I’d uttered the truth when I said Marcus would never love us.
A truth I’d never wanted to admit out loud.
I’d buried that truth so fucking deep in my soul and refused to believe it.
There was no more hiding from it now.
“I love him, and I can’t stop,” she whispered. “I know it makes no sense, but I’ve always loved him, even through all the shit.”
I stared at her and waited for more.
“In the beginning, he wasn’t like he is now, not this bad. Then we had Scott, and, at the same time, shit went down
at the club. It was a blood bath as they battled a war with Black Deeds and shed members with no loyalty. Marcus changed through all of that, hardened, and became more violent. He also began seeing your mother around that time, and I suspect he took most of his anger out on her because he was leaving me alone back then. My father was still around and kept an eye on him.”
“So you knew he was cheating on you?”
“He always had, but I didn’t care. I grew up around the club and knew it was just part of the lifestyle.”
I stared at her. Stunned a woman would accept that for herself. “Were there other women besides my mother?”
“From what I could work out, one or two, but not really. As his duties at the club increased, he didn’t really have the time.”
I took a breath and asked the one question I’d always wanted to know the answer to. “Did Marcus abuse your kids?”
“No!”
“Why not? He never hesitated to take to me with his fists if he was in the mood.” I didn’t believe her.
“Blue helped me. After Dad died, he stepped up and looked out for us. Marcus only began hitting me after Blue left.”
Fuck.
Blue.
“Who is Blue?”
“My brother.”
Fuck, under our noses all this fucking time.
“Why did he leave?”
“It was after his girlfriend died of a drug overdose. Something happened between him and Marcus. Blue knew something, I don’t know what, but it was enough to force Marcus to get the club out of drugs. Blue always hated they were into that.”
“Blue blackmailed him?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know where he is now?”
“No, he never tells me.”
He knows Marcus would kill him if he found him.
“How often do you hear from him?”
She shrugged. “Every couple of months.”