Page 66 of Reconciling the Consequences

She had just finished stacking the last of the boxes when her men came into the great room, Johnny leading them. “Hey, how was your day?” she asked as they came over and greeted her with kisses.

“Long.” Johnny sighed, falling heavily into his recliner.

Once Derrick and Kevin had also kissed her, they sat on either end of the long couch. Kara grabbed the manila file folder off the dining room table and headed into the living room area. “Well, I’m only going to make your day even longer.” She sighed, stopping in front of Johnny.

He looked up at her grave face and froze. “What happened?” he asked, reaching for the file folder.

She held onto it as she said, “Danvers and I found this when we were digging through everything. There’s something I haven’t told you about your father from when I visited him in county,” she admitted.

Johnny leaned forward and rested his elbows on his powerful thighs. He grabbed the file folder out of her hands but didn’t open it. He looked up at her with a narrowed gaze. “What do you mean?”

“I mean lawyer-client privilege. Your father told me something that happened forty years ago that he might not have told you because he didn’t know the truth,” she hedged, wanting him to understand where she was coming from. The last thing she wanted was for him to be pissed off at her for revealing the truth after all this time.

“Babe, just spit it out. You’re killing me here.” Johnny groaned, opening the file folder.

Kara saw the wordsPaternity Testand started talking while Johnny read them himself. “Mac and my father told me conflicting stories along similar lines. They were each dating a woman they were in love with, and each might have been engaged to her. Turns out they were dating the same woman and didn’t know it. She was cheating on both of them and got pregnant.”

“Who was the woman?” Johnny demanded, looking up at her.

“Carlita Candela. My mother,” she answered. She didn’t look away from Johnny as she heard Kevin gasp. Kevin knew all the details because they had spelled it out together with Jack’s help. Kevin didn’t know about the pregnancy though.

“What are you saying?” Johnny said, looking back down at the papers in front of him, trying to make sense of it.

“My mother had a son with Mac Taylor. We found the paternity test results in the boxes. You have a brother,” she told Johnny.

Johnny tossed the papers on the coffee table and stood up. Kara backed up a step and watched him start to pace the living room. “What the fuck?” He breathed.

“Dude, that’s fucked up.” Derrick sighed.

Kara met Kevin’s gaze. His eyes were wide. He mouthedMarcosand she nodded solemnly.

“Who? Your mother? That would mean…” Johnny trailed off and looked at her from across the room.

“Marcos is your half brother,” Kara stated, spelling it out for him.

“What the fuck!” Johnny growled and continued his stalking of the living room. “Does he know? Does Candela know?”

Kara sighed. “As far as I know? No, my brother doesn’t know. Growing up, he always said we had different dads, but he didn’t knowwhohis father was.”

“Are you sure about that?” Johnny shot back, angry.

She shook her head. “No. I didn’t even know my brother was in a motorcycle club until Saturday,” she admitted, feeling foolish. How was she supposed to reassure her man that they could trust Marcos when she hadn’t even known such a fundamental aspect of who he was as a person until two days ago?

She took a seat on the coffee table so she could watch Johnny stalk the room. She wished she could help him, ease his pain in some way.

“Do we know for sure though? Those documents are forty years old, and you said she lied. Could they be forged?” Johnny asked, grasping at straws.

She smiled sadly. “I don’t think those are forged. Those look to be the legit documents from the clinic.” She sighed. “We could always have them rerun. Test your DNA against Marcos’s.”

“Marcos fucking Candela.” Johnny growled and shook his head. “Fine.” He nodded. “Set up a meeting. We’ll discuss it and talk to him about going after Buckley.”

“Alright.” Kara nodded slowly. “I’ll call my brother.”

The next day Kara was sitting in the almost empty clubhouse with Johnny. Kevin and Derrick were upstairs in the dorms, giving them privacy. Marcos had agreed to meet in the afternoon, and everyone was on edge because of it.

Too many factors were at play here, too many things were riding on this meeting. Everyone was anxious, Kara included. How the fuck was her hotheaded brother going to take the news that the president of his rival MC was hisfather?

Probably about as well at Johnny had taken the news that he might have a half brother that was the VP of the rival MC that had been shooting at his club. “How are you doing?” Kara asked Johnny.

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