Page 76 of Brandishing Betrayals
“Yeah,” I said, absently. I looked up to see where Luke was, but him and Jason were in the kitchen cooking lunch. I handed Nico my phone, so I didn’t have to speak the words.
“Shit,” Nico said, reading her text.
“Yeah.”
Maya sent another text a moment later.
Maya:
Can you bring Luke home after dinner?
I had half a mind to keep Luke for the weekend, despite it not being my weekend. We hadn’t established any kind of custody schedule—Maya had been letting me hang out with Luke whenever I wanted—I didn’t feel right about it.
Maya was specifically asking for Luke. If she needed space, she would say that, right?
I didn’t know what to think anymore. I almost regretted the court order paternity test; it was making me question things.
“Fuck, dude.” Nico sighed and gingerly sat back on the couch, his body still healing from his beat down Thursday. “You should do as she asks. Give her whatever she wants, bro. Her dad just died. Don’t be a dick to her.”
I nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah.”
Maya
Later that night, once Luke was home and tucked into bed, I sat in the living room with my mother. The TV was on with the volume down low, but neither one of us paid much attention to it—both seemingly lost in our own thoughts.
“Your father was murdered,” Elaine said softly.
My head shot up and whipped over to look at her. “What?”
Elaine nodded. “It was Hillcrest. I saw him jump out the window when I came back to the room with lunch. He turned and looked right at me. He told me to keep my damn mouth shut or he would shut it.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. My heart lurched in my throat. “Mom!”
“I didn’t tell the police. I know what it means, Maya.” Elaine spoke so calmly while I was struggling to comprehend the situation. “You need to tell those boys, so they can deal with him.”
Again, my mouth dropped open. That was the last thing I expected out of my mother’s mouth. My mother had always hated Marcos, Jason, and Nico, and everything they represented with the club. “Why are you so calm about this?” I finally asked.
Elaine looked down and toyed with the nail polish on her fingers, chipping at it. It was the only sign of distress she allowed. Sighing heavily, she looked up at met my gaze. “We both know your father wasn’t well. We’ve been slowly watching him die this whole time and he was barely holding on. Hillcrest suffocated him with a pillow. He made it quick. It was for the best.”
“What?”
Elaine nodded. “The pillow was still over your father’s face when I walked in there. Harry must have struggled a bit, because blankets were strewn on the floor too, like he flailed around. I set everything to rights again before I called hospice and the coroner.”
I sat there dumbfounded as I listened to my mother calmly explain how she covered up a murder. For Dax fucking Hillcrest.
“It’s almost a blessing. Harry was miserable. This way he went quickly.”
I shook my head as a hysterical laugh bubbled out of me and quickly turned into sobs. Fucking hell. My life was a mess.
The sobs wracked my body for several minutes. My mother got up and sat down next to me on the couch, her own tears sliding down her face as she held my hand tightly. I wished like hell Jenna was there, she’d know what to do or say, but she couldn’t get off work until tomorrow. Thankfully she’d have the week off to come down and help plan our father’s funeral.
Instead, I sobbed, letting out all of my pent-up emotions and stress and heartbreak from the last six months and clung to my mother’s hand. When I finally started to calm down, my mother handed me a tissue to blow my nose, and stood up and walked back over to the recliner. I wasn’t even surprised. “What are we supposed to do now?” I asked, half in a daze.
“You need to tell your boys.” My mother said it so matter-of-factly that all I could do was nod my head.
Yeah, I need to tell them,I agreed mentally.
Nico
