Page 54 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

It would be brutal.

Not because they knew he shouldn’t be doing it, but because they would come up with the craziest scenarios about who Aaliyah James was to him.

Even though the truth was, to him, she was no one.

Only a thorn in his side.

A participant in his wandering thoughts.

As well as the leader of a grief group he would no longer be attending.

Ifhe was smart.

He skimmed down her driving record and over the few speeding and parking citations she received over the years. They were nothing more than summary traffic offenses and not out of the ordinary for someone spending a lot of time in her vehicle when showing and listing homes, as well as meeting with clients.

After a few more keystrokes, he moved on to check for a criminal record and breathed a sigh of relief when that came up clean.

Scraping a hand down his jaw, he stared at the screen.

She might not have a criminal record but someone she was related to certainly did. With another quick glance around first, he quickly typed in the name Malcolm Moore next.

Two came up in the system. A junior and a senior. When he checked their dates of birth, it was obvious that junior was Aaliyah’s brother, leaving Malcolm Moore, Sr. to be her father.

That was confirmed when he saw the nickname Magnum listed under the man’s aliases. Then there was his extensive list of identifying tattoos.

The tattoo that caught his eye was the one mentioned on the man’s back. His Dark Knights MC colors. Typical of bikers living the true MC life. To show their loyalty to their brotherhoods, they permanently tattooed their club rockers and patches onto the skin of their backs.

Nox didn’t even bother to check his driving record. He was damn sure it wasn’t spotless. Magnum most likely no longer had a valid driver’s license, either. Despite that, a dedicated biker like her father would continue riding his “sled” even if suspended.

Riding was life for these MC members, an element needed to survive and as important as air and water.

Nox decided to dive right to the meat of things…

The Knights’ sergeant at arm’s rap sheet.

For fuck’s sake.Nox shook his head while he scrolled the long and extensive list. Aaliyah’s father was also no stranger to taking involuntary vacations in a locked concrete box.

Funny how these outlaw bikers always spouted the saying, “ride free or die,” but ended up spending big chunks of their lives behind bars.

He dug a little deeper and discovered an expired PFA. The protection from abuse order had not only covered Aaliyah’s mother but also the two children.

Had the PFA been granted on a lie or the truth?

Had he gotten violent with his children?

Nox couldn’t imagine that Aaliyah would’ve agreed to repairing their relationship if Magnum had done so.

She also trusted her boys with him.

If the PFA had been issued due to false information, no wonder Aaliyah had been angry with her mother. It was a bullshit way to keep a father away from his own children. It was both scheming and manipulative. And a good way—once the children became adults and discovered the truth—to turn your own kids against you.

It sounded like Aaliyah forgave her mother for the most part, so Aniyah Moore was a lucky woman. Nox wondered if Moore was still the woman’s last name, or she had changed it after the divorce or if she’d remarried. Aaliyah hadn’t mentioned either scenario.

Approaching footsteps had him minimizing the site so whoever it was couldn’t be a nosy fucker.

The empty plastic container was dropped on the desk in front of Nox. “Thank James for us,” Rez said. “And don’t forget to bring him by. We’ll need to approve of him just like Monty’s man Clark.”

Nox spun his office chair around to face his brother. “We can’t approve of Clark since we don’t know shit about him.”

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