Page 21 of Ember
“Oh,” Ember breathed. “How did you get this photo?” she asked.
“Our father gave it to me, along with his information. I tracked you down first. You were pretty easy to find after they did a news article on you about your stalker. You're kind of famous,” Lillith teased. Ember hated that Hurricane and Jack talked her into doing that fucking interview. They said that it would be good for both the Bastards and the Harlots, but she hated being in the spotlight. Especially for something like having some asshole stalk her. They tried to focus on women in abusive relationships and how to get out of them safely, but the news story went a bit off topic, and she couldn’t even watch herself on television. Jack assured her that it wasn’t that bad, but she knew the truth. They had used her as a human-interest fluff story, and she hated that. There was nothing fluffy or cute about being an abused woman.
“How’s good old Ben doing?” Ember asked, not really caring to know the answer.
Lillith shrugged, “I’m not really sure. He tracked me down at the diner that I worked in and told me that he got the letter that I sent him. Once I found your name in my mother’s box of things she left for me, I started searching for you and found an address for him. All I had to go on was his last name and address, but that was enough to be able to send him a letter. He told me thathe and my mom hooked up at a concert, and that he didn’t know about me. Then, he handed me an envelope full of cash, and well, that’s how I got here.”
“And why did you want to come here?” Ember asked.
“To meet you,” Lillith said. “My mother never told me about my father,” Lillith almost whispered. “When she died, I thought that I had no family left. But then, I found your name in her things, saying that you could possibly be my sister, and well, here I am.”
“Consider yourself fortunate that you never knew Ben,” Ember grumbled. “Growing up with a drunk wasn’t the easiest of childhoods.” Ember had a feeling that was one of the reasons why Lillith’s mom kept her father a secret. Maybe she didn’t want her daughter to get hurt the way that Ember had been. She often wondered what it would have been like to grow up with a mother who actually cared for and protected her from her father instead of enabling him.
“I always thought that she was just selfish for not wanting to share me with my father. Then, she told me that he was dead, and I thought that was the end of it,” she admitted. “I mean, I couldn’t beg for a relationship with a dead man, right?”
“Well, no,” Ember said, “that would be difficult, and I won’t tell you that you shouldn’t have a relationship with him now, either. I don’t really have a relationship with Ben,” Ember admitted.
Lillith started fidgeting, and Ember could tell that she was carefully weighing what she was going to say next. “Would you want a relationship with me?” Lillith almost whispered. “I know that I just sprang myself on you, and you don’t owe me anything, but I think that it would kind of be nice to have a sister.” Ember hadn’t really given the whole sibling thing much thought over the years. She had always been an only child, but the thought of a sister did intrigue her—if Lillith was truly her sibling. Honestly,she wouldn’t put it past Ben to put this poor girl up to lying to her just to get in with her. He had reached out over the years to Ember, and she refused his messages and calls, but why send Lillith into her life now? Maybe Lillith was there of her own accord, and truly wanted a relationship with her, but she never trusted easily, and now would be no different.
“How long will you be in town?” Ember asked.
“A few days for now. I lived in California, but I have no reason to go back there since my mother died. I’m staying at the cheap little motel on the other side of town,” Lillith said. Ember knew the place. She had stayed a night there when she got to town. It was a horrible place, and a part of her worried about letting Lillith go back to that hotel for even one more night.
“Hold on a second,” Ember left Lillith sitting in the corner and made her way over to Jack, who was still pretending not to watch her like a hawk.
“You good?” he asked.
“I am,” she breathed. “She says that she’s my sister. My father helped her to find me.”
“Do you think she’s telling the truth?” Jack asked.
“I do, but I need to do some research. That’s where you come in,” she said, smiling up at him. “Can you check her out for me. Her name is Lillith Wolfe and she’s from California.”
“Will do,” he said. “Is she staying in town?”
“Yeah, and that’s why I need you to check her out. She’s staying at the Motel Eight on the other side of town, and you know how bad that place is, right?” she asked. She could already see his wheels spinning as he looked over at Lillith sitting alone in the corner. “I do,” he breathed. “I’m assuming that our guest room will be occupied for a little while, then?” he asked.
“If she comes back clean, yes,” Ember said. She knew that she never had to ask Jack a favor like that. He was an even bigger bleeding heart than she was. After all, he saved her from a fatemuch like Lillith’s current situation. Ember wasn’t sure how she had gotten so lucky to meet a man like Jack, but she had, and now it seemed as though she was going to have more family than she ever dreamed possible.
“We’re going to have a full house with the baby and your sister,” he said, smiling down at her.
“Supposed sister, and we still have six months until the baby comes,” she reminded. “But a full house sounds perfect to me.” She was the girl who had no one in her corner just a year ago, and now, she had more friends and family than she could have imagined. The Harlots were that for her now—her family. And Jack, well, he was her forever.
The End
What’s coming next from K.L. Ramsey? You won’t want to miss Lillith (Royal Harlots MC: Yonkers, NY Chapter Book 2)! Coming in June 2026!
Lillith
Lillith was an only child, or so she believed. She found out that she had a big sister that no one ever bothered to tell her about, and now, she was trying to track her down. The problem was—this mysterious big sister lived on the East coast, and getting the money together to travel from California to Yonkers, NY wasn’t an easy task.
When her mother died, Lillith felt a pronounced sadness that she was completely alone in the world. Her father passed when she was just a baby, or so she thought, but opening her mother’s “secret box” that was stashed in the top of her closet changed everything for her. Apparently, her father wasn’t dead at all, but very much alive and living in Phoenix, Arizona. The real shocker was that Lillith had a half sister out in the world, whom she knew nothing about. She planned on changing that as soon as possible, though—just as soon as she got enough money together to buy a bus ticket to get to New York. That was going to be tough, unless things started to pick up at work.
Since the economy’s decline a couple of years back, Lillith wasn’t getting the same tips as she used to. Hell, anything would be better than what she was making these days, but menweren’t going out to clubs as much, and paying for a lap dance was almost unheard of. Strip clubs cost money that they didn’t really have anymore, and dancing for the same strangers who tossed her a dollar here and there wasn’t paying the bills. So, she started to waitress, not that she was any good at that either. She at least had customers, even if tips weren’t great; they were more than she made stripping.
“Hey, honey,” one of her regulars called from the corner booth that he always sat in. It was capable of seating a family of six—who would most likely tip better than Clive did, but he insisted on having the extra space to “Get comfortable,” as he liked to say. Everything about the guy grossed her out—especially how he thought that it was all right to paw at her if he left her a five-dollar tip. Lillith thought about getting her manager involved, but honestly, Clive was her only regular, and at five dollars a day, she was saving a whopping thirty-five dollars a week for her bus ticket. That was if her landlord didn’t catch up with her, and she’d be forced to pay her rent. She was about two months behind on her heap of an apartment, and walking away from that place was going to be easy. Paying her back rent wasn’t an option if she wanted to be able to get to the East Coast sooner rather than later.
“What can I do for you, Clive?” she asked.
