Page 17 of Always Mine

Now this did surprise Anthony.“You’d call the cops?”

“Yes,” Lash said.“I would make sure your life was a living hell, and seeing as you didn’t come to me with your amateur plans, I’ve got to deal with the consequences.”His father’s voice got louder until he was shouting.

Anthony glared at him, although he didn’t feel anything.The truth was, his father was a tough one to crack.He had no problem playing them all at their own game, and he knew their weaknesses.Lash always seemed to know.

“You wore your leather cuts,” Lash said.“You labeled your presence there as being under my jurisdiction.I am the leader of the Skulls, you are mine, and because of that, I have to deal with the consequences.It’s not like cleaning up the mess of Daisy’s biological father.”Lash laughed.“You were fucking sixteen years old, and yet you did the right thing back then.No leather cut.No trace, nothing.You cleaned up your tracks.”

“You knew?”Anthony asked.

“I knew something was going on.I’ve been around a lot of men who have gotten shot in the head, and it doesn’t make that kind of mess.I also know if it was just you, you wouldn’t have used the fucking shovel.I’m guessing it was you and Daisy,” Lash said.

He didn’t confirm it and Lash laughed.

“Do you think I am a fucking fool?”Lash asked.

Anthony shook his head.

“Just like I knew when you were sneaking off together.When you were all grounded and I let you guys go to the quad, I knew then.Don’t you get it, when it comes to you kids, I know a great deal.I was once a kid, and trust me, some stuff we don’t forget.”

Anthony frowned and looked at his dad.This was something he hadn’t considered.

“What?”Lash asked.

“Why did you do it?”

This time, Lash frowned.“Why did I do what?”

“Your loyalty is to the club.You’ve made that abundantly clear all my life.Once you’re part of the club, that’s it for life.I’ve watched you and the club for many years, and not once would you ever surrender.”

Lash just stared at him.

“Until the Monster Dogs MC.”

Anthony sat back and really thought about the situation over the past few years.None of it made any sense.Whenever he’d try to avoid going, his father would often say they had to make the most of it.

Lash was always playing back and forth, and over time it made absolutely no sense to him.The truth was, even now it didn’t.One of the Monster Dogs MC had raped their own.Not a lot of people knew the truth of Tabitha’s son’s parentage, but Anthony did, and it would die with him.He would never reveal that Nathan was Ryan’s child, not Simon’s.

Now that the Monster Dogs MC was almost finished, it wouldn’t matter.They ceased to have a claim on the boy.

“You had to,” Anthony said, finally seeing clearly.“Didn’t you?You had no choice but to make the most of the situation with the Monster Dogs MC.That is the only reasonable explanation.”He didn’t move a muscle.

Lash ran a hand down his face and leaned forward.“Nothing is what it seems.”

“The Billionaires,” Anthony said.

He watched his father take a breath and nodded.“I had every intention of evening the score, and by that, I mean taking out Ryan’s dad, and I would have happily declared war and wiped them all out.No one gets away with attacking our own.Until recently, Tabitha was one of ours.She will always be one of ours.Tiny’s kid.His little girl, just like Tate.”Lash put his hands on the table.“But the Billionaire Bikers had other plans.They needed the Monster Dogs MC alive, as they are the ones that went from city to city, rounding up unsuspecting women—kidnapping them, stealing them, whatever you want to call it—and then finding the means to sell them on the market.”

And now it all made sense.

“Shit,” Anthony said.

Lash nodded.“I’ve got a meeting with them at the end of the week.You could have just put a whole bunch of women in harm’s way.”

For the first time in his life, Anthony felt guilt about something that wasn’t related to Daisy.

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