Page 2 of Relentles
“I wish, motherfucker.” She paused a moment, then said, “Baby, your daddy and Big Joe here.”
“Daddeeee,” Bailey’s little voice squealed.
K-P’s heart turned over. In the four years since his daughter’s birth, he’d never felt as much unconditional love toward anyone else. He’d mourned the dissolution of his and Roxanne’s relationship because of how much he loved her but also because it meant separation from his baby girl.
“Our girls really need to meet,” K-P said wistfully. “They’re family. First cousins.”
“Shut the fuck up, asshole,” Joe snapped. “Shit’s complicated enough because of Cee Cee’s fucking cock making Christopher and Johnnie. We agreed to keep this shit to ourselves and away from Roxanne and Dinah.”
“What’s the fucking point?” K-P growled. One day, the many lies and deceptions would be their downfall. Once, he’d understood and agreed with Joe’s reasoning. Now, he wanted his daughter to know her uncle and her cousin. “You don’t fucking think they’re in danger anyway?”
Logan happily went along with the idea that Meggie and Bailey never know the truth, since Bailey was biracial. The motherfucker.
K-P nodded toward the wall that now held a wealth of incriminating evidence. “Roxanne and Bailey are in as much danger as Dinah and Megan. I’m hiding documents I stole in my old lady’s house.”Ex. Neither here nor there. Roxanne would always be his. “You’ve temporarily made your baby girl equal heir to the empire. The fuckingcriminalempire, Joe,” he added in disgust, “founded by a fucking lunatic on behalf of a fucking monster. For as long as she lives, she’ll be at risk.”
Joe glanced away. “Not if they don’t know she owns it. And it’s only until all debts are paid. I need to get a return on my investment. As long as I’m alive she’s safe. I would give my life in her stead. By the time she’s of legal age, her name will be long scrubbed from all club documents. It was my fucking hard-earned money that bought the original property and built the fucking club.”
After Kimber’s death, he hadn’t given a fuck about the jobs he took for Sharper and Logan.
“Why not make Joey co-owner?” K-P asked gravely, the weight of his actions, Joe’s actions, heavy on him. One misstep would cost innocent lives. “Or Johnnie? Why involve Christopher and Meggie? She’stwo, turning three in a few months.”
“Johnnie?” Joe spat, glaring at K-P from head-to-toe and back again. “Are you out of your fucking mind? That would play right into Logan’s hands. He sees Johnnie stepping in. Christopher’s life would be snuffed out without a thought.”
“Cee Cee is paying to keep Christopher alive. He killed Fred and used a hot fucking poker on Logan for betraying him.”
“Listento what you’re saying, Kaleb. Cee Cee discovered Logan’s dirty deeds toward Christopher and Fred’s coverup atPatricia’s behestafterit was over and done with. Besides, Cee Cee’s on the other side of the fucking country. If I leave, Christopher has absolutely no one to protect him. I love that kid.”
More than he loved Joey, although K-P didn’t point that out. It was just one of the reasons Joey hated Christopher. Although Cee Cee swore to kill Joey if he ever had to acknowledge him as his nephew because he held the kid responsible for Kimber’s death, Joe hadn’t been able to bond with the boy for the same reason. He'd chosen a random club rat to pose as Joey’s mother and just left him, only visiting occasionally until he’d had no choice but to raise him.
Misery and heartache filled the entire situation.
“Motherfucking Logan is all out of virginal daughters to offer up as sacrificial lambs.” Joe scrubbed a hand over his face, returning to the original topic. “It should all go to Christopher, but Meggie is my blood. I want her to have her share. She can resell her portion to Logan if she chooses. Either way, she’s set for life in the event something happens to me. As for Joey? I love my boy, but I don’t trust that little motherfucker not to go to their side for enoughincentive.”
“Then leave. Both of us. Let’s turn in our patches and be fucking happy. Fuck the club. Fuck the money. Fuck everything except our little girls and their mamas.”
Joe clasped his hands together and rested them against his mouth, then turned in a tight circle. “What about Christopher?”
“Take him with us,” K-P said, making this up as he went along. “That kid loves you. We still have a chance to save him and steer him on a path to where he isn’t on the fringes of society. Logan might want Johnnie to inherit everything, but he’s doing what he has to so that the boy has choices.”
“What about Joey?”
There was not one hint of what Joe thought about K-P’s suggestion.
However, Joe’s question stole K-P’s hope. Christopher and Joey hated each other. It was in Joey’s nature to be a cold-blooded killer, despite how young he was. Kimber would be heartbroken. Joe had been too grief-stricken to properly raise Joey, but the kid was a fucking maniac, more like Cee Cee and Rack than Kimber or Joe. It was a good thing that Cee Cee decided he didn’t want their connection known.
Meanwhile, Christopher learned survival of the fittest kept him alive. The boy loved his sisters, especially Zoann and Ophelia, and doted on his mother. He knew nothing of Patricia’s previous life. She was now as pious as a nun, a respectable lady who’d stood tall in the face of adversity.
K-P glanced at the wall. One day, his documents would tell the real story. He knew there’d be more to steal. Sharper, Logan, and Rack weren’t finished manipulating the legalities.
“For that matter, what about Dinah?” Joe continued at K-P’s prolonged silence.
What about her? K-P didn’t know her. The two times she’d come to the club he’d been away.
“One week, we’re working things out and the next week she’s accusing me of fucking every bitch I say ‘hello’ to. The next time she puts my ass out, she might not take me back.” He tipped his head back. “Good girls are fucking headaches.”
“Without your good girl, you wouldn’t have Meggie,” K-P reminded him. For that matter, he wouldn’t have Joey. Kimber had been a good girl, too.
“Yeah,” Joe agreed on a sigh, then looked at him. “Drop this fucking idea that Bailey and Meggie meet. You’ve never acknowledged Joey as your nephew.”
