Page 34 of Slaughter
“Hey you,” her sweet voice rang out over the line, warm and familiar. “I was just thinking about you.”
Relief flooded through me at the sound of her voice, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. “Sorry for calling so late, Ari. I can call back later if you’re busy.”
She laughed softly. “I’m always busy, Slaughter. I have three daughters and a husband who is driving me crazy. So what’s up? You know Stella is angry at you, right?”
I smirked at that, even though my chest was tight with anxiety. “What else is new? Stella’s always mad about something.”
“Yeah, well, she’s focused all her anger on you for some reason, but she won’t say why. Only that she’s gonna wring your neck when she gets her hands on you.”
I cringed at that because I knew the answer. Just like I knew Digger couldn’t keep a damn secret to save his life and had told his wife, my sister-in-law, what I had done and what had happened.
“That’s gonna be hard considering I’m twice her size and tower over her.”
Ari laughed. “You think that’s gonna stop her?”
I grumbled. “No.”
“So, what’s up? Where are you, by the way?”
“That’s why I’m calling.”
“Sounds serious.”
I hesitated, staring through the windshield at the diner where Hope was wiping down a table. “Ari, how much do you know about the Miller/Owens family? Specifically, Hope—Ghost and Shadow’s sister?”
The line went quiet for several seconds, and I could hear the faint sound of movement on the other end as Ari shifted, probably stepping away from wherever she had been. When she spoke again, her voice was careful. Measured. “Why are you asking?”
“I met Hope.”
“I see,” she whispered, her voice distant and reserved. “Maybe you should speak to Balthazar about this. I’m not sure what I should say.”
“Ari, I can’t speak to Ghost or Shadow about this.”
“Why not?”
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck, not sure what to tell her when I heard her take a deep breath. “I see,” she said quietly.
“I’m sorry, Ari. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was drunk and—”
“It doesn’t matter, Chapman,” she cut me off gently. “What’s done is done. What matters now is what you do next. What does Hope think?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her. I’m not even sure why I’m asking, but she isn’t like her other sisters.”
“No, she isn’t,” Ari agreed softly. “And neither is Faith.”
“What do you mean?”
She was quiet for a moment, and I could hear her thinking, choosing her words carefully.
“The Miller/Owens family has a... complicated history,” she said finally. “Samson Miller was raised in the Catholic Church. Devoted himself to his religion until his parents died, and thenhe spiraled into a deep depression. He met Abigail Swanson, a nun in training who gave up the nunnery to be with him. They had three sons in quick succession: Balthazar, Malachi, and Ezekiel.”
I knew some of this already. Knew that Ghost and Shadow had a brother named Malachi who had gone by the road name Grimm. Knew that Grimm had been a sick son of a bitch who tried to rape and kill Ari before she put a bullet in him.
But I let her continue.
“Samson feel into the club life hard,” Ari went on, her voice steady despite the painful subject matter. “When he joined the Golden Skulls, he quickly met and fell for a woman named Shirley Owens, a club whore. Together, they had four daughters: Faith, Hope, Charity, and Joy. That’s why Faith and Zeke are only five months apart. When the problem with Malachi started, Shirley moved the girls from Purgatory, California to Phoenix, Arizona shortly after Joy was born.”
“And Hope?” I asked quietly.
