Page 91 of Heir

I nodded. That was all we could do because if she was back, then she was up to no good, and the last thing we needed was for her to make an unexpected appearance in Braxton’s life and fuck him up.

And things were darker with her around, like a stain I couldn’t get rid of.

It wasn’t like I was doing well in the first place, with Jude’s death anniversary coming up in a month.

“She’s gonna pull her usual shit. You know she would target Braxton. I wish she would just stay the fuck away from us,” I said, and it wasn’t hard to miss the bitterness in my voice.

The day Dad said the bitch was gone was the day I could fucking breathe again. It wasn’t like she had been around much anyway, but there was always a possibility of her coming back home, sometimes bringing men back to the house to fuck in Dad’s bed.

Dad had kept her around because he’d thought she was what we needed.

But fuck, he had been young, and he didn’t see her for the fucking monster she was.

I looked at the bridge again.

“How are you doing, son? With the date coming up—”

“I’m fine,” I said, cutting him off. I didn’t want to talk about Jude.

He sighed, and I felt a hint of guilt for being so short with him.

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

I nodded.

I fucking knew that. If there were someone I could turn to, it would be him. But there were things even he couldn’t resolve. Shit he couldn’t undo and demons he couldn’t fight, no matter how badly he wanted to.

The only thing I could do was to ensure she didn’t contact Braxton.

That she couldn’t hurt him.

“I’m fine,” I said. “But how about we keep a closer eye on Braxton? If she’s here, it is probably because she ran out of money. She would use Braxton for that.”

“Already ahead of you, son. I have men keeping an eye on Braxton.”

“Does he know?”

He shook his head, and my shoulders relaxed a little.

He stood and smiled at me, though I could see a hint of darkness in his eyes. He wanted to know all the shit that had happened with Mom. I wasn’t gonna tell him, but Dad was pretty damn persistent when he needed to be. “All right. I’ll let you get back to the girl.”

“You can call her Gemma.”

“I know,” he said. “I’ll let myself out. I love you, son.”

I nodded. “Love you, too.”

I didn’t watch him leave. I stayed where I was and kept my eyes on the Sacramento River, my mind running a million miles an hour, going back to a past I didn’t want to think about.

* * *

“Come on, are you really scared?”I taunted.

Jude shook his head and grinned. “Of your dad? Fuck, yeah.”

I laughed. “Someday, we’re gonna fucking join the King’s Men.”

I still couldn’t believe Dad had hidden this for so long. I’d known he was in a motorcycle club, but I learned it wasthemotorcycle club. The notorious MC everyone in the city was scared of.

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