Chapter 63

Chapter 63
Iris

When he walked off to the bathroom, I poured myself another glass of whiskey. I felt fine. One more glass wouldn't kill me. I listened as the next song started to play. The music moving inside of me. Finally feeling more like myself than I had in admittedly a very long time. I moved with the music. It felt like I was floating in the air as I listened to each beat of the drums. The song played so loud that it drowned out all the thoughts circling in my head. How would Ryker feel knowing the woman he chose to bring home, and love is closely connected to one of the biggest mob bosses in the Midwest. I shook it off as I moved around the room. The pain in my body almost completely numbed. Covered in the pleasure radiating from before and the substances numbing me from the inside. The music stopped, dropping me back to the floor. Frustrated I walked over to see what the hell was wrong with my music app. Stupid Spotify, I know I paid the subscription. When I picked it up off the deck, I had a missed call and two messages. I assumed they were from my mother, who I choose not to speak to. I pulled down the notification and my heart stopped beating. The messages were from my father. He hadn’t spoken to me since I told him I was not going to lead. I wanted to leave. I wanted to start a new life out of his dark shadow. I didn’t want to be that person any longer. The fight was explosive. My mother cried while I packed. The first time she had seen him since I was a baby. Her new and more current boyfriend got thrown out a window, and I just drove away. I took a deep breath in and opened the message.  

I know. We are coming. 
\-Mad Hatter Bendreo 

The first message was direct. The second was worse.  

Ryker Lorcane, the prosecutor. He is close to my age Iris. He is dangerous. I know everything about him. I have connections there and I will be there in 48 hours. 
\-Your Father 

As soon as I looked up Ryker was standing there looking at me, concerned. “What is it, Babygirl?” His words so sweet and caring. The tears streaming down my cheeks, I looked up at him slowly. I didn't want to tell him. I wanted to wait. Now I had to. “I am so sorry Ryker.” I said, sitting myself down in the chair. He reached for my phone, and I let it go. “Your father? Who is he Iris?” I looked up at him and shook my head. “You don't know who The Mad Hatter is? Or Mad Hatter Bendreo? I changed my last name when I came to California.” He looked confused, or in disbelief, I couldn’t tell. “Are you talking about Albert Bendreo?” He asked sitting down beside me. I nodded and closed my eyes. Subconsciously hiding from the way, he must be looking at me. “Iris?” I slowly looked into his eyes. “I am his daughter.” Ryker was quiet, but he placed his hand on mine. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He said, being more patient than I would be with that kind of information. “I didn’t know I would have to.” I said looking down at my hands, “I left it all behind, in Ohio.” Ryker put his arms around me, comforting me. “He isn’t taking you away from me.” He said, his voice darker.  

Ryker's grip on my hands tightened as his eyes darkened, an unspoken fury and determination simmering beneath his calm exterior. “Iris,” he began, his voice low but resolute, “there’s no shadow, no threat, and no man—Mad Hatter or otherwise—that will ever come between us.” His words were a promise, a vow etched with the weight of his conviction, and they reverberated in the air between us as though forming an unbreakable shield. I allowed the truth to settle around me like armor, his presence grounding me in a way that defied the encroaching chaos. Outside, the faint hum of a passing car seemed to punctuate the palpable tension, but Ryker’s focus never wavered, his gaze fixed firmly on mine as if daring the world to challenge his resolve. I could see the thoughts racing behind his eyes, calculating, planning, readying himself for whatever storm my father’s message might bring. Still, there was something in the way he held me, his touch steady and his voice firm, that ignited a flicker of hope in my chest. “Together,” he murmured, pulling me closer, “we’ll face this. Every piece of darkness they try to drag from your past, every threat they think they can wield—we’ll fight it, Iris. I will protect us.” The room seemed to shrink around us, the weight of his words compressing the space until it felt intimate, almost sacred—a quiet moment of certainty amidst the turbulence. As I looked into his eyes, I knew that, for better or worse, there was no turning back now. The storm looming on the horizon could come, but we would weather it together. 
As the weight of Ryker's promise hung in the air, I found myself drawn into the cocoon of his unwavering resolve, a safety I hadn't dared to hope for. Yet even as his words echoed like a shield against the storm, the latent pulse of my father's shadow lingered, a reminder that the serenity of this moment was fleeting. I knew my father, he was a powerful man, he would not go away quietly. Ryker's grip on my hands softened, the darkness in his eyes giving way to a flicker of something unspoken—a plan forming, a strategy taking root in the fertile ground of his determination. The room seemed to breathe with the tension, the faint hum of the stereo filling the silence like an unseen thread weaving us together. Something within me stirred—a quiet fire, emboldened by his defiance yet tempered by the weight of what loomed ahead. 

It was not just the specter of my father's dominance that threatened us, but the intricate web of secrets I carried, each strand tied to a part of myself I had buried long ago. He didn’t know how involved I was in the year before I left. He didn't know I was the Flower. He didn't know I was as dark if not darker than his Lorcane persona at one time.  Ryker’s fingers brushed mine as he rose, his movements deliberate yet calm, and I found myself following him to the window, the moonlight catching the contours of his face as he gazed out at the world beyond. “If they all fucking want war,” he murmured, his voice low and steady, “then they’ll find us ready.” The conviction in his tone sent a shiver down my spine, and as I stood beside him, the strength of his presence became my anchor. He pulled out his phone and put it to his ear. “I need everything you have on The Mad Hatter Bendreo.” He hung up before, i am assuming Deacon, could respond. He turned to me and smiled, putting his arms tightly around me, and kissed me gently.