Bronze (Blackwings MC - Devil Springs #5) - Teagan Brooks

1

“Please, Lorcan. My parents kicked me out. I barely have enough in savings to get by with a few nights in a hotel. I don’t know what else to do,” the woman cried as she rubbed her swollen belly.

My father said something I couldn’t understand, but I knew by the tone of his voice that he was angry. He reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out his money clip. Placing the entire wad in her hand, he pulled her close. “Take this and go. If I ever see you or hear from you again, I’ll kill you and the kid. Understand?”

She nodded her head rapidly as tears ran down her face. “Yes. Yes. I understand. I won’t come back. I promise.”

“Make sure you’re the one who sees to that promise. Not me.”

With that, my father slammed the front door closed, and I ran back to my room before he caught me spying.

I looked down at the journal in my hand and reread the words that triggered the memory.

I think Lorcan has gotten one of his floozies pregnant.

Words my mother wrote in her journal over twenty-two years ago.

Knowing I got my curious nature from my mother, I started digging through her filing cabinet to see if I could find any more information. Mom would have wanted to know for sure if my dad fathered another child. I knew she would have searched for some answers, but I didn’t know if she found any. I wished I could pick up the phone and call her, just like I’d wished every day for the last four months since she died.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I focused on sorting through her documents. Thankfully, she wasn’t one to keep things that weren’t necessary, so it didn’t take me long to find the folder hidden underneath the hanging files. It wasn’t labeled, but I found a note stuck to the first page inside.

My Dear Sloane,

I knew you would find this. I’m sorry there isn’t more. It was difficult to find what little information I did. If you’re going to proceed, do it with caution. If anyone tells you to leave, please heed their warning and leave. If word got back to the wrong person, you could put other people’s lives in danger. Stop and think about that for a minute. I know you’ll make the right choice.

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you or your brothers that you might have another sibling out there. I wanted to be sure before I broke that news to you, and all of the information I found was circumstantial.

Be careful, my beautiful girl. I let this consume my life for a short period of time. I don’t want you to do the same.

I love you, and I’ll always be with you.

Mom

I lifted the note and continued looking through the contents of the folder.

Jackpot!

It appeared my dad fathered a child with a former intern, though her name wasn’t listed anywhere in the documents. There wasn’t a name for the child either, though Mom’s note said it was a girl. Of the few addresses listed, all were crossed out except one. Continuing to flip through the papers, I found records where my mother had sent money to the addresses listed, but from what I could tell, it looked like she stopped doing that a few years after she started.

With the last known address right in front of me, I couldn’t stop myself, even though I didn’t have the first semblance of a plan. I packed my bags and headed to Devil Springs to meet my sister.

When I arrived in town, I found the closest four-star hotel and checked in. I was starving, and I wanted to soak my sore muscles in a hot bath before I worked on coming up with a plan on how to proceed. However, I fell asleep approximately two minutes after I got out of the tub.

When I woke the next morning, I ordered room service for breakfast before I pulled out my laptop and started looking for answers. First, I searched the last known address listed in my mother’s notes. After digging around on Ritch County’s website, I finally found the name listed on the deed to the property.

Adelaide Coleman.

Using social media, I learned that Adelaide was a divorced forty-three-year-old. It appeared she had two daughters and listed her hometown the same as mine. I couldn’t tell if she was the pregnant woman from years ago. Her hair looked the same, but I didn’t recognize anything