Milo

 

“You okay, boss?”

 

I looked up from my daze. Daze was standing in the doorway. “Yeah,” I said vaguely. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

 

“You look a li’l out of it.”

 

“I’m just…thinking. That’s all.”

 

“You’re gonna hurt yourself, thinking that hard,” he joked. He grinned widely, but I didn’t return it. I couldn’t find it in me.

 

I was feeling all sorts of fucked up. After the visit with Alla, I’d come straight back into the office and collapsed into my chair. I hadn’t moved for over an hour. I’d just been sitting here, staring into space, caught somewhere between day dreaming and doing nothing at all. I couldn’t get the image of those hands out of my head. Those innocent, unscarred hands.

 

“Something going on?” I asked after a while. I needed to focus. I needed something to do—action, motion, decisions. Hard, real things, things that I could put my hands on and move around. All this thinking and these feelings were starting to overwhelm me.

 

“No, not a thing in the world,” he said. “I was just passin’ by and saw your door open, so I thought I’d see if you needed a hand with anything.”

 

I looked around, but the office didn’t offer any good suggestions. Hell, maybe I wasn’t the only one feeling a little listless around the clubhouse. We could all do with a mission, or at the very least some goddamn chores. Whatever it took to get everyone off their ass and feeling normal again. But it was one of those random lulls in business, when there just wasn’t enough to do to keep the men busy. I couldn’t even find something for myself to get occupied with.

 

“I got nothing, man. I’m sorry.”

 

Daze seemed a little taken aback. “Oh, it’s all good, boss. You ain’t gotta apologize. I was just tryin’ to be helpful, that’s all.”

 

“Thanks, Daze.” I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I felt a headache coming on, deep behind my eyeballs. “Is Pete back?”

 

“Nah, he’s still down at the warehouse helping Riley and Tooth unload the long-haul shit.”

 

“Maybe I’ll go down there and give them a hand.”

 

“I think they’re just about done. But hey, maybe the fresh air will do you some good. Can’t have you getting sick, Milo.”

 

I waved a hand as he shrugged and left the room. He was right. I needed to get out of this cramped, musty office. A long ride on the bike might help shake some of these sticky thoughts from my head.

 

I grabbed my keys and strode out of the office, tugging the door shut behind me. The barroom was mostly empty, though a few men sat drinking alone in the corners. Pushing through the main entrance, I stepped out into the warm night.

 

The courtyard separating the clubhouse from the street was scrubby and empty. I headed for the gate, but when I was halfway across the yard, I saw a figure move through it. It was a big motherfucker, tall and broad-shouldered. I couldn’t make out his face, but the dim glow from the streetlight in the far corner was enough to reflect off his hair. I saw it was flowing and white.

 

My eyes started to widen as realization and the man’s voice struck me at the same time. “Milo Shaker, you son of a bitch,” he growled as he took two quick steps towards me and unloaded a powerful fist into my gut.

 

I doubled over as pain erupted where he’d hit me. He swung another punch across my jaw and I reeled to the side, falling onto one knee in the dirt. My whole face was burning, but I managed to scramble to pull out the knife I kept in my boot. I sprang backwards and held it in front of me. Blood dripped down my chin.

 

“I know you aren’t stupid enough to come hit me on my own front porch, Leon,” I said in a low voice. “All I have to do is raise my voice and my boys will have your ass strung up in the tree out back before you fucking know what hit you.”

 

“I got every right to beat your ass bloody,” he replied.

 

“What the fuck gives you that right?”

 

“You know damn well what it is.”

 

I didn’t have a fucking clue what he was talking about. I was still stunned at the sudden attack. Who in their right mind stepped into the turf of one of the city’s most feared MCs and started swinging at their president? Only a drunk or a lunatic would be that ballsy. Leon was neither, as far as I knew. His gaze was level and his fists were held up at the ready. He really was intent on doing me some harm.

 

“You’re losing it, old man.”

 

“You’re going to lose your fucking balls if you don’t own up to what you did.”

 

My stomach turned. He must have found out about the raid.

 

But even as the thought crossed my mind, I realized that made no sense. If he’d discovered we were the ones who jacked his cash stash, he would’ve come with an army. Looking through the gates, I saw his bike was the only one parked out front. Why the hell would he come storming in solo?

 

It had to be something else. But what?

 

“You’re gonna need to explain yourself very carefully, Leon,” I said in a cold voice, “and very quickly, too, or else I’ll slice you from balls to brains.”

 

He straightened up. “You touched my baby girl,” he whispered. “You fucking used her. Like one of your whores.”

 

“Now I’m sure you’ve lost it. I’ve never even met your daughter.”

 

“Think again, motherfucker.” He reached into his wallet, withdrew something, and held it up in the slanted beam of light. I squinted and looked close. When I realized what it was, I felt my whole body shrivel and grow cold.

 

It was a picture of Francesca.

 

There was no doubt it was the same girl. Those eyes, that skin, that hair—she was unforgettable. She’d been a constant figure in my dreams over the last four months since I’d first laid claim to her. I’d texted her again and again, called her, but she’d never answered. Now I knew why.

 

She was the daughter of my sworn enemy.

 

“You used her,” he said. “And now she’s carrying your bastard.”

 

His words hit me hard. If the realization that Francesca was Leon’s daughter had knocked me sideways, then the accusation that she was pregnant with my child was the knockout punch. My legs felt weak. I fell to my knees in the dirt, eyes unfocused, trying to process what he’d just said. The knife dropped from my suddenly slack fingers. “My…what?”

 

“You heard me, Shaker. She’s pregnant. It’s yours.”

 

It couldn’t be true. No chance. This kind of thing just didn’t happen to me. I’d been reckless plenty of times before, but it had always turned out fine.

 

This girl, though. This girl was different. Of course things would be different. Of course this would be the one occasion when I couldn’t just walk away from the whole mess. Or could I?

 

“Okay, Leon. Let’s say it is mine. That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”

 

“I’m here to tell you that if you don’t marry her, I’m going to crush you and your club. I’ll stake every one of your brothers’ heads out in my front yard as a warning to all the rest of the world that there are some lines that cannot be crossed.”

 

I was speechless. “Marry her? Are you fucking insane?”

 

He reached down and grabbed me by the front of my shirt, hauling me to my feet. I grabbed his wrists and peeled them off of me, but our strength was equally matched. We stood there, arms flexed and eyes narrowed in mutual hatred. I wanted to skin the son of a bitch, and I knew without question that he would do the same to me, given the chance.

 

So why the fuck was he here, demanding that I marry his daughter?

 

“I won’t have my family name sullied,” he spat. “You’re the lowest scum I know. You’re a thief, a womanizer, a goddamn walking cunt if I’ve ever seen one. But the only thing worse than my daughter being married to you would be for her not to be married at all. I won’t have a whore for a daughter and a bastard for a grandson. Which is why I want you to listen to this threat very carefully, Milo. And make no mistake, it is a threat. If you don’t do as I say, if you don’t marry Francesca, I will make it my life’s work to bleed you dry. Do you hear me? Do you see how serious I am?”

 

His eyes were the same grey as Francesca’s. But whereas on her they were rich with life and spark, his were flat. Cold. Deadly. He meant every word he was saying. And he could do it, too. He might destroy his own club in the process, but he was capable of following through on his word. At best, it would be a long, violent war of attrition. At worst, he would eradicate the Devil’s Sons from the face of the earth. And the whole city might burn in the process.

 

At the same time, how could I say yes to such an unreasonable proposal? I’d just been with Alla and her son. I’d just sworn that I couldn’t do to another woman what Egor had done to his family. This life was mine and mine alone. It didn’t matter that Francesca had stirred up shit inside me I’d never known or wanted to know was there. I wasn’t enough of a selfish bastard to drag her into my darkness.

 

I heard voices behind me raising in alarm. “Prez! Milo, what the fuck? Get away from him, you cocksucker!” Footsteps slammed into the turf as Daze and a few others came racing across the yard.

 

Leon shook me. “Answer me. Give me your word, right now, you worthless piece of shit.”

 

My men surrounded us. Two of them pulled out guns and pointed them at Leon’s head. They were good men, my brothers. They didn’t deserve to fight a bloody, nonsensical war because of something I did. I owed them that much.

 

“Okay,” I choked. “Okay, you bastard. Let go of me. I’ll do it.”