Page 33 of Sinful Skulls (Rebel Skull MC #9)
Chapter Thirty-One
Jesse
M y gaze roams over the portrait as Dirk stares at the side of my face.
“What do you think?” he asks.
“I think we open the one in the box.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” he agrees, pulling it out from behind the easel.
When he moves it, we find a small portrait hidden behind it. Dirk flips it around. I gasp, jumping back two full feet.
“What the fuck is wrong?” Dirk sets it on the easel before turning to look at it. His gaze darkens. “Is that what I think it is? Who I think it is?”
I cover my mouth, slowly approaching it. Not much makes my stomach turn, but the thought of what Elizabeth went through by the hands of that bastard does. “How the fuck did Daisy get this?”
“Better question is why does she have it? And is that an original?”
“It’s signed by the fucker. We have to tell Brody.”
“Well, he just happens to be upstairs. He said he was waiting to talk to JD.”
“Why are they meeting here?” I ask.
“Don’t know.”
“Go get him.”
When Dirk walks out, I set up another easel and begin to open the box. It’s been shipped from Paris. I slowly slide the canvas out onto the table. “Holy fuck,” I whisper under my breath.
I carefully place it on the easel with shaking hands.
“Oh Daisy,” I whisper quietly to her image as my heart aches for her. I glance at the signature. It’s different than the one on Elizabeth’s portrait, but both are signed Baxter . I place them side by side. They’re not done by the same artist. It’s a completely different style, too.
“What in the fuck?”
Brody steps in and stops in his tracks. His mouth falls open as he takes in the three portraits in front of him.
JD walks in a few seconds behind him. “Fuck!” he yells, grabbing his head. “Fuck!”
“Is that Daisy … and Elizabeth?” Brody asks, dumbfounded.
I rub his back. “It’s okay, hun. We’re going to help you figure this out. Just breathe.”
“Is that fucking Daisy and Elizabeth?” Brody asks again, his tone holding an edge I’ve never heard before.
JD begins to punch the wall, but Dirk stops him before he breaks his hand. “Daisy is Elizabeth’s daughter. She put her up for adoption to keep her away from her father,” he rasps.
Brody doubles over as if JD just sucker punched him.
JD looks at the picture of Daisy, his gaze going to the signature. “The dean of her college in Paris was Baxter’s brother,” he admits quietly. “I didn’t have to call Anthony to figure that out. I Googled him last night. They’re twins. Identical twins.”
“You knew Daisy was Elizabeth’s daughter this entire time?” Brody accuses.
“She was going to tell her. She just … we were trying to figure out a way to best approach her. Elizabeth didn’t want her to find out about her father.”
Brody shakes his head. “Well, I think it’s clear she found out about him the hard way.” He points to the portrait of Daisy without looking at it. “I’m going to kill that bastard. I’m going to fucking kill him!” Brody roars before storming out of the room.
We all rush out, following him. “Who’s closest to the shop?” he asks over his shoulder as he heads to his bike.
“Dan’s working today,” I tell him, already calling the shop phone.
When he picks up, I get straight to the point. “I need you to go over to Junkyard Creations and get Daisy and Elizabeth. Keep them close to you.”
He hangs up, not even asking why.
“We need to put the whole club on lockdown. This guy might know we took down his brother. He could have been watching us for a long time now. We don’t know what he knows,” Dirk says.
“Fuck, you’re right,” Brody agrees, swinging his leg over his bike. “Call Jackson.”
“Does Elizabeth know Baxter has a brother?” I ask JD before climbing on behind Dirk.
“No.” He hits his helmet a few times, knowing that his wife is about to have a setback.
It happens to us all. You never know when a trigger is waiting around the corner. But this is a big one, and he’s currently terrorizing the daughter she was willing to give her life up to save.
No matter how much you try to control life, it always has a way of jerking the fucking steering wheel from your hand.