Page 3 of Keys

“Yup, you heard that right. My father.” Just repeating myself felt like I was taunting the man in front of me, but I didn’t care. “He didn’t knock me up, he knocked my mom up and I was the result. He can’t tell his wife that, of course. Might ruin all his big-happy-family campaign ads.” I snorted.

Mr. Johnson whirled on his secretary, cheeks turning red. “You did not hear any of that, and it better not be repeated. I’ll remind you of the NDA you signed when you took this job.” His warning was stern and dared not to be defied. He then snatched my arm and manhandled me all the way to his office.

“Proof,” he demanded. I tossed the envelope that had my birth certificate with my father’s name on it, the DNA lab results, and finally the flash drive with the video onto his desk. He didn’t bother asking questions. The man took one look at the results, shook his head, and popped the flash drive into his laptop. I listened as he played the video and watched his face as it ended with me speaking. After a string of curses, Mr. Johnson finally raised his eyes to meet mine. “What do you want?”

“I want a trust fund, in my name, usable immediately, and no taxes due on the money. I figure he owes fifteen-years-worth of child support that you don’t want the courts to have a record of. According to a lawyer I spoke with, the Georgia State Child Support Calculator - along with most judges - go with a solid twenty percent of the non-custodial parent’s income.

“So, that would average out to about $30,000 annually, which is over $450,000 for fifteen years. But let’s make it a solid eighteen years and put $540,000 in that account for me.” I winked at him. “Yes, I do know about all of his other income, so that’s me being generous with the accountability.”

“You’ll sign a non-disclosure agreement before I give you anything,” he informed me.

“Fine, but there’s one more thing.”

“What?”

“I want legal documentation, a no-contact order. He doesn’t contact my mother again or interfere in her life in any way. If he breaks that agreement, if anything happens to my mother, I go public, to hell with any contracts you have me sign.”

“Well, seems like the smartest person in the family is the fifteen-year-old bastard daughter. I couldn’t agree more with that request. The problem is, if I file that particular paperwork with the courts and make it enforceable by law enforcement, your mother will have to be made aware. It will also become a matter of public record.”

I rolled my eyes at the man. “It can become a part of our agreement. If he breaks it, then I do as well. Honestly, the usual, legal use of a no contact order isn’t what I had in mind. I don’t think he’d hurt her physically. I know he hurts her emotionally and keeps her from living a normal life as things stand. That’s what I want to bring to an end. If he agrees never to see her again, and holds to it, then there will be no breach of contract on his part, and I will not be free to disclose everything I know about him. “

The man nodded his head at me, a modicum of respect flashing in his beady little eyes. Whether at my plan, or my understanding of how things really worked in the world, I didn’t know. I also didn’t care what the lawyer thought of me. “Is that all?”

“No. I also want help changing my name legally,” I told him. He nodded again.

“I can see where that might be beneficial, considering. What will your mom say?” I raised my shoulders up and lowered them quickly. I knew what she’d say. She was going to disown me because when that paperwork came in, she would know that I was the reason he refused to see or speak to her anymore.

~*~

I planned to tell my mom what I’d done and use the money to help her get a new car and send me to college. Twenty-seven days later, two days after I was sure the money posted free and clear to the account that had been set up for me, my mother came into my bedroom with an envelope of papers and a suitcase. Her glare was glacial. The slender fingers on each hand shook as she tossed the items beside me on my bed.

“I didn’t know it was you until I saw those papers, but now I’m sure of it. You are the reason he won’t speak to me anymore. You’re the reason I was served with a no contact order. What did you do, Sarah?” Her voice shook as she spoke to me, the emotion clearly choking her up. For a brief moment, I felt horrible for taking my mom’s dreams – however unreal – away from her. At least, I did until she spoke again. “Pack your things and get out, Sarah Keys,” she hissed. “That’s what you wanted your name to be, it looks like you got what you wanted, along with your dad never speaking to either of us again. He has disowned us since you disowned him.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “He disowned us? He never owned up to us in the first place. His name may have been on my birth certificate, but his signature never was,” I yelled back at her. “The love of your life married another woman, he has two children with her whom he dotes on, whose birth certificates he signed, who he publicly acknowledges. He did those things because he loves them. Not us. Not you. Them. He'll never leave a politician’s daughter for the no-count, small-town, harlot who grew up in the system without parents,” I spat at her.

“He loved me, until you came along. He forgave me for having you, but then I was tainted and couldn’t become his wife in the public eye. That was your fault, you’re the reason he had to get another wife. I know you did this. You did something that finally took him from me for good. What did you do, Sarah?”

She started going through my closet and throwing my clothes at me. “It doesn’t matter!” The words were shrieked at such a level that I worried about permanent damage to my eardrums. “You took him from me. I can’t stand to even look at you now. Get packed and get out.” She stormed out of my room then, but not before firing one last parting shot back at me. “I hate you!”

Those last three words were the ones that broke my heart. I picked up the documents she threw at me earlier and checked through all of them. Thankfully, my father’s lawyer was prepared for this, and had me quietly declared emancipated along with changing my name from what it had been to Keys.

Why Keys?

Because information never failed me, only people did, and the search for information always started with the key, the key knowledge needed and the keys I typed on to find it. It was a lesson learned the hard way, knowing that people would always disappoint, but information could be tracked back to the truth. Thanks to my mom, I also knew that I would never be anyone’s backup plan, their secret relationship, or anything like that. Feelings for a man – or anyone – would never leave me deluded and out of touch with reality the way they had for my mom.

That was exactly the reasoning that led me to go settle in a tiny little mountain town, where I finished high school and enrolled in the local University there. Solitude was my saving grace. Meeting the best friends that a girl could ask for was the other.

Chapter 1

9 years later

There were days when the fact that I was an original, founding member of an all-female motorcycle club seemed surreal. Lately, it felt more like a catty, women-hating-on-women, miserable existence than the family vibe we started with.

We had taken down an MC, not long ago, that dabbled in selling and trading women against their will. That had been gratifying and made me proud to be a member. The shit that had been going on lately, with all the riding club members falling all over themselves for the men of the new MC in town, was something else though. It caused a few rifts in the mix, and one that I never would have seen coming. Angel Girl, our MC’s President, and JoJo, who was one of my best friends, were even chillier than usual toward one another. It started when the men from Aces High MC first came to town.

“Well, that’s a sight I never thought I’d see.” One of the men who stood near me commented. When I glanced over, it became apparent by the amusement on his face that it had been Spike commentating on the show.

Angel Girl rode on the back of her human steed, Quickshot, as he carried her around the air hockey table on her victory lap. He was on hands and knees while she perched atop his back whooping it up while tossing her pretend lasso in a circular motion above them, looking for a target to snag with the invisible rope.

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