“He never did.”
“He said he knew you would refuse.”
Silas looked toward the floor.
At twenty-one, he would have.
Without hesitation.
The club had been his entire world.
Elias probably knew his brother better than Silas wanted to admit.
Sarah said:
“He disappeared during the chaos of the turf war because he believed it was the only moment everyone would assume he was dead.”
“He dumped his motorcycle?”
“In a quarry.”
Silas closed his eyes.
They had searched that quarry.
Nothing.
“The bike sank deeper than anyone found,” Sarah continued. “He walked for miles. Changed his name. Worked cash jobs. Never stayed anywhere long.”
“Until you.”
Sarah nodded.
“Until me.”
Silas looked at Toby.
“So he started a family.”
Sarah gave a tiny smile.
“He tried.”
“Why didn’t he contact me?”
“He almost did.”
Silas leaned forward.
“When?”
“After Toby was born.”
The room went silent.
“He wrote you letters.”
Silas stared.
“What letters?”
“He burned them.”
Something flashed across Silas’s face.
Sarah’s voice shook.
“Every time he finished one, he would sit at the kitchen table for an hour staring at it. Then he’d burn it in the sink.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed contacting you would lead someone to us.”
Silas looked away.
Sarah continued.
“He followed news about the club. He knew the war hadn’t ended cleanly. He knew people still hated his name.”
Toby listened without moving.
For the first time, his father was becoming more than a photograph.
Not necessarily better.
More complicated.
Silas asked the question he feared.
“Did he regret leaving?”
Sarah thought for a long moment.
“He regretted hurting you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I know.”
She met his eyes.
“He never regretted giving Toby a chance to grow up outside that life.”
The words landed hard.
Silas sat back.
Sarah’s voice became firmer.
“He loved you, Silas.”
“He had a strange way of showing it.”
“Yes.”
Sarah did not defend him.
“He did.”
Silas appreciated that more than excuses.
“What happened in 1979?”
Sarah’s face collapsed again.
Toby leaned closer.
“The crash,” Silas said.
Sarah nodded.
“I told Toby it was an accident.”
Toby looked at her.
“It wasn’t?”
“No.”
“Mom.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Sarah looked at Silas.
“From the reason your father died.”
Silas became completely still.
Sarah wiped her eyes.
“Elias was driving home from the shop after dark.”
She took a breath.
“He stopped at an intersection near Highway 58.”
Silas listened.
“A truck pulled beside him.”
Sarah’s voice became distant.
“Inside was a man Elias knew from before.”
Silas’s jaw tightened.
“Who?”
“I never knew his real name.”
“What colors?”
Sarah hesitated.
Silas understood before she answered.
“One of your old rivals.”