“Shh, Luna,” he coos, running one of his hands through my hair.
It takes me a couple minutes to regain my composure and I finally stop crying. Stepping back from my dad I move back into Shadow’s embrace seeking his comfort. My dad takes that in and narrows his eyes on Shadow.
“You want to explain to me why my daughter seems to be so comfortable in your arms?” he demands.
“She’s my ol’ lady,” Shadow states, calmly.
“And were you planning on telling me this in your latest report when you updated my sons and I?” My dad asks crossing his arms over his chest.
“Devore, with all due respect, Luna may be your daughter; however, the choices she and I make together on who we tell and when, is between the two of us. Considering it’s our relationship and no one else is in it but us. Now you can either accept it or get over it. Either way, you’ll be seeing me across the table at Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Oh my God. If my jaw could drop and fall to the floor, it would have done so at this very moment with Shadow’s declaration. I knew he loved me, he’s shown it to me in more ways than one.
Glancing between Shadow and my dad, I give the room a quick scan to find my brothers glowering as they wait for the standoff between our dad and my man to end. Finally, my dad grins and reaches out his hand. “Well then, welcome to the family, son. You hurt her, I’ll kill you myself.”
Shadow grunts as he shakes my dad’s hand.
“Since this part of the reunion is over with, can we finally see our fuckin’ sister?” Gentry demands as he stalks over and pulls me from Shadow’s arms. “Luna Bean, you are not ever allowed to fuckin’ go incommunicado again, you hear me?”
“Umm . . .” I murmur in response.
“How about we sit down and let Luna talk.” Gabriel suggests.
“Umm . . .” I swear my brain seems to have gone into overdrive and now I can’t make a coherent remark due to everything being jumbled up in my head.
“That would be a good idea,” Rachel states coming to my rescue and responding for me. Glancing at her, I give her a weak smile in gratitude. “I’m sure everyone is hungry, especially Luna since she’s just getting off work. How about we order some Mexican food?”
“Three Amigos?” I blurt out the request before I could stop myself. For some reason it’s all I’ve been craving for the past two weeks and have had it five times since Rachel introduced me to it. I’m hooked I guess you can say.
“You got it,” Rachel grins and turns her attention to the rest of the room. “If you guys want to look at a menu, I can grab one or if you can trust me to get something you’ll like, then I’ll make sure you’re not disappointed.”
“Doll, you know what my brothers and I want, so got no problem with you ordering,” Stoney chuckles as he pulls her into his arms as he meets my dad’s gaze. “Devore, trust me when I say just let Rachel here pick, she always knows what to get.”
“Well then, Mrs. Dane, wow me,” my dad chuckles.
Nodding, Rachel takes off to go place the order for everyone while the rest of us all move to sit at some of the tables. Shadow maneuvers me to one of the larger tables where he’s able to sit to my side. My brothers and dad find seats at the same table, as all the members of the club including some of the ol’ ladies, take a seat close by. Victoria, however, she plants her ass in the seat on the opposite side of me.
“I’m not allowing anything to happen to you,” she mutters under her breath.
“Okay,” I whisper, quietly.
“Luna, I know you probably don’t want to talk about what happened again, but you need to explain to your dad and brothers what happened to you when you’d been kidnapped,” Shadow states, firmly yet gently.
Nodding, I close my eyes and place my hands in my lap as I take a deep breath.
I can do this.
If they had anything to do with it, they wouldn’t be here. Shadow will not let anything happen to me.
Releasing my breath, I open my eyes to stare at my hands clasped in my lap. I start off with telling them about graduation, how I’d finished in the top five of my class. I move on to telling them everything. The bar, waking up feeling sick to my stomach somewhere I didn’t know. Counting the days by the clock that was in the room I’d been in. About Parker and Victoria’s mom, how they took me from the Delancys because I’d resembled Victoria. I didn’t leave a single detail out about the way they and the Delancys all made me feel degraded.
By the time I finish, I finally lift my head and scan the room seeing different expressions on the faces of the men and women in the room. The tension is thick enough to slice a knife through.
Victoria is the first one to speak up. “I wish I’d gutted the bitch that night rather than leaving her alive. I’d only thought about getting you out of there. She died all to easily, Luna. Just so you know, since you have the right to know Deanna Delancy is dead, that’s one less one to worry about.”
“Are you who I think you are?” my dad demands looking at Victoria through narrow slits.
“Depends why you want to know?” Victoria shoots back.
“Babe,” Tracker states, firmly from behind his ol’ lady.
“Are you Ryder Garnier’s niece?” he asks.
“I am,” she says, head held high.
“Well, shit, fuck me. No wonder you and Luna resemble each other. You’re second cousins who look more like sisters.” Stunned by this, I glance from him to Victoria and back.
“What?” I ask, baffled by this information.
“Your mom, she was a Garnier. S–She was Ryder and Victoria’s father, Reno’s cousin. I don’t remember the other two crazy bitches’ names. It’s why I allowed you to go to LSU without protection because you had it there.”
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.
Get a grip. You can handle this. Take a breath. Count to ten.
“Kitten, breathe. I’m right here. Don’t sink into yourself.” Shadow’s voice breaks through the fog hazing in my mind.
Nodding, I tilt my head in Victoria’s direction. “We’re family,” I murmur.
“Makes sense as to not only why we look alike but why I’m protective of you,” she smiles.
“How did Luna not know about being related to Ryder and Chains?” Shadow asks.
“Because, at Luna’s mom’s request we didn’t want her crazy bitches of cousins to find out about her being in the area. Didn’t matter if they were locked away somewhere. They had connections,” my dad answers.
“Daddy, can I ask you something?”
“Anything, Luna Bean. I’ll answer anything you need me to.”
Nodding, I lick my lips nervously. “W–Why did my mom die? And how is it I have two older brothers by my stepmother when you were with Mom?”
“Fuck,” Grant mutters. “Luna . . .”
“No, she has the right to know this,” my dad interrupts him not once taking his gaze from mine in the process. “I should have told you this a long time ago. Before, I met your mother, I’d been with your stepmother. We had Grant and Granger together. She decided our world wasn’t what she wanted so she took my boys and left. I met your mother not long after that, she was amazing and I’d married her the instant she agreed. Not long after that your stepmother came back wanting to give it another shot. She wasn’t happy I’d moved on. Your mother knew I loved her, but I’d also been in love with another woman who still had a place in my heart. She decided she wanted a divorce. Said we could share the house in order to raise you in it together and we’d remained friends. I agreed to her wishes and ended up splitting my time between both homes to be with all of my children. Was this wrong of me? Yes, in the world I deal in along with your brothers we show no weakness. It might not make sense to you but it’s what I’d done regardless.”