13. Zane
13
ZANE
I ’m among the enemy for real, and it’s fucking scary, but also exciting. I’m sick in the head, and I kind of love this shit. When Vani’s father warned me away from her, he might as well have wrapped her up in a bow.
And as for Big Mike, that fucker held a knife to my throat and made me freeze. For that moment in time, he took away my power, and no one gets to do that. Ever since, I’ve promised myself that one day I’d gut him like a fucking pig. If it wasn’t for the fact that we need to find Lex, and that I’d never put Vani in such a difficult position, today would be that day. As it is, we need her father on our side, so for now, I’m going to act like a pussy, and be all yes sir, no sir to these bastards.
I won’t kill her father because I can’t do that to Vani, but Big Mike? I’m going to have to hold myself back from at least breaking his nose—show him he fucked with the wrong person.
We’re being led through the bikers’ clubhouse and to a door in the back, where we are ushered inside. Her father’s there—Jack ‘the Blood’ McGrath in the flesh. He’s six-two and a solid wall of muscle. He’s much older than me, in the later side of his forties, at least, but he doesn’t seem to have lost any of the toughness that comes with youth. His dark gaze doesn’t cut to his daughter at all. He just walks around his desk and stares at me.
A beat passes, and then he draws back his fist and punches me. Blinding pain hits the side of my jaw, and I stumble back.
My instinctive reaction is to hit him back, and, before I can stop myself, I’m up in his face. Vani reaches for my arm and holds on.
“Zane, no,” she begs. “Please, don’t. We’re here for a reason, remember?”
Still holding my arm, she turns to her father. “Dad, don’t. I came home because I need help, and this is the greeting we get? How could you?”
Her voice wobbles, and I glance at her to see tears in her eyes.
Her father sighs and rubs his beard with his fingers. I stare at him, rubbing my own jaw, trying to soothe the burn.
“I warned you,” he rumbles. “I told you to stay the fuck away from her. Are you deaf?”
I take my phone out and type furiously. I might not be able to speak, but I hear just fine, and I’m not fucking stupid.
I shove it at him, and he reads it, frowning. Then he glances up at me. “You can’t speak?”
“He had his throat cut,” Vani says. “By enemies of his father’s empire.”
Her father eyes me, and I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but it seems as if there’s new respect in his gaze.
“He’s protected me, Dad,” she says softly.
“Yeah, and what else has he done?” her father asks.
“He has been my friend when I needed one the most.”
Those simple words hit me hard because I haven’t been her friend, have I? I’ve helped Saint and Lex torment her, at times against my own better judgement. I’m not as into the games as they are, but I enjoy sharing, and I like that if I order the twins to do something, they will. They might not like it, but ultimately, I’m in fucking charge, and maybe that’s the weird kick I get out of it. The fact that, in the end, I can make them all bend to my will, them and whatever girl we are fucking with. That was fine when the girl meant nothing, but Vani does mean something.
She means everything.
Now, with that sentence, Vani has made me feel like shit and wish I had been more of a real friend to her. I vow there and then that in the future, I will.
I’m going to protect her, and not just from our enemies, but from us, the Vipers.
It’s a solemn vow and one I make standing in front of her father, with my face on fire from his punch and my rage building. For once in my fucking life, I bank it all down and stay in total control, for her.
If the twins want to keep playing this game with me and her, they’ll have to vow it, too. That she will be protected and we won’t break her.
I know this can’t be easy for her. Her father is an intimidating man, and all of us struggle with the authority of our parents. But she’s come here for Lex, and for us too. She’s willing to blow her relationship with her father to pieces, and potentially change his opinion of her dead mother, all so we get Lex back. So the four of us can stay together. She’s so fucking brave, and I want to wrap her in my arms and tell her how proud I am.
Now isn’t the time, though. There will be plenty of time for me to tell her—and show her—later.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about, Dad,” she says. “It’s about Verona Falls and my reason for wanting to go there.”
His eyes narrow. “Go on.”
“When Mom was dying, she told me I had a sister.”
Jack-the-blood flinches, but his expression remains like stone. The news has clearly affected him, though. Vani continues hurriedly, as though she’s worried if she stops, she won’t be able to get started again.
“She was born before you even met her. Her name was Reagan.”
Her dad clicks on to something. “Was?”
Vani nods. “Yeah, she died at Verona Falls. She fell from a tower, though why she was there and how she fell is a mystery.”
“And she was your mother’s daughter?” He seems to think of something. “Who was her father?”
Vani draws a breath and blurts, “Jarl Olsen.”
“What?” The word snaps like a firecracker in the room.
“I don’t know the full truth behind it, but Mom said she didn’t have much choice when it came to getting pregnant.” Vani’s cheeks turn pink as she basically says that Olsen raped her mother. “And after the baby was born, he took the child and told Mom that if she ever came back, he’d kill the baby and her.”
Jack-the-blood drags his hand down his face. “Jesus Christ. Why did she never tell me any of this?”
“Because she didn’t want you going after him in revenge.”
His eyes narrow. “But now you’re here, telling me. Why?”
“Because I spoke to Jarl and he says Mom basically abandoned Reagan, that she was a terrible mother who had issues with substance abuse. He said Reagan was better off not knowing who her mother was.”
Vani’s eyes grow misty with fresh tears, and I want to pull her in for a hug, but I don’t want to either interrupt or step across the fragile boundaries we’ve put in place.
The muscles in Jack-the-blood’s face tighten. “Your mother was…troubled… when she and I first met. We both were.”
“So, his version of the story might be true?” The disappointment is clear in her tone.
He shakes his head. “Fuck, no, Ivani. Just because she had issues doesn’t mean she wouldn’t have been a good mom to that baby. She might have had problems, but she was still strong.”
Vani’s chin wobbles and she bites her lip. She sniffles and nods. “I’m happy to hear that.”
Jack-the-blood lets out a low growl. “I can’t believe your mom went through that with fucking Olsen. Why didn’t she tell me?”
“For the same reason I didn’t want to tell you,” Vani reasons. “She didn’t want you to start a war.”
He clenches and unclenches his fists. “He needs to pay for what he did to her. He stole her baby.”
I feel like I’m watching a game of table tennis, following the ball as it pings back and forth. Emotion and tension are high in the room, and Vani hasn’t even gotten to the ‘oh, and you’re wearing his necklace, and we need it back in order to get one of my three boyfriends out of Olsen’s clutches’ part.
“Mom didn’t want you to do anything about it,” she says, “or she would have told you when she was alive.”
“No, she was protecting the girl. But now the girl isn’t alive either, so there’s nothing to stop me going after the bastard.”
Vani lifts her hand and places it on her father’s chest. She softens her voice. “There’s still a girl, Dad. There’s me.”
He stares at her for a beat. “If you didn’t want me to do anything, why the hell are you telling me all this?”
She draws a nervous breath. “Because I still need your help. One of my…friends…has been taken by Olsen’s men. They’re keeping him captive, and the only way we can get Olsen to talk to us is by giving him something he wants.”
“What is that?”
“The cross you wear around your neck.”
Jack-the-blood’s hand goes to his throat. He hooks a chain from around his beefy throat and pulls the crucifix from beneath his shirt.
“This cross?”
Vani nods. “Yes.”
“Why would he want it? Your mother gave this to me when we first met.”
“It first belonged to Jarl Olsen, and now he wants it back.”
His gaze darkens. “What the fuck, Ivani?” His face changes from pale to red. “You’re saying your mother gave me a necklace that belonged to that bastard and never told me? Why would she do that?”
“I wish she was here so we could ask her. The only reason I could think of was that it was her way of saying a big ‘fuck-you’ to Jarl. She took something that was important to him and gave it to the man she loved.”
“And now I’m supposed to give it back to that fucker? She gave me this because she wanted me to have it.” There is hurt in his voice as clear as day.
“I’m sorry,” she squeaks. “I wouldn’t have asked if I thought I had any choice.”
He brings his arms around her and pulls her in for a hug. “It’s okay,” he huffs against her head, but his jaw is clenching and unclenching, and I can tell he’s minutes away from losing his shit.
“Shall we give you some time to think about things?” Vani says as if she can sense her father’s inner turmoil, too. “I’d like to show Zane around.”
Her father’s gaze settles on me, over Vani’s head, and there’s a heavy warning in those hard eyes. Fuck with my daughter and you’re dead. “By all means, show him around. You’re staying tonight, right?” He steps back and looks at Vani. “You can’t ride back in one day. It’s not safe.”
“Yes, of course. I’d like to spend time with you too, Dad. It’s been too long.” Vani settles her head against his chest again, and she looks so vulnerable it makes my heart ache.
“I’ll get one of the cabins made up for your friend.”
Jack-the-blood puts heavy, heavy emphasis on the word friend , and once more those eyes find me, full of warning.