Mykel (King's Descendants MC #3) - Bella Jewel Page 0,40
man who did it. He wouldn’t talk at first, but with a little persuasion, he told me her name and that’s as far as I got. I couldn’t find her and still haven’t been able to find her since. All I know is that she’s part of this somehow.”
I mean, he could be right, but it could also be a huge coincidence that her hand just happened to be in the picture. She could have been dancing; she could have been a waitress handing over a drink. It could have been a mix of things.
“What if it doesn’t have anything to do with her, and you’ve been chasing the wrong lead?”
He looks to me, his eyes narrowing. “How so?”
“I’m not saying you’re wrong or anything,” I say quickly. “I’m just wondering what if that hand has nothing to do with anything? She could have just been someone in the picture who happens to look like she’s handing something over?”
He frowns, as if this hasn’t even crossed his mind. “You think I’m lookin’ for the wrong thing?”
“No, not at all. I just think you need to expand your horizons, so to speak. What about the other people in the picture? Have you talked to the owners of that club? Have you investigated that side of things?”
He stares at me, and then steps forward, taking my face in his hands and shocking me entirely. “You are somethin’ else, Waverly. Help me with this.”
He’s asking for my help?
Oh god.
He wants my help.
My heart swells and I smile. “I’ll help you. We’ll find out what happened to your parents.”
“My sister had them officially declared dead after five years, and I haven’t spoken to her since. She stopped calling me when she found out I inherited the house.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister. I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“I’ve got two sisters and a brother, none that live close.”
“Are you close to them?” I ask.
“None of them have had a great deal to do with me when I took over this house. They think I did something to have it handed to me, but I didn’t. I just stuck around when Mom and Dad needed me. They got a lot of fuckin’ money when it all went down. They certainly didn’t fuckin’ miss out.”
They sound selfish—not that I’m going to tell him that because that would be rude. “I’m sorry that happened, but I’ll try to help you solve this the best I can. God knows I need the distraction.”
He studies me, his eyes intense. “You shouldn’t be goin’ back in there, Waverly. It’s dangerous.”
“Yeah,” I say softly. “Yeah, I know.”
“You don’t owe the fuckin’ club a thing.”
“No, I don’t, but I made them a promise, and I’m going to keep that promise because they need me to do that. Not only do they need me to do it, but the girls whose lives are being destroyed by Dax need me to do it.”
“There’s always a monster out there, Waverly. Can’t save them all.”
“No, but I can sure as hell try.”
He studies me and then exhales and murmurs, “You need to get some rest.”
He takes a few steps toward the door and I take one more look at the board. I zone in on a picture of his mother and only then do I realize something so incredibly obvious. She looks a lot like Briella. It’s in that moment that I understand something, something incredibly huge—Mykel thinks he’s in love with Briella because she reminds him of his mother.
Not in a twisted, weird kind of way.
He doesn’t love Briella in a sexual way. That much is clear.
He loves her in a compassionate way, in a way that makes his heart feel a little better.
It’s not twisted, but rather beautiful.
And it helps everything suddenly make a whole lot of sense.
I press a hand to my heart, and I know one thing is for sure . . . I’m going to help Mykel find his family, because he deserves that.
I STARE AT THE GROUP of bikers sitting around the table in the shed at the compound, and I know they’ve come up with something, something that’s going to end this once and for all. I’m not sure I feel good about it, but it has been a few days since I helped Dax and since then, he’s been calling me an insane amount. He’s losing it. His footing is getting shaky, and because of that, he’s in the perfect position to have something bring him down.
Something