I rolled my eyes. I didn’t believe one ounce of that shit.
“It was Harmony’s people who helped me get out. It was down to a man called Brother Stephen.” Rider hesitated. Then he sighed in defeat and said, “Harmony doesn’t know this, and I haven’t told her because he didn’t want me to, but . . . ” he trailed off.
“But what?” Ky asked through gritted teeth. His tolerance for this little show-and-tell was waning.
Rider looked at me, then Flame. “He’s their father.” The temperature in the room seemed to fucking drop by thirty fucking degrees. “Mae, Bella and Maddie . . . Brother Stephen is their biological father.”
I felt my eyes grow fucking huge.
“They don’t know their parents,” I signed, my heart firing like a fucking cannon in my chest.
“You’re right; it isn’t our people’s way to know their children,” Rider said. “But Brother Stephen wanted to raise his girls from the minute they were born. He fought for them, to see them, but had to be content to watch them from a distance. But when my uncle branded them Curseds, he tried to take them from the commune. He knew what happened to Curseds. He couldn’t bear that happening to his children. So he tried to take them. He almost had them out, but he was stopped by the disciple guards. They almost killed him with the punishments they made him suffer, then, when he wouldn’t repent, they banished him to the defectors’ commune.”
“Defectors’ commune?” Ky made his way back to my side. Where he fucking should be. “What the fuck is the defectors’ commune?”
“Where they sent all those who didn’t stick to the commune rules. Those who tried to get their families out. Those who tried to put a stop to the Lord’s Sharings and celestial awakenings. I didn’t even know it existed until Harmony and her keepers were brought to my cells. They found out who I was and told me everything. Including how my uncle was a convicted pedophile before creating the faith and, along with his equally sick friends, started a sex ring. They used religion as a front.”
“So,” Ky said, laughing. “Your whole fuckin’ life, everythin’ you did—turned on us, took the girls, ended up in a cell—was all for a crock of shit? All for Uncle David’s kiddie-loving dick?” Ky laughed louder, right in Rider’s face. The brothers all joined in. But I didn’t. I watched Rider. I watched for his reaction. I’d always been able to sniff out deception. And I was fucking shocked at what I saw—the fake prophet slumping further down, feeling every one of the laughs coming his way. Shamed that the purpose for his entire fucking existence was so his wrinkled dick of an uncle could rape kids.
Rider’s head fell forward, a fucking devastated look over his face. If I’d been a better guy, I’d have felt sympathy for the pathetic loser. But I was a cunt too, so I didn’t even feel a fucking twinge.“Yes,” Rider croaked. “It was all for nothing. My whole life, all the shit I’ve done . . . it was all for nothing.”
When the laughing didn’t stop at his confession, I whistled, the deafening call silencing the room. I lifted my head to each of my brothers, my cold stare silently telling them all to shut their fucking stupid mouths.
They all did.
“Bella was in the defectors’ commune? How?” I signed, pulling the focus back to the clusterfuck that was clearly coming our way.
“Yeah. It was in Puerto Rico,” Rider said, raising his head. “She was nearly killed by the elder that schooled her her whole life, Brother Gabriel.” Rider’s voice dropped, and it was clear—the fucker wasn’t lying about his feelings for Bella. The fucker sounded murderously mad about the pedo we all thought had killed her. ‘Bout as mad as we all were when we put bullets and knives in their heads.
“One of the defector commune’s guards was visiting the old commune, meeting with the elders—it was a front they had to put on, a role they had to play so no one would discover that they were just waiting to take them down. It was the day Mae was due to marry Prophet David. The other guards were busy, so he was ordered to dispose of Bella’s body and give her a Cursed’s burial—an unmarked grave. But when he opened the cell and saw her inside, it all changed. At first, he thought she was dead, but when he saw she wasn’t, he managed to take advantage of the commotion caused by Mae running away and smuggle her out.
“When she arrived in Puerto Rico, Brother Stephen knew who she was straight away—her coloring, the Cursed’s Revelation tattoo on her wrist. So he cared for her, and hid her away in that commune from that day on. Some people in the commune didn’t even know she existed . . . until my twin’s men came to close the camp. She could have tried to run, but she agreed to go back to help bring down the commune. She was told her sisters had all died when you last attacked, so she wanted to see the place burn and the innocent freed . . . Her nightmare started again that day.”
“Until today,” Smiler said, shocking the fuck out of me that he had spoken. Rider stared at his former road brother. And just like before, I could see the pure hurt in his eyes. He’d fucked over his best friend for nothing. Smiler hadn’t been the same since Rider had betrayed us. He’d vouched for him years ago, brought him into the club. The brother barely spoke to anyone now.
And it was all Rider’s fault.
Rider ran his hands through his hair in frustration, the chains pulling on his wrists. “We tricked Judah on the day of his and Harmony’s wedding—today—to come to me in my cell. The defector guards had infiltrated Judah’s personal circle—they are hard and strong, and they played their roles to perfection. They seized him and I took his place. We had only minutes to do it right. And it worked. After the wedding, I got Harmony out of there.” He looked up at me. “When I found out Harmony was their sister, I knew I had to get her here . . . and tell y’all about the attack.” Rider sat up straighter. “Because make no mistake about it, if he isn’t stopped, he will come, they all will. And they’ll be coming in their hundreds. The Klan will get them here unnoticed, and all the people—women and children included—will be bringing hell to your door.”
“And why the fuck should we believe you?” AK asked tightly. “That’s your twin you’re sellin’ out. You expect us to believe that after all the shit the pair of you have brought to us lately, you’re just gonna hand him over, no questions asked? I don’t believe it.”