Page 57 of I Should Hate You-but I Don't

"About her dad being alive?" He frowned. "No."

Kinglsey patted the air, warning him to keep his voice down. The girls had gone upstairs immediately after arriving home. Knowing Kenna hadn't slept a straight eight hours in a couple of weeks, he imagined if they weren't talking, they slept.

On the car ride, he'd warned River that if Kenna bolted, she was to come to him immediately. Kingsley would also stay in the house. To be safe, he put two Gem Haven members at the entrance to the compound. Even if Kenna ran away without her car, she wouldn't get a foot off the property.

"How deep are you in with Kenna?" he asked.

Kingsley fisted his hands. "I love her."

"You haven't even been around her for over two years."

"That shit doesn't matter. Every day since I was eighteen, I've been wrapped up in taking care of her. Every foster home she went to, every time she ran away from the girls' home, I was the one who was there for her. Suddenly, she's grown up and—and I'm pissed. Why were we the ones who had to watch over them?" He leaned forward and planted his elbows on the table. "She's like fucking poison to me, brother."

"I put a request in at the prison to visit him," he said.

"Him?"

He nodded. "I can't keep doing this to River."

Kingsley blew out his breath. "Dad's gonna kill us. We're going against his orders."

"Dad's not here." He drained his coffee, which had grown cold. "He hadn't been here. We've kept watch over the girls. We've run the club. Grew the club. Our profits are ten times what they were when Dad was here. If he wants to take everything away from me because I slept with River, he'll have a fight on his hands."

"You'd go up against Ridge Stafford?" His brother whistled softly. "Balls, brother."

Until that moment, he always thought he'd walk if his dad got early parole. He was pushed into running Gem Haven before he had any idea what the fuck he was doing.

He was bitter that his dad left that responsibility fall on him. When others were out partying and fucking around in their twenties, he lived the life of someone twice his age.

Through trial and error and much bullshit, he thrived. He'd done that. Not his dad.

He wasn't giving up the club, and he sure in the hell wasn't giving up River.

"Gem Haven belongs to us." He met his brother's gaze. "You in?"

Kingsley fisted his hand and held up his knuckles. "To the end."

"To the end." He bumped knuckles.

"Can't say I'm upset. Sooner or later, the truth had to come out." Kingsley inhaled deeply. "I'd sure like to know why Kenna has held on to the hope that her dad was alive."

"She never told you?"

"No." He blew out his cheeks. "Let's just say any time she brought up her dad, I shut that down fast. I assumed she'dgive up the wild goose chase, but she's only become more determined."

"I don't know what will be harder on them, not ever knowing or finding out the truth and learning we knew the whole fucking time." He stood and walked into the kitchen. "All I want to do is talk to the man, face to face, and tell him that the truth has to come out. If he wants his daughters to have any future, he'll have to step back and accept it."

"Do you think he'll retaliate and go after Dad?" asked Kingsley.

"We'll have to put security on him after the visit." He leaned against the counter and crossed his ankles. "The MC has enough members behind bars. They can influence what happens on the inside."

Kingsley got up from the table. "When did you put the request in to visit Tom Pruitt?"

A female gasp came from behind him.

He met Kingsley's gaze. He could see from the sudden hardening of his mouth that River was standing behind him.

He turned around, expecting to stop the train wreck coming at him, and found Kenna standing beside River, glaring fire in his direction.

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