Chapter 172 The content of the flashdrive

Chapter 172 The content of the flashdrive

Rowan's POV

I reached inside and picked it up. I turned it over between my fingers, trying to figure out if I'd seen it somewhere.

But it didn't look familiar. It had no label, no name or marking that could tell me what was inside.

I glanced toward the study door again. There was no sound of movement outside. So I quickly placed everything else back exactly where I'd found it and locked the safe.

Quickly, I pulled myself up from the floor, slipping the flash drive into my pocket. Running one hand through my hair, I headed toward the door.

I rushed downstairs and grabbed my laptop before hurrying back to my room. Once inside, I shut the door behind me.

I was so damn ready to quench that curiosity.

The moment I dropped onto my bed, I pulled the laptop toward me and plugged in the flash drive.

My heart was already beginning to beat faster with anticipation and anxiety.

Whatever was on this thing had been important enough for my mother to hide it in a safe. And I was just about to find out why.

It began loading. Then a folder appeared.

My eyes narrowed.

There was no name on the folder. Just a symbol.

A black circle with a silver skull in the middle, surrounded by two crossed motorcycle chains. Beneath the symbol were the letters: LMC.

I had seen that symbol before. Not in person, but on the jackets of the riders and on their bikes. Even on some of the videos I'd stumbled across online.

And that symbol belonged to one club. Iron Kings MC.

Hold on.

Was this the flash drive Zayne was looking for?

I still didn't know what the damn thing looked like. Neither did Zayne, apparently. All he told me was that the bikers had been accusing him of stealing a flash drive from the MC, which I chose to believe wasn't this one in my laptop.

But the flashdrive they were looking for was something important enough to make them hunt Zayne down.

Could it actually be this one?

But if it was, why the hell did my mother have it? She had no business with any MC, so... how?

I stared at the screen for several seconds.

Maybe she was involved with them.

A light scoff escaped me. The thought sounded ridiculous. What business could she possibly have with an underground motorcycle club?

My mother would rather spend all her time in attending charity events, shopping, and making sure the Ashford name remained spotless.

I clicked the folder.

There were dozens of files. Documents. Videos. Audio recordings.

I clicked the first video. The screen went black before a timestamp appeared in the corner. Then the footage started.

The environment looked like a warehouse. Several men were sitting around a long table. Some were wearing leather jackets with the same skull-and-chain symbol.

I leaned closer to the screen, paying close attention.

They were talking about payments. Money being moved through different businesses. Accounts. Shell companies. Deliveries.

Infact, they were talking about an entire criminal operation.

I opened one of the documents. My eyes moved quickly across the page.

There were names, dates, amounts of money, business names, and transactions. Everything was well detailed.

This was definitely what those men were looking for. It contained every evidence of their hidden activities, and they didn't want it getting into the wrong hands.

But there was one thing I didn't understand. Why the hell was it in my mother's possession?

My eyes narrowed as I clicked another file.

There were more names and more transactions. Another video showed men discussing a shipment that had gone wrong. Another contained what looked like footage from a meeting.

I kept scrolling, my heart beginning to pound in anxiety.

Then I saw a familiar name.

Edward Whitmore.

I froze, then I scrolled back up. The name was there, staring back at me.

That was Valeria's father.

I swallowed before scrolling up again, trying to find the title of the current list of names I was checking out.

PRIVATE INVESTORS

Hmm.

After all the facade, Valeria's father was involved in shady business?

My fingers continued moving as I opened another document.

FUNDING PARTNERS

The first name I saw caught me off guard.

My mother's name. Rita Ashford.

I stared at it for a long time, my pulse hammering.

I leaned back slowly, my mind struggling to process what I was seeing. I honestly couldn't believe it.

With difficulty and disbelief, I left the list and opened another document.

Her name appeared again. Actually, twice this time. It seemed like she was their bigger partner.

What the hell had I just stumbled into?

I clicked another video.

I couldn't hear everything clearly at first, but then the audio became sharper.

I turned up the volume, and my mother's voice filled the room. She was having a full business conversation with the dangerous looking men. And the way she talked, there was no doubt she knew them and was involved in their dealings.

This was hard to take in, honestly.

I clicked on another video.

This one looked different. It wasn't recorded inside the warehouse. It was somewhere darker. Like a room with dim lighting.

At first, I couldn't make out the people in the video until the camera shifted.

What the actual fuck?

My mother... my own mother was straddling a man whose face was buried in her neck. The man was definitely not my father.

From his back, which was facing the camera, he had ginger hair and a kind of rough back that didn't belong to my father.

The camera captured my mother's entire face.

I checked the date of the video. It was a year ago.

It felt like a bucket of ice had been poured over me as I sat completely still, staring at the horrific video playing in front of me.

A soft sound left her lips as she threw her head back, while pulling the man closer to her.

A hard lump formed around my throat, my breathing coming out as short gasps as I watched in disbelief.

This was crazy.

When I couldn't watch any longer, I shut the laptop and shifted it away from me. Leaning down, I rested my elbows on my knees, staring into space.

Damn it.

My mother wasn't entirely a good person. That was a fact. But this... nothing prepared me for it.

She'd criticized my father for cheating on her, but here she was having an affair with a random man who definitely had a criminal record.

Shit. What kind of life am I living in?

I returned my gaze to the laptop lying a distance away from me. I was pretty sure if I continued checking out what was inside that flashdrive, I'd see things about my mother that I wouldn't want to see.

This was definitely the flash drive they had assumed Zayne had stolen. But here it was with my mother, probably because she had a tape inside she was scared could leak out.

I dragged a hand down my face, letting out a heavy sigh.