Chapter 5 NOVA
NOVA
“Idon’t like this,” Dad said, his voice low. “I don’t want you there.”
“It’s the only way.”
He frowned. “I have other options.”
“Like Doug?” I whispered.
Another frown, this one making the crease between his dark eyebrows deepen. Dad didn’t like failure and Doug had failed spectacularly in his botched attempt at revenge.
Selfishness was the reason that Doug had failed. He’d gone after the Tin King he’d considered the easiest target—Leo Winter. But instead of owning it, Doug had tried to kill Leo by accident. Probably so Doug could walk away unscathed.
There was no such thing.
The news reports speculated that Doug had drugged Leo and tampered with a jack at the garage, as well as Leo’s truck’s brakes. None of that had been proved yet and if Dad knew the specifics, he hadn’t shared.
Dad was fickle about exactly what he told me, but he promised whatever secrets he kept were for my own good.
And while I trusted him, it meant that I had to gather my own information at times. Most came from the news. That was how I’d learned that Doug had rigged a bomb at Leo Winter’s garage.
The explosion had nearly killed Leo’s then-fiancée, now-wife Cassandra. And it had been Doug’s downfall.
The staged accidents were a weak attack. Anything could—and had—gone wrong. And Doug was no longer a free man. They’d caught him anyway and his life as a free man was over.
“Was he acting on orders? Or of his own volition?” I asked.
Dad didn’t answer.
“Was he even a member?”
Dad gave me a noncommittal shrug.
Apparently, I wouldn’t be leaving here with information on Doug today. Not that I needed it. Today’s visit was simply to check in.
Dad ran a hand through his hair. There were more gray streaks through the dark strands than there had been during my last visit two weeks ago. The goatee that had once been black was nearly white. He was aging before my eyes, but the fight was still etched into the weathered lines of his face.
The day I came here and the fight had vanished from his face was the day I’d worry.
At Dad’s insistence, I didn’t visit often. But with things set in motion, I doubted I’d be able to come here again for a while. I wanted one last meeting with him before I dove deeper into Emmett’s life in Clifton Forge.
It had been two days since Emmett’s deck, and I could still feel him between my legs. His taste was a whisper on my lips and his scent a ghost on my skin.
So far, I’d played this slowly, methodically, but I was about to level up, and once I started, I couldn’t risk another visit to the prison.
“What’s your next move?” Dad asked.
It was a risk to have told him what I was doing, especially in this room with the camera mounted in the corner and the guard beyond the steel door.
I’d hoped to avoid sharing details of my plan with Dad, but when I’d come here today, he’d made an offhand comment about getting in touch with a man connected to the Warriors on the outside.
The last thing I needed was interference, so I’d explained to Dad my plan and asked him for time. Time to infiltrate Emmett Stone’s life, time to find information that would send him, Dash Slater and Leo Winter to prison.
“There’s information at Emmett’s house. I’m sure of it. You told me he was into hacking, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s where I’ll start. Now that I’m in, I can dig deeper. But you need to trust me. Give me time.”
He blew out a long breath and nodded.
“Thank you.” I opened the manila folder I’d brought in and slid it across the metal table between us.
Dad leaned on his forearms, bracketing the page before he began to read. To anyone watching, it was just an attorney giving her client some paperwork to review. But shielded by his arms, on the second page, was another letter from Mom and a recent photo of Christian.
As he read it, I glanced around the room. We’d sat here, in these exact seats, countless times since his sentencing. The room was gray and windowless. His bright orange jumpsuit assaulted my eyes.
But it was in this room that Dad had finally pulled me into his circle.
The first time he’d talked about the Warriors, I’d been sure it was a mistake.
The only member of our family he’d trusted had been TJ.
Dad had always kept Mom, me and Shelby in the dark.
But visit after visit, while I pretended to be one of his attorneys, he’d confided more and more in me. The floodgates had opened.
To his past.
To my anger.
Because it was in this room that I’d learned the details of my brother’s death. That it wasn’t just a nameless rival club who’d murdered him, but the Tin Kings.
Dad might think he had options besides me, but I didn’t trust anyone besides myself to see this through to the end.
He finished reading the letter and looked up. His expression was blank except for the sadness in his eyes. The longing for my mother.
He loved her as much as she loved him.
“I won’t be back for a while.” There’d be no more letters and no more photos.
He nodded, hesitating with the papers before sliding them over.
“She’s thinking of you,” I murmured.
“I’m thinking of her too.”
“Maybe one day she can come to visit.”
“No.” His tone brooked no argument. “Never.”
“But—”
“I don’t want her to see me here. Not like this. We had our goodbyes. We had them every time I left her house.”
I sighed. “Okay.”
He gave me a sad smile, then nodded toward the door. Time was up.
I collected the papers, a templated prenuptial agreement I used at work, and tucked them away in the folder. Then I put it in my briefcase beside my fake ID.
Technically it was a real ID. I was posing as an associate who worked at Dad’s lawyer’s firm.
Nancy Lennox.
We had the same height and a similar build. Her face shape was different than mine, but with the blond wig to match her natural hair color and my thick glasses, no one had ever looked twice.
Being Nancy allowed me to come and go from here without question.
“Stay safe,” he said.
“You too.”
“I love you, Nova,” he whispered.
I hadn’t heard those words enough from my father, simply for the lack of opportunity. For his club that had kept us apart. “I love you too, Dad.”
“Work fast.”
Dad was worried that as years passed with him in prison, he’d lose his influence.
It was a valid concern. People outside of these walls would return to their normal lives and though there were members of the Warriors who wouldn’t spend decades here, they’d be less likely to help him in his battle against the Tin Kings in five years than they were now.
But at the moment, many of them were as angry as Dad. As angry as me. Right now, things were raw.
Time would dull that emotion. Time would make them forget.
If I failed, if I couldn’t find evidence to lock the Kings away and throw away the key, Dad would call in favors. He’d explore those other options.
The clock was ticking.
“I’m counting on you, Nova.”
“I know. And you can.”
“That’s my girl.”
My chest swelled with pride. How long had I waited for his confidence? How many years had I longed for him to include me in his life? It was sad that his arrest had been the catalyst that brought us together. It broke my heart that being in this room was where I’d felt the closest to my father.
“I’ll be back when it’s done,” I said, shoving to my feet.
“Drive careful.” Be careful.
“Always.” I walked to the door and knocked. The guard appeared in the window and unlatched the lock. Then, leaving my father behind, I was led through the maze of prison hallways to the checkout station. It wasn’t a quick process coming here, but finally I stepped outside into the August sunshine.
The parking lot was nearly empty today. Fridays were normally quiet. But tomorrow, Saturday, would be busy, as it was a regular visiting day for family members.
I walked to the parking lot and slid into the Nova. The riskiest move I took coming here was driving my own car. It was the one object, besides my fingerprints, that could connect the fake Nancy Lennox to the real June Johnson.
Though with my fake license plates, it would take some effort.
Luckily, since I claimed to be Dad’s lawyer, the administration hadn’t put me through the full visitor protocol.
They’d no doubt done a background check, but they were satisfied to let me in based on my ID alone.
Probably because I hadn’t started visiting Dad until after his conviction.
The FBI and state prosecutor were busy with the other Warriors and their respective trials at the moment.
Posing as Nancy, I was simply bringing paperwork to a client to settle his estate. Not that he had many assets left.
This ruse couldn’t go on forever. But I’d push it for as long as possible.
The FBI might discover that I was not exactly who I said I was, though without testing my DNA, they’d never know I was Dad’s daughter. It wasn’t really the FBI who concerned me at this point. The worst they could do was keep me from Dad.
No, my biggest concern was Emmett and his friends in Clifton Forge.
One of his buddies was Luke Rosen, the Clifton Forge chief of police. I was sure Luke, in conjunction with the FBI, was monitoring Dad’s visitors. They’d find Nancy Lennox on the rosters, but if they chose to follow Nancy . . .
It was good today was the last visit for a while.
I climbed in my car, took one last look at the prison through my window, then drove away. Ten miles outside the prison, I stopped on the side of the highway and made sure there were no cars approaching. Then I got out and went to the trunk.
Mom had taught Shelby and me to always keep emergency supplies handy in case we ever got stranded. Cell service could be spotty in Montana and it was better not to count on a rescue. Women often had to rescue themselves.