“What part of that was necessary for me to know?” I asked.
“This part. My biological father’s name was Jimmy Burnett.”
I was on my feet and pacing before he finished the last name. “No. You can’t be serious.”
“I wish I wasn’t. Well, I used to wish that until I found out about Annabelle and Layla,” he said solemnly.
“How long have you known about them?”
“I found out about Annabelle not long after I found out Jimmy was my father. I wanted to approach her first before I confronted Jimmy, but I couldn’t find her. It was like she vanished into thin air. I continued to dig for information about her, and I grew more and more certain something wasn’t right. That’s when I turned my attention to Jimmy. I got in with the club and kept my true identity to myself. Sorry, I’m getting off track. I found out about Layla when Jimmy kidnapped and sold her. At that point, I was in too deep to do anything about it, so I made sure to protect her as best I could. Then, she disappeared. Seems both of my sisters have a knack for vanishing without a trace.”
“And you want me to keep your true identity from my Old Lady? From my club? From the President of the entire club?” I shook my head as I continued to pace. “I’m not sure I can do that, man.”
“If it gets out that Annabelle and Layla are my half sisters and Gnaw’s daughters, Asp will set his sights on them. His fucked-up mind will consider them Disciples by blood. He’ll want them with the Disciples. Fuck man, he’s already kidnapped Layla.”
“Fuckin’ A. I don’t know how much more of this shit I can take,” I mumbled. “Wait. He doesn’t know about them?”
“No, he doesn’t. From what I gathered, no one in the club knew about any of Gnaw’s children, and they still don’t.”
Damn it. Keeping something from the club went against every one of my principles, but I couldn’t see another way around it. I had to keep Aim’s relation to Annabelle and Layla to myself for the time being. “I’m not in the habit of keeping secrets and lying to my club and my family, but I understand the necessity. How about you and I pretend the last five minutes of this conversation never happened?”
Aim nodded. “Sounds good.”
“I need to secure Asp and get my officers in here so we can vote,” I said and left the storage shed.
After assigning Coal to stay with Layla and the remainder of the Croftridge brothers to guard Asp, my officers followed me into the storage shed.
“New information has been brought to my attention. We need to discuss it and make some decisions. This information is sensitive and cannot be discussed outside of this room.”
“No disrespect, Prez, but why are we discussing sensitive matters in front of him?” Batta asked, nodding toward Aim.
“I’ll explain that. Let me get through it all before you start asking questions.” I took a moment to meet each set of eyes before I continued.
“Aim is not a federal agent, but he is working undercover to take down the Disciples. His focus has been on their involvement in illegal gun trading. Previously, their club dealt with Octavius. Since his disappearance and death, they had to find a new supplier, and they managed to get in deep with a large organized crime ring. Aim and his team are close to taking them down. Having said that, it’s also come to light that Asp was behind the attack on the clubhouse, the envelopes we received, and Layla’s kidnapping. He acted without Aim’s knowledge or approval. So, we have some decisions to make. As I explained to Aim, I can’t let them walk out of here without raising suspicions from all parties involved. However, I’d prefer to let the agents and officers do the dirty work and keep our hands clean. My suggestion is to establish a ‘truce’ with the Disciples. We’ll give them the location of the guns, and they’ll foot the bill for the repairs to our clubhouse. Oh, and we get to play with Asp for kidnapping my Old Lady. Then, he’ll be punished by the Disciples for disobeying his President and almost causing them a world of trouble since his actions are the sole reason we took their shipment.”
I expected the room to erupt in angry shouts and outbursts. I was prepared for chaos. I was not prepared to be met with wide, blinking eyes and complete silence. “Does your silence mean you guys are ready to vote?”
That’s when they exploded. The shouts of outrage, muttered curses, and statements of disbelief blended into indecipherable noise. Despite the throbbing in my head, I gave them time to unleash their thoughts and emotions.
When several minutes passed and they still hadn’t calmed, I whistled loudly and shouted, “Enough!” The room fell silent.
“I get it, brothers, and I’m right there with you, but we don’t have time to argue this in circles. We’re either on board or we’re not. Time to vote. Yay if you agree with the plan; nay if you don’t,” I barked.
I wasn’t surprised when every officer voted in favor of the plan. Even when it wasn’t what they personally wanted, my officers would always go with what was best for the club. “Thanks, brothers. Now, let’s go have some fun with Asp.”
28
Iwas sitting at a table in a rundown bar with my nephew, who I’d just met, with only his t-shirt covering my bra and panties. And, a man who participated in abducting me—not once, but twice—was tied to a chair in a shed behind said rundown bar. Copper had a lot of explaining to do, and the longer he took, the more pissed off I became.
The silence between Coal and I was awkward and beginning to grate on my nerves. I cleared my throat to get his attention. “If I didn’t say it earlier, thank you for finding me and bringing me back.”
He nodded and replied curtly, “Yep, you’re welcome.”
“If I’ve done something to offend you—” I started, but he cut me off.
“Listen, lady, in the last year I’ve met my biological mother, father, twin sister, and half brother. Now an aunt shows up. Excuse the fuck out of me for being tired of unknown family members popping up left and right. Because, more times than not, they bring a fuckload of problems with them,” he spat.
Before I could utter a word, Coal was pulled from the booth by a furious Copper. “Who the fuck you think you’re talking to, boy? Family or not, I’m the President of this club, and she’s my Old Lady. You show her the respect she deserves.”