The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 103

Chapter 64-2

“So how did you find me?” Dad says. “My name isn’t uncommon.”

Willow brightens. “Oh, it took ages, and I had to go through so much paperwork, which is really not my thing.” She starts listing things on her fingers. “Mom’s journal from that summer. Electoral records. A private investigator. Three wrong James Callahans who I went and met personally.”

“You did?” Mayhem said skeptically. “You talked to them?”

“Yes.” Willow beams. “They were very nice, all of them. A dentist, a retired science teacher, and one delightful farmer in Saskatchewan who insisted on showing me his alpacas.”

As is quickly becoming the norm with Willow, nobody quite knows how to respond.

“They were lovely,” she adds. “The alpacas, I mean, not the dentist and teacher and farmer.”

Mayhem blinks. “You met alpacas on the hunt for your father?”

“Yes. I’d love to have an alpaca farm of my own one day, so I could knit sweaters with their fur. It’s hypo-allergenic, you know.”

“Only three?” Dad asks, clearly trying to steer the conversation back to the point. “I mean, only three guys with my same name?”

“Oh, there were thousands at first,” Willow says. “But Mom did tell me about you being in a motorcycle club, so that helped a lot. Of course, you not going by the name ‘James’ anymore made things harder.”

Dad rubs a hand across his face. “So you consulted public records?”

“And the tarot cards.”

Mayhem groans and Jade kicks his ankle.

“The what?” Dad says, confused. “What’s that?”

“Tarot cards are for divination,” Willow explains. “They tap into the subconscious, and help you to gain clarity on potential paths for going forward.”

“And they – uh. They told you where I was?”

“No, they can’t do that.” She looks genuinely amused. “They just told me not to give up searching for you, so I didn’t.”

I don’t know whether to laugh or hide under the table.

Dad leans back, obviously not about to carry on the tarot conversation. “So what did you come here hoping for?”

“I don’t know.” Willow looks around the room. “I mean, I’ve never had a whole family before. It was always just me and Mom.”

The words settle inside me more heavily than anything else she’s said, and for the first time since she arrived, I stop seeing the bizarre stranger with the embroidered satchel and flowing clothes. I just see a

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Chapter 6

woman who’s spent more than thirty years missing half of her story.

That’s when something inside me softens, maybe because I know what it’s like to lose family. Maybe because I suddenly understand that she’d been searching for hers all this time.

Dad studies her for a long moment: “I’ll want a DNA test.”

“I’d be shocked if you didn’t.”

Claim

That finally earns the smallest smile from him. “So until we know for certain, we can get to know each other. All of us. Willow, this is my son and daughter, Mayhem and Zara, and over there is Jade, Mayhem’s wife.”

The room seems to exhale, and we all silently agree to take a tiny first step.

Willow turns to me first and wraps me in another patchouli-scented hug. “I’m very glad I found you.”

I smile at her. “I think I’m still processing the fact that you exist.”

She laughs before turning to Mayhem with her arms open.

He immediately shakes his head. “No.”

She blinks. “No?”

“I’ve only known you for twenty minutes.”

“That’s fair.” Without the slightest offence, she pats his shoulder instead. “I think we’ll get there.”

Mayhem looks completely bewildered.

Then Willow turns to Jade and opens her arms. Jade doesn’t move, though, and instead, she offers her a strange smile. “Welcome.”

Willow hesitates for only a fraction of a second before returning it. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

“You too.”

The whole exchange feels… off. Jade isn’t being rude, just unusually reserved, and quiet, and definitely not her bright, loud, optimistic self. I file the thought away to ask her about later.

Dad clears his throat. “I think we’ve all earned some lunch.”

“I’m vegan,” Willow announces brightly.

Mayhem sighs. “Of course you are.”

She beams at him. “Is that difficult?”

“For me?” He studies her for a moment. “Probably.”

Five minutes later we’re heading downstairs, introducing my possible half-sister to the clubhouse bar. Locke is sitting at a table, his laptop open, coffee forgotten beside another pile of paperwork. He looks up, and his eyes find me immediately again as I walk over.

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Chapter 63-2

Interesting morning?” he asks quietly.

You have absolutely no idea.”

His gaze follows Willow as she cheerfully asks whether the kitchen has oat milk. A faint smile touches his mouth before fading.

“She’s very good.”

“At what?”

He watches her laugh at something Pirate says, completely at ease in a room full of strangers.

He takes his time answering, his eyes staying on Willow. “Making people lower their guard.”

I frown. “You think she’s lying about something?”

“I think she’s exactly who she wants everyone to think she is.” He finally looks back at me. “Those aren’t always the same thing.”

A quiet beat settles between us, then he closes the laptop and gets to his feet.

“People like that,” he says, narrowing his eyes at Willow. “Always make me curious.”

“About what?”

“What they’re not saying.”

I blink. “You think she’s hiding something?”

“I think everybody is hiding something.” He gives me the smallest shrug, then picks up the laptop to go back to Dad’s office. “The interesting part is finding out what it is.”

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