Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 131888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Liyah couldn’t sign that paperwork fast enough.
Kiki didn’t have to tell her who got that ball rolling. It certainly wasn’t Jason. Not only did Magnum have Kiki prepare the paperwork, but her father somehow got Keenan’s sperm donor to sign.
Her best guess was that he went to the Shadows to find Jason.
She told her father she didn’t want to know the details. She was damn sure they weren’t pretty. But then, karma could be ugly at times.
In truth, she lost no sleep over it.
However, she’d be sharing none of that information with the police officer in her passenger seat. Instead, she said, “I’m so damn lucky to have my family’s support.” And have connections to people who could get things done, whether legally or otherwise. “Widowed, abandoned, I’m batting a thousand when it comes to finding my happily ever after. Maybe I’m not meant to find it.”
“You have your boys.”
She smiled softly. “You’re right. They make me happy and give me a purpose. My boys are my life. Everything I do is for them and their future. To make sure they grow up to be good, responsible men.”
“With a grandfather who’s the muscle in an outlaw MC.”
She shrugged. “Everybody isn’t perfect.”
“Why’d you lose contact with him?”
“It’s a long story, but basically, my mother lied about him. She told me and my brother that Magnum abused all of us. It turns out, she lied to the police, lied to the judge to get a protection from abuse order, she even went as far as showing us photos with fake bruises. Who the hell does that?” The anger that subsided years ago was coming back to the surface. This was why she didn’t like to talk about it. She loved her mother but didn’t love what her mother did. “I didn’t find out the truth until much later, but my father said he never gave up. Once he had enough money to hire a good attorney, he fought for visitation. Unfortunately, by that time, MJ and I were old enough to make the decision whether we wanted to attend supervised visits with him or not. Because we believed our mother’s lies and saw the so-called proof with our own two eyes, we both decided we wanted nothing to do with him.”
Once her stepmother Cait convinced her to meet with her father, he didn’t admit he’d been devastated when his kids refused to see him, but she could clearly see it on his face. That made her feel so much damn worse.
Once she found out the truth, Liyah didn’t talk to her mother for about a year. In the end, she felt terrible for keeping Devyn from her. However, her mother’s actions had kept Liyah from having a relationship with her father. They got robbed of spending years together.
Years.
Was her mother perfect? Far from it. She had really screwed up big time in her quest for them to live a better life.
But then, Liyah wasn’t a perfect mother, either. Guilt gnawed at her that neither of her boys had a father in their lives. The only real father-figures were their grandfathers and her younger brother, Malcolm Jr.
Since MJ didn’t live close by, Liyah decided to move closer to her father. Magnum wanted to help as much as possible and she hoped he’d teach her sons how to respect and protect women. He might be the sergeant at arms for an outlaw MC, but he was the perfect example when it came to how he treated his wife and the mother of Liyah’s two youngest siblings, Asia and Caleb.
And Liyah witnessed what a great father he was with his two youngest children. Sometimes seeing that made the bitterness resurface when it came to her and MJ missing out on his time and attention. She now spent a lot of time with her father to make up for the time they lost.
Both of her parents doted on Liyah’s sons. So did Mark’s, despite Keenan not being related to them by blood. They had accepted her youngest son with open arms. Keenan even called them Grandma and Grandpa. She was thankful to still have them in her boys’ lives.
Now that Nox knew a lot more about her, it was only fair she learn more about him. She didn’t want to push him but maybe she could risk asking him one more question.
He gave up his wife’s name when she didn’t think he would, so anything was possible. “Since you now know a lot about me and my past, can I ask you one more thing?” He was going to tell her no, so she hurried to ask it before he denied her. “Did you and Jackie have children?”
His nostrils flared and his jaw flexed. “I gotta go.”
He shoved the door open and, before she could say another word, Nox bolted from the car.