FORBIDDEN: The Stowaway PART ONE

Chapter Twenty-Four - Riggs

Zay just ran off to puke. She's as shocked as I am.

I buried my brother a year ago, six feet underground.

I place roses on his fucking grave every month.

A fucking year.

I can't believe these bastards kept this from me.

Peter steps forward, lowering the gun and embracing me. "I'm sorry, Riggs. I had to."

"We all did," Judas adds.

I push my brother off me. My little brother, who I've been protecting all my life. "I fucked-up by shoving my dick in crazy, and this is what I get for it?"

Peter glances at Crew, craning his neck, making that scar stretch. That scar. The woman I've been screwing the past week did this to my brother. She thought she killed him.

I sympathized with her.

I felt bad for her.

I'm fucking falling for her.

No, not anymore.

She betrayed me, like the rest.

I want to hate her, but she's changed me in a short week. Opened my eyes to get out of this business.

"You sent your father to prison. You sent almost the whole damn club to prison." Lip scoffs. "The fuck did you expect?"

"I just want to know why? Why would you lie to me?"

My brows furrow as I look at Peter, taking him in. He's wearing his cut. My baby brother isn't a prospect anymore. I wanted more for him. To better his life outside the MC. Our daddy wanted us to follow in his footsteps.

When Peter came home with his acceptance to Stanford University, I knew he'd get out.

I just knew it.

But I was wrong.

So fucking wrong.

Our mother would yell at us when we'd wear our daddy's cut. She expected more from me to set an example for him. And I tried. Since I was fifteen and joined the club, I tried.

But Peter, he's like our daddy. He enjoys the killing, enjoys the thrill of dirty success. He doesn't understand the haunting it gives. He'll never understand because he's just a kid. I was there once, too. I loved it, until I didn't. Now I hate every aspect of it and hope this club burns to the fucking ground.

I growl and slump on her bed, putting my head in my hands and trying to understand what is happening. "You're alive," I whisper.

Peter kneels in front of me and squeezes my leg. "I never left, brother. I stayed with Roaden and learned everything I could so Daddy would be proud of me. Of us." He slips me a smile. "I'm sorry I lied. We paid our dues, though. We paid and look at us now." He leans in closer, lowering his voice so only I can hear him. "Donnelly brothers will run this club." He taps my chest, then his. "President and VP." He gets to his feet and makes for the washroom to see Zay, that sympathetic look he gave me washes away as he approaches her.

The woman in there planned on killing him. She divulged how sorry she was, how regretful she was for what she did. She told me about Natalia—Lillian. She told me about a girl that I used because she knew nothing. I liked showing Natalia things, I liked her open mind. Her innocence.

I hate it now.

I hate her. I hate Zay. I hate Peter.

I have this fucking club.

Judas claps me on the shoulder and sits beside me. "It'll be all right, brother."

I sniff, holding in the tears but my eyes and throat are burning. "All right?" I scoff. "Nothing's all right until this shit is over."

He squeezes my shoulder and drops his hand on his lap.

How am I getting out of this? How is Zay getting out of this?

I'm trying to decide whether or not I should save Zay.

She deserves better but she planned on killing my brother, and believed she did it.

I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to believe.

I can't catch my breath. I can't be here. I can't do this.

How in the fuck is this happening?