Page 32 of Riggs
"What is it, brother?"
"I have some information you guys will want to hear."
"Spit it out, Kiwi."
Kiwi stops typing and faces Neil and me. "Amelia Novak age twenty died twenty-six years ago. Cause of death; complications from childbirth."
"Holy shit," Wick mutters from beside me.Holy shit is right.Commander's puzzle pieces are starting to come together.
"The baby, Kiwi?" I inquire but fear I already know the answer.
"Luna Novak. Born May 11, 1993, to Amelia Novak. There is no father listed on the birth certificate."
"She's my daughter, isn't she?" Neil asks, and I can't do anything but look at him because God helps us, I think Neil is Luna's father.
"Luna's mine isn't she!" This time Neil bellows his face full of rage. Picking the glass bottle up off the table, he spins around and hurls it across the room, hitting the wall where it shatters into a million pieces. My former commander loses all composure as he grabs the edge of the table in front of us and flips it over. "I'm going to kill that motherfucker! That piece of shit father of hers didn't tell me I had a daughter!" Neil picks the chair up, but before he gets a chance to throw it, Wick tackles him to the floor to restrain our former commander which is no easy task considering Neil is 6' 2" and 260 pounds of solid muscle. At the age of fifty, he can still handle his own; as Wick is finding out. Just then, Fender bursts through the clubhouse door.
"It's alright, brother. The Commander was just lettin' off some steam, and rightly so." Fender nods but doesn't leave.
"I'm cool now, LeBlanc," Neil grits out. He's still pissed but has his shit under control. I give Wick the signal to let him up. Once both men have picked themselves up off the floor, Neil brushes past me and out of the clubhouse.
"Fuck, brother. I didn't see that shit comin'," Wick mutters wiping the blood from his bottom lip. Neil must have gotten a lick in. "Think he's cooled down enough?"
"Only one way to find out. That's if he's still here and not on his way back to Arizona to hunt down the motherfucker who didn't tell him he had a kid." Wick and I walk out of the clubhouse to find Neil sitting in a chair just outside the door with his head in his hands. I can't begin to understand what it is like to find out you have a kid you never knew about — a grown one at that. Wick nor I say a word as we come to stand beside our friend. He is the first to break the silence. "Riggs, tell me where my daughter has been the last twenty-six years."
"You sure you're ready to know that?"
Neil looks up at me his face full of anguish. "I need to know."
"Luna grew up in the system. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what that was like. I won't tell you the details because Luna has told me her story in confidence, but I will say it nearly destroyed her. My woman is strong, though, and she made it."
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck," Neil repeats as he stands and begins to pace back and forth in front of me. "My kid went her whole life thinking she wasn't wanted; that she didn't have a family." Neil stops in front of me. "I would have taken her had I known, LeBlanc. She is my daughter, and I would have given her the life she deserved. She may not have had her mother, but she would have had a father who would have given her the world and two grandparents who would have adored her."
"I know what kind of man you are, Commander. This shit is not on you."
"Isn't it? Had I found out back then what happened to Amelia instead of trying to forget, I could have easily found out I had a daughter. I can't lay all the blame on her old man. Though the motherfucker is still going to get what's coming to him."
Neil regards me for a beat. "I want to speak to my daughter."
"With all due respect, that's not happenin' until I talk with her."
Neil goes to protest, but I cut him off. "When we drop this bomb in Luna's lap, that shit is going to explode, Commander. My woman has been through hell and back the past couple of months. She's hardly gotten over those pussies Savage Outlaw kidnapping her, and now we're about to unload a whole new kind of hurt on her."
"You telling me that club you had me check on kidnapped my daughter?" Neil fumes.
"We're not discussing details out here, Commander." I turn to Wick. "Call the brothers. I want them here in ten. I'm callin' church." I turn my attention back to Neil. "We don't normally bring outsiders into the fold, but considering I asked you to check out Savage and the fact it's lookin' like Luna is your daughter, I'll make an exception. We're going to find out what you dug up on Savage Outlaw; then we will deal with telling her about you."
Fifteen minutes later, after checking in with Everest on how Luna is doing, I slam the gavel starting church. "Let me start by introducing you all to the man sittin' at my left. This is my former Commander Neil Bryant. He's been helping the club look into Savage Outlaw. And thirty minutes ago, it was revealed Neil might be Luna's father." As expected, several shocked faces stare back at me. "My woman doesn't know that shit yet, so I expect everyone to keep their mouths shut until Neil and I have had a chance to talk to her. Right now, our focus is on Rex. Before I give Neil the floor, I'm going to catch him up to speed." I take a seat, swipe my cigarettes laying on the table in front of me and light one. I turn my attention toward Neil. "When I called you askin' for a favor I didn't divulge details on why my club is after Savage. A few months ago, Luna started seeing the President of Savage Outlaw. The dickhead's name is Rex. Long story short, she didn't know what kind of man she had tangled herself up with. Luna witnessed Rex kill a man. Rex and his brother beat the shit out of her and left her for dead on the side of the road. Luna later woke up in the hospital. Then word got out she was alive. Rex and his club were gunnin' for her, so she had to go into protective custody. In the end, Savage found the safe house she was held up in and eventually found her in Polson where she was staying with The Kings Montana Chapter. Jake, The Kings founding President, called me up, askin' me if I would be willin' to take Luna out of Polson. We ended up killin' all those motherfuckers who were hidin' out in a nearby town, even took out Rex's brother, Pike. But before he was finished off, he confessed Rex had been let out of jail and was comin' for Luna," I covey.
"I can tell you right now Rex will not be getting his hands on my daughter," Neil promises with venom in his tone.
"Then we're on the same page. Now, we need you to tell us what you dug up on his club."
Neil nods. "Savage Outlaw has been around for roughly six years. Their former President was Rex's father. Someone killed him the second year the club was in operation. Drug trade went bad. Their club has doubled crossed pretty much everyone they have worked with. They are burnin' bridges left, and right so if you were worried about a fallout with any of the club's connection there wouldn't be any. I don't foresee one damn organization coming to Savage Outlaw's defense. The club is more of a nuisance."
"What all do they deal in?" I ask.
"Drugs, weapons, and prostitution. Rex has a reputation for picking up a beautiful young woman, dating them for a while, then turning them out."
