Epilogue
Zeus
Athens, Texas
“MOTHERFUCKER!” The glass in my hand went hurtling across the room as I yelled.
“Son.”
I stared at my phone, ignoring my father’s voice. It was another fucking dead end. My baby sister was out there somewhere—scared, alone. And I couldn’t fucking find her.
He’d fucked up, and he knew it. It was why he’d retired and handed the club over to me.
Twenty-two years ago, my twin sister, Diana, disappeared from college in New York.
My parents were convinced the Soulless Sinners were involved, but without proof, we couldn’t go to war.
And now, my baby sister Irene had been missing for two years without us knowing.
“Son, we’ll find her.”
“Will we, Dad? Like we fucking found Diana?”
“She has to be there. Skinner wouldn’t move the whole fucking club without a reason,” my father argued.
I’d gotten a tip saying Irene was in the Midwest. That was why I’d called King in Nebraska, hoping he’d have something. Knowing that the Death Dogs, the club my father had basically sold my sister to, had moved to Wyoming, it might have made sense if I thought she was still alive.
I wasn’t sure she was. Pepper had done a number on her and put her in the hospital. She’d disappeared before she was healed enough to leave. A woman posing as a doctor had taken her for tests, and she’d never come back. That was the first real lead we’d had. Nothing since then had panned out.
It was more than we’d had for Diana. We had no information about her whereabouts. Nothing about who she was connected to in New York, even her roommate, was a dead end. That fucking bitch had been worthless.
“We know the fucking reason, and it’s got fuck all to do with Irene. I told you they couldn’t be fucking trusted.”
“I was looking for my daughter!”
“By sacrificing your other daughter? How’d that fucking work out for you?” I screamed in his face. Hades, my best friend and VP, pulled me back, while Atlas stepped between us.
It wasn’t often that I yelled at my father. But as president of the club now, he gave me the respect I deserved in front of our brothers.
In private, I knew he would kick my ass. I didn’t care, though. I wanted to beat the shit out of him myself. It was a long time coming. Irene had been gone for two years. Diana even longer.
Every fucking lead we found fizzled out within days. There was no fucking trace of either of them. I had to wonder if they’d been targeted because of who we were. Who my father was.
“Pull it back, brother.”
“Fuck off, Hades. He knows this is his fucking fault.”
“Boy, you better watch who you’re talking to. I can and will still put your ass on the ground,” my father said, as Atlas held him back.
The ringing of my phone pulled me away. I snatched it off the bar top and answered, “Zeus.”
“Kane?” The tremor in the soft voice sent a shiver down my spine. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in over twenty years, and I held my breath, afraid to hope. “Kane, are you there?”
“Diana?” The music cut off, and all other sound in the room evaporated. “Where the fuck are you? Are you hurt? Tell me where you are and I will fucking come for you.”
My sister’s sobs on the other end of the line tore me apart.
For half of my life, it felt like half of my soul was missing.
Diana was my twin sister. We were fucking close.
I’d begged her not to go to college in New York.
Begged her to stay close so I could protect her.
We spoke every other day. I knew she’d met someone, but she wouldn’t tell me who.
When she’d stopped calling, I went to New York. I spent weeks looking for her. When I finally came home, I promised my mother I would find her. Someday, somehow, I would find my fucking sister, and when I found out who the fucker was that took her, he was a dead man.
“I’m okay, Kane, I promise. I’m in Nebraska.”
“What the fuck are you doing in Nebraska?” I looked at my father, and his eyes narrowed.
“I’ll fucking kill him,” he growled, slamming his fist on the bar.
“Is that Daddy?” Diana cried.
“Yeah.”
“Tell him I’m sorry.”
“Diana, where the fuck are you?”
She took a deep breath before telling me what I had already worked out. “I’m at the Silver Shadows’ clubhouse in Diamond Creek.”
“We’ll be there in two fucking days. Don’t fucking leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” The line was silent, and I knew there was more when she said, “Kane...” then hesitated.
The front door opened, and my mother rushed in. At almost sixty, Rhea Cooper was still as beautiful as she was in her twenties. My sisters took after her, thank God. But she was more than beauty. She was fucking fierce.
“Give me that fucking phone,” she demanded before she swiped it from my hand.
“Baby?” My mother rarely cried in front of the club. She rarely cried in front of me. I had only seen it twice: the day we realized Diana was gone. And the day we realized Irene was missing.
Two sisters both disappeared without a fucking trace.
“We’re coming, baby. We’ll be there tomorrow. I love you!” My mother hung up the phone and then looked around the room. “Atlas, Poseidon, Apollo, Eros, Hydros, Helios, Iapetus, Erebus, and Kharon. Grab your go-bags; we’re going to Nebraska.”
“Rosebud.”
My mother swung around to my father. She had a look on her face I’d seen more times than I cared to count, but it had never been directed at him.
“Don’t say a fucking word, Lucas. I’m going to get my baby.”
“I’m going too,” Asclepius said. My mother nodded at him.
He was her best friend aside from my father.
Two years younger than my mother, my uncle Issac, my father’s brother, was only fourteen when Diana and I were born.
My father had been on a run when we came five weeks early, and Uncle Issac had been there with her.
Holding her hand. It was part of the reason he’d chosen to become a doctor.
Diana and I both were close to him. It was no surprise that he would insist on coming with us.
“I’ll grab our bags,” my father conceded.
“Lucas.” My father walked back to my mother. “It’s time.”
His hands went to her face, and she covered them with her own. My parents were the epitome of love. They were the reason I hadn’t settled down. I refused to settle for anything less than what they had. And at almost forty years old, I wasn’t sure I’d ever find it.
“Are you sure?” I watched the two of them have a conversation no one else heard. Finally, she nodded. My father left the room to grab their bags; we would be leaving once he was back.
“Time for what?” I asked as Isis, one of the club whores, handed me a bag. “Thanks, babe,” I muttered, not thinking about the fact she had gone into my room without permission. I’d deal with that later. Right now, my focus was on my family.
“To contact my brother.”
“You have a brother? I thought you were an only child. You’ve never told us anything about our family on your side.” I stared at the blank expression on my mother’s face. I wasn’t prepared for the bomb she was about to drop on me and how it would affect my club. “Who is your brother?”
“Morpheus.”
THE END