Chapter 3: The Man Who Erased My Father
The moment my mother said his name, the desert seemed to stop breathing.
“Victor Kane.””
Nobody asked who he was.
Nobody looked confused.
That scared me more than anything.
The bikers who had been moving around the car suddenly froze. The man holding a toolbox lowered it slowly. Another biker stopped halfway through closing the hood.
They all knew that name.
Reaper knew it most of all.
His face changed.
Not the way it had when he saw my father’s dog tag.
That was pain.
This was something colder.
Something older.
“Angela,” Reaper said quietly.
My mother looked away.
“I know.””
“No,” Reaper replied.
“You don’t.””
His voice wasn’t angry.
It was worse.
It was disappointed.
I looked between them.
“What’s going on?””
Nobody answered.
I stepped closer.
“Mom.””
She squeezed my hand.
Her fingers were trembling.
“I wanted to tell you.””
“When?””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“When you were older.””
I looked around at the bikers.
“At what age? When I was sixteen? Eighteen? When I found out from someone else?””
“Caleb—”
“No.””
My voice cracked.
I hated that it did.
I hated that everyone could hear how scared I was.
“You all know something about my dad except me.””
The words hung in the air.
Reaper looked down.
For the first time, I saw guilt on his face.
Not from something he did today.
From something he had carried for years.
One of the bikers stepped forward.
“Boss, we need to talk somewhere private.””
Reaper didn’t move.
“He deserves to know.””
The biker looked surprised.
“Reaper—”
“He deserves the truth.””
My mother closed her eyes.
I felt like I was standing in the middle of a story everyone had started before I was born.
A story where my father was the missing page.
Reaper walked toward the road.
“Get her somewhere comfortable.””
Two bikers immediately helped my mother toward the truck.
I followed.
But Reaper stopped me.
“Caleb.””
I turned.
“You’re going to hear things today that are hard to understand.””
I stared at him.
“I already heard my dad wasn’t dead.””
His expression tightened.
“I know.””
“I’ve spent my whole life thinking I barely knew him because he was gone.””
The wind blew dust across the road.
“But he wasn’t gone, was he?””
Reaper looked away.
“No.””
The answer hurt more than I expected.
“Then where was he?””
Reaper didn’t respond.
That silence told me there was a story.
A terrible one.
We moved my mother into the truck’s passenger seat while one of the bikers checked her condition.
She leaned against the window, exhausted.
But her eyes never left Reaper.
Neither did mine.
The bikers formed a loose circle beside the vehicles.
It looked less like a rescue mission now.
More like a meeting before a war.
Reaper stood in the center.
“Twenty years ago,” he began, “the Dust Reapers weren’t what they are today.””
I listened carefully.
“We weren’t just riders. We protected people who couldn’t protect themselves.””
One biker nodded.
“Your father was one of us.””
I looked at the old photograph still in my hand.
“Why didn’t I know?””
Reaper’s jaw tightened.
“Because after Michael disappeared, Angela took you and left.””
My mother looked down.
“I was trying to keep him safe.””
Reaper turned toward her.
“By making him believe his father abandoned him?””
She flinched.
The words hit harder than shouting.
“I thought if he hated Michael, he wouldn’t go looking.””
I frowned.
“Looking for what?””
Nobody answered.
Reaper continued.
“Victor Kane ran a company on paper.””
“On paper?””
Reaper nodded.
“Off paper, he controlled things nobody wanted to admit existed.””
I watched his face.
“What kind of things?””
“Money. Deals. People.””
The way he said “people” made my stomach turn.
“He had influence everywhere. Police. Business owners. Politicians.””
One of the bikers spoke.
“He liked owning problems.””
Reaper nodded.
“And Michael found out.””
My fingers tightened around the photograph.
“What did he find?””
Reaper looked at me.
“Evidence.””
“Of what?””
“That Kane was destroying lives and making sure nobody could stop him.””
The desert suddenly felt colder.
“My dad tried to stop him?””
“Yes.””
“And Kane killed him?””
Reaper didn’t answer.
My mother did.
“We don’t know.””
I turned.
“What?””
She looked at me.
“That was the worst part.””
Her voice became smaller.
“We never found a body.””
The words hit me.
Never found a body.
All these years.
Everyone had just assumed.
I looked at Reaper.
“You said he should have come home.””
He nodded.
“Because he promised he would.””
A painful silence followed.
“What happened that night?””
Reaper looked toward the mountains.
“The last time I saw Michael, he came to the clubhouse after midnight.””
The other bikers grew quiet.
“He was bleeding.””
My heart stopped.
“Why?””
“He had been followed.””
“By Kane?””
Reaper nodded.
“He had a flash drive with him.””
“What was on it?””
“Enough to destroy Kane.””
I looked at my mother.
“Where is it?””
She looked away.
That answer was immediate.
She knew.
“You have it,” I whispered.
Her eyes closed.
“Caleb…”
“You have something my dad left?””
“I didn’t know what it was.””
“Mom.””
Her voice shook.
“He came to me before he disappeared.””
Everyone went silent.
“He told me if anything happened, I couldn’t trust anyone.””
Reaper looked at her.
“You never told me that.””
“I was scared.””
“Of Kane?””
My mother looked at him.
“Of everyone.””
That sentence changed the mood.
Even Reaper looked affected.
Because maybe he understood.
Maybe he had spent twenty years wondering why she disappeared.
“Where is the drive?”” Reaper asked.
My mother hesitated.
Then she reached into her purse.
Her hands shook as she pulled out a small black object wrapped in cloth.
My breathing stopped.
Reaper stared.
The bikers stepped closer.
“What is that?”” I asked.
My mother looked at me.
“This is the reason your father never came home.””
Reaper took a step forward.
“Angela, don’t.””
But she unwrapped it.
A tiny flash drive sat in her palm.
Dusty.
Old.
But still intact.
The same kind of object that had kept a secret alive for twenty years.
Reaper stared at it.
“Michael gave you that?””
She nodded.
“He told me to protect it.””
“Why didn’t you destroy it?””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because it was the last thing he trusted me with.””
Nobody spoke.
Then suddenly—
A motorcycle engine roared in the distance.
Everyone turned.
The sound wasn’t coming from one of the Dust Reapers.
It was coming from the highway.
A single black motorcycle appeared through the dust.
Moving fast.
Too fast.
The bikers immediately reached inside their jackets.
Reaper stepped in front of me.
“Get Caleb and Angela behind the truck.””
Nobody questioned him.
The motorcycle stopped twenty feet away.
The rider removed his helmet.
He was older.
Clean-cut.
Not like the Dust Reapers.
He wore expensive clothes instead of leather.
And he smiled.
A smile that made Reaper’s face go cold.
“Been a long time,” the stranger said.
Reaper stared at him.
“Victor Kane.””
The man smiled wider.
Then his eyes moved past Reaper.
Straight to me.
Straight to the dog tag around my neck.
“Well,” Victor said softly.
“I was wondering when Michael’s son would finally come looking for answers.””
My blood went cold.
Reaper stepped forward.
“You should have stayed away.””
Victor laughed.
“You still don’t understand, Reaper.””
He looked at me.
“Your father didn’t disappear because he lost.””
The desert fell silent.
Victor’s smile faded.
“He disappeared because he discovered the truth.””
May you like
He paused.
“And now that you have his son… you’re about to discover it too.””
