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I stride with purpose into Alarick’s office. He has to know. Needs to know. I fucking lied to him, but it’s going to come out. I didn’t need the whole club in on it, which is why I told them I didn’t know what Aviana was talking about, but Alarick, he needs the truth. If he doesn’t find out, then we’re going to end up in a world of fucking trouble. Aviana is on a mission, and with that mission comes some serious fucking danger. If she even gets close to knowing the truth, she’s going to destroy not only her life, but everyone who will try to step in to protect her.
The secret simply cannot be held any longer.
Someone has to know.
I don’t knock as I walk into his office. Briella is here, sitting on his lap, mid fucking make out session. What are they? Fucking fifteen? I don’t apologize for my interruption, even as Briella launches off Alarick’s lap like she’s been busted by her parents. Her cheeks flush red and she adjusts her clothes. Alarick doesn’t move, he just glares at me, leaning back in his chair, dick still straining in his jeans.
Not my fucking problem.
He can deal with that later.
“Out,” I say to Briella, my voice a whip.
She glares at me. “Excuse me? What is your problem, Cohen?”
“Got business, business that has nothing to do with you. Now get out.”
Her chest swells up as she takes a deep breath in, but Alarick steps in before she can say anything more. “Go, babe. I’ll find you when I’m done.”
Briella glares at me. “I hope you come out with a better attitude, dude.”
Then, she’s gone.
I walk over and lock the door before turning toward Alarick. “What’s so important you interrupted the only fuck I’m gettin’ today?”
“You don’t wanna be interrupted, then lock the fuckin’ door. I got business.”
“What business?”
I take a deep breath and then slam the papers down on his desk. I also place down the large bag of fucking money that I’ve hung onto for all these years. It ain’t mine, and I never planned on doing anything with it. I was going to take this shit to my grave, but the time has come for me to let it out of the closet, so to speak.
Alarick stares at the cash first—no doubt, there’s a fucking lot there. Then his eyes swing up to mine. “What the fuck is this? You been dealin’ behind my back?”
“Read the papers, boss, then talk to me about the rest of it.”
Alarick looks back down and grabs the papers from the folder I had them stashed in. He flicks them over, one by one, his eyes scanning the pages. Then, after about five or ten minutes of his face growing harder and harder, he looks up to me. “What the fuck is this?”
“It’s exactly what it looks like.”
He shakes his head in confusion, and growls, “She wasn’t lyin’.”
“No.”
“You made her disappear? You fuckin’ killed her family?”
I nod, sharply. “Had to. You can see why. If that came out, if they found her, she’d be fuckin’ dead, or worse, they’d still have her and be fuckin’ destroyin’ her life day by day. They needed her; it was the only way they could go on. I took her out of the picture. Without her, there was no end in sight for them.”
“Fuck,” he growls. “Fuck.”
“She can’t know about this, Pres. It’s why I kept it from her. I’m only showin’ you because you need to know. You need to understand why I fuckin’ did what I did. She wants some sort of twisted fuckin’ revenge on me, because she’s fuckin’ angry and hurt that I sent her away.”
“Where the fuck did you send her?”
“Cason.”
Alarick shakes his head in shock. “You sent her to fuckin’ Cason?”
“He dealt with it, assured me she would be set up with a new life. I had no fuckin’ idea she ended up in the wrong hands.”
“You could have bought her back to the fuckin’ club!” he barks, shaking his head in shock.
“No, I couldn’t, and you fuckin’ know that. She would have never hidden for the rest of her days. We weren’t solid enough to deal with somethin’ this large and you know it. King was fuckin’ AWOL after that, you were young and just takin’ the club over. It was a fuckin’ hard time. We didn’t have it in us to take care of her, too.”
“We would have found a fuckin’ way,” he growls.
“No, we wouldn’t have. They would have found her. You know they would have fuckin’ found her.”
“What about fuckin’ now?”
I cross my arms. “Now they think she’s fuckin’ dead, they’re not lookin’ here anymore.”
“Until someone sees her and word gets back. She’s not fuckin’ safe, Cohen. You know she’s not. It won’t take long for this to get back and more trouble to come fuckin’ lookin’ for us. What were you thinkin’?”
“I was doin’ what I had to do, there was no other option back then. Deep down, you fuckin’ know that. These people, they want everythin’ she’s sittin’ on. She don’t even know she has what she has.”
“She ain’t safe.”
My jaw tightens. “Which is why I’m comin’ to you, showin’ you, tellin’ you the truth.”
He slams his fist onto the table. “I got a world of fuckin’ trouble up my sleeve already and you want me to take on this? What the fuck were you thinkin’, Cohen? You should have told me about this when it happened.”
“Had to do it for her.”
“Well, you know fuckin’ what? She don’t appreciate it. She fuckin’ despises you and this club because she thinks we’re the enemy. You let me make her look like a fuckin’ liar. You gotta know that showin’ me this just opened a whole different can of fuckin’ worms. What were you plannin’ on doin’ here?”
He’s angry.
Understand that.
I’d be angry, too.
“Wanted you to know, boss. That’s it. She’s safe as far as I know. She looks different now, and nobody around here is lookin’ for her anymore.”
“You sure of that? You one-hundred-percent fuckin’ certain she ain’t in danger? You’d want to be sure, Cohen, because if you’re wrong, you’re goin’ to bring more hell upon that girl than you’ve already brought.”
I swallow the thick lump in my throat.
Is she safe? I don’t fucking know.
I don’t know where these people are; I’ve never looked into it.
I simply made sure she stayed away.
That was fucking it.
Now she’s back and I’m not sure of fucking anything.
“I don’t know, Pres. That’s the fuckin’ truth. I don’t know anything except she’s back and she’s diggin’. If she finds this, it’ll be the end for her. She’ll do somethin’ stupid and ruin her entire fuckin’ life. I can’t allow that to happen. She needs to start anew.”
“What are you suggestin’ then? We just let her go on with her life, never bein’ a hundred percent sure she’s not gettin’ tracked by these fuckers? We change her name and tell her it’s for her own safety? We ship her off somewhere else? What the fuck are you plannin’ on doin’ here?”
“I don’t know,” I growl. “But I’ll figure it out.”
“You’d want to do it soon, brother. That woman is on a mission, and she has hatred in her fuckin’ soul. Gone is the woman you clearly had feelings for back then. In her place is a cold, empty shell of who she was. Be very fuckin’ careful what you do with her now—she’s hangin’ on by a thread.”
My chest tightens, and pain explodes in my chest.
“I’m hearin’ you, boss,” I mutter.
“Work out a plan, Cohen, and come to me with it. This needs to be sorted, or we’re goin’ to have another problem on our hands that we can’t fuckin’ contain. While you’re at it, get her to fuckin’ talk so we can end that side of things once and for all. I’m fuckin’ done with all of this. Do what you’ve gotta do, but get what we need from her.”
I nod and turn, walking out of his office.
How the fuck am I going to do all of that?
Fuck me.