Chapter Seventeen
King
“Cash, call everyone in for church.”
My VP quickly pulled out his phone, sending a text to everyone in the club. It was late, but I hoped it wouldn’t take long.
As brothers started piling in, I saw Blade move to his seat. I didn’t know how he was going to react to what I had to tell them, but I tried not to keep secrets in this club.
Secrets got people killed.
I couldn’t help but wonder if that was what got my parents killed. I wasn’t honest with Maureen earlier, when I told her I barely remembered my parents.
The truth was, I remembered everything about them. I had a picture of them in my room upstairs, to ensure I never forgot what they looked like. It was a picture of my parents, me, and Declan. Taken the Christmas before they died.
I didn’t know why my mother never told me I had another brother. With her gone, I would never know her reason for keeping that secret.
Once Ryder closed the door and slipped into his seat, I slammed the gavel, getting everyone’s attention.
I looked over at Nav, and he nodded. He knew everything I knew.
“I’m sorry to pull you all in tonight, but something came up today that you all have a right to know.”
I looked around the table. These men trusted me with their lives, with their women, and now with their children. What I was planning on doing concerned each and every one of them.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to lay it out for them.
“I know you are all wondering what happened on Thanksgiving between Declan and I.” I looked over at Blade. “Has Beck said anything?”
“She doesn’t know anything. Dec is keeping his mouth shut, even with her.”
He would. Apparently, he was a master at keeping secrets.
“I don’t even know how to begin.”
“Want me to take over, Prez?” Nav asked.
Looking over at him, a lump lodged in my throat, and all I could do was nod.
“Everyone, this is Braesal O’Malley.” Nav put a picture of my oldest brother on the screen. This wasn’t the first picture I had seen, but seeing it on the screen so large, there was no mistaking the resemblance.
“What the fuck is going on?” Gunner asked, looking from the screen to me.
I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t know how to explain anything. How did I tell these men that the man I trusted their lives with had been lying to me my whole life?
They knew Dec and I were close. Despite him being the sheriff, he was always my brother first. And because of that, he knew things about the club, about my brothers, that other people would never be told.
They trusted him as much as I trusted him.
“King asked me to take a look into his family. Declan, his parents, everyone. What I found shocked the hell out of us. Braesal O’Malley is the older half-brother of King and Declan.”
“WHAT THE FUCK!” Blade yelled, vaulting to his feet. He turned his glare on me.
“I didn’t know, brother. I just found out today. I swear.”
“I know I’m new here, but do you think maybe someone could explain what the hell is going on?” Ryder asked.
Cash never took his eyes off me as he answered, “Braesal O’Malley is the head of the Irish Mob in Boston, Massachusetts. The same Mob that killed Blade’s parents. The same head that calls and checks in with Blade every six months.”
“Shit.”
“Christ.”
“What the fuck?”
Brothers whispered around the table. No one understood. Hell, I didn’t understand. After speaking with Declan, I knew he was still hiding something. There was more going on than just an estranged brother I didn’t know about.
I had a feeling it was all connected to Maureen showing up here, of all places.
“Certainly makes sense why Dec was so worked up about Maureen showing up. What’s the connection?” Colt asked.
“I don’t know. Dec told me my mom had Sal before she met my dad. Said Dad was offered a job, so they moved. Sal was seventeen and chose to stay in Boston with his father. I was born seven months later.”
“Another goddamn episode in As the Biker World Fucking Turns .”
I looked over at Stocks. He was an odd one. He mostly kept to himself. He grew up with Blade and Ryder, here in Diamond Creek. When Blade approached me and offered to sponsor him when we started the new chapter, I had reservations. But Blade assured me he would be worth it. He’d been a great brother, and his knowledge of the stock market had made us a lot of money, but he had no filter. He had a habit of saying what popped into his head. One day, it was gonna bite him in the ass.
“Dec was right. Every time a woman comes into town, she brings drama with her.”
Looking over at Winchester, I had to admit, he wasn’t wrong. But this shit landed solely at my brother’s feet. We could have been prepared for this. We could have avoided being blindsided, if he had just opened his fucking mouth and told me the truth.
“Can we really blame Maureen? All she did was try to get away. She chose a small town, having no idea what she would find. The odds of her choosing a town with not one but three people connected to the Mob she grew up in and was trying to get away from have to be astronomical.”
Romeo was right. He was a flirt and a man whore, but the man was smart. That was why I talked him into moving here with us, when we opened the new chapter. He was astute, often seeing things in a way no one else noticed.
What were the odds that Maureen chose Diamond Creek randomly? There had to be more going on than a simple coincidence.
I looked over at Blade. He was pissed, and I didn’t blame him. Declan came down hard on him, when he found out about his connection to Sal. Watching him, I noticed the moment he realized what Declan was so afraid of.
“SON OF A BITCH!” he roared.
“Blade, calm down.” I knew it was pointless. I knew when he turned his icy stare back to me, he was on the verge of losing it.
“My goddamn old lady is his fucking niece!” He paced along the side of the table. “He fucking knows it. Every six months, he calls me. Every six months, he fucking asks me about the club. How are things going? Are we growing? Asks me about my president, and what my relationship is like with the town sheriff. Does he know anything about my past? All the questions were vague as hell. Questions I assumed he was asking in regard to what happened with my father. Questions to keep me in line, not saying a word about what they did. I have been a fucking pawn for years. He fucking knew everything all along.”
“Blade, those calls started before you joined the Silver Shadows. It has to be a coincidence.” Jack tried calming his friend down, but it was no use. I didn’t believe in coincidences, and after the life Blade led, I knew he didn’t either.
“I’m gonna fucking kill him.”
“He is your old lady’s father. You can’t kill him. She would never forgive you.” I sighed.
But I got it. Declan had a lot to answer for.
“Why isn’t Declan here?”
Turning to Big Ben, I was surprised by his question. He didn’t talk much. He was often referred to as the sleeping giant. I knew better. He was quiet, but always alert. He never missed a damn thing.
“I wanted to talk to you all first. Don’t expect much from Dec. He’s still hiding shit.” I held my hand up, cutting off the questions I knew they all had. “If I knew what he was hiding, it wouldn’t be a fucking secret,” I hissed, shaking my head. “The reason I am telling you all is because I plan on making contact with Sal.”
“WHAT?
“Not a good idea.”
“Why?”
“What the hell?”
I waited for the chatter to die down. I knew they might not agree. But I had to meet him.
“Listen!” I shouted. “This man is my brother, my family. I want to meet him. I could take a trip there, but with five of us living in this town that are connected to him in some way, it makes sense to ask him to come here. On our turf. Where we would likely outnumber him.”
“You don’t know that. He could show up with his whole fucking clan.”
“He could, but I don’t think he will. If I contact him as the brother that wants to meet him, I think I can convince him to come here with only a few men.”
“That’s a big gamble. What if you’re wrong?” Zero asked.
“What if I am? You really think he’s gonna show up out of the blue to wipe us out? He knows where we are. He knows we are no longer a 1% club. What reason would he have? According to Maureen, family is important to him.”
“Yea, important to the man who killed his father to take over,” Jingles scoffed.
“We don’t know why he killed his father. Maybe he had a valid reason,” Banshee added.
Banshee was right. Sometimes there was a valid reason for killing your father. Amber, one of the club girls, killed her father. The bastard deserved it for what he did to her. I only wish I could have done it for her, to save her from having that mark on her soul.
Amber was tough, though. She wore that mark like a badge of fucking honor.
Banshee wore his in shame. His shame wasn’t for killing his father, but for not knowing what his father had been doing to his little sister. When he found out why his little sister ran away at sixteen, he didn’t hesitate taking out the trash.
He was still searching for her twenty-four years later.
“Regardless of why he did it, he is my family, and I want to meet him.”
“And you should,” Jack agreed.
I should have known he would have my back. He had recently gone through something similar and was taking the time to get to know his brother, despite what he was guilty of.
“Do we need a vote?” I asked, waiting to see what they all thought.
“No, we don’t need a fucking vote,” Gunner barked. “If you want to meet this asshole, then your club will stand behind you. Anyone that thinks differently should drop their cut at the fucking door on their way out.”
Every brother around the table began to pound their fists at Gunner’s words.
When the noise settled down, Blade spoke, “I gotta tell my old lady. This is family shit that she has a right to know. If her father won’t tell her, I will.”
Nodding my head, I agreed, “I know. Tell her tonight. Maybe she can kick his ass into telling us the truth. In the meantime, Nav will continue to dig. I’ve told him to expand his search into Sal. I want to know everything he can find about my brother’s father and grandfather.”
“His grandfather?” Jack asked.
“Sal’s grandfather, Casper O’Malley, was once the head of the IRA.”
“Fuck me,” Blade whispered.
“This shit goes back all the way to Ireland.” Cash whistled.
“Yea, Dec and I aren’t related to him. That link is through Sal’s father, who was different from ours, thank God. But I want to know everything. I want to know his whole fucking family tree.”
Before I could slam the gavel on the table, there was a knock on the door.
Ace jumped up, opened the door, and Billy stood on the other side.
“Sorry to interrupt.”
“It better be fucking good, Prospect.”
“Archie called. Got an SUV outside asking for Matlock.”
I turned to look at the club lawyer, raising an eyebrow as I asked, “Who the fuck would be looking for you this time of night?”
“No clue. They give a name?” he asked Billy.
“Fury.”
“Shit,” he cursed, closing his eyes.
Jingles’ head popped up. “Please tell me the man outside isn’t who I think he is.”
“He is,” Matlock confirmed. Looking at Billy, he asked, “He alone?”
“No,” Billy replied.
“Fuck.” Standing from the table, Matlock looked at me. “King, gonna need everyone outside while I talk to this son of a bitch.”