Page 9 of Nines's Time

“And who might that ghost be?”

Dorin steps between Sniper and Gavril keeping my brother from lunging at Gavril.

“Gavril, you can tell them and trust them,” Dorin remarks passively.

I cock my head slightly, watching Gavril closely as he nods, but Sniper speaks up before he can.

“Tell me that isn’t Libby’s daughter,” Sniper rasps, his voice grated with emotion.

Libby?

As in Nerd’s aunt?

That can’t be right.

Can it?

I was a kid when she’d been around with Nerd’s mom. The two of them seemed tight, and then both were gone. Nerd’s mom was found, but we’d found out that she just didn’t want to be a mom. At least that’s what I remember Nerd telling me.

“Are you talking about—” Blow starts, but Gavril interrupts him, breaking through my thoughts.

“Yes, and that’s the only answer you’re going to get from me. I made a promise to that girl, and I won’t break it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go make sure Meadow is okay.” Gavril doesn’t wait for a response from anyone as he walks in the direction in which Meadow has gone.

But I don’t watch which way he goes, instead, I focus on Sniper and the grave look on his face that takes over his features.

“Sniper, Libby was your—”

“Yeah.” Sniper doesn’t let Blow finish. “She was Nerd’s mother’s sister who disappeared years ago, and none of us could find her.”

“But you found Nerd’s mom when she disappeared around the same time,” I mutter finding myself confused by this whole mess.

“Yeah, found that bitch,” Sniper sneers. “She didn’t want to be a mom to Nerd. Said she wanted to live free and be wherever the wind took her. Stupid move on her part. Found out she died three years after finding her.” He lets out a breath and shakes his head. “Libby, on the other hand, there was no reason for her to want to up and leave, and there have not been any signs of her anywhere. She all but vanished into thin air.”

“Fuck,” Blow mutters

“This means this girl is family,” I state the obvious. “We telling Nerd about her?”

“If it’s true, which I fuckin’ believe it is, then yeah, she’s family, and Nerd deserves to know he’s got a cousin.” Sniper nods and reaches up to rake a hand through his hair in frustration. “However, I don’t know what happened to that girl. What I do know, though, is she’s not only the spitting image of her mother, but she’s also got a ghost in those eyes haunting her. Damn girl couldn’t even stand to be around me without nearly jumping out of her skin.”

“I want Keys to look into her,” Blow says and looks to Dorin. “Do you know anything else about this girl?”

“I only know what Gavril has told me over the years,” he answers, his nostrils flaring. “And I agree with him. She is under the protection of the Dragomir family.”

“Right,” Blow grumbles, shaking his head and looks to me. “You talk to Keys. We’ve got enough going on with the cops and your shit. We don’t need more drama if we can keep that from happening.”

“I’ll talk to him. And hopefully, Markus will be able to get me out of this shit sometime soon,” I say, curling my lip upward in disgust at the thought of the shitshow I’m dealing with. “Chelsea’s been reading through those journals Douglas had, and I’m going with my gut that all of this connects to what’s in those journals.”

“I agree with you,” Sniper adds. “I read them myself, and Douglas seemed to be scared in the last entries about his brother. It’s why he put everything in Storm’s name. He knew she didn’t want anything to do with the companies. When he came to the clubhouse, it was a front. I think his brother and the Crimson Blood Clan are behind this.”

“Exactly my thoughts. We have to watch our backs and hope like hell this shit blows over and we get Nines out of trouble and keep them from causing more,” Blow grinds out. “I’ve got a woman and three newborns, I don’t need to be dealing with these bastards as well.”

“You worry about those babies and Storm,” I state firmly. “I’ll handle the rest. It’s not like you haven’t handled things for me when I needed you to.”

“Appreciate it, but we’ll work on it together.” Blow nods, meeting my gaze.

I nod, understanding him. He’s got my back just as I’ve got his. But it makes me wonder about Meadow. Who has hers besides Gavril?

CHAPTERSEVEN

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