shot him.

I tried to kill the man who gave me everything.

Closing my eyes, I cringed.

How could I not see it?

Why was I so blind?

“Fear is fickle, Remi. It can creep up on you without any warning. Don’t let fear stop you from having the life you deserve because I know Max won’t stop until every threat to you is gone. Maybe it’s like Valhalla said.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Golden Skulls treat us differently. They shield us from the truth. Maybe that’s why you are in the predicament you are in. I know Max probably thinks he was protecting you, but all he did was make things worse.”

“You think I should insert myself into club business?”

“Only where Max is concerned.”

“Sunny, Max is the President of the club. Everything concerns him.”

“Marriage is fifty-fifty, right? Give and take. You both swore an oath before God, just like Solomon and I did. Solomon doesn’t keep much from me. He’s learning to talk to me. I don’t push him, but if I ask him a question, I know he will tell me the truth. Maybe you should start asking questions.”

“But who do I ask?”

“Start with me.”

Turning, I saw my father standing in the doorway.

“Your sister is right, Remi,” he added. “Maxim keeps nothing from Illyria. He learned that lesson the hard way and it damn near cost him dearly. And I suspect that Reaper is beginning to learn that lesson as well. You want to stop being a pawn in this game, then you need to learn the real truth and start asking the right questions, because until you understand the man you married and what is really at stake here, you will never find peace.”

“Where do I start?”

“At the beginning.”