Epilogue - Harlow
Four months later
I wasn’t sure I was able to do it, but three months after the attack, I testified. I got up onto a stand in front of a judge and a jury of his peers and spoke ill against my own father. There were tears in his eyes the entire time, and I wasn’t sure I was going to be strong enough on the stand to do it. Watching my strong father cry tears of pure and unadulterated fear was petrifying for me. My mother was casting me disgusting looks from a chair behind him, and as I watched my father be hauled away to prison for the rest of his life, my heart broke. My mother was moaning and crying, reaching out for him as the guards pushed him over to the door. My own mother condemned me. Spat in my face and asked me if this was how a daughter who had been given everything treated the one man she could trust.
But that was the thing.
I could never trust my father again.
The more Laiken showed me about my father, the more I knew I had done the right thing. All of the evidence presented in court left me breathless. Offshore accounts. Empty corporations. Shell corporations that had ties to street gangs and dealings with the mob. My father hadn’t simply connected himself with The Devil’s Saints. He had reconnected with everyone my grandfather and my great-grandfather had ever dealt with. He hadn’t been trying to clean up our name or get rid of the family history.
He was trying to profit off it.
No matter how much I loved my father, I knew putting him away was the right decision. No matter how much it hurt and no matter how many nightmares I had leading up to the court date, I knew I had to do it. The more Laiken dug, the more evidence that piled up against him. Signed paperwork and voice messages. Video surveillance footage of my father shaking hands with some of the most ruthless individuals on this side of the country.
But even with all that, my testimony on the stand about that lunch with my father proved to be the thing that sealed his fate.
With my court appearance, it helped to strengthen the DEA’s case against The Devil’s Saints. They were able to remove him from the public eye and leave them vulnerable. They were able to use the evidence against my father as supposed proof that he had under-the-table, illegal dealings with that club.
After all, if he did it with the mob and he did it with street gangs, why would he all of a sudden not be doing it with them?
Now, the DEA had more proof than ever before from my father’s own files. Everything in his office, electronic and otherwise, could be used as evidence against The Devil’s Saints. They rifled through everything. Every deal. Every payment. Every electronic correspondence. They spoke in code, and once the DEA cracked it, putting The Devil’s Saints away became easy.
And all because my father was the cork in the bottle.
All of them were hauled off. Every single one of them. The women and children who were being used got the help they needed, and some of them were even put into the Witness Protection Program. The DEA took down everything. My father’s files had even led them to their drug suppliers. Anyone along their routes that helped them funnel all of this stuff into Nevada. There wasn’t a stone that was left unturned, and once the DEA was finished, there was no sign of The Devil’s Saints.
Not one bit.
Having the Devil’s Saints off the street also settled the KG9’s. Fox told me that Calais had officially declared their debt with one another settled. He assured me they would never come after me again. Mostly because of Fox’s threat, but partially because the street gang knew they could never take on The Road Rebels by themselves. In fact, Calais later expressed a want to be on good terms with The Road Rebels. To work alongside one another and try to build a mutually beneficial relationship.
We all knew why they wanted that, though. It was because the KG9’s no longer had the numbers over The Road Rebels any longer. They could no longer act like the badasses they thought they were without being overrun by the club themselves.
Nevertheless, Fox was always on his guard. I was still staying with him, migrating to and from work from his place. It still didn’t feel right to go back to my apartment, even though I hadn’t been back in a month. I couldn’t blame Fox for wanting to stay at my side, nor could he blame me for wanting to be around him. Fox had been the only man that had ever gone out of his way to protect me from danger. Not simply shield me from it.
But after the story he told me, it made more sense as to why he was more than welcoming me to his apartment.
Fox told me everything. About what the club used to do. About the truck they planted. He told me the story of why they planted the truck in the first place and how Sydney had helped them and how things had spun so violently out of control. Talon told me about his undercover work and how ruthless Beast had become. Snake told me about him and Fox, how they would patrol in the darkness around The Devil’s Saints’ compound and try to shovel up dirt on them.
I cried throughout the story. For the lives, they led, and for the heartache, all of them must’ve gone through. It made me see them and all of their relationships in a different light. It made me see Fox and I in a different light. I loved the man with everything I had, but hearing what they all went through-- what he went through-- it strengthened that love somehow.
It made me feel like he would do all of it over again just to make sure I was safe.
As far as the club, things were going great. After the case with my father was settled and the DEA started cleaning up the streets, the club continued on with their plans. They dumped the drug-running and funneled their efforts into opening up a new bar in town. It was a bar that was going to serve the public, not simply the club. They were going through all the proper channels and applying for liquor licenses and going about things as if they were going to do this the legitimate way. Contractors were coming in and being paid professionally to construct the bar. No one was being paid under-the-table to cut corners. Everyone who was being hired for bartending and kitchen line positions were being interviewed formally. It really looked as if the group was trying to get their act together.
And I was thankful for that.
“Good morning.”
Hearing Fox’s voice in my ear caused me to smile.
“Morning,” I said.
“How’d you sleep?”
“Okay. A bit sore. How’d you sleep?”
“Sore? Where? Are you okay?”
“Fox, calm down,” I said with a giggle. “It’s just my hips.”
“I’d like to take credit for that, but I don’t think I can this time.”
“Nope. This time, I think it’s that other little man.”
I looked down at my protruding stomach as Fox snuggled underneath the covers.
“Hello there, son. I need to ask you a favor. Mommy’s not feeling well, so I need you to knock it off in there. She’s gotta sleep so she can deal with both of us when the time comes,” Fox said.
I smiled, sighing as I relaxed my body against the mattress of our bed.
“Five more months,” I said with a sigh.
“You’re going to be a wonderful mother,” Fox said.
“Thanks. But right now, I feel like a slowly-bloating walrus.”
“But you’re a cute walrus.”
“You’re gonna get my knee in your nose.”
“I don’t think the patrons of our bar would enjoy blood in their drinks tonight.”
“You bartending?” I asked.
“Yep. Through the weekend. That’s what I get for taking all of last week off,” he said.
“But it was my birthday. I think it was worth it.”
“With the memories we made, it definitely was.”
Fox popped up from underneath the covers before he settled himself along the lines of my body. I parted my legs for him, allowing his body to sink between them. I ran my hands along his chest, my fingertips taking in the deep ripples of his strong muscles. Fox reached for my left hand and brought it to his lips, his fingers tracing the massive diamond ring on my finger.
“You sure you wanna be stuck with me the rest of your life?” I asked.
“Wouldn’t have bought you this ring if I didn’t,” Fox said.
“You know we don’t have to rush this. We don’t have to get married before the baby comes.”
“You mean you don’t wanna rush off to Vegas, book a stale-smelling chapel, and tie the knot this weekend?”
“How romantic,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
“We can have whatever kind of wedding you want. If you want it big, we’ll go big. If you want it small, we’ll do small. If you want it now or later, we’ll schedule it whenever you want. The only thing that matters to me is that you and our son are healthy, happy, and safe.”
I rose up from the pillow, capturing his lips with mine as his hand cradled my head.
I loved Fox. I loved him with every fiber of my being. And in the process of getting to know everyone, I had grown to love them all. Sydney. Emery. Hawk and Snake. Gemma and Laiken and Mac, and even Talon. I cherished them. They had become the family I had always wanted.
The family I thought I had in the first place.
I could trust them. Go to them. Talk to them and ask them for advice. They were fortresses when it came to keeping secrets, and there was never a time when anything got back to Fox. Even when I called Laiken up crying because I was pregnant so soon after my father being put in jail, she never once went and told Fox. She comforted me on many lonely nights until I could work up the courage to tell him.
I was thankful for that. Thankful for the respect she gave me in understanding I couldn’t go to him with it. Not at that moment. She might not have agreed, but she understood. She respected my decisions, which was more than I could say for my father.
Or my mother, for that matter.
“I love you,” I said in a whisper.
Fox pulled back from my lips as his eyes danced between mine.
“I love you, too,” he said.
“When do you go to work tonight?”
“Gotta be there by seven to help set some things up. Why?”
“Just wondering. Do you want me to cook dinner before you head out?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll grab something on the way.”
“You sure? I don’t mind pulling something out.”
“I know you don’t, but we do need to talk about something.”
“What?” I asked.
“We need to figure out what to do about your apartment.”
Fox dipped back down beside me and pulled me into his arms. It was a subject I was hesitant on addressing. I didn’t know why it was so hard for me to let go of that apartment. After all, I wasn’t living there. I wasn’t residing there. I hadn’t stepped foot into the place other than to get more clothes since my father’s sentencing.
But for some reason, it was hard for me to let go of that lease.
“I know, I know. It’s a waste of money,” I said.
“It’s not that,” Fox said.
“Then what is it?” I asked. “Why can’t I let go of this thing?”
“Because it’s the one last thread you have to your former life. You know, your family.”
“You’re my family.”
“You know what I mean, Harlow. Baby, what happened last month was hard. You lost your father and your mother in the same day. That apartment, it symbolizes all that. Not just all the bad, but all the good times you had with them, too.”
“Why did my mother abandon me? I just can’t believe she chose my father over me.”
“I know,” he said. “I don’t know how mothers can do that to their children. But I think it’s time. I think it’s time to let the place go and find a way to move forward.”
“Without them.”
“If they want to come back into your life, we can sit down and have a conversation with them. I’m not thrilled about the idea, but they’re your parents. And if they come back, they’ll be grandparents to our son. I can put my own prejudices aside long enough to speak with them like an adult. But for now, I think it’s time to relinquish the apartment.”
I sighed as I felt tears brewing behind my eyes. As much as I knew he was right, it was still a struggle to fully shut that door of my life.
“I could pull the money out of my savings account to break the lease. I’ll lose the security deposit, and I’ll have to front two or three months’ rent, but it’ll be cheaper than riding out the rest of the lease,” I said.
“I can help you do that. I’ve got plenty of money underneath my belt. And we can move the things you want to keep in here-”
“No,” I said.
Fox held my gaze steadily as I drew in a deep breath.
“If I’m doing to do this, there’s going to be no evidence of it. No furniture being transferred, no beds being reused, nothing. Most of the stuff in that apartment my parents purchased anyway. It will do me no good if the point is to get rid of the influence.”
I felt Fox’s lips connect with mine as my body pressed into his. I felt his arm thread around my waist, pulling me close to his strength. I threw my arms around his neck, pulling him deeper as our tongues collided.
It never ceased to amaze me how comforting and calming his touch could be to me.
“Whenever you’re ready to go speak with your landlord, I’m ready to go with you,” he said.
“We could do it this afternoon, if you’d like,” I said.
“Whatever you want. So long as we’re on the same page with the apartment, I’m following your lead.”
“Then let’s get up and get dressed. We could go talk to them now then get some lunch.”
“Whatever you want,” he said as he kissed my lips. “Whatever you need.”
“All I need is you,” I said.
“And you have me, Harlow. Forever.”