Page 1 of Johny

PROLOGUE

MAYA

In stunned disbelief, I stared at the woman in the CNO’s office. The disbelief was echoed on her face. Her gaze wandered to my children, Jackson and Emy, both who were too young to understand what was happening. Jackson was two, nearly three, and Emy wasn’t even a month old.

Not so the two children she had with her, both girls, one that looked to be around ten and another about eight. And there was no denying that they were my husband’s or the man I’d thought was my husband’s children. They looked exactly like my two, from their dark curly hair to their bright blue eyes. Their mother looked nothing like me. She was tall, slim, blonde, and gorgeous with deep dark brown eyes.

Very different from my average five foot six, longdark hair, blue eyes, and size sixteen body with bum and boobs for days. It was like he’d found the complete opposite of her in me. The only thing we seemed to have in common was our age.

Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breath, wondering if this nightmare was ever going to end.

I was still reeling from the news that the man I’d thought of as my husband, having exchanged vows and everything, was, in fact, a bigamist. It seems he was already married and had been for a good ten years.

It made me wonder if the army hadn’t been updating their records from paper to electronic, if both of us would have continued to be blissfully unaware. Eventually, I guess one of us would have figured it out, but with him being based out of the country, it was easier for him to get away with it.

I’d never felt so foolish or ashamed in my life. Although why I was feeling ashamed was anyone’s guess. Maybe ashamed wasn’t the correct term. I didn’t know what to think, my head was spinning from everything I’d found out. The Casualty Notifying Officer who was handling our case looked just as uncomfortable as I felt.

Knowing that there was nothing that I could say to make anything better, I stood up, hitching Emyhigher in my arms, taking Jackson by the hand.

“I’m sorry,” I say to the woman. It wasn’t her fault, and she was as shocked as me. With a nod at the CNO, I walk out the door with my children, wondering what the hell I was going to do now.

I’d been a stay-at-home mother and had relied on living off my husband’s earnings. At least now I knew why our bank account always seemed so much lighter than those around us.

I felt like a fool. Why had I never questioned it? I’d manage. I always did. I was a survivor. I’d survived living in foster care from the day I was born until I aged out. I’d survive this too.

Gripping Jackson’s hand a little tighter and hitching Emy a little higher in my arm, regretting my decision not to bring the pushchair. But it was a pain to get on and off the bus. I held my head high as I walked towards the bus stop to wait for the next one to arrive and to take us home. Well, what was home for now. I imagined that the military would want their house back pretty sharpish.

First thing tomorrow I’d go and see about some advice and take it from there.

Little did I know how hard the next year would be and the number of times I’d want to give up. My children were what kept me going, and then,just when I thought everything was settling down, I’d had to move our little family miles away from where I’d grown up to a strange place into one of the scariest council estates I’d ever seen as it was the only way we could get into a property that wasn’t a bed-and-breakfast.

It had been a tough couple of years, but then an angel in the form of a teenage boy found us and changed our lives. I’d be forever grateful to Ben Crow. I’d not known that the boy who often delivered food parcels to those that needed a little extra help was the adopted son of one of the men who’d served with my ex.

They’d been shocked and horrified when I’d told them what had happened, and then they’d rallied around and now my little family and I lived safe and secure in a small two-bedroom cottage on their family property. The Crow MC had also found me a job with an Irish family in the town next to them.

By the summer of 2004, things were looking much better for me and my littles. Emy and Jackson were settled into the nursery that the Crows had built on the property next door.

What I’d learned in the last year was that it was okay to accept help when it was offered and that I’d do anything to keep my children safe, well fed, and happy.

PROLOGUE

JOHNNY

We listened in horror as Rhett was given the maximum sentence that could be handed down for transporting weapons.

I’d held the hand of his wife Noni all through the trial, and on hearing the news of his sentence, she let out a broken sob. Rhett being imprisoned was the first of the major changes that impacted our family over the next few years.

Looking back, I knew it was at that point that we all hit rock bottom. Every single one of us. We’d had to make hard decisions, and they weren’t welcomed by everyone in our crew. We’d known we’d had a mole in our midst because there was no way anyone should have known about Rhett except those in our crew.

It hadn’t taken long to find the rat and when wedid it, we dispensed justice the O’Shea way. We knew if we wanted to have families and live a free life, we’d have to make changes. With Liam now in charge, he’d called for a meeting that included only our family and our lieutenants. I’d a feeling he’d expected blowback from our father, but Da had aged a lot in the last year with everything that had happened to our family in a short space of time.

First, there was the news that my older cousin Tommy had been killed. Tommy had moved into our home when he was twelve and had been brought up as our brother. He’d been close in age to Rhett. We weren’t sure what his job entailed since he’d left the military, but we knew it wasn’t legit. One of his shady friends had got word to us that he’d been blown up while on an op.

Then there was Rhett being imprisoned and his subsequent divorce of Noni. I’m not sure which hit my father the hardest, the loss of his nephew, his son, or his beloved daughter-in-law. So, when Liam came to us about going legit, he hadn’t pushed back. I think the last thing he wanted was for another one of his sons to end up in prison.

Both Adam and I were happy to make the change. We’d each put money aside, but we knew we’d need to invest in businesses as soon as possible, as our savings wouldn’t last forever.

After the meeting, we’d let our crews know about the changes and that we wouldn’t be running guns anymore. While we’d kept our crew small, there was still enough of us that some would feel the pinch.

---