the floor, the place looked huge. Someone had thoroughly cleaned it. The floor gleamed and the room smelled fresh, completely different from what she’d found earlier.
“Steele shared the letter you left him with me,” Czar continued, waving her toward a chair. “I want you to tell us, step by step, everything that happened. Absinthe is going to sit next to you and hold your wrist.”
Her gaze jumped to Absinthe and then she stumbled toward the chair Czar had indicated. They had all the exits blocked. It was casually done, a man near each door, all watching her. She raised her gaze to Steele as she sank into the chair. It was high-backed, not uncomfortable, but she thought it rather telling that she wasn’t offered one of the really nice armchairs on the other side of the room.
Absinthe sank into a chair beside her. Her gaze jumped to him. He was like the rest of them, all muscle. He had one scar that curved along his jaw on the left side of his face and his nose might have been broken more than once. His hair was blond and spilled across his forehead. That should have made him look young, but it didn’t. His eyes were different. Light. Almost like two crystals.
Breezy stretched her arm out and concentrated on the floor. She just wanted them to get the questions over with, so she could leave. Absinthe’s touch was very gentle. He circled her wrist with his hands, his fingers over her pulse. She knew her heart was racing and that scared her; she was afraid he would tell them she was lying when she wasn’t.
“You want to tell me the truth,” Absinthe said, his voice as gentle as his touch.
She thought that was an odd way to put it, but she had no intentions of lying to him. What would be the point?
“Breezy, do you have a son?”
She heard a gasp and looked up. The room went electric. Lana was there. Alena. They had ridden with the sixteen men during their time with the Swords and were always protected. Always. Their faces showed shock as did those of most of the men in the room. They’d all looked down on her because she was Swords. She’d also been a whore and a mule, lower than some of the other patch chasers. Now, she was the mother of Steele’s son. That must make them all a little sick, Steele included.
“Yes.”
She saw their gazes all switch to Absinthe. He nodded. “Is he Steele’s son?”
“Yes.” She looked up at Steele. “You’re such a son of a bitch. I would never have come here if I didn’t need you to back me up. I didn’t ask for anything from you. Not one damn thing. You know I didn’t sleep with anyone else once we were together. That was you being the slut, not me.” She spat the accusation at him, furious that he would question her word that her son was his as well. Steele, as usual, wore an expressionless mask making it impossible to see what he was thinking, but the question told her everything.
“Breezy,” Absinthe directed her attention back to him.
“Get it over with,” she snapped, clenching her teeth.
“Did your brother and father kidnap your son?”
“Yes. They did.”
“Had you had contact with them prior to that?”
“No.” She swallowed the lump growing in her throat and told herself to keep it together. Zane would be so frightened, and her father believed in hitting a child until they couldn’t cry anymore. She knew from experience. “I worked in a diner in New Mexico. Someone spotted me there, at least that’s what Braden—you know him as Junk—told me.” She was so upset she couldn’t remember if they knew given names of club members. They were rarely used.
“You spoke to your brother?”
“They came in the middle of the night, broke in and took him.” Her voice cracked, and she pressed two shaky fingers to her mouth. She thought leaving Steele after the ugly things he’d said to her had been the worst that could happen. She’d been wrong. She turned her head to the right, toward Absinthe and swept back her hair so he couldn’t fail to see the bruising beneath the makeup she’d applied. “There’s more. A lot more.”
“You fought them?”
“Of course, I did. Did you think I’d meekly hand my baby over to them? I lived through a nightmare childhood with them.” She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe. She was feeling faint