Chapter 6 - THE SON WHO BECAME THE ENEMY
Lucy’s twin brother had been named Gabriel.
Rebecca explained that both babies were born healthy.
During her escape from Dr. Pike’s clinic, she managed to carry only Lucy through a rear stairwell before guards blocked the hallway.
She returned for Gabriel, but Victor had already removed him.
For years, she searched adoption records.
Nathan eventually contacted her with photographs proving Gabriel was alive.
He offered a bargain.
Rebecca could keep Lucy if she stopped searching for Michael and never returned to the Vale family.
“Who raised Gabriel?” Hawk asked.
“Nathan arranged a private adoption.”
“Where?”
Rebecca looked at Mason.
“Inside the Iron Ravens.”
Everyone went still.
“That’s impossible,” Mason said.
Rebecca shook her head.
“Victor paid a club member to take the baby.”
Hawk’s mind moved through years of faces.
The Iron Ravens were not saints. Decades earlier, before Hawk became president, several members had been involved in stolen vehicles, illegal gambling, and weapons trafficking.
One former member had adopted a baby boy around that time.
His name was Grant Mercer.
The child was called Eli.
Hawk felt the world tilt.
Eli—the youngest biker at the diner.
Eli, who had ridden beside him for six years.
Eli, who joked that Hawk acted like an overprotective father.
Hawk called him immediately.
No answer.
Mason tried.
Nothing.
Then Cole phoned from the clubhouse.
“Eli’s gone.”
“Where?”
“He said he received information about Lucy.”
Hawk closed his eyes.
Nathan had contacted him first.
At the clubhouse, they discovered Eli’s motorcycle missing and a note on his bed.
Hawk lied to me my whole life. I’m going to meet the only man willing to tell me the truth.
Nathan had turned the son against the father before they even knew they were related.
Helen was discharged under police protection.
When she learned about Eli, she nearly collapsed.
“My grandson has been beside you all this time.”
Hawk looked through the clubhouse window.
“And none of us knew.”
Rebecca sat across the room, her hands wrapped around untouched coffee.
Claire held Lucas nearby.
Three generations of the same family had been separated, renamed, married into false relationships, and manipulated by men who treated children as trust documents.
The red notebook offered the first clue to Nathan’s location.
Charles had recorded payments to an abandoned youth detention center called Briar House.
The facility had closed after allegations of abuse, but Vale Holdings still owned the land.
Hawk remembered Eli mentioning that he grew up in a strict boarding program before joining the club.
Nathan had been involved in his life for years.
Police surrounded Briar House before dawn.
Inside, Lucy was tied to a chair in the former cafeteria.
Eli stood beside Nathan.
He held a gun.
Hawk entered with empty hands.
“Eli.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“What should I call you?”
“Gabriel.”
Hawk nodded.
“Gabriel.”
The young man’s eyes were red.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“Nathan showed me documents.”
“Nathan showed all of us documents. Most were lies.”
“He said you abandoned Rebecca.”
“I thought she was dead.”
“He said you knew about me.”
“I learned six hours ago.”
Eli looked at Rebecca.
“Is that true?”
She nodded through tears.
“I never stopped looking.”
Nathan stood behind him, calm and composed.
“Listen to them,” he said. “Every adult in this family claims they were afraid, confused, or manipulated. Yet I am the only one who ever gave you purpose.”
“You used him,” Hawk said.
“I educated him.”
“You arranged for him to enter my club.”
Nathan smiled.
“Of course. I needed someone close to you.”
Eli’s gun lowered slightly.
“You said you didn’t know Michael was alive until six years ago.”
Nathan’s expression changed.
Eli continued.
“But you placed me in his club before that.”
For the first time, Nathan had made a mistake.
Hawk saw doubt enter Eli’s face.
Nathan moved suddenly and grabbed Lucy by the hair.
He pressed a knife against her throat.
“Drop the gun.”
Eli hesitated.
“Gabriel,” Lucy whispered. “Please.”
He stared at his twin sister.
They had met only moments earlier, but something in her voice reached him.
He placed the gun on the floor.
Nathan kicked it away.
“Good boy.”
The words changed Eli.
All his life, he had obeyed older men who called control discipline.
Now he looked at Nathan and finally recognized it.
“You never loved me.”
Nathan smiled.
“Love is what weak people call dependency.”
Eli lunged.
Nathan cut Lucy’s shoulder and shoved her aside.
Hawk crossed the room in three strides.
He struck Nathan hard enough to send both of them into a table.
Police rushed through the side doors.
Nathan reached for the fallen gun.
Eli kicked it away.
Officers forced Nathan to the floor and handcuffed him.
He did not struggle.
Instead, he looked at Hawk.
“You think arresting me repairs this family?”
“No.”
“Claire is still your sister. Rebecca still lied. Helen still abandoned you. Eli still aimed a gun at you.”
Hawk leaned down.
“You’re right.”
Nathan smiled.
“Then I win.”
“No. Because you think broken things are worthless.”
Nathan’s smile disappeared.
“We know they can be rebuilt.”
Nathan was taken away.
Lucy received stitches.
Eli refused to speak to Hawk for two days.
He sat alone behind the clubhouse, staring at the black bird emblem painted on the garage wall.
Eventually, Hawk joined him.
“I don’t know how to be your father,” Hawk said.
Eli kept looking forward.
“I don’t know how to be your son.”
“We’ve been doing a terrible version of it for six years.”
Eli almost smiled.
Then his eyes filled with tears.
“I pointed a gun at you.”
“You put it down.”
“I believed him.”
“So did a lot of people.”
“Do you forgive me?”
Hawk thought carefully.
“Eventually.”
Eli nodded.
“That’s fair.”
They sat in silence.
Then Eli asked, “What was my real name again?”
“Gabriel Michael Lane.”
“Sounds fancy.”
“Keep Eli.”
“You think?”
“I’m still Hawk.”
That finally made him laugh.
But inside the county jail, Nathan was already preparing his next move.
He requested a meeting with federal investigators.
He offered to expose Victor Vale’s entire criminal network.
There was only one problem.
Victor had supposedly died fifteen years earlier.
Nathan claimed the death had been staged.
“He is alive,” Nathan said. “And he is coming for Helen.”
That night, the hospital security camera outside Helen’s protected room went dark.
When guards opened the door, her bed was empty.
On the pillow lay a child’s black bird drawing.
May you like
Beneath it, someone had written:
A mother should attend her son’s second funeral.
