Page 42 of Swan

“Fuck,” I uttered. “Fuck.”

I wanted to take her anguish, her horror. I wanted to store it inside me and be the one to carry it all.

No one deserved this type of pain.

Another bellow of sorrow from my daughter forced me to close my eyes and grip at my chest.

My poor baby girl.

This was cruel.

A hand gripped my shoulder. “She’ll get through this,” Talon said.

I shook my head, forehead still pressed to the wall, listening to my daughter’s sobs from within the room.

“Brother, I have answers.”

Clenching my jaw, I straightened. “Tell me.”

“His mother and agent told the girl where he would be. Told the girl Lockland was in love with the wrong woman. That they wanted Mary as his, not Swan.”

“The mother and the agent?” Surely I heard wrong. Surely they wouldn’t be so fucking scared of Swan, they felt the fucking urge to set a psycho onto her.

“Yes.”

I took a step close to him. “Bring them in. I want them in the club shitting bricks as they wait for me.”

“The mother’s very remorseful?—”

“So fuckin’ what?” I snarled low, glancing to the bathroom.

“Brother, I ain’t sayin’ we take it easy on her. I’m just telling you she’s already in a state, and the brothers who nab her will be glad to make her in a worse one while waitin’ for you.”

Clenching my jaw, I nodded. “No disrespect, Prez?—”

“Fuck off,” he clipped. “You know I don’t care how you talk to me. But fuck me, brother, this heartache you’re feeling for your girl will ride you and your actions for some damn time. Just know I’ll have your back. I’ll cover whatever I need to, to make sure you do what you want to get your daughter justice. But also, Lockland.”

My throat thickened. I slammed my eyes closed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Fuck,” I bit out. “He was a good kid.”

“He was.”

I dropped my hand and opened my watery eyes. “I shouldn’t have stopped them from being around each other.”

“No one could have predicted this, and you were just lookin’ out for Swan.”

“He didn’t deserve to lose his damn life.”

“He did it protectin’ the one woman he loved.”

Thinning my lips, I ground my teeth together and nodded.

He saved my girl.

“I should’a done it.”

“What?” Talon asked.

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