Page 170 of Golden Atonement

“You patched Reaper into the club?”

The kid, like Max, puffed up his little chest and nodded. “Sure as hell did, and he’s my enforcer too!”

“Why the hell does he get to be the enforcer and I’m just a prospect?”

“’Cause he’s got cool blades and he let me hold them.”

King turned and glared at Max, who didn’t look repentant at all.

“And he’s gonna get me my own blades for Christmas. Isn’t that right, Reaper?”

“Yep. My word is Golden, kid.” Max smiled happily at the annoyed and frustrated King. “You know, babe, we gotta bring Jesse here and let him meet Cameron. I think my son needs a Manly Club of his own.”

“No, Jesse needs a fucking parole officer. Your son was issued a prison ID number at birth, not a social security number, and you best remember that, because you will be the one bailing his ass out of jail. Not me.”

“KING!” I heard someone yell as King groaned.

“What now.” The man sighed, stepping out of the cabin when a brother in the Sons of Hell ran over.

“Banks is sick.”

“What the fuck do you mean, he’s sick, Enigma. Fucker was fine at breakfast.”

“Well, he’s in the shitter blowing up the place, and Bails is laughing her ass off. Also, Mike called. Three black Range Rovers are headed up the mountain. Will be here in fifteen.”

“Jesus Christ.” King hung his head. “I’m not going to survive this visit.”

After all the introductions, the guys headed for church, leaving the women to take care of and handle everything.

Fucking typical.

They’d been in church for hours now with no sign of ever coming out.

“Anyone know what’s going on in there?” Sarah, the wife of Gunner asked while she held one of her triplets. The woman couldn’t be older than twenty-something and she was already the mother of three babies. Though to look at her, she didn’t seem to mind one bit.

“They’re measuring their dicks,” Bailey snarked as she fed her own little pink bundle. “It’s what happens when too much testosterone settles in one room.”

“They’re in there because of me,” Aksana whispered as she looked out the window of the Sons of Hell nursery. “This is all my fault.”

“No, it’s the fuckers with the dicks fault,” Bailey snarked, and some of the women in the room chuckled. “It’s always the penis’ fault. Remember that.”

“Bailey is right, Aksana,” Illyria spoke up. “You had no idea any of this would happen. You’ve said it yourself many times. You were just trying to protect Katiya. No one here will ever fault you for that.”

Smiling at the little girl on the floor with blonde ringlets, who was playing with Little Max and the other toddlers, I couldn’t get over how cute she was. In fact, she bore a striking resemblance to Vladmir.

It was uncanny.

If I didn’t know any better, I would say Katiya was a blood relative.

“I’m tired,” Aksana politely said to the room as she bent down and picked up her daughter. “If you would all excuse me, I think I’m going to go to bed.”

No one said a word when the scared woman quietly left the nursery.

However, the second she was gone, Bailey piped up, “That girl needs to grow some balls.”

“Bails,” Sugar sighed. “She’s been through a lot. Let her catch her breath.”

While I would never say that out loud, Bailey was right. Being married to the Bratva wasn’t going to be easy. Especially when Aksana was married to Vladmir, one of theTwo Spies, second only to thePakhan. While I knew the woman didn’t believe shewas legally married to my dad, I, for one, knew if Vladmir said they were married, it was a legal and concrete binding. Vladmir never did anything by halves.

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