Page 30 of Ghost

You didn’t sacrifice someone else’s happiness and well-being.

You sacrificed your own.

My brother thought he was making a sacrifice by walking away from me. He believed I was better off without him. All he did was abandon his family. He gave up the one person who counted on him to keep them safe.

And he did it for the club.

He didn’t do it for me. He didn’t even ask me what I wanted. If he had, I would have stayed with him. I would have told him I could endure anything if he was by my side.

Was I willing to give up my life for this little girl that I shared no DNA link with? Could I walk away from my practice, from my patients, from everything I worked hard for to ensure she was safe.

Hell yes, I would!

Fuck Danny and fuck Dante. If they didn’t care enough about Danika to walk away from a world where she would always be in danger, then maybe they didn’t care about her at all.

I fucking cared.

I laid Danika on the couch. There was no way I would be able to carry a sleeping child and all the shit Dante brought too.

Fuck, I didn’t even know how to care for a child’s daily needs.

I was a child psychologist. I knew trauma. I didn’t know day-to-day life with a child. Well, I mean, I knew it in theory. I made plans for my patients that included their daily needs, both physical and emotional. Only I wasn’t the one who practiced them.

I looked at Dani, asleep on the couch, and another thought hit me. Looking over at the pile of bags Dante dropped when he walked into my office, there was one very important item missing.

I didn’t have a fucking car seat.

With a heavy sigh, I sat on the floor, leaning my head against the couch. I guess we were spending the night here. In the morning, I would order the best fucking car seat on the market. Right after I canceled all my patients. I sent Mindy a text, letting her know there was a family emergency and I would be taking some time off.

There was no need for her to come into the office. She could rearrange my schedule from home. There was another doctor I could send my younger patients who needed the office setting to. My older preteen and teen-age patients could do their sessions online.

This would be an adjustment, but I was willing to make concessions. I would happily sacrifice everything for a little girl that no one had been there for since the day she was born.

Fuck you both!

I closed my eyes and tried to get a little sleep.

Tomorrow, I would need my strength and energy to do what needed to be done.

For Danika.

Chapter Eleven

Amber

December 31, 2024, Diamond Creek, Nebraska.

It was the last day of the year.

The day of reflection.

For the past five years, I had sat at this bar on New Year’s Eve and reflected on the previous year. This day was for me. More so this year than any other.

A lot had happened this year.

So many changes.

When I first came to the clubhouse, I came here knowing I would never leave. Only I expected it to be the end of my life.

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