Page 3

Carly

“Mind some company?”

“Please.” Sal immediately stood.

Salvatore Valentinetti was unlike anything I expected from a man with familial ties to the Mafia. He was kind, generous, and sincere. After the Golden Skulls killed Mother, Salvatore opened his family home to me, Drew, and Issac, until Sypher could find us a place where no one would look for us. What I also found interesting was, although he was the brother of a known Mafia Don, he really preferred living his life away from his family. I knew there was a story there, but I dared not intrude.

Taking a seat, I watched as he returned to his.

“Everyone asleep?”

I nodded, staring into the fire. “Yes.”

“I like it when it’s quiet,” he stated, bringing the tumbler to his lips. “I can actually hear myself think.”

“I don’t,” I muttered, leaning back in my seat. “In my world, the quiet holds secrets. Secrets that can kill you.”

“You are safe here, Carly. No one knows I own this place.”

I sighed. “I know. It’s just that my whole life, Mother trained me to always be on guard. Trust no one. Not even her, she would tell me. I thought it odd, but over the years, it began to make sense.”

“Stupid mind games. I hate them.”

“So do I.”

“Carly, there is something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. I wanted to give you time to settle and get comfortable here, but I’ve come across some information that I feel you need to know.”

Looking at the handsome man, I asked, “What is it?”

“What do you know about the Soulless Sinners Motorcycle Club?”

“Only that they are one of the biggest MCs. They have chapters all over the world. The Mother Chapter is based in New York City and is spearheaded by a man named Montana Stone. The oldest son of George Stone, the CEO and owner of Stone Corporation. Why?”

“Have you ever met either man?”

Frowning, I sat up straighter. “Not that I’m aware of. Why?”

Sal said nothing as he reached for his cell phone. Swiping his thumb across the screen, he turned it toward me and asked, “Have you ever met this man?”

Taking his phone, I looked at the screen and frowned. “Yes. He was at the Democratic Nomination Dinner. Dad spent time with him.”

“Where else have you seen him?”

Lowering the phone, I looked at Sal, who stared at me intently. In the weeks I had been in his home, Salvatore never gave me pause to worry. I knew the man had connections to the underworld, but I never suspected a connection to the Society.

Slowly laying his phone down on the table, I cautiously stood and whispered, “Why do you want to know?”

Holding up his hand, he quickly said, “It’s not what you think. I promise. I have no affiliation with the Society or their subsequent divisions. I’m only asking because I’ve received reliable information that you have a connection to that club.”

Shaking my head, I muttered, “What information?”

“The man on my phone is George Stone. The former president of the Soulless Sinners. That man is not to be trusted. He worked for your mother.”

“Who told you this?”

“A man named Justin Peterson.”

I said nothing as my body instantly shut down.

Taking my seat again, I stared at Sal and waited for him to continue.

“I’m only telling you this because Peterson’s gotten word that George Stone and a few others are planning to take over where your mother left off, and he believes your life is still in danger.”

“What else did he say?” I asked, looking down at my hands.

“That you held the key to everything. Also, that you were to be protected at all costs. He was rather insistent on it.”

“He say anything else?”

When Sal didn’t respond, I looked up to find him staring at me.

“I think you already know.”

Nodding, I looked toward the fire.

“It wasn’t legal. More like a ceremony.”

“Do you need a doctor?”

I slowly shook my head. “No. I knew Mother would eventually force my hand, so I prepared for it. I took the morning-after pill to ensure nothing came of it.”

“He will be relieved to know,” Sal stated, then added, “He wanted me to pass along a message to you. He said you would know what he was talking about.”

Looking at Sal, I asked, “What is it?”

“Find William’s truth.”

In the weeks that followed, I spent all of my free time researching and digging into my grandfather’s past. It was nothing short of a horror story, one that gave me nightmares on top of my nightmares.

Not only did William Doherty kidnap and rape my grandmother, Elizabeth Craven, he raped three other women as well.

Born in California in 1943, William grew up a happy child for all intents and purposes. He got good grades in school, played football in high school, and even had a sweetheart he planned on marrying.

Then, almost overnight, he changed. The question as to why eluded me. So far, I had found nothing that would warrant such a drastic change in his personality. What I learned was, shortly after graduation, William was drafted into the Army and was immediately shipped off to Vietnam, where he met Xavier Goldman and the others who would eventually start the California Chapter of the Golden Skulls.

But that was too big of a coincidence.

I could understand meeting one of them, but all? There was no way that William Doherty just happened to meet the six men who would help him start one of the most notorious motorcycle clubs around.

“Carly, you had a package arrive at the gate from the Department of Defense,” Sal said, walking into the makeshift office he set up for me, holding a large, thick manila envelope.

Handing it to me, I smiled. “Yes. I’ve been waiting for that.”

Taking a seat next to me, Sal looked at all the papers I had lying around. “What is all this?”

“This is my family history. I am looking for information that could shed some light on how the Golden Skulls got mixed up with the Society. Mainly, I’m looking into where William Doherty came from and why he became the man we all know.”

“I thought Reaper and his club already did that?”

“They did, but they only went back as far as the Vietnam War. My gut is telling me the truth goes back further than that.”

“Why do you think that?” Sal asked, picking up a piece of paper and reading it.

“Because the night of the Society Ceremony, Justin was about to tell me something important when Mother interrupted. Then, you reminded me when you passed along a message from him.”

“Find William’s truth.”

“Yes.” I nodded, ripping open the manila envelope. “That night, Justin said something that stuck with me. He said William didn’t kill Xavier to take over the Golden Skulls. He killed him because he learned the truth. I want to know what truth William learned. Speaking of which. I’ve been meaning to ask you. How do you know Justin?”

Sal sighed, placing the paper back on the desk before looking at me.

“It’s a long story.”

“I like long stories.”

“I met Justin in college in 2001 when we were both incoming freshman at Loyola University. I was a business major, and Justin was there for the parties. Don’t get me wrong, Justin was smart, a wiz with computers, he just loved to party more. We quickly became good friends and before I knew it, we were roommates. For four years, we were inseparable. We did everything together. Then graduation happened and he was gone. Like he never existed. Of course, back then I returned home and stepped into the family business. I guess you could say we drifted apart. It wasn’t until about a year later when I was in New York with my brother that I ran into Justin again. I was shocked to see him, and from the look in his eyes, he was shocked to see me too.”

“Why?”

“Because Justin was having dinner with the head of the New York branch of the Irish Mafia, Nolan Kelley. That man is pure venom. Evil as they come. So, it was strange seeing Justin having dinner with the man. When I approached, Justin acted like no time had passed. He even introduced me to the man.”

“That’s odd,” I muttered. “Surely Justin must have known you and your family would be aware of Mr. Kelley?”

“Yes, Justin confirmed my suspicions when he bro-hugged me and whispered that I should play along. So, I did. It wasn’t until later that night, when Gio and I were about to retire for the night that we were alerted that we had a visitor.”

“Justin?”

“Yes. Justin apologized for the subterfuge and only said that he was on duty, gathering information for a client, and that he didn’t know we would be in town. When I asked who his client was, Justin refused to answer.”

“That wasn’t all he said, was it?”

Sal shook his head. “No. Justin wanted to catch up, so we left and went for a drink at a local bar. That night, he told me something that bothered me.”

“What did he say?”

“He said everything was connected, and I needed to be careful.”

“What did he mean by that?”

“I don’t know. I thought it was an odd thing to say, but with everything going on in the underworld at the time, I blew it off. Now, I think Justin was right. I just haven’t been able to prove anything.”

“Is that why you live out here in the wilderness, away from your family?”

“No. I live out here to protect my son.”

“From what?”

“His mother’s family.”

“I thought Henry’s mother was a woman from your club in Vegas.”

“That’s what I told everyone,” he admitted. “The truth is much worse. I am keeping my son’s parentage close to the vest for his own safety.”

“I guess that’s one thing we have in common.”

Jerking awake, I blinked, my heart racing a mile a minute.

What if Sal was right? What if everything was connected? If so, then that opened up several new avenues to look into.

Leaning back in my chair, I rubbed my hands down my face.

I’d been researching my connection to the Golden Skulls since I was sixteen and learned the truth about Mother, and I still wasn’t any closer to a resolution than when I started. If I didn’t know any better, I would suspect the universe was conspiring against me for my own safety. Generally, I would be okay with that, but I couldn’t let go of the nagging feeling that I was on the cusp of something big, and if I considered everything I knew as a whole, like one big pot of soup, then the Doherty line was just one ingredient.

Which meant I had a lot more digging to do.