Page 17 of Lynch's Match

“I think we’re done here,” I announce, getting to my feet.

“Baby, sit back down,” Lynch remarks calmly, but I don’t miss the hardness in his tone or the way he’s narrowing his gaze on my aunt. “Tell me, Helena, who’d you get to take those pictures?”

I slowly retake my seat, eyes locked on my aunt, surprised by Lynch’s question.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Helena says, jutting her chin out and looking down her nose at Lynch.

I get my family came from money, but my dad and mom, they raised me to respect a dollar. To never look down on anyone, and until now, I never really paid attention to how my aunt would do this. Thinking about it, it dawns on me that no matter where we go together, if she doesn’t like someone, she looks down on them as if she were better than them.

“Don’t lie, Helena. I already had those pictures traced back to the owner of them. That owner being you. So, tell me who took them and who played with the images and put the image of one of the old stray’s faces over Camilla’s?”

Helena looks surprised for all of a second before she shields this by getting angry. “How dare you accuse me of something I didn’t have anything to do with.”

“Like I said, don’t lie,” Lynch states, leaning forward, and pressing a finger to the table in a poking motion as if he needed to do this to make his point. “I know what you’ve been keeping from Camilla all these years. Didn’t then, but today, I found out.”

“Found out what?” I ask, confused by what he’s saying to my aunt. What could she be hiding from me?

“Your parents will, Cams. Fuse got a copy of it and sent it to me. It’s also in your email,” he answers, not taking his gaze off my aunt. “Your aunt only had access to a small amount that was put aside for your care in the event that something happened to them while you were still underage. The rest of the money was left to you in a trust that you could access when you turned thirty, that is, unless you married someone, and then you could touch it five years into the marriage. Your dad even stipulated in the will that if you and I were to marry, you could have it sooner. He knew I wanted to marry you. Knew I was biding my time. Said in the will, which by the way, he changed a month before the accident, that I had his blessing and I needed to take good care of his daughter. Also, it states that the man you marry is to be in charge of his and your mother’s holdings to the businesses they’re invested in so that you could follow your dreams of being a lawyer and didn’t have to worry about anything else.”

Oh my God.

My parents knew I didn’t have any interest in their financial holdings. They invested and held positions at a technical logistics company. My aunt has been taking care of the holdings as I was told it was hers to handle since she was my dad’s sister.

“That is not true,” Helena snaps, but I notice the way her face has grown pale.

“Oh, it’s true, alright, because there was also a letter with the will. One you paid the lawyers to keep to themselves and get rid of, unfortunately for you, that lawyer is smart enough to make a copy, that letter was written to me. I read it while Camilla was in court today, so I know exactly what you’re playing at, so don’t for one second think you can play me for a fool.”

My mind is whirling with all of the information coming at me. None of this I knew. I trusted my aunt. She was the only family I had left. I thought she loved me. Loved my parents.

“Why?” I manage to croak out, tears filling my eyes, though I blink them back, refusing to let them fall. “Why would you play me?”

Aunt Helena’s gaze comes to me, and she stares at me, nostrils flaring. “Your father had no right to change his will. It was set up the way it needed to be until he came into your life,” she spits out the last part as she gets to her feet. “Everything was going great until you got mixed up with him. I had to step in, intervene somehow, and then marry you to a man who fits our station. Who would help in keeping the good name we have.”

“Can’t marry someone when she’s still married to me,” Lynch announces, shrugging.

Narrowing her gaze to little slits, Helena looks at me. “I thought I taught you better than this. You are stupid if you think he’s not going to take you for everything you have. He’s a man who has nothing. He will take all of it and leave you with nothing.” She doesn’t wait for a response. She stomps away from the table, leaving me reeling by all this information.

Lynch wouldn’t lie about something like this. I know in my gut he wouldn’t. I trust that, so I know it to be true. Still, he said it was emailed to me, so I’ll take a look at it for myself.

A waiter comes to the table at that moment, and Lynch orders for the both of us. Thankfully, what he orders is something I like, so I don’t say anything. I sit and process everything I’ve heard and let it sink in.

CHAPTER EIGHT

LYNCH

“You okay?” I ask, eyes on Camilla as we step into the house.

After her aunt left the restaurant, we ate silently. She didn’t eat much, but she at least had eaten something. I paid for dinner and brought her back to the house, neither of us saying a word.

This morning, I’d taken her to her apartment in my truck, knowing I couldn’t put her ass on my bike with her going to work. I hate not being on my bike, but with the get-ups she wears to work, there was no way I was going to miss out on seeing it, though I would have preferred to have her ass pressed up against me while I tore down the road on my bike.

The whole day, while she worked, I’d seen to business, messaging with Fuse. I also spoke with Chains, Tyres, and Pitch Black. I might not have an officer ranking in the club, but I’m cool with that. I didn’t want the headache, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a job within the club. I handle shit that no one else wants to. Usually, if I’m not taking one of my brother’s backs, I’m managing one of the businesses. Mostly, I work at the bar the club owns, and I keep everything in order. I like what I do and don’t mind kicking in elsewhere, including knocking heads together when needed.

It’s why I like being at the bar as much as I can. There, I can listen to people talk. No matter how many people know the bar is owned by the club, it doesn’t stop the chattering. More times than I can count, I get intel just from listening to conversations while people drink. Most of the time, it’s rumors, but even rumors are based on some form of truth.

Throughout the day, Fuse fed me information he’d been able to get after I texted him about the pictures. He easily was able to get into Helena’s records when I told him my suspicions. He dug deep and found where she’d gotten the pictures and from who. All he told me was that she hired someone to take pictures of me with women. It didn’t matter who. Then someone altered the sex images, putting the face of one of the older strays that’s no longer at the clubhouse. The bitch is long gone.

Camilla’s parents’ will was the most interesting thing he’d sent me, mostly because he’d given me his blessing to be with his daughter. The guy was hands down one of the best people I have ever met. He took care of his family. His daughter had been his world, but his wife, fuck me, she’d been his universe. The two of them never traveled without the other. I never saw anything like what they shared until Chains and Tiny got together.

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