Chapter 3 NOVA
NOVA
“Hey, Mama.” I hugged her as she came into my condo.
“Hi, honey. How’s my pretty girl?” She kissed my cheek, sweeping into the kitchen and setting her purse on the counter beside a vase of white roses.
Picking up those flowers and meeting with Mom were the last items on my massive to-do list. It had been two days since my trip to Clifton Forge and the hours had become a blur of rushing from one task to the next, all so I could leave Missoula today and carry on with my plan.
“I’m good. Thanks for doing this.”
She touched the silky tip of a rose. “Would you like to explain why I’m housesitting for two months?”
“Do you really want to know?” I asked, knowing her answer.
“Probably not.” She leaned in and drew in the fragrant scent of the bouquet.
Mom had always kept her distance from Dad’s business with the Warriors.
They’d met at one of the club’s ruckus parties. Mom had been young and had gone to Ashton with a friend, the two of them somehow finding themselves at the clubhouse. But that had been the one and only time Mom had been around the Warriors. Once had been enough.
She’d gotten pregnant with Shelby that night and Dad had insisted that Mom and his unborn child be completely removed from the club scene. Mom had always gone along with Dad’s wishes because she would do anything to keep us kids safe, even if that meant loving him in secret.
Mom didn’t talk about Dad with her friends, just like we didn’t discuss our father. She still lived in my childhood home and if our neighbors had asked questions about the man who visited infrequently, she hadn’t answered.
Their marriage had been by vow only. Their love had been confined to the walls of her home.
I suspected the reason she turned a blind eye to Dad’s club wasn’t just to protect her children, but also to guard her heart.
If she’d talked about the Warriors with Dad, it had never been in my presence. I was sure she knew more than she let on but she didn’t push for every detail. She trusted Dad.
We’d all trusted Dad, even Shelby.
Besides, Mom had no need for questions, because she had the life she wanted.
Not once had she complained about raising three children on her own.
She ran the show. She’d been the captain of our ship.
Yes, she’d missed Dad and had cried whenever he’d left after his short visits, but the sad days had never lasted.
Until TJ.
After his death, Mom had changed. There was a bone-deep pain in her eyes now and that ghost showed no signs of disappearing.
I wouldn’t burden her with more worry. She didn’t need to know I was tangling with the very men who’d killed her child. I would make the Tin Kings pay for his death, and maybe then, with vengeance delivered, would I share.
“I spoke to your sister.” She kept her gaze locked on the roses. “Did you see him?”
“Yes.”
“And how is he?”
“He’s okay.” As best he could be in prison. “I gave him your letter.”
I was the conduit for their communication because even though he was spending his life in prison, he still didn’t want Mom making contact. He didn’t want to risk his enemies discovering her identity, especially now that he would be helpless to protect her.
So she wrote letters and when I made my infrequent visits, I passed them along.
“You gave him the pictures of Christian?” she asked.
“Yes, the letter and the pictures of Christian.”
It wasn’t Shelby who made sure that Dad knew what his grandson looked like, it was Mom. With each of my visits, I’d bring a letter of Mom’s for Dad to read. She’d always tuck in a picture or two of Christian that she’d taken on one of their many grandmother-grandson playdates.
The letters never stayed with Dad, but he’d keep the pictures. Those photos and my visits were his only connection to his family. Even I only visited with an expensive wig, reading glasses and a false identity.
Maybe once the Tin Kings were gone, maybe after enough time had passed that Dad’s other enemies had forgotten about an old man living in a cell, she’d be able to visit. Maybe we could drop this ruse and be a family.
No more hiding.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
It would be easier to lie and tell her Bozeman or Billings, but if something happened to me, which was a real possibility, I wanted her to know where I was. “Clifton Forge.”
Her face whipped to mine, her eyes widening. “Nova.”
I loved my name. Even spoken in Mom’s stern mom voice, I loved my name. But she called me June more often than not.
And I just wanted to be Nova.
“Trust me,” I whispered.
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“I know what I’m doing.”
“Do you?”
“You just said that you didn’t want to know.”
She scowled. “Now I’ve changed my mind.”
And yet I still wouldn’t tell her the whole truth. Mom didn’t need to know the lengths I was going to or that I’d spent the night in a Tin King’s bed. She didn’t need to know that her youngest daughter was fucking the enemy—literally and figuratively.
Or that it had been . . . unexpected. Even after two days, I hadn’t quite figured out how I felt about my night with Emmett. Not that it mattered. I’d have years to dwell on it once this was over.
“Trust me, Mom.”
“I can’t visit another grave, Nova.”
“You won’t have to.”
She looked to me, her eyes pleading. “You’re playing with fire. I know who lives in Clifton Forge.”
“They have to pay.” And my revenge would be the lasting kind.
The three remaining Tin Kings deserved a lifetime in prison. If my father was destined to live his days without freedom, those men deserved it too.
Dash Slater.
Leo Winter.
Emmett Stone.
According to Dad, he’d brokered a truce with the Tin Kings long ago, a truce to save the lives of men in both clubs. Dad had honored that truce for years, and he’d ensured that the members of his club had honored it too.
When the Tin King club had disbanded, Dad had believed their rivalry was truly over. But those snakes had been biding their time. For years they’d waited to strike.
I hated that they’d won.
But I would balance the scales. I wouldn’t rest until they’d lost everything. Until their wives had divorced them and their children had forgotten their names.
Maybe Mom thought I was seeking death, but death was not the goal here.
Too much blood had already been spilled.
“Nova . . .” Mom sighed.
“Trust me.” I could—would—do this.
Not just for Dad, but for me too. I craved vengeance.
After Dad’s arrest, for the first time in my life, he’d confided in me about his club. He’d told me story after story about the Warriors. He’d told me story after story about the Tin Kings.
He’d told me how they’d murdered my brother.
We’d always known that TJ had died because of a rival club, but Dad had spared Mom, Shelby and me the details. Now that I had them, there was a newfound rage in my blood. A fury that wouldn’t ebb until the Tin Kings suffered too.
Months ago, I’d asked Dad to let me go after the Tin Kings. He’d refused.
Except Dad was running out of options and people he could trust. Fifty-seven Warriors had been arrested in the FBI raid of their clubhouse in Ashton. Most were looking at a minimum of five years. Senior members, like Dad, would never walk free again.
As time went on, fewer and fewer people would remain loyal to Tucker Talbot. As it was, some of the video footage he’d kept from the clubhouse was the reason his members were facing prison sentences.
Dad’s allies were dwindling and those still loyal were being closely watched.
So Dad had been forced to be creative in his quest for vengeance. He’d been forced to enlist outsiders, like my cousin Doug Hamilton.
A cousin who I’d never met—who had no idea I existed—but who I knew was an idiot. Doug had lacked both the brains and the motivation to wipe out the Tin Kings. He’d concocted a harebrained plan that had not only failed but landed him in a cell too.
Doug’s failure was fresh, and I’d capitalized on it during my visit to the prison on Monday. This time when I’d asked Dad to let me have a chance, he’d agreed.
Revenge didn’t have to be some complicated ordeal. The Tin Kings were far from innocent and all I had to do was find proof of their crimes. Their murders. All I had to do was earn one man’s trust.
Emmett.
It had been so easy to get into his bed. His arrogance was astounding.
He’d walked up to me at the bar, held out his hand and expected me to drop my panties. Probably because countless women before me had done just that. He knew how to use that handsome face and sexy swagger. I’d been just another easy score.
I only hoped that by refusing to give him my name, by playing aloof, he’d be game for another round. Hell, he’d even brought me to his home. I’d thought it would take a few nights before he’d let me in to his bed. Either he had no intention of seeing me again or I’d snared his interest.
I guess I’d find out soon enough.
The Nova was packed with enough clothes to last me through the fall.
Yesterday, I’d spent the day working at the office to finish a few tasks and touch base with Brendon before working remotely for two months.
Then today, I’d cleaned my condo and made sure the fridge was empty before calling Mom to come over.
Once she left, I was driving to Clifton Forge.
“Does May know where you’re going?” Mom asked.
“No. She knows I’m leaving town for a couple of months but I told her it was a work assignment in Bozeman.”
Mom frowned. She was okay with us lying about our identities, but she didn’t like us lying to each other. I didn’t like it either.
But I knew my sister, and Shelby would not understand. If she knew what I was actually doing, she’d flip out and I wouldn’t put it past her to come to Clifton Forge and blow the whistle. So this morning, when I’d taken a latte over as a peace offering, I’d looked her in the face and lied.