Theo and I share a look.
Seems we took blood money after all.
“And that’s why we stayed in hotels and moved so much?” I ask and Blaze nods.
“Y’all were on the run from him.”
“So, what changed?” Theo asks, the hard set of his eyes giving away nothing.
“When the two of you were five, Sarah knew that she couldn’t keep doing this for the rest of her life so she arranged a sit down with Dominic and made a deal with him. As long as he stayed away from the three of you, she would never turn the evidence over to the authorities.”
“He just let us go?”
Blaze nods. “You’ve had people from his organization watching over you through the years but you never knew they were there and as far as I can tell, he kept his word.”
“Then why are we here?”
“Because your mother’s death opened a door and Dominic has decided to walk through it. He wants the evidence back and he wants the two of you.”
“Stop,” I say, standing up and pulling Theo to his feet with me. “I need somewhere to talk to my brother alone.”
“Kodiak, take them to my office.”
I point to him and shake my head. “Anyone but him.”
“Smith,” Blaze says as Lincoln’s face falls. I turn away from him and Smith leads us to the next room over.
“Can I just say, none of us knew anything, Tate,” he whispers and I nod.
“I can see that. It’s okay. I don’t blame you.”
He nods and shuts the door behind us as I lock eyes with Theo.
“What the fuck is happening?” I whisper scream and he shakes his head.
“I feel like my brain is exploding. We have a brother and our dad is a criminal and our mother… Jesus, our mother is the best goddamn liar in the fucking world.”
I shake my head, plopping down in the chair in front of the desk. “My head is spinning. I don’t know how much more I can hear.”
“I know but I think we need to hear everything,” he says, crouching down in front of me and grabbing my hands.
“How much more could there possibly be?”
He shrugs. “Only one way to find out.”
After sucking in a breath, I stand and he takes my hand as we march out of the office and into the room where everyone else is gathered. It’s eerily quiet as we sit down and Theo gives my hand a squeeze. The other side of the table is empty and I glance over my shoulder, searching for Nix and the brunette but they’re gone.
“Is there anything else we need to know?”
“Look, Tate,” Blaze sighs. “I just want to apologize for the way I handled things. Since her death, I haven’t been in a good place and I haven’t been thinking clearly.”
I study him for a moment before nodding. “I can understand that but if you’d just come to me in the first place, this could have been so much simpler.”
“I’ve been keeping life altering lies from my son for his entire life. There is no simple in this situation.”
“Then why do it?”
He sighs, running his hand over his face. “Because it’s what she wanted and I would have done absolutely anything for her. She got it in her head that if Dominic ever knew about Nix or me, he would hurt us as a way to get back at her and maybe he would have, I don’t know.”
“What did you mean when you said Dominic wants the two of us?” Theo asks and Blaze nods.
“One of the biggest things that pissed Dominic off when your mother ran was the fact that she took the two of you. You’re his blood and his legacy and to a man like that, it means everything.”
“Are we in danger?”
Blaze runs a hand over his face again. “I don’t know if he’ll hurt you but I think he wants you back in Chicago with him and he won’t mind forcing the issue if he has to. It’s why I had Kodiak watching you.”
“We are not talking about him,” I hiss, my gaze flicking in his direction for only a second before I look back to Blaze.
“Tate, please, I’m fucking sorry,” Lincoln says from his place against the wall and before I even realize what I’m doing, I have the knife out of my boot and I stab it into the table.
“Shut up.”
A chuckle and a whispered, “Damn” comes from somewhere in the back of the room but I’m too busy directing my death glare at Lincoln to turn and look who said it.
“I would like Kodiak to stay with you until we sort all this out.”
I scoff. “Not fucking happen…”
“Done,” Theo cuts me off and I turn to him with wide eyes.
“What the fuck?”
He offers me an apologetic look. “I need to know you’re safe when I go back to Charleston.”
“We’re just trying to keep you safe, Tate,” Blaze adds and I turn to him.
“Congratulations. Do you want a goddamn medal?”
“It’s what your mother would want me to do.”
I shake my head. “Don’t you dare talk about what my mother would want. She spent her entire life lying to us and she doesn’t get a say now that she’s dead.”
“Kodiak is staying with you and that is the end of the discussion,” he growls before standing up and heading toward the door.
“Might want to invest in some Kevlar for him, then,” I call and Smith snorts out a laugh in the back of the room. Meeting Lincoln’s eyes across the table, I know I’m in for a rough time until this is cleared up but I will never forgive him for what he did to me.
Chapter Twenty
Lincoln
Grabbing my bag out of the back seat of the Camaro, I climb out of the car and stare up at Tate’s house, sighing as I try to work up the courage to walk up there and knock on the door. My mind drifts back to the last time I was here, watching the woman I love more than anything break in front of me as all my lies crashed down around me and the piercing ache that’s been plaguing me since that morning intensifies. I would do just about anything to be able to go up there and wrap my arms around her right now but if I tried, I’m much more likely to get tased or shot… again.
God, what the hell was I thinking lying to her?
I knew there was no way it could end well but I just kept pushing forward because I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from her. I still can’t. Just seeing her in the clubhouse two days ago, filled with the magnificent fire of hers that I love so much, I know I’ll fight to win her back until I take my very last breath. Although, knowing my girl, it could take that damn long. My leg aches as I take a step and I fight back a smile. Even when her heart was breaking right in front of me and I hated every decision I had made over the last month, she had me enraptured.
But that happens anytime she walks into a room.
Shaking my head, I round the car as my phone starts ringing. Glancing down as I pull it out of my pocket, I silence it when Blaze’s name pops up on the screen, anger barreling through my system. I take responsibility for my part in all this but it doesn’t change the fact that if Blaze had just manned up in the beginning and told everyone the truth, I wouldn’t be in this position. I understand he’s in pain but his judgment was off. We count on him to look out for all of us, something he hasn’t done since Sarah died because he’s been swallowed up by his grief.