Page 21 of Soul
He leans back, eyes narrowing. “Talk.”
Resting my forearms on the table, I tell my brothers everything. About meeting Emery. About New Year’s. About spending the past ten months searching Vegas for her. I tell them everything I’ve been keeping to myself. And when I’m done, I move on to Emery’s story. Explaining it as she did, while no one says a word. When I’m done, I sit back in my chair, waiting for shit to hit the fan.
Steel looks over at Ghost. “You’ve been helping him look for almost a year and haven’t found anything?”
Ghost drags his dark hair back. “We knew what she looked like from the cameras on the casino floor, but her face didn’t come up in any records.”
“Probably Zane’s doing.”
Ghost nods, pulling out his phone. “If Zane really did have her locked up for the past ten months, it explains why she hasn’t popped up on any cameras since then. Now that we have a name, I’ll see what I can find. Right now, I’ve just got the basics. Emery Zane. Twenty-two.She’s the daughter of Rick Zane’s brother. Both her parents died when she was young, so it looks like her uncle might have raised her. There’s not much out there, officially speaking, but I’ll keep digging.”
My teeth clench at Ghost’s almost clinical delivery. She’s the mother of my child, and yet, in the past ten minutes, he’s learned more about Emery than I’ve known about her for the past ten months. She wouldn’t even tell me her last name the night we met, which I understand now. Everything is starting to make sense.
Why she was always looking over her shoulder that night.
How there was this constant sadness in her eyes.
How she was still a virgin at twenty-one.
Because her uncle was planning onfucking selling it.
That confession had me seeing red.
I could barely process the rest of her story after she admitted that much.
“Fuck.” Steel drags his hand over his face, his attention returning to me. “Zane’s niece?”
“I didn’t know that’s who she was at the time.”
“No shit.” His jaw tightens. “If Zane and Eli figured out her ties to the club, then we have to assume they know she’s here right now. He’ll have eyes on our property if she stays.”
“Ifshe stays?” I laugh, but there’s absolutely no humor in it. “Where the fuck else would she go?”
“We don’t know that she’s on our side, Soul. For all we know, her uncle could have sent her here on purpose.”
“To what, use a baby against us?” Chaos is the one to speak up, and I appreciate it, even though this isn’t his fight.
“She’s not here for Zane,” I say.
Steel’s glare cuts to me. “How do you know?”
“I just know.”
“Really? Because a few hours ago, you didn’t know that girl well enough to find her in the same damn city. But now, you know her intentions? Zane isn’t like the Iron Sinners. He’s not like anyone else we’ve dealt with. He’s ruthless. He’s not above sending her here to fuck with us. You know I’m right.”
“I’m telling you that’s not what this is. Zane might not be above it, but Emery wouldn’t do this.”
“Unless that’s exactly what she wants you to think. She’s the one who approached you at the casino, right? What if this was a fucking play from the start? Everything she’s told you could be a lie. Her sneaking out. Her kid.”
“What the fuck do you meanher kid?” I’m vibrating with anger at what he’s insinuating. “Go ahead. Say it, Prez.”
“We’re taking her at her word,” Steel says, his tone flat and cold. “The baby might not even be yours.”
“Fuck that. She’s my daughter.” My voice cracks.
It cracks for the first time in my life. My heart along with it.
Everything else might be a lie, but I know for a fact that Charlie is mine. I knew it the second I heard her cry, and something broke in my chest. So to hear mypresident—who I’ve sworn my life to—question it has me ready to draw blood.
