Page 5 of Where We Ended

Different than Silas, and different than Alec…he was truly the blueprint but there was nothing holding him together. No code, no moral fiber…no love.

He was the sort of darkness that corrupted, the kind that corroded and took without mercy.

I stole a step back right as Alec explained, “Natty, this is Fable. My father.”

TWO

SILAS

PRESENT

“Tell me again.”

I glared at the man across from me, ignoring his hollow cheeks and withered frame. My mother was patched to this man, living with him, in love with him. She’d finally found someone who cherished her, treated her right and protected her. And now he was about to die from the cancer in his gut.

Simon let out a heavy sigh. “I’ve already told you everything I know.”

My eyes flicked over to my mother whose thin lips and clenched fists told me she wasn’t appreciative of the fact I had drug the two of them out of bed to answer my questions. The memory of the attack was still a blurred dark mass in my head.

The minute I had called Simon and told him to get down to the Stone Riders clubhouse because they were under attack, I knew he’d go, not for me but because he had been the president of that club for nearly twenty years, until just a few months back.

Now his son-in-law was not only a patched member to the club but married to his daughter Callie, who was pregnant, stuck inside the club while it was being attacked. I knew he’d go, and I remembered the tide had turned once he walked in, but after that I didn’t remember anything other than the gravel under my knees and the way my heart felt like it was falling through my stomach when I realized Natty had been taken.

“Silas, of anyone in this room who would have the most information on Fable, you would have more of a lead than us. You studied him for years, you knew his movements, his purchases, his tactics. I haven’t talked to him in over twelve years, and Simon likely hasn?—”

“Two years…” Simon spoke softly, interrupting my mother. His silver brows crowded his forehead the smallest bit, like he was trying to remember. “I saw him two years ago…he wasn’t in Rose Ridge. It was in Richland, so I brushed it off, but I remember seeing him, clear as day at a rally.”

That wasn’t possible…he’d vacated the country two years ago. There was no way he’d return so soon.

Fable was the president of one of the most destructive and dishonorable clubs in the country. He had left The Destroyers behind to avoid prison two years ago. He’d fled to his homeland in Italy, but if he was amongst his club two years ago then the message I’d sent wasn’t quite loud enough.

“Did he see you?” I asked, my gaze snapping up to the retired president.

Simon shook his head. “I don’t think so… I just remember Fable’s Destroyers were riding with them. So were Sons of Speed.”

“Any clue which club he was speaking to?” Simon asked, searching my face for something, not sure what. But I was the one in need of answers, not him. I didn’t owe him shit on my family, and while my mother likely knew the answer, she wasn’t saying anything either.

Old habits died hard. Or for us, didn’t die at all.

Sons of Speed was present when he was seen in town…that was interesting.

I pulled my cell out and checked the time. I was wearing a watch, but I needed something to break up the silence, and while Simon was an ally and the man protecting my mother, I wouldn’t be spilling secrets in his company.

“I have to go.” I slid out of the chair and stood.

Simon’s expression furrowed as he flicked a quick look to my mother.

“That’s it?”

“You can’t help me. I’m just wasting my time.” I walked over to where my mother was sitting and placed a kiss on the top of her head. She squeezed my wrist in that way she always did when she wanted me to be careful. My boots echoed over her floorboards as I walked outside. She followed on my heels, her arms protecting her chest as the night hummed with crickets.

“He’s baiting you, Silas. You’re smarter than this.”

Gravel crunched as I neared my bike, my chest tightening at her words.

“You think I don’t know that?” I glared at my mother, not wanting to dig into this. Simon had stayed inside, which I was thankful for. There were still too many secrets in our past and too many demons I liked to avoid.

My mother’s eyes betrayed nothing, but her lips were turned down, the fists under her cradled arms were clenched tight.