Page 43 of My Darling Mayhem

But I had to know.

I gently pulled the tote free and slipped the cover off. Inside the tote were old hoodies, tattered, torn, and smaller. As if a teenager had worn them. I pulled them out and continued to sift. Photographs were tucked inside a journal; a few sticking out showed a younger-looking Wren. Early teen, or somewhere close to that. She had a huge smile that could carry the world; it was aimed at someone who looked almost identical to her, except a few years older. Dark hair, amber eyes, same brown skin, but his smile was aimed at an older woman who looked like she could be their mother.

I knew the boy’s face.

Staring down at the image, it seemed that Wren was related to him, but if that were true, then…I tucked that one back and pulled another. This time, it was of Wren and this guy, a few years older, in front of a restaurant boasting the best tacos in Rake Forge.

My hands shook.

There had to be some sort of proof that she wasn’t related to him. She couldn’t be.

I flipped through image after image until, finally, a name caught my attention in the journal.

Dear Juan,

I wish I’d been.

Being your sister was the best thing that happened to me, but you acted like you couldn’t care less. I hate that you turned your back on…

DOESN’T MATTER.

Just take care of Mom and Leo. You’ll never even read this, but it feels good to write. I love you. I will always love the version of you that existed before El Peligro. You promised you’d never take it over. You swore you’d never walk in our father’s shoes.

You lied.

Kane and Cruz laughing from the patio broke me out of my thoughts, forcing my hands to move quickly to replace all of Wren’s memories. I felt sick to my stomach for invading her privacy, for reading something so personal.

But something else was there, too…a feeling of finding a missing piece to a puzzle. Wren wasn’t so different from me; she had a jaded past with an affiliation that others looked down upon. It likely shaped her outlook on being so close to danger because she wanted to escape it.

Her home was made of the same material as mine. Her memories were all ash and used up hope. She created a new life for herself while I forged mine out of the ashes my father left. She was my match.

My equal.

Mine.

Regardless of her connection to her brother’s gang, she belonged with me, and I’d do whatever it took to prove that to her.

After a while, Kane and Cruz both joined in and helped carry boards, even holding the drill for me as I added in the screws. I’d pulled my truck down Wren’s driveway and propped her side gate open so I could access my tools easily. I watched the boys play in the front yard while I sat on the lowered tailgate, eating a burger next to Thistle.

He took a drink of his soda before quietly talking. “Dozer texted me this morning a report of what they found when they looked into the Gentry Boys MC in Jersey.”

I tried not to think of what I found in Wren’s closet and how this problem had nothing to do with the gang activity in the city that was threatening my club.

Thistle continued, “Your old man has been spotted wearing their colors. Riding with them. So we’re assuming he’s under their protection.”

“Gentry Boys grow in the past year and I not know it?”

Kane was laughing so hard at something Cruz did that his eyes started to water, and it made my own water for a different reason. I liked seeing him so happy and free. Like a kid should, in a place where he truly knew he was wanted and he belonged.

Thistle shifted next to me. “Not that we can tell unless they’re pairing up with some outside club we don’t know about. He won’t have the numbers to make a move against you.”

“Unless he’s going to leverage Mayhem Riot and see if I’d give it up for Kane.”

Joke was on him. I would have to do that regardless because there was no way I could win my case if I didn’t prove I’d stepped away from them.

My vice president finished off his food and crumbled the wrapper. “I have a contact. They’re waiting on my call to tip them off, but we can dump evidence from what your dad did in front of the detective who was initially on Brit’s case after she died and Saul disappeared. They’ll open it back up, and now that we have sights on Saul, he’ll have to go in for questioning.”

It wouldn’t be enough if they couldn’t pin it on him. “They’ll be nervous to prosecute unless we can tie him to both my mom and Brit; otherwise, they risk double jeopardy.”

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