Illusive (Storm MC 5)

“So you just walked away?” he demanded. His face had contorted into ugliness at the mention of cops, and I didn’t blame him. The police weren’t high on Storm’s list of trusted people.

“Yeah. I fucked around for a while doing random handyman type jobs until private investigation work fell into my lap. A friend hired me to work with him while I did my study, and I never looked back.”

He crossed his arms and planted his feet wide. “Keep talking. You need to get to the point.”

“My parents and brother were murdered ten years ago. Tortured for hours and then had their throats slit. The day after Boxing Day, I came home to find them. I’ll never get the blood and horror out of my mind. I had no faith in the cops to find justice for their deaths. The idea of life behind bars for someone who killed my family didn’t sit well with me – I wanted blood for blood. And I believed I knew who the killer was.”

“Who?” Still that hard look on his face.

“Marcus.” I paused, taking in the flicker of surprise on his face. “My father had been investigating Storm and their involvement in drugs. I’m fairly certain he was close to arresting Marcus at the time of his murder. The investigation into Storm never really went anywhere after his death, which only convinced me further of Marcus’s involvement, but after eighteen months of my own investigations, I couldn’t pin him for the murders.”

“This isn’t adding up, Griff. You didn’t join Storm until three years ago, yet the murders were ten years ago.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I walked away from it all after eighteen months…left town and tried to move on from it because, fuck, it was changing me. I was doing shit I wasn’t proud of so I got out before I lost what little of my soul I had left. But revenge has a way of running your life, and I came back four years later determined to get justice. When I couldn’t do that outside of the club, I found a way in. I found a way to get close to the people I thought had killed my family.”

His wild eyes were glued to mine and his body was tied up with tension. “Fuck,” he swore. “So none of this means anything to you? What the fuck are you still here for? Marcus is dead so you’ve got no reason to still be here.”

Scott’s anger fueled my frustration. My chest tightened with the need to get everything out, and my head began to throb with a growing headache. “Storm means everything to me. Fuck!” I paced away from him towards the window. Balling my fists, I took some deep breaths, trying to get myself under control. Turning back to him, I said, “Marcus wasn’t responsible for my family’s deaths. I worked that out within a year of joining Storm. By then, I’d also worked out that Storm meant more to me than most of my own family had. There was no way I was walking away from that.”

“Your cop family, who you’re still fucking close to!” he spat.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t have any ties to my family anymore, Scott. Except for an aunt who also has no ties to them.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Griff!” he roared. “I’ve seen photos of you meeting with your cop cousin – this fucking week.”

“Did Ricky tell you about the Bond case? I assume that’s how he found out my past.”

“No. He only filled me in on your true identity.”

“Danny, my cousin, asked me to investigate the murders of Leon Bond and his girlfriend. With Bond being a high profile drug dealer, Danny wanted the real murderer exposed, but didn’t have faith in his team to do that because he’d discovered his partner was dirty. I’d just come back to Brisbane to look into Marcus, and Danny decided I was the only person he could trust. Foolishly, I agreed to do it.” I raked my fingers through my hair as I recalled the investigation. If I could go back and change anything in my life, taking on this case would be it. “In the course of my investigation, I witnessed another murder, and long story short, that’s coming back to bite me in the ass because it’s key evidence in the Bond case now and they want me to testify. That’s why I met with Danny this week. To tell him to back the fuck off and that there’s no way in hell I’m getting on that stand.”

Scott stared at me in silence as he took all that in. Eventually, he said, “Jesus, Griff, what a shit fight.” He appeared to have calmed down a little, almost as if he was reconsidering his anger at me, but wasn’t sure whether that was the right move.

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it is. You’ve gotta believe that while I did mean to deceive you to get into Storm - and I don’t regret that because I had to do what I did for my family - I wish it could have all happened under different circumstances. My loyalty lies completely with Storm now.”

With wary eyes, he said, “I’m gonna need some time to work through this. To be honest, I’m knocked for fucking six and don’t know what to make of it. I trusted you, one hundred fucking percent, and now that trust is gone, and I’m not sure where that leaves us. I can’t have a VP I don’t trust. And I’m not sure the boys would want a member they can’t trust to remain part of the club.”

His words gutted me.

Threatened to destroy me.

Without Storm, I had nothing.

I was nothing.

As the ghosts of the past circled, and the demons clawed at the soul I did have left, I swallowed back my fear and nodded. No words came, though. There were none left to say. Scott would make up his own mind, regardless of anything more I might say.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he said before turning on his heel and walking out of the room.

I stood staring at the nothingness in front of me.

Scott had been the one person I’d hoped would understand.

Instead, he’d walked out.

And my faith in family died the death it should have had years ago.

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