Holly sat in the living room as the kids played, going over the case file for a client when she heard the doorbell ring. She scratched Teddy's ear as she got up to answer the door, looking at the man standing on her doorstep.
"Mr. Toric. What are you doing here?"
"I came to talk to you. And I have a warrant this time."
She sighed deeply as she looked at the paper he handed her, reading it thoroughly before looking at him.
"Come on in."
She let him in, leading him into the dining room.
"What do you want?"
"I think you know more about my sister's murder than you're letting on and I want the truth."
"You already know the truth. If you had taken a look at my medical records, then you would know that I wasn't conscious when your sister was murdered. And I can give you the names of, at least, 5 different people, not including doctors, that came to visit me in the hospital while I was in my coma. I know firsthand how hard it can hit you when you lose someone you love that much, but you're barking up the wrong tree. I won't repeat myself anymore. I don't know why Otto killed your sister, and to be brutally honest, I don't care. I haven't had any contact with Otto in years. It doesn't matter how many times you tell me your theories or ask me to tell you the truth, the truth will never change. So unless the next words out of your mouth are either me being arrested for an actual charge or an apology for wasting my time, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"I'd hate for something to happen that would take you away from those beautiful kids of yours. It would be horrible to have their mom taken from them."
"You just made a huge mistake threatening me, dickhead. You're not an actual agent. I can spin this into a case of you stalking me and my friends and family or any other way I need to."
"Now who's threatening who?"
"I don't mess around when it comes to family. I was being as nice as possible until you brought my children into this. Now get out of my house."
Holly walked up to the docks with Jax, Nero and the guys, holding Jax's hand. She had gotten a weird vibe off Barovsky. It didn't help that he hadn't stopped flirting with her since he saw her. She walked with Jax and Barovsky down the docks towards Amir's boat. She had to take a deep breath before she was able to walk any further, memories of the last time she saw the Ghanezi brothers flooding her brain and she had to swallow her anger.
"You gonna be ok, babe?"
"I think so. I'll let you know if that changes."
She walked onto the boat with them, looking at Amir, listening to him spit his anger, glaring at him when he brought up his brother. She watched him throw Kia's jacket at Jax, swallowing down more anger.
"Where is my brother?"
"Probably being eaten by fish."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that my old lady lost her temper."
"Your bitch killed my brother?"
"I'm right here, asshole. And I'm not a bitch."
Holly stopped Amir from smacking her by gripping his wrist tightly.
"Don't you dare put your hands on me. You don't know me like that."
"You stupid whore. You killed my brother."
Jax stepped in between Holly and Amir before Holly could respond, getting into Amir's face.
"My old lady's been gang-raped twice. Being there brought back some bad memories and I couldn't stop her."
"Why was she there to begin with?"
"I brought her with me. But I misjudged the amount of anger she was feeling."
"I'm gonna kill your whore."
Barovsky stepped over and pushed Amir back.
"You're not killing anyone. You're gonna take your boat, head back to your country and stay there. Or else."
"You know how this works. I get her or I kill the both of you after making you both watch me make a movie with her."
Holly wanted to throw up when she saw the evil smirk on his face, grabbing Jax's knife and holding it at her side, trying to keep her food down.
"Touch me and die."
"You killed my brother."
"Yes, I did. But at least I didn't rape him."
"You drowned him in piss!"
"You were raping women and hanging them in cages! You beat, cut up and burned a friend of mine with cigars! You're lucky I'm not killing you too!"
"Both of you need to shut the fuck up! Teller? Get her out of here."
"You all die if she leaves!"
"You touch her and I will ram my gun down your throat and clear out your intestines with bullets."
It was a few more minutes before they were able to leave, and the sight of the blood pooling in the shag carpeting made her clap her hand over her mouth and run out, feeling someone hold her hair as she threw up into the water. She normally didn't get so nauseous at the sight of blood or dead bodies. But the situation surrounding everything was too stressful.
Holly walked downstairs to find Jax sitting at the table, sitting down when she saw that he had found the guardianship papers she'd drawn up.
"Valentina was chewing on the folder and I saw these. When were you gonna tell me?"
"I was gonna tell you before you brought me to the Ghanezi space."
"You really want Wendy to be their guardian?"
"Of course not. But if something were to happen to us I want the kids to have more options than I did."
"You had options, Holly. You could've gone to college."
"No I couldn't, Jax. I might've gotten good grades in school…"
"And on the cheerleading team."
"But the last two years of high school every teacher I had asked me the same thing. What are you gonna do when you leave school? Where are you gonna find your happiness? And when I sat down to look at college brochures with my mom, there was only one thing I could think of. You. You had just lost Tara and you were so broken while you were prospecting. You've always taken such good care of me, but you needed to be taken care of. And so did the guys. You were always my happiness, Jax. So why would I spend money my parents didn't have to go to a college that I didn't want to go to only to have wasted money finding out what I already knew. If I had done what my parents wanted me to do, you and I wouldn't be together. Abel wouldn't call me mommy, and Tommy, Val and Lilia wouldn't be here. I'd be stuck in a job I hate for the money, in a marriage that wouldn't be real. I want more for the kids. I, at the very least, want them to have options. They wouldn't have options if they were raised by the club. They'd either be all gungho about being members or they'd be like Donna. All in or all out. That's what this life is. As much as I love the guys and all that you've given me, I don't want the kids to be in this life. It's dangerous."
"I've thought the same things myself. But Wendy? She walked away from Abel. She's the best you could think of?"
"No. But she's the only one on the outside. But at the same time, she has the unique experience of knowing what it's like to live in both worlds. She could show the kids both sides of things."
"Why not Nero?"
"I'm not gonna ask him to take on four kids while he's dealing with Lucius and getting older. Ope and Lyla already have 4 kids of their own. It would be unfair. But I'm not opposed to asking them. Or anyone else in the club. To be honest, if Wendy says no, I was gonna ask Ope and Lyla anyway. I'm just trying to do what's best for the kids."
She watched him sigh and get up, watching him walk over to her and kneel down in front of her, putting her hands in his as he kissed them both.
"If you think it's best. But I don't think anything's gonna happen to us."
"Everyone says that, Jax. Dawn didn't think that and she OD'd. Donna didn't think that and she was shot to death. I have to be realistic, baby."