The girl stared at him.

“My mom said you were dead.”

Pain flashed across the biker’s face.

“She was told never to come back.”

The young man stepped closer.

“That’s enough. She’s coming with me.”

The biker slowly stood.

“No.”

Around the diner, the other bikers began rising too.

The girl clung to his vest.

He looked down at her.

“Where’s Rose?”

Her lips started trembling.

“She sent me away this morning.”

His face tightened.

“Why?”

The girl looked toward the young man.

“Because of him.”

The biker’s eyes hardened.

The stranger shook his head.

“She’s confused.”

The girl suddenly shouted,

“I’m not!”

The entire diner went silent.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny folded photograph.

It showed a much younger version of the bearded man holding a little girl in his arms.

Rose.

The biker’s hands began shaking.

“She kept this?”

The girl nodded.

“Every day.”

His eyes filled.

“Then why didn’t she come home?”

The girl’s face crumpled.

“She tried.”

The young man took another step forward.

“Don’t listen to her.”

The biker looked at him.

The girl tightened her grip on her grandfather’s hand.

Then she whispered the truth her mother had made her memorize.

“Mom said if he found me first, he’d tell everyone he was my father.”

The biker went still.

The young man’s face drained.

The girl looked up at her grandfather through tears.

“But she said my real father died before I was born.”

Her voice broke.

“And the wolf was the only family I had left.”