Chapter Twenty-Seven
Karlyn
The second we arrived back at the clubhouse, and he parked the bike, I hopped off, needing my space.
I knew I had hurt him with my words. I didn’t want to.
I hated hurting him, but I couldn’t stop the pain, the hurt from his lack of trust. After I woke up from my coma, he was the one who showed me how to come back from the hell I’d suffered.
Not my brother, not Daphne... him, Jackson.
The man whose voice whispered for months, begging me to fight, to never give in, to stand up to the evil I’d suffered as I fought through the darkness back into the light.
He didn’t care that I was broken on the inside.
He was there, waiting in the darkness, when my nightmares became too much.
Like a white knight with his sword drawn, he dispatched my fears one by one.
Walking into the clubhouse, with Ravage, Eros, Indigo and Firestride behind me, I finally let out the breath I was holding as my eyes immediately looked at the bar for Grace.
Not seeing her, I scanned the room as King angrily marched over to us and punched Jackson in the face, sending him spiraling back into Firestride.
Eros and Indigo hurried me to the side as Jackson snarled, charging King, who ducked at the last minute, landing another blow into Jackson’s midsection.
Then, before it started, it was over as Nav and Eros tried to corral Jackson.
Not an easy feat for sure.
“What the fuck?!” he screamed.
“I’d ask you the same fucking thing. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Prez,” Nav said quietly, looking over at me, Indigo standing firm, protectively. “Maybe we should take this to church.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I want all fucking five of you in church right fucking now.”
He spun around and storm through a set of double doors, calling out, “Cash and Zeus, now!”
Jackson walked over to me, and I took a step back, shaking my head. “You’d better go. He looks mad.”
I knew he wouldn’t push, and I was right, because one second he was standing before me, and the next he was gone, disappearing through the same doors King had vanished behind.
Walking over to the nearest table, I sat, saying nothing.
I wanted to go upstairs, to disappear behind the walls of this place, to hide and never come out.
But what was the use? I knew he’d find me.
He always did. So, I sat there, trying not to let the fact that I was alone in a biker clubhouse affect me.
I know I said I wanted to come back here, but there was no other place for me to hide.
I hated clubhouses. I hated what they represented.
I hated men who wore leather cuts and swore allegiance to some code that didn’t give a damn about right or wrong.
Actually, I just hated everything about the biker world.
Oh, I knew that not all clubs were bad, but in my experience it didn’t matter.
Even the good ones had some level of danger in them.
Time seemed to drag as I sat there, the silence pressing in on me from all sides.
My fingers toyed with the edge of the chipped tabletop, mind racing with everything that had just happened.
I could hear the muffled shouts echoing from behind the church doors, tension thick as smoke in the air.
A part of me wanted to get up and run, but my legs wouldn’t move, rooted by a mix of fear and uncertainty.
All I could do was wait, hoping the storm raging inside those walls would pass without tearing everything apart.
“Karlyn?”
Looking up, I smiled as Sebastian took a seat next to me. He still looked the same as the last time I saw him. Still tall, muscular, and very handsome. Not like Jackson but catching just the same.
“We haven’t been able to talk much since you arrived. Ravage doesn’t like sharing.”
I smirked at that. “What man does?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll give you that. How have you been?”
I shrugged, not knowing how to answer him. Instead, I asked him a question of my own, “Sebastian, do you like being here? In this clubhouse? A brother in the Silver Shadows?”
He hesitated, glancing away for a moment before answering.
“It’s complicated. There are days I love it—the brotherhood, the sense of belonging.
Other days, I wonder if I’m just lost in the noise—doing things I thought I’d never do, living by someone else’s rules.
” He drummed his fingers thoughtfully on the table.
“But this place, these people, they’re the only family I’ve got.
Sometimes that’s enough to keep me here, even when I question everything else. ”
I studied him, searching his face for any hint of regret or resentment.
Maybe I was looking for a sign that I wasn’t the only one wrestling with doubts.
The way his eyes flickered—softening for just a second—told me he understood more than he let on.
For a moment, the tension between us faded, replaced by a quiet understanding that maybe neither of us truly belonged here, but we stayed anyway, clinging to the only connections we had.
“She cried after you left,” I said, watching as he stiffened.
Looking down at his hands, he whispered, “What happened to her?”
“What always happens in this life. Steele found out and damn near beat her to death. After that, she didn’t cry anymore.”
I could see a storm brewing behind his eyes, a mix of anguish and rage that he tried to hide but couldn’t quite suppress.
His jaw clenched, and for a long moment, he said nothing.
Then, with a bitter edge to his voice, he finally spoke, “No one deserves that. Especially not her. I should have stayed with her.” The weight of guilt in his words settled over us both, reminding me how wounds from the past never truly heal—they just scabbed over, waiting to bleed again.
“There was nothing you could do. Nothing she could do. If you stayed, you’d be dead too.”
At that, he looked at me, his eyes wide. “She’s dead?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, my heart hurting for him, for what he left behind. “She ran away shortly after you left. No one knew where she had gone. But Steele never stopped looking for her, and eventually he found her. When he did, he killed her.”
A lone tear rolled down Sebastian’s face as anguish and fury warred deep within his eyes.
For a long while, neither of us spoke. The silence was heavy, carrying the weight of everything we’d lost and all the things we’d never be able to fix.
I could see him struggling to hold himself together, his fingers digging into the edge of the table.
Finally, he took a shaky breath. “He took everything from me. From her. And I wasn’t there to stop him. ”
“No one could stop him, Sebastian. You and I know that better than everyone else. In the end, he got exactly what he deserved. He’s dead now and can’t hurt anyone else. Just be thankful that she saved the baby before Steele found out.”
“Baby?” Sebastian stiffened. “What baby?”
I looked at the man I’d known before my life went to shit and muttered, “Your daughter.”
His breath faltered, and he stared at me as if hoping I might take it back.
I tilted my head as I looked at the man and whispered, “She never told you?”
Sebastian slowly shook his head as his lips parted, but no sound came out—he was too stunned, too overwhelmed by my revelation.
At last, his trembling hand pressed to his chest as if to steady his racing heart.
“I have a daughter?” he whispered, his voice barely audible.
The shock in his expression, matched only by the glimmer of hope and terror mingling in his eyes.
I nodded. “Yes.”
His gaze drifted away for a moment, as if he were sifting through memories for any sign he might have missed. A shaky, disbelieving laugh escaped him, but it was tinged with sorrow. “She lied to me.”
Reaching for his hand, I said, “She knew what would happen if Steele found out. What he would do to her, to the baby, to you. She protected her. Gave her away. She was never the same after that. Joanna was many things, Sebastian, but she protected your baby the only way she knew how. Don’t take that away from her. ”
For a moment, Sebastian was silent, trying to process the truth.
Then, quietly, he asked, “Where is she now?”
His question hung in the air, uncertain and full of longing.
I hesitated, unsure if my answer carried its own pain.
“I don’t know,” I replied gently. “But if I know Joanna, she will never be found. That was all Joanna ever wanted—for her daughter to be free from the shadows we couldn’t escape ourselves. ”
Silence stretched between us, thick and heavy, as Sebastian absorbed the full magnitude of everything I’d said.
His fingers curled tightly, knuckles whitening, and for a moment I thought he might shatter from the pressure of hope and loss warring inside him.
The weight of years—of secrets, regrets, and missed chances—settled on his shoulders, bowing his usually proud frame.
When he finally spoke, his voice was rough with emotion. “If she’s out there, I have to try. I need to find her.” His words trembled with quiet determination. I could see the resolve building in his eyes—a flicker of purpose ignited by the desperate need to find his daughter wherever she may be.
Before I could respond, Grace appeared, pulling out a chair and sitting down next to me.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her eyes on the door to church.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “King came downstairs and walked up and hit Jackson without a word. Then they went in for a bit before everyone came out, except for Jackson and King. I think they might be trying to kill each other in there.”
“They won’t kill each other. Just beat the shit out of each other,” Sebastian assured me.
“Well, knowing King, they’ll be at that for a while,” Grace stated, turning to me. “How about a coffee? We can go to Trudy’s; she has the best coffee and pastries.” She lowered her voice. “Just don’t tell Maureen I said that.”
Sebastian chuckled, and Grace smacked his arm.
“I don’t think Jackson wants me to leave.”
Grace looked around the room and grinned.
“It will be okay, I promise. You can bring your guard dogs, and I even have one of my own.” She gestured to a young man, who rushed over.
“What do you need, Grace?”
“Karlyn and I are going to Trudy’s,” she announced, standing up as she reached for my hand.
I was hesitant, but when I looked at Nav, he nodded.
“Gather up whoever you need to,” Grace ordered as we headed for the door, with Eros and Indigo, along with Johnny, Romeo, Zero, and Ace following closely behind.