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“So I found out that the Euclid Disciples thought that the Kingz had gotten to their suppliers. Which was probably true, but I wasn’t sure. Still, I figured I could use that information to my advantage. Since the Disciples weren’t receiving their usual amount of product, they were struggling to keep up with demand in their territory. They were desperate.”

Chelsey wondered where he’d gotten that information about their suppliers, but again she remained quiet.

“This was around the same time the Kingz were preparing to get a major shipment. I’m talking huge, to the point that Wolf wanted all-hands-on-deck to receive it. I leaked that informationto someone who I knew was connected to the Disciples. I knew once they found out, they’d ambush the Kingz. It had been the perfect scenario, and like I suspected, the Disciples went in hot. That incident was the start of one of the biggest wars the Kingz had ever been a part of.”

Parker shook his head. The tension rolling off him let Chelsey know that it was probably worse than he was letting on. She also had a feeling he wasn’t telling her everything.

“I wanted,” he started, his voice full of emotion as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I wanted Wolf to suffer as much as I had suffered when he killed my mother. I wanted him dead, but I had no intention of sticking around town to see how everything shook out. I conveniently didn’t make it to the delivery sight, and I was heading out of town. Everything was planned out perfectly. Or so I thought.” He cleared his throat. “Wolf somehow found out that I had betrayed him and the Kingz, and he tracked me down not too far from one of his warehouses.”

Parker glanced at Chelsey before looking away, but not fast enough. The torment she saw in his eyes broke her heart, and she felt helpless. Whatever happened that day clearly still haunted him.

He leaned forward, his elbows on his thighs. When he trembled, Chelsey wrapped her arm around him, trying to provide some comfort while a few tears slipped from her eyes. He hadn’t even told her everything, but she knew whatever happened had been bad.

“I thought watching my mother die was the worse day of my life,” he said, emotion clouding his words, “but it hadn’t been. The day Wolf kicked my ass, I prayed for death. Chelsey, I wanted to die, and I thought I would.”

Chelsey didn’t know how to comfort him. Parker was hers.

It didn’t matter that they’d been estranged for months. In her heart, he would always be hers. The thought of anyone trying tohurt this man, her man, scared her to death while also making her angry enough to kill someone on his behalf.

He might be able to take care of himself, but that didn’t stop her from worrying about him. Wolf was still out there. Maybe he didn’t know Parker was still alive, but what if he one day found out? Then what? Was Parker right, would his father hunt him down and try to kill him again?

“Wolf literally left me for dead,” Parker said, interrupting her thoughts. “My face was a bloodied mess. I couldn’t see out of one eye, and I could barely see out of the other. My nose was broken, and I had missing teeth. Broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken kneecap, and some internal injuries had me in bad shape.”

“Dear God. I just don’t understand,” Chelsey said, her heart breaking for him even more. “What type of person would do something like that to their only child?”

“A low-down, heartless bastard who put the Diego Kingz before anything else, including his son. Remember, I had betrayed him and the crew. In Wolf’s world, that was punishable by death.”

“How’d you get away?” She couldn’t help herself, she had to ask. “If you were almost dead…”

“Chels, with everything that happened after that, I truly believe my mother was watching over me,” he said shaking his head. “There is no other way to explain the events that followed. In the warehouse—where there’s a torture room—there’s also an incinerator.”

“Oh. My. God.” The words slipped out, and Chelsey covered her mouth with her hand as her active imagination took her down a dark road.

“Let’s just say, I believe in angels.”

Chapter Thirteen

Drained, Parker wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and not think for at least an hour. Or better yet, getting some fresh air might recapture some of the energy he had expended during this conversation.

But knowing Chelsey would pitch a fit if he even thought about walking outside, at least before they finished talking, he ambled over to the window instead. Leaning a palm against the window casing, he released a slow, cleansing breath.

He had shared most of the story with Chelsey, but there was one part he had locked away in the back of his mind. The part that came with the type of guilt that could cripple a man.

He hadn’t lied about leaking the shipment information to the Disciples, but it had been more than that. The truth was, he had worked with someone closely connected to the Disciples. Someone who wanted to inflict the same type of revenge as he’d wanted to do against the Kingz.

Elena. He hadn’t thought about her in years, but she’d had just as much at stake as Parker did. She’d been all in on the deceit for her own reasons that were similar yet different from his. The plan had been perfect. They’d share enough information to start a war, then they’d let the syndicates destroy each other.While that happened, they’d get as far away from California as possible.

Parker wished he knew what happened to her. He had no clue if she was alive or dead, because instead of him meeting up with her, Wolf had intercepted him. Had she been able to disappear? Or had the Disciples done to her what Wolf had tried to do to him? Was she dead because of his idea to start a war? Parker didn’t know, and he’d been carrying that guilt around with him ever since.

Talking about his past felt as if he was reliving those dark days all over again. Especially when he recalled the beating he had received. The pain. The majority of his body had been covered in blood and throbbed while he had struggled to breathe.

Even now, as he rubbed his chest, it was as if he was back there. Back in that warehouse with Wolf, Elder, and three other people, one being his best friend, Luis. Or as close to a best friend he could have. That day was what nightmares were made of.

Parker startled when Chelsey wrapped her arms around him from behind and laid her head on his back. He covered her hands, which lay against his stomach, with his and released a pent-up breath as he relaxed.

It was hard to admit how jacked up his youth had been, and how horribly it almost ended.

“I’m so sorry for everything you went through,” Chelsey murmured. “But I want to know as much as you’re able to share. Right now, give me the short version.”

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