“What is it?” he asks.
Here it is: my opening. The time for me to confess. Fucking hell, I’ve been a member of the Devil’s Blaze for a lot of fucking years. Before that, I served my time overseas facing down IED’s, enemy fire, and certain death. Still, none of that compares to the knot that’s in my stomach right now.
“Boss, do you really think Beth is alive? That she could have somehow survived? And wasn’t her sister supposed to be dead, too? This could all be Colin just blowing smoke up our asses while he’s starting more shit.”
He holds his head down and rakes his fingers through his hair. There’s still a small tremor that tells his emotions.
“I think there’s a real possibility,” Skull confesses. “Colin would have never come at me to rub this shit in if he didn’t know for sure. I’m left here feeling fucked up because I want it to be true, but I also don’t want it to be. If it’s true, that means she has played me all this time. It means… Fuck, Torch, I’m so fucked up I’m not sure what it means.”
“Boss, I need to tell you something.”
“Can it wait, mi hermano? I want to get this done.”
“Boss. I think… that woman with Beth in the pictures, her sister… I think she called here.”
Skull’s face goes cold. It literally freezes almost into stone. I’m proud of myself; a lesser man would shit himself. That’s the look I’ve seen on Skull’s face right before people die.
“Explain,” Skull says, one terse word while his fists open and close.
“That night at the movie theater before Tiny and all that shit went down… remember? The fight with Dragon?”
“Si.”
“You were shit-faced, boss. I was just about to leave you to sleep it off and… your cell phone rang. Some chick was on the other end claiming Beth had been coming to find you. She said… fuck, boss. I can’t remember what she said. She said there were complications and Beth was at the hospital in London. In the maternity wing—”
Skull roars again. The scream is deep and dark enough to rival that of a wild animal. He jerks the heavy table enough to move it sideways—and that’s not an easy feat. Then, he pushes away and grabs me by the neck, pushing me back quickly until I slam into the wall on the other side of the room.
“How could you not tell me that, motherfucker?? How am I just hearing about this right now??” he growls, and I’d answer him but I’m pretty sure he’s crushing my trachea right now. “Answer me, you son of a bitch!!”
“Boss, I don’t think he can.” The words come from Sabre. “He’s turning blue.” Sabre sounds calm, but I can see his face and there’s nothing calm about him. Skull pulls away from me slightly, but not much. I’m not stupid; I know I got a world of hurt coming my way. I welcome it. As much as Skull hates me right now, I hate myself even more. What if that was Beth? What if she needed us, and because of me, gave up? Why the fuck did she wait so long to get in touch with us, anyway? There’s just so many fucking questions. I try to take air into my lungs without appearing to be a weak son of a bitch whose legs are about to give out on him.
“Boss… I didn’t know. I thought someone was fucking with us. We saw that explosion. How could anyone survive that? I helped plant the charges myself. I know the extent of the damage. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. I was sure it was a hoax. I was just trying to prevent… Fuck, Boss. I just wanted to protect you. We all know what losing Beth did to you.”
“I don’t care what you have to do. You get those records, you get video footage, I do not give a fuck. You get me something I can see in front of me, and do that yesterday.”
“I already contacted my guy that works in records there, boss. I should have it on my computer.”
“Show me.”
“It’ll just be a file, boss. They don’t keep video footage that long. It’s been two years.”
“Show me what the fuck you got.”
I go to the computer to open the email. It’s records, mainly. Twenty-year-old woman, emergency caesarian, coded on the table. What was that shit? Then, I see the child’s picture and read the birth certificate. Fucking son of a milk cow. I print it out and take it to Skull, then wait.
He drops the papers on the table, all except one piece. The birth certificate. His hand shakes, and I know why. I just read it. His voice is thick with emotion.
“I want the original of this picture.”
“Yes, boss.”
“I fucking want it now.”
“Yes, boss,” I say again, but this time I start walking to the door. I stop when his voice hits me right before I leave.
“She named the child after my mother…”
“I’ll go get the originals.”
“Do it. And when you get back, pick two men to go with you.”
“Go with me?”
“To Tennessee. You bring back Beth and mi hijo. If you can’t find them, you bring back her fucking sister. She’ll come out of the woodwork for her sister. I want all of them here. Every fucking one of them.”