Maverick (Shackled Sons MC: Sydney #2)

Chapter 1

Tavi

The door slammed behind me, locking me in the office with him. Letting my rage simmer for a brief moment, I looked over at him.

The one who controls my future.

My brother.

Now, the head of the fucking Ironborne Crew.

“Manny.”

“Tavi,” he said, his expression grim. He held the weight of the entire legacy our father had turned into his empire on his shoulders.

Sure, the Crew had been carried down through the generations from the first Ironborne - the Ayres - but it was my father who thought he was king shit when it came to power.

The one who started the ongoing war with the Shackled Sons MC.

Now, that had been a scary time. Especially being the daughter of said Ironborne.

Growing up and thinking you could be hurt just because your dad hated the local bikers and wanted to start beef with them every time they rode through our territory was no way to grow up.

I guess it wasn’t new, the two of them had continuously been at each others’ throats over territory since the beginning, but my father had amped it up a lot.

“Why did you want to see me?”

“I hear you’ve moved out of your home.”

“I have,” I answered. Of course, Hardy had come to him.

They were best friends, after all. How very cliche of me to fall in love with my older brother’s best friend.

It was meant to be a fling, something to piss my father off about but I’d gone and got myself pregnant, and now I had a lifetime of dealing with Hardy.

“Why?”

“I don’t see what it has to do with the Ironborne or you, Mannix. I’m a grown woman. I can choose to leave my partner if I choose to.”

“And what about Van? Isn’t he going to miss his mum?”

I blanched. “What? Of course I’m taking my son with me.”

“He’s Hardy's son, too. Where will you go? He has the money to look after you both. Maybe you need to talk to him first.”

“You know, as well as I do, that he has never been faithful to me. He only proposed to me because I had just had his baby and he wanted Dad to be happy.”

Mannix sighed. “Tavi, I’m telling you, he isn’t going to back down. That’s his son. I’m imploring you to reconsider.”

I knew what that meant. Hardy was threatening him to tell me to stay.

Mannix had a plan. A plan to turn the Ironborne into something greater than what it was.

I was fucking proud of him for it, but it was taking time.

Not everyone wanted to operate that way, in a way that meant we were allies with the Sons, instead of enemies.

He had to wear them down, get in fresh blood that would stand by him when it all went to shit, which meant he had to tread a line he rarely ever wanted to.

Like appeasing the men who would see him off the throne and anarchy erupt.

“He won’t teach my son that women mean nothing,” I said, my teeth grinding in the back of my mouth. “He’s four. He needs his Mum.”

Mannix closed his eyes for a moment longer than I think he realised. I could feel the stress coming off him in waves. “Tavi, he wants a subservient wife. I know that’s not you, but it’s not about just you anymore. You have a son who needs you. Make the right decision.”

“I’m not subservient. I never will be. I want to be loved and cherished. Is that so hard for him to understand?”

Mannix shrugged. “I suppose it is. He’s never known it from his own parents, so how could he know what to do? Show him, or…find another way.”

“I refuse to be with a partner who doesn’t value me.”

Turning my back on him, I stormed to the door. My hand was on the door handle when he spoke.

“Why do you keep calling him your partner?” Mannix asked.

Confused, I turned around to face him. “Well that’s what he is. I feel like boyfriend is a little juvenile.”

“Tavi…”

“What? Why are you asking?” I felt the exasperation coursing through me in all sorts of emotions I didn’t want to show him. My hands were shaking with the anger radiating through me at Hardy’s gall, and my brother’s inadequate response to my pleas.

Mannix stood up, his brows furrowed in confusion before he straightened. “Tavi, the reason this is so complex isn’t because he’s the father of your child, although it does have ramifications. It’s because you’re married to him.”

I was pacing.

Fucking pacing, as the cigarette fell from my fingertips with how much I was moving and panicking.

Married? How the fuck could I be married?

I would remember marrying the soulless bastard who had terrorised me for years.

I’d stayed for Van, but now he was getting older, and he was seeing the way his father would bring home random women and fuck them in the living room, degrading them within earshot of his room while I cried myself to sleep.

How could I have ever thought I wanted someone like Hardy Bainbridge?

How could I be married and have no recollection of it?

When Mannix had revealed that little fact, I’d run from the office, tears running down my cheeks. Being married posed more issues than just leaving with his son. I was tied to the arrogant prick.

Legally.

The asshole had never loved me. He just wanted power, and what did you get when you had the daughter of the most powerful Ironborne in your grasp?

I’d only let him in, after months of flirting, because I’d been heartbroken and needed to find a way to piss my father off.

Now? I’d let him fuck my body as I zoned out, dreaming of a day when I could find someone who made me laugh, who put me and my son first.

Did such a man exist?

Ha…when Hardy found out the things I’d been teaching Van, he’d have me committed and take him from me, but I knew the seed would have been planted. It would be too late by the time he could do anything about it.

No, I didn’t just want to leave. I’d been playing the long game, and it was time to make it come to life.

Show him…or find another way.

My brother’s words flitted through my mind, on repeat, since I had escaped up to the top of the building of his apartment complex. This was where we used to retreat when our father was drunk, or in need of punishing someone. He never came up here because he was afraid of heights.

Find another way.

Was he telling me to find someone to replace Hardy with? To protect me?

I sat down on the chairs by the door. Oh my god. He was. He was showing me he was still my brother, but also acting out in case the office was bugged, to ensure no one could see what he was doing.

He was giving me an out.

My beautiful, genius of a brother was helping me in ways no one ever had before. I had to come up with a plan, because if Hardy had gone to Mannix and threatened him like I assumed he had, he was getting ready to take Van so I couldn’t leave.

I had to be smart about this.

Getting up, I took a deep breath, and put on the act of a lifetime as I moved through the apartment complex and headed back to Hardy’s house.

It had never been mine. I’d never belonged there, with him, and soon me and Van would be free. I’d make sure of it.

Van would never know Hardy Bainbridge was his dad.