Page 13 of Savage Cravings

Killian opened his mouth, but I shook my head.

He might be frustrated, but I was still in fucking charge.

“Silas?” I asked when he finished reading parts of the diary. Jesus. A girl living at the club and doing something as innocent as keeping a diary. The heavy weight that had been on my chest since the moment I found myself responsible for my two traumatized brothers increased.

I had done a lot of shit in my life, but it had never included hurting children.

Or innocent women.

But Miss Hayes wasn’t a child, was she?

Or innocent—at least, I didn’t think so.

Fucking hell.

“Her mom lives in New Orleans,” Silas said. “It might be a good place to start.”

I nodded. “Then we’ll start there.”

This time, I wouldn’t let the loose ends go. It was one thing to release a woman who had no real connection to Daniel Hayes. It was another to let his blood go free.

After all, he’d made the mistake of giving up his hunt for us nineteen years ago.

I wouldn’t make his mistake.

3

MILA

I thought Chicago was overwhelming,but New Orleans was a different breed.

It was crowded and rambunctious and loud.

I could see why Mom would choose this place.

It was also hot as fucking hell. Which was appropriate, considering my mom was the fucking devil. Who, upon seeing me on her doorstep, slammed the fucking door on my face and told me to leave.

It still stung to remember the look on her face when she saw me after ten long fucking years.

I had been fooling myself into believing the woman cared about me. At least, enough that she had kept contact with me on and off over the years.

It wasn’t until my third night here that she finally called me back, and only to meet for coffee. She wanted to tell me she was fucking leaving New Orleans with her new boyfriend on the back of his bike.

It sort of felt like she was trying to run away from me.

It was almost funny.

She left Dad because she claimed she couldn’t handle the club life anymore.

Yet she continued to find men exactly like him to date.

It seemed it wasn’t club life that she couldn’t handle, but fucking motherhood.

And I supposed Dad was just tired of her sleeping around and making him look bad in front of his men. The last straw was when she took the president of the Washington Chapter to their bed. It was something Dad couldn’t fight because while he might have risen to power through violence, the Washington chapter had been growing in numbers. Going to war over awhore—Dad’s words—wasn’t worth it.

We all knew the truth, though.

He was scared.

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