Page 19 of Sinful Mates

Mom wiped away a dark smudge of mascara under her eye. “I needed one after hearing what happened.” Her unforgiving eyes cut to Slade.

My mate stepped up beside me and offered his Zippo to light her smoke.

Mom’s eyes narrowed and she nodded her thanks, polite within limits.

“Mrs. Heller, I’m sorry for your loss.” Slade pocketed his lighter, making up for lost time, since he wasn’t able to get close to her previously to pay his respects to a fellow president’s wife, as was custom.

Venom tipped my mom’s gaze. “You’ve got a nerve coming here, Vincent.” Smoke fanned out of her nose and mouth. “You kill my husband, wipe out his club, and don’t give the families time to grieve before declaring the territory yours.”

Here we go.

My mind zoned in on the fact that she said Dad’s club and not Danny’s. And the fact she never mentioned her son.

Slade surprisingly kept his cool despite the turbulence brewing. “I didn’t kill your husband, Mrs. Heller.”

Thank the goddess he didn’t tell her who really did it. Her heart was broken enough. Finding out her son killed her husband would destroy her.

She folded her arms, pinching the cigarette tightly between manicured fingers. “You deny that but don’t deny wiping out the Wolves?”

Slade surprisingly kept his cool. “The Wolves were rabid and needed to be put down.”

No one found the bodies of a single Wolf, thanks to Zethan going back to clean up the mess and hide the bodies in the Underworld. Shortly after, Slade spread the news on the MC channels to let everyone know who the Wolves’ territory now belonged to. The threat hung heavy. Fuck with us and you’d be next, your turf ours.

“The Wolves were good men. Hard working. Loyal. Respectful.” Fuck, my mom wouldn’t let up. Blind in her ignorance to what Danny morphed the Wolves into.

My shoulders snapped back at the implication that my mates were bad men. Nobody in the organized crime world were good men, period. But bad men did good things. My mates treated me right and that was all I cared about.

Fuck. Hard truths bubbled up my throat and burst free. “Good, hard working, loyal men who forced women into prostitution and pornography. You haven’t once asked about Danny. It’s like you don’t grieve him.”

Mom said it herself when I visited her five months ago. She and senior members like Jerry disagreed with Danny’s new direction for the club. Dad never would have sanctioned it. Why couldn’t she see that Danny got rid of Dad to promote his agenda? Unless she was in on it and knew it all along. The thought hacked at my chest.

“Danny wasn’t perfect, and not all of the Wolves were bad,” Mom snapped back. “They were following orders. Respecting authority. Something Vincent knows nothing about.”

Complete denial. Absolutely no grief that her son was gone.

Irritated and tired of her defending the Wolves, I rubbed my forehead. “Mom, Slade is my fiancé, and I’d appreciate you don’t talk about him like that.”

Slade’s bond rumbled with reverence at the respect shown him.

More things I wanted to say tingled on my tongue. Danny sent riders to knock Castor and me off our bikes and almost killed us. Slade and my mates protected me from Danny and the Wolves. Her precious son was a disgusting piece of shit who deserved to rot in the Underworld. Out of respect for her grief, and for Jerry’s memory, I shut the hell up.

All light went out in my mother’s eyes like a candle snuffed out. “Engaged? How could you, Aaliyah? Are you out of your mind?” She huffed. “I thought Danny was mad, but you take the cake!”

Cigarette pinched between her lips, she marched away, her black pumps sinking in the dirt like my hopes of having a relationship with my mother or my daughter having one with her grandmother.

Desperate to mend fences for the sake of my kid, I jogged to catch up, and my mates respected we needed space. “Mom, please, wait.”

Her dead eyes met mine. “You’re a disgrace, Aaliyah.” The words were like a punch to the gut. “Your father would die a second death if he knew you hooked up with the Jackals’ president.”

Something taut snapped inside me, like my humanity when I killed my brother. “I think he would rest in peace knowing his death was avenged.”

Fuck. It came out, harsh and explosive, but I was pushed to the edge, caught in the iron grip of emotion.

Before she got in another word, I changed topics quickly, hoping to ease her temper. “Mom, I didn’t come here to argue with you. I came to ask you if you wanted to visit your granddaughter.”

The sound of bombs being dropped from planes circled in my head.

Mom’s face paled and she fumbled for another cigarette. “You’re pregnant to that mutt?”

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