Chapter Four - Grim
1082 Words
I had never seen my father drop his cane before.
Not when the doctors told him the treatments had stopped working.
Not when the club lost three businesses in one year.
Not even when they buried my mother.
But the second he looked at the girl standing by the gate, the old man went
completely white.
"Charlotte's girl."
The words hit the yard like a gunshot.
I looked from Dad to the girl and back again.
She looked just as confused as I felt.
The surrounding brothers around me exchanged uneasy glances. Cal looked like he'd seen a
ghost, and Dani stood frozen beside the pickup truck with her hand still resting on
the passenger-side door.
I crossed the gravel lot in three quick strides and caught my father's arm before his
knees gave out.
"Dad."
His eyes never left the girl.
"Get her inside."
I frowned. "What?"
The order snapped through the yard, and every patched member instinctively
straightened. It didn't matter that he was sick. It didn't matter that he could barely
stand some days.
Silas Mercer was still president of Iron Crown.
And when he gave an order, people listened.
I looked back at the girl.
She hadn't moved.
Rain soaked through her dark hair and dripped from the sleeves of her coat. She
held a worn envelope against her chest like it was the only thing keeping her
standing.
"Dad," I said quietly, "who is she?"
He ignored me.
His gaze drifted to the silver pendant around her neck.
His jaw tightened.
"Where did you get that?" he asked.
The girl looked down at the necklace before touching it gently.
"I've had it my whole life."
"Who gave it to you?"
"My father."
Silas took a shaky breath.
"No," he whispered. "Not Thomas."
She blinked.
"You knew my dad?"
The old man's eyes closed for a brief second.
"I prayed I would never have to answer that question."
My stomach twisted.
I had spent months trying to get him to talk about the past. About the old
photographs he kept locked in his office. About the names he would mutter in his
sleep.
He always gave me the same answer.
"Some things are buried for a reason."
Now a stranger shows up, and suddenly he can't stop staring.
I stepped between them.
"What the hell is going on?"
Silas finally looked at me.
There was anger in his eyes.
Not the usual kind.
Disappointment.
"You sent her away."
The words caught me off guard.
"What?"
"You sent her away." His voice broke. "After everything... you sent her away."
I folded my arms.
"I didn't know who she was."
"You didn't ask."
The accusation hit harder than I expected.
I glanced towards the girl.
She was looking anywhere but at me.
For the first time since she'd arrived, I noticed the dark circles under her eyes. The
way she held herself like she was trying not to fall apart.
A memory flashed through my mind.
My father is dead. You're the only lead he left me.
Damn it.
Silas took a slow step towards her.
"What is your name, sweetheart?"
She hesitated.
"Evelyn."
His expression crumpled.
"Evelyn..."
He said her name like he'd carried it with him for years.
"I'm Evelyn Cross."
He shook his head gently.
"No," he said, almost to himself. "No, that's not who you are."
The entire yard went silent.
The girl stared at him.
I stared at him.
Even the brothers stopped pretending not to listen.
She swallowed hard.
"I... I don't understand."
"You will."
Silas reached out a trembling hand towards her, but before he could touch her, a
violent coughing fit doubled him over.
"Dad!"
I caught him before he hit the ground.
Cal rushed over from the porch while Dani grabbed the cane lying in the gravel.
Blood.
A few dark drops splattered onto the front of my father's shirt.
My chest tightened.
"We need to get him inside."
He shoved my hand away.
"The letter."
I frowned.
"What letter?"
He looked directly at Eve.
"The one Thomas sent."
Her fingers tightened around the envelope.
"I have it."
Silas held out his hand.
"Give it to me."
She took one step forward.
Then another.
I don't know why I reached out.
Maybe it was instinct.
Maybe it was years of pretending the club from people who wanted something from
us.
Or maybe it was the way Cal suddenly looked nervous.
I took the envelope from her before she could hand it to my father.
She looked up at me, startled.
"Please," she whispered. "My dad told me to give it to him."
I turned the envelope over in my hands.
The paper was old.
Worn.
On the front, written in faded black ink, were five words.
To Silas Mercer. Alone.
A strange feeling settled over me.
I looked at my father.
His eyes weren't on me.
They were locked on the envelope.
And for the first time in my life...
I saw fear.
Real fear.
"Jaxson," he said quietly.
I couldn't remember the last time he'd called me by my real name.
"Give it to me."
I looked back down at the letter.
Then at the girl standing in the rain.
The girl who claimed her father was dead.
The girl my father somehow knew.
The girl who wore a pendant that had half the club looking like they'd seen a ghost.
Every instinct I had screamed that something wasn't right.
Trust gets you killed.
The old man's words echoed in my head.
I looked at Eve one last time.
"What's in the letter?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know."
"You never opened it?"
"No."
"You expect me to believe that?"
She met my eyes.
And for one impossible second, I did believe her.
Then a black SUV rolled slowly past the front gates.
It didn't stop.
It didn't slow down.
But every man in the yard watched it.
Cal cursed under his breath.
Silas's face drained of color.
And I realized something that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
The driver wasn't looking at the clubhouse.
He was looking at Eve.
My father grabbed my wrist with surprising strength.
His voice was barely more than a whisper.
"They found her."
Before I could ask what he meant, the envelope slipped from my hand and hit the
wet gravel between us.
The seal had broken.
And a single folded page slid out into the rain.
- Writer
