Ruthless Hold (Back Down Devil MC #9)(53)

“No. It’s kind of romantic. In a weird way. I just wish you two could have been together.”

“Me too,” Jenn said. “But I was claimed by Ripper. And Ripper would rather make me suffer in misery than just let me go. He f*cked anything he wanted, but I wasn’t allowed to look at another man.”

“He sounds like an *,” Eden said.

“That’s exactly what he is. That’s why I’m here. But let me finish this first. We were in bed together. I know, I know - gross. We had to break apart. Somewhere in my heart I thought it could all work. We could keep sneaking around together. But Griffin looked at me and I just knew. I knew right then I’d never see him, touch him, taste him, ever again. I started to cry. He touched my jaw and told me he had something for me. He said he dreamed of giving me a ring and riding off into the sunset. He didn’t give me a ring. He gave me the letter to you.”

Eden gasped. “He… you…”

Jenn nodded. “He said that if he was to ever get killed he wanted me to send you the letter. Because then you’d go to the club and they’d protect you. I think on some level he thought by being alive it kept all enemies away from you. Maybe he thought Ripper knew the truth. I don’t know, Eden. I really don’t know. But he said it and I respected it. When I heard that he was killed, it destroyed me. I couldn’t show any emotion either. Think about that. The man I loved and I couldn’t even weep for his death. I sent the letter and waited. I figured news would have to push through the MC about you. But it never did. Until I saw you at Giovanni’s funeral. I could’ve collapsed…”

“I didn’t come for a year,” Eden said. “I didn’t know what to make out of it all. Then I was attacked. I worked at a tattoo parlor. The owner was shot in the head right in front of me. Then the guys came after me. They burned the letter. I managed to save the picture that you sent though. But the guys wanted me dead. So I came here and… then I found out my father was dead.”

Eden started to lose it. Jenn wrapped her arms around Eden and hugged her. It was the first time Eden got a hug from her birth mother. Eden hugged back and started to cry. Jenn started to cry.

Mother and daughter stood there, crying. For everything lost. For everything gained. All the anger Eden felt slowly washed away. She wasn’t sure if she loved her mother or not but the woman proved to be brave. Making such a difficult decision… and her father always protecting her…

The door to the apartment opened.

Eden saw Trev standing in the doorway. “Hey. I heard noise…”

“Just a good cry,” Jenn said.

Trev looked at Eden. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Eden said.

Her mother leaned in. “The way he’s looking at you right now is the way your father always looked at me. Never let that go.”

Eden felt her body gush.

Trev entered the apartment and shut the door. “You two talk?”

“Yeah,” Jenn said. “She knows all I can really tell right now. I guess we have to move to the bad news.”

“The bad news?” Eden asked.

Trev ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, beautiful. I’m sorry. There’s really bad news…”

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twenty-one.



Eden started to shake as she rested in the corner nook of where the counters made an L shape. She wanted to hide there. Fall to her butt and shut her eyes. Wake up in a different time and a different place. But she still wanted Trev. She forever wanted Trev.

“It’s going to be okay,” Trev said. “I’m trying to be as open and as honest as I can with you, Eden. I hope you know that.”

Eden looked at her mother. “This is all true?”

“All of it,” Jenn said. “That’s why Ripper came after me. He started piecing things together and started swinging.”

“How does it work?” Eden asked. “Why would he believe you?”

“He’s desperate,” Trev said. “I give up my cut and go outlaw. I show up at his bar and offer myself. I make it clear that me and the Frelen charter had a falling out. Saw that I found out the truth about you, Eden, and that I wanted to kill you. They voted me out and told me I was their next target. I say things that only I would know about you, Eden. To play this right. Ripper will fall for it. His pride has been f*cked from the day Griffin touched Jenn. He’ll let me in because I’m outlaw. I’m the one who could help him secure his deal with the O’Nuall family. His play is bigger than anything we can see right now. He wants to push down into Frelen and take control. That’s where I come in. I know everything about this town. The PD. The people. The club. The members. You.”

Eden shook her head. “No. Trev… he won’t believe you.” She looked at Jenn. “Right? He’s not that dumb. Look at how crazy he is.”

“He hates the setup,” Jenn said. “He’s gotten drunk so many times and slipped things to me. He’s tried to build crews outside the MC to attack you all. The thing with Giovanni… that wasn’t an Irish thing. That was an internal thing.”

“What?” Eden asked.

“We’re going to vote on it still,” Trev said. “But Jenn heard them arguing. Giovanni was trying to work the deal with Ripper. He wasn’t in all that deep though.”