“I’ve been waiting for you to come home for years, Ciara .” His thumb brushed over the back of my hand and I fought the urge to pull my arm back.
“That’s not my name and I am not going anywhere with you,” I managed to whisper, and anger made his eyes glaze.
“Is that right?” He cocked his head to the side, and I hated the way he looked at me. It was too familiar. Like we had been intimate, like heknewme.
But this was our first meeting. Something I had been avoiding for the bulk of my life.
“I have been patient, but I won’t be patient any longer, Ciara. You are coming home with me.”
“I am not Ciara. My name is Chloe.”
“No more, Ciara.” Again he called me by my dead mother's name. Leaning across the table, he smashed his mouth down on mine.
Vomit rushed up my throat. I didn’t know what was worse: the feel of his lips on mine or the fact that he kept calling me my mother’s name.
My dead mother’s widow kept calling me by her name. Like he wanted me to be her.
Like he wanted me to replace the woman he had killed.
Chapter Twenty-One
Legacy was fall down drunk, Gio was screaming down his phone in angry Italian and Chloe was gone.
This was all such a mess.
Some funeral and wake it had been. Any normal person would be appalled. Except Ghost wouldn’t. He loved the drama more than any man I knew. He would have loved every second of this, apart from the fact his daughter was missing.
His daughter.
Across the bar, I followed Sy with my eyes. She was talking quietly to Keeley. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it looked heated. Like they knew each other and maybe they did. Nothing would surprise me anymore.
After finding out Chloe was Ghost’s daughter and not his lover, nothing would ever be a surprise ever again.
“Sy.” I called, and both women turned to me in shock. “Fancy getting some beers on the go and coming to talk to us?”
I didn't understand why no one had asked her more questions. Chance had disappeared with Domino, both of their bikes roaring in different directions and Gio’s security teams wereout looking for Chloe as well, but none of those people seemed shocked by Sy’s revelation.
They knew, I realised. They had probably known all along.
“I’m not serving him,” she said, eying a slumped over Legacy with a sneer. “He’s cut off.”
“That’s understandable.” I didn’t know what was going on with Legacy, but it was more than losing his dad and finding out he had another sister.
“Hi.” A dark curly headed woman moved across the bar to sit on one of the bar stools. She reached across the bar, offering her outstretched hand to Sy. “I’m Elodie. I’m Ghost’s daughter, and that’s my husband Jax. You know my brother Legacy already, and I want to apologise about him.”
Sy studied her before slowly shaking her hand. “Don’t worry about it.”
I couldn’t help it. I moved to stand next to them and I wasn’t the only one. Duke was already there, leaning against the bar on his elbows. The others that had regrouped here were listening in. Everyone except Legacy, and I wasn’t sure he was even awake.
“Were you telling the truth about—” Elodie started to say and Sy threw down the cloth she was using.
“Look Elodie, I don’t want to get involved. I just couldn’t stand to hear that asshole go at her like he was.”
“I know he can be an ass. He’s my brother, but I want to know if that girl is my father's daughter?” Elodie didn’t back down. “Is she my sister?” She glanced behind her and scowled. “Our sister?”
“I refuse to get involved in Savage Son's business again. I won’t be dragged in. You guys sort it out amongst yourself.” She shot a look at Keeley, who was frowning at her.
They knew each other. It was official. Keeley sighed loudly. “Just tell them Sylvie.”