Page 9 of Hell's Claim

The nurse caught Olivia, and Sunny let out an anguished cry.

They’d had ten years together. Sunny wished he could have spoken the words Julie so needed to hear, but he’d failed in the end. Julie had died knowing he hadn’t loved her like she deserved.

Bitterness rose in his throat as he held Julie’s body and bade her goodbye. She’d have a quiet funeral with those who knew and cared about her. Sunny’s daughter was now his priority. Julie had given Olivia her first name, Sunny gave Olivia her second: Julie, after her mother.

Sunny – March 2004

“If you tell them I’m still breathing, Doc, you’ll have bloodshed in your corridors. The fuckers who shot me won’t stop until I’m gone. Go out and tell my brothers I never made it,” Sunny croaked. He was barely conscious and bleeding from multiple gunshots.

“I won’t lie!” the man exclaimed.

“I’ll pay you one hundred grand. Tell them I’m dead,” Sunny tried to snarl but failed. Shit. He might die after all this, anyway.

“Get him to theatre,” a voice ordered as everything went black.

The last thing Sunny saw was Zeus’s laughing face as he shot him.

???

“You’re officially dead,” the doctor announced, and Sunny noted his name. Doctor Gibbons.

“Feels like I am,” Sunny grunted as pain swept through his body.

“What I’ve done today could get me struck off. Hellfire has been given a false certificate, but naturally, I haven’t actually registered it. That is a step too far,” Gibbons stated.

“Doc, I’ll pay you,” Sunny murmured.

“I didn’t do it for that. Your mom and daughter are here. That’s why I faked your death. Leave this gang warfare you’re involved in and be a real man. Put your damn child first!” Doc Gibbons hissed.

Sunny froze in place. He’d promised Julie to put Olivia first and hadn’t. Sunny had carried on fighting a war he had no business being in. Sunny was a fuckin’ father and had failed Olivia. Sure, Cherry would have taken care of Liv, if he had died, but his baby girl didn’t deserve to be an orphan.

He needed to focus on Liv.

Sunny nodded as Doc Gibbons left, and his mom rushed in. Cherry looked weary and frightened.

“Sunny!” she exclaimed.

“Mom, I’m fine,” Sunny murmured.

“So was Bullet!” Cherry retorted, and Sunny flinched. “Then I lost him.”

“Not losing me.”

“Zeus came to the house; he was out of his head. I barely escaped with Olivia. Zeus was screaming he was going to kill us both,” Cherry whispered.

“Listen carefully, Doc Gibbons told Hellfire I’m dead, on my orders. We are getting out of Rapid City. This war has gone on too long, and I won’t risk Liv. Leave tonight and head for the safehouse. Nobody knows I have it. Once we’re settled, we’ll getsomeone to pack up the house and put everything in storage,” Sunny said.

“We can’t. Chance expects us to be there for the burial. He’s putting brothers on us for protection, Bear and Tiny. I’m going to start packing and tell him there’s nothing left for me here. Chance won’t argue that. Olivia is a princess, not a legacy. Chance won’t be bothered by me taking her. I can get everything packed and move in a couple of weeks. But if I don’t attend my own son’s funeral, people will question why,” Cherry said.

“Mom, I don’t like this…”

“Sunny, I’ve not liked crap since Bullet was murdered. There was more to Bullet’s death than that prick Cutter losing the plot. I think Zeus and cronies ordered the founder’s hits, and I believe he was behind Enigma’s murder. Can’t prove shit, but those are my feelings,” Cherry stated.

“I know,” Sunny agreed as his eyes closed.

“Sunny, I can’t lose you, too,” Cherry whispered.

“Make your plans. Mom, we’re leaving,” Sunny mumbled as he faded away.

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