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I love youin this world, and I hopecare of you the way he proht about that Being able tothe way he looked at you, the way he laid his hand on your stomach so protectively, I know he'll love that baby inside of you like his own

When you were in the bathroom, Titus told me all the ways in which he loves you, Hillary He told me how the baby inside of you feels like his own, how the moment that baby is born he'll hold him and tell him how much Daddy loves him The words were so heartfelt and honest, Hillary I've never known a man to love a woman the way Titus loves you I fell a little in love with that ht then for the way he loves you and your baby For the way, I know he'd give his very life for the both of you His promise to me was that he'd never tell your child about the monster who created him Because at the end of the day, I fully

believe you are right Your child deserves a better father than the one my little boy is stuck with

Joseph will never find out from me about your baby I'd rather die than let him anywhere near that child He'd take it from you just because he can Your child wouldn't be as lucky as mine I don't want that life for your child He (or she) deserves a better life than I have no choice but to give my little boy

I' to raise him with love in his heart One day, when I'm able to tell Draven about his little brother, his cousin, I want him to know that he is to protect and love him with all that he is No matter the man your son turns out to be, a biker no doubt, I want Draven to love hiardless Because it doesn't matter e are, nor where we come from, we're all the same deep down

Draven asks for you still, when Joseph isn't around, of course I' hi about visiting you in front of Joseph He already knows that Joseph with hurt me if he mentions your name My baby shouldn't know that his father hurts hishis aunt However, after you left him, after I made Joseph see that I wanted him back, that Draven and I needed him here, he won't allow me to see you anymore Even less than he did before I left him It hurts, Hillary It hurts soI hope you know that

I ether I slipped it in with this letter I framed my copy and have it next to my bed As Joseph doesn't share my bedroom, it's easy for me to keep it there

Take care, Hillary, I'll be in touch soon with a safe place for us to meet

I love you, yours always, your sister, Helen

Ha it back in the envelope I watch hiraph in his hand, which he shows to Tank My best friend smiles despite himself “They really were identical”

“Yeah” Haraph to Draven I haven't seen it, but I don't need to This part is nothing to do with me

“They were both so beautiful My father was a monster to my mother, and from these letters and what our mothers wrote to each other, I can see that he forced your mother to be with him because mine wanted to leave and be with yourher back under his control How else could he do that but force your mother to marry him? We'll never really knohy any of what happened, happened, but I do know that bastard ht to”

“What are you actually getting at, Draven, and what does this have to do with Maria?” They can have a damn family reunion later I want to kno to help htmares

“My ht he could inate her with another son, one he could take from her and raise how he saw fit I elve by the tihter My father, I reed her from her bed and beat her senseless because she failed hiain

“I told iven birth to a daughter I orried about her Uncle Vinny had told o to hi to hurt s, but Vinny never hit his wife, and he didn't understand why his brother would do those things Vinny wasn't pleased, and he taughttoood child, easy to love and care for

“I was in e in , and she didn't feel she could talk about it with anyone I found her sobbing her eyes out in her bathrooure noas due to your mother's death and how much she missed her

“Anyway, Maria elve when my mother died Doctors said it was a heart attack That day was the worst I have ever felt That wo to e between Draven and Hammer They've both been there

“After that, Maria wouldn't leave my side When I had to leave for work, or meet up with my men, she'd sob, and I mean, cry in fear I wasn't the boss then, of course, my uncle was My uncle never had a son of his own, so it ritten that I'd take over from him one day, not my father He hated that Everyone knew it

“Anyway, irlfriend pulled me to one side and told me that I needed to take Maria to see someone That when she was asleep, she'd talk, and what Maria said see happen to my mother

“My uncle orderedMaria to him, wanted to talk to her himself My father may have been his brother, but there was no love-loss between the these letters He was a good man who tried to help my mother when and where he could However, Maria wouldn't talk to hioing to hurt her”

“And were they?” I ask

“We don't hurt our own unless we have to, and we htened little girl who'd just lost her mother” He almost said that too defensively