The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 162

Chapter 90-2

Chapter 90-2

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“Where is that little thrift-store demon?” Jade snaps, her voice cutting through the heavy air as she marches straight across the foyer. She ignores Locke entirely, grabbing my arms gently and pulling me into a fierce, suffocating hug. The familiar scent of her perfume instantly wraps around me, warm and incredibly grounding. “Are you okay? Did she touch you? Because I swear to God, if she laid a finger on you, I’m hunting that twitchy little snake down myself and fucking skinning her alive.”

“I’m okay,” I murmur into her shoulder, a tiny, watery bubble of relief rising in my chest for the first time all night. “Locke stopped her.”

“Good, because I was about to use these heels to give her face a permanent redesign,” Jade says, pulling back to scan my face. She smoothes a damp strand of hair off my forehead. “I knew the chick had a severe personality defect the second I saw her talking to the furniture, but breaking into your home? That unhinged bitch officially crossed into psycho-territory.”

Mayhem walks up, clapping a heavy hand on Locke’s shoulder in a quiet, masculine exchange of solidarity before turning to me. He leans down, pressing a hard, protective kiss to the top of my head, his calloused thumb brushing my cheek. “You good, Zarabug?”

“I’m fine,” I say, though my voice still lacks conviction. “I’m okay.”

The elevator bell chimes again, and Locke enters the new code, drawing everyone’s attention back to the

entrance area.

The doors open, and Dad steps out alone.

He looks like a man who’s aged ten years in a single evening. His heavy leather vest sits awkwardly on his broad shoulders, his graying beard wild, his head bowed slightly as he steps into the bright light of the penthouse. The dangerous, invincible President of the Grinning Skulls MC looks entirely hollowed out.

The room goes completely still.

Mayhem steps back, his expression darkening as he watches our father. Jade drops her hands from my shoulders, her posture going rigid, though her sharp eyes stay fixed on Dad with a mixture of sympathy and fierce protectiveness over me.

Dad’s eyes meet mine, and the worry in them makes my breath catch in my throat. He doesn’t offer excuses. He doesn’t try to defend what happened. He just looks at me like a man who watched his own blood burn his house to the ground.

“Zara,” Dad says, his voice gravelly. He takes a heavy, slow step toward me, stopping a few feet short.” Locke told me what she did. How she got inside here.”

“She had a plan, Dad,” I say quietly, my voice steady despite the ache in my throat. “She waited until we were vulnerable, and then she walked right in.”

“She’s my daughter, Zara,” Dad rasps. He looks at Mayhem and Jade, then at Locke, before bringing his gaze back to me. “Her mother hid her from me for over thirty years. When she showed up on our doorstep, I thought… I thought maybe the universe was giving me a chance to make up for a wrong I didn’t even know I’d committed.”

Chapter 90

He lets out a harsh, broken laugh, shaking his head bitterly at his own naivety.

“But she didn’t come here to be a part of our family,” Dad continues, his jaw tightening into a hard, unforgiving line. “She same here to hurt you. She came into your home. She threatened my girl.”

He steps closer, extending a broad, calloused hand to touch my cheek.

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“There’s no coming back from this,” Dad says, the absolute finality of it tearing right through him. He isn’t angry at us for turning on her; he’s grieving the tragic, broken ghost of a daughter he wanted to get to know, and to love. “I had a second daughter for five minutes, and she’s already gone. Mayhem and Locke… put the word out to our boys. Willow is barred from club territory. If she steps within a mile of this building or the clubhouse, she gets picked up and put on a fucking bus out of state. If she resists… do what you have to do to keep Zara safe.”

“Cobra,” Locke says quietly. “Is that really -”

“No,” Dad cuts in, his voice hard as iron. “My job is to protect this family. I tried to do it with open arms, and she tried to poison our home. We’re done.”

Jade moves closer to my side, slipping her arm through mine, giving my wrist a firm, grounding squeeze.” Goddamn right,” she mutters softly, though her tone lacks its earlier sharp edge, softened by the quiet tragedy hanging over the room.

I look at my father, a powerful, dangerous man standing in the middle of the room, mourning a daughter who only ever wanted to see us burn.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” I say. “I wish it could have been different.”

Dad shakes his head, pulling me into a quick, fiercely tight hug, resting his chin on top of my head. “Don’t you apologize, sweetheart,” he murmurs against my hair, his voice rough. “Don’t you ever apologize.”

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