Page 28 of Sinner's Storm
I wasn’t thinking that far ahead.
“Mercy, I can’t let my kid die.”
“Then you know what you have to do,” Mercy said, sliding the legal documents towards me. “Virginia had them drawn up. All you have to do is sign them and she will get a judge to sign off. The second she does, she will contact CPS, and they will inform Delany that you were given temporary permanent custody of your daughter, and she is to leave the hospital immediately. She will have no contact with Harlow.”
“This feels wrong, Mercy,” I said, looking at the documents. “Delany’s a good mom. What if the report is a mistake?”
“You willing to take that chance? Everything you’ve worked for, built back up, every charity, your father’s legacy, will come tumbling down because of this woman if you don’t protect yourself. Is one piece really worth it losing it all?”
Getting to my feet, I shook my head. “I’m telling you. Something isn’t right here. I can feel it, and one thing my father drilled into me from birth was if something didn’t feel right, then it probably wasn’t. I need to speak to my mom about this.”
“I’ll give you twenty-four hours, Storm. But let me be very clear, if you forgo signing, this club will not protect you from what is to come. We all have businesses that rely on this city. This shit doesn’t just affect you. It affects all of us.”
“What are you saying? If I don’t sign, the club will take my mark?”
Mercy sat stone faced. “Will take more than that. You knew what would happen before you accepted the brand.”
“Don’t fucking threaten me, Mercy. Just remember one thing. I was a businessman long before the brand. I know where all the money is hidden.”
His silence spoke volumes.
I was on my own.
Snatching the documents, I left Mercy’s office and the clubhouse.
I needed to think, and I couldn’t do it at the clubhouse with my brothers breathing down my neck. I knew it wouldn’t be long before they all knew what was going on. I didn’t want to have them choose sides. It would be better if I stayed away until I knew what I was going to do.
But first, I needed to speak to my mom.
Half an hour later, I walked into my family’s Bar & Grill to find my mom behind the bar, talking with the chief of Fire Station 43. Gale Stevens was a good man. Hard and trustworthy. He took over the local firehouse after my cousin Shane Calloway died of complications from lung cancer. A lot of the firefighters that survived 9/11 had gotten sick because of the dust and air they inhaled that day, trying to save as many lives as they could.
I thought it funny that, even from the grave, the survivors still battled the events of 9/11 until the day they died. All heroes in my book. Immortalized forever because of their dedication and actions that day... never forgotten.
“Hey, Jason.” My mom smiled as I walked into the bar. “Thought you’d be at work today. What brings you by?”
“Need to talk, Mom. Got a minute?”
“Sure.” My mom frowned, turning back to Gale. “We can pick this up later, Gale. I’ll stop by the firehouse tomorrow morning.”
“Sure thing, Stacy.” The older man winked, before leaving.
Watching as the man left, I heard my mom ask, “What’s wrong?”
“Need to talk in private.”
Laying a towel on the bar, my mom waved Brendon over. “Watch the bar.”
Following my mom to her office, I closed and locked the door behind us. Taking a seat, my mom did the same, waiting for me to begin. I wanted to blurt everything out, just to get it out in the open, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find the right words. What I was about to say was going to open up old wounds and possibly create new ones. My mom had been through so much over the years. I really hated laying this at her feet, but I didn’t know what else to do.
She was the only one I trusted besides my club brothers, and, thanks to Mercy, I knew the club’s position.
“Spit it out, Jason. What’s going on?”
“I’m in trouble, Mom, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Trouble is relative. Need to be more specific than that, Jason.”
“Almost three years ago, I met a woman at this bar. Took her home, had sex and left. I thought that was it. I found out yesterday that I had fathered a child. A little girl. And before you say get a paternity test, I did. She’s mine.”