Chapter Twenty-Six
Navigator
Holy fucking shit!
Rhea Cooper, wife of Kronos, was Gabriella Baudelaire. Morpheus’ missing sister. And fucking Kalden knew where she was the whole fucking time. The son of a bitch was lucky he was dead; though knowing Morpheus, he might find a way to resurrect the fucker just so he could kill him again.
I had to call my father. There was no other option. This wasn’t something I could keep from him without it coming back to bite me in the ass. My relationship with my father was tenuous at best. He played the dear old dad part when it benefitted him.
There were no birthday cards, no Christmas presents or phone calls once a week to catch up on each other’s lives.
My father was the furthest thing from a family man that you could get.
He was in his sixties, and with each passing year, the idea that he would find a woman and settle down, step down as VP of the Brotherhood of Bastards and back the fuck off my life, got further and further away.
“Why don’t you want him told?” Jingles asked.
I looked at Gabriella. All my life she was a ghost. A myth. A woman who’d disappeared, much like her daughter had, and said fuck you to everyone else. She had no idea of the hell she’d caused when she took off. The path my life took because she was selfish and wanted out of the life.
And not just my life.
Jackson, Gage, Joshua, and Heath. We’d all paid for her disappearance, and it cost us our lives.
I glared at the woman as I waited for her to answer.
She sat there staring at the table in front of her.
Everyone believed she wanted out of the biker world, and here she sat.
Old lady and wife of one of the most notorious bikers there was.
“Did he hurt you?” Aspen asked. Gabriella turned to her daughter, but didn’t answer until Aspen asked again, “Did Morpheus hurt you?”
“No, Sugar, he didn’t hurt me. Why I left isn’t important.”
“It is fucking important,” I shouted. “You don’t know what he’s done to find you.
The people he’s hurt. The pain he has suffered.
The man lost his humanity because you disappeared without a fucking trace.
They all have,” I said, slamming my fist on the table.
Diesel barked and ran around the table, nudging me with his head.
“Brother, what’s going on?” my president asked.
I dug my hand into Diesel’s fur and took a deep breath. Maybe Banshee had the right idea with these dogs. Diesel laid his head on my knee under the table as I petted him. I could feel my heart rate begin to slow and the anger settle. I swung my eyes to King. “I have to call my father.”
King glared at me. “You don’t have a fucking father.”
I stood from my seat and lifted my shirt, showing everyone in the room the tattoo inked over my heart. Diesel whined at my feet as I confessed, “My father is Cerberus.”
Gabriella gasped. “Zachary?” She stood and moved around her son’s men until she stood in front of me.
She reached her hand out to touch me, and I stepped back, letting my shirt fall and cover my chest. “I held you in my arms the day you were born.” A tear slipped down her cheek, and she wiped it away. “Your mother was my friend.”
“I never knew my mother; she was murdered.”
“I know. I’m so sorry, Zachary. I wish I could have stopped him.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “What?” I rasped.
“He was the reason I ran. He knew I’d seen him kill her.”
“Who?”
Gabriella shook her head. She turned her back on me to step away, and I grabbed her arm.
“Who killed my mother?” I growled.
Kronos leapt from his seat and stomped toward me. Diesel moved in front of me, guarding me as I stood holding Gabriella hostage. He snarled and barked, baring his teeth at Kronos, halting him in his steps.
“Who killed my mother, Gabriella?”
“Get your hands off my wife, motherfucker.”
The Gods of Mayhem fanned out around the table but were met with resistance when my brothers blocked their path.
“Zach, let her go, brother.”
I looked into the eyes of Eros. “Fuck you, Gage.” Returning my attention to Gabriella, I snarled, “Who fucking killed her?” I saw her wince, but my hand only gripped her arm harder.
“Zephyr.”
My hand dropped immediately, and I stepped back. Diesel moved to my side, allowing Kronos to pull his wife into his arms.
“That motherfucker!” Bane cursed.
King glared at me and then moved his eyes to Bane before looking around the room. His eyes locked onto Eros.
“Lift your fucking shirt,” he ordered.
“You’re not my president,” Eros answered.
King walked around the table until he stood in front of Eros, Diesel at his feet—growling low.
“Lift your fucking shirt, or I will let the beast tear the fucking thing off.”
Eros glared at King. His eyes dropped to the dog whose fur was standing straight up. He bared his teeth and growled. Diesel was fucking huge, and scary on a good day. When he bared his teeth, your only hope was if Aspen called him back—or a clean shot to the forehead.
My brothers and I carried in church. In fact, the only time we didn’t have a weapon on us in the clubhouse were when we were fucking and when we were sleeping. Then again, the former didn’t always guarantee we weren’t armed. As for the latter, our guns were only an arm’s reach away.
But guests had to leave their weapons with the prospect at the door.
None of the Gods of Mayhem brothers had a weapon on their body.
They didn’t need one to inflict pain and damage.
But they were no match for Aspen’s hell beast. It was the only reason Kronos hadn’t been able to kill me when I touched his wife.
Diesel was getting a steak every fucking night for the rest of his life.
I hadn’t thought when I grabbed Gabriella.
When she mentioned my mother’s death, I simply reacted.
My father had his suspicions about what had happened to my mother, but there was never any proof, and if you were a Bastard, you didn’t accuse a brother of taking a shit without concrete solid fucking evidence.
Eros looked at me, and I nodded. This wasn’t the time for secrets, not anymore.
“Sugar, can you call your dog back?” Zeus asked Aspen.
“No, Zeus, I don’t think I will,” Aspen said. “I’m sorry, Eros.”
Eros looked at Aspen and nodded. He reached for his shirt, his eyes on King’s as he pulled it from the waistband of his jeans, lifting the hem to his neck so we could see the tattoo inked there.
“Fuck,” Zeus cursed, slamming his fist into the wall behind him.
Kronos was quiet. I’d bet my whole fucking setup he’d known who the fuck Eros was the whole time. And never told his son.
“Does he know?” Bane asked, his eyes on Eros’ chest.
“No.”
Eros’ brother was a Bastard. None of the Bastards knew we wore the brand aside from my father. I wasn’t even sure if Morpheus knew.
“I don’t have a choice, King,” I said. “We have enough shit going on with the Death Dogs. If Morpheus finds out we knew where his sister was and said nothing. Well, the Death Dogs will be the least of our worries.”
“You didn’t seem to have a problem knowing where my sister was without saying shit,” Zeus growled.
“Zeus, all due respect, you aren’t fucking Morpheus,” I hissed.
King walked back to his seat. As he passed by me, I uttered, “I didn’t have a choice, King.”
“Fuck you, Nav.”
“Titan knew,” I said.
King spun around and slammed his fist into my jaw. “I DIDN’T FUCKING KNOW!”
King sat in his chair and said, “Everyone, get the fuck out.”
The few still sitting slowly rose from their seats and quietly left the room. I held back. King sat in his chair and glared at me as Cash followed the others to the door.
When the doors closed, he locked them and turned around. Looking at me, he ordered, “Cut the fucking cameras.”
I sat down, and with a few keystrokes, the cameras in the room were cut off.
“That hurt, asshole.”
“You fucking deserved it.” With a sigh, King said, “I’m sorry about your mom, Nav.”
I shrugged. “I never knew her.”
“I never knew mine either, and mine walked away willingly. Still fucking hurt when I found out she was gone and I’d never have the chance to meet her.”
“Now what?” Cash asked. He was never one for getting overly emotional unless it came to Kytten, his old lady.
“I have to call him,” I said, rubbing my chin. King didn’t pull punches, ever. Even if it was for show.
King and Cash knew I was part of the Brotherhood. I’d told them both when we opened this chapter. I’d told them almost everything. But no one knew that. Not even my father. He believed he had me under his control.
He didn’t know there were things I hadn’t shared with him. Things I never would. But this was different. Gabriella Baudelaire had made the Brotherhood what it had become.
Kalden Baudelaire had been a controlling, sadistic bastard who put George Stone to shame. But after he was murdered, and Morpheus took over, things ramped up. Morpheus was who he was because of everything he’d lost in his life, starting with his parents, then his sister, and finally his son.
I wasn’t lying when I told Gabriella he’d lost his humanity. He was so far gone I didn’t think finding his sister would have the power to bring him back. But I had to try.
I pulled out my phone and dialed my father’s number. Putting it on speaker, I laid it on the table in front of my president and VP.
“Zach? What’s wrong?” he shouted over the noise of his clubhouse. I rarely called my father, choosing to wait for him to reach out himself when he needed answers. If he sought me out, it was easier to keep my answers direct, only giving him what he needed.
“I found the proof we need.”
“How, son?”
He always called me son. As if that made him father of the year, not a bastard who’d ignored me most of my life except for when he needed me to do his bidding.
“I have an eyewitness,” I said, looking at King. He nodded, and I continued, “There was someone who saw him kill her.”
“I need more than that, son. Morpheus won’t believe the word of just anyone.” The loud voices in the background sounded muffled over the volume of the music.
“He’ll believe her.”
“Her?” my father parroted.
“I found her. She’s at my clubhouse.”
I heard a door slam, and the line went quiet. The sound of his labored breathing told me he’d left the party in a hurry.
“She’s alive?” he asked.
“Alive and fucking well,” I snipped.
“Zach, it wasn’t her fault.” This was an argument we had often. He believed my anger toward Gabriella was misguided. Like somehow, she was the only person I blamed for my mother’s death. Whereas she was one of many.
Including my father.
“She saw him do it. He’ll believe her. But that’s not all of it.”
The line was quiet again, and I knew my father was sitting down. Bracing himself for what I was about to tell him.
“Kalden knew where she was the whole fucking time.”