Wayne Unser was a man of justice, and yet he did not always abide by the rules required by his former profession. Maybe he was blinded by his love for Gemma, which is why he kept doing what she wanted.

And here he was doing it again, doing illegal things for Gemma Teller. The woman who would never return his feelings and yet he would always help her.

With a loud sigh he dropped the medical file onto her desk, ignoring the papers Gemma was working on. "Here, this is Sage Trager's complete medical record."

"Holy shit, Wayne." Impressed, Gemma picked up the medical file and put her glasses aside. "That was fast."

"It wasn't easy to get these either", said the old man, whose enthusiasm was limited. "What are you going to do with that? I thought you liked Tig's daughter. But this smells like trouble."

"I know, and I'm grateful for your effort", Gemma said honestly as she saw the conflict in Unser's eyes, sincerity in her tone. "I do. Sage is important to me and that's exactly why I wanted her medical records."

"No intrigue?" Wayne had known Gemma since she was a teenager. He also knew about her intrigues and that the matriarch didn't always play fair.

"No", Gemma hummed, smiling. "At least not against Sage. I'm just trying to help."

“Trying to help, huh? Doesn't always work out. Interested in sharing whatever you've planned?”, Wayne asked.

"Sticking your nose into other people's business is not like you. I think you're spending too much time with me", Gemma couldn't help but grin slightly. Then she hesitated for a moment, thinking  about if she should tell Wayne about this or not. "Maybe it's not a bad idea to let you in, I might need your advice."

"I'll help where I can as long as it doesn't hurt innocent people." When Gemma assured him that no innocent people would be harmed, he sat down on the old, gnarled chair in front of the desk. "So, what do you need?"

"I don't know yet." Gemma looked through the files with a concentrated frown, her glasses sitting on her nose again.

Since Sage didn't have a history of much illness, Gemma found what she was looking for after just a few minutes. Her lips curled into a thin line as she scanned the words, her chest filling with ever-increasing anger.

"That evil bitch", Gemma snorted bitterly, and at the same time as the realization set in, it ripped the rug out from under her feet.

"Gemma, what's wrong?" Concerned, the older man watched the woman who meant so much to him when she suddenly let out a sob and threw her glasses to the side.

With her elbows resting on the table, she folded her hands and let her forehead fall against them. Grief and anger were an explosive mix, especially when Gemma Teller felt these two emotions at the same time.

"It's about Fawn." Taking a few deep breaths, Gemma quickly wiped some tears from her cheeks and placed a hand over her mouth. "I had a feeling and I think those files prove that my feeling was right and if that's true thenᅳ"

It was rare for Gemma to be speechless, unable to finish a sentence. Which is why Unser tried to encourage her to continue talking.

"What did Fawn do?", he asked calmly, patting her hand after reaching for it. Now he also wanted to know what had happened. "And why did you need Sage's medical records for that?"

"Fawn made some strange statements. Sage thought about it and so did I. A few days ago the penny dropped for both of us, but then Sage's water broke so we couldn't get to the bottom of our suspicions." Gemma took a short moment to let all of that sink in first.

The fact that there was actually still something that could shock her was surprising even to the matriarch herself. But if that was true, Fawn was an even worse person than Gemma thought.

"Long story short; Fawn wanted to win Jax over at all costs when he was still engaged to Sage. She was pregnant. Fawn put two and two together and knew that Jax wouldn't leave his pregnant girlfriendᅳ especially not for her sister." Gemma couldn't help but let out a disgusted huff. "It is not normal for a healthy woman who had a completely normal pregnancy to simply lose her child, at over twenty weeks at that. That baby was already fully developed, just not strong enough to survive."

"And you think Fawn had something to do with it?" Wayne concluded, his forehead furrowed as he huffed a humorless laugh. "How could she have done that? As far as I know, there was never a physical fight between the two of them, right?"

Gemma shook her head. "No, Fawn was smarter than thatᅳ Jax would probably have killed her for that, even if he wasn't ready for the kid at the time. He was still in great pain after the loss."

"I know." Wayne sighed. He could still remember how Jax had changed shortly after the death of his child and the break up with Sage, how he had become colder and more ruthless. "Still, what he did to Sage was terrible."

"Oh, that it was and I'm not going to defend him", Gemma snorted, shaking her head. But that was the only time Jax had ever disappointed her. "But that's not the point. Here, look."

Gemma pushed the papers across the desk and pointed with the tip of her nail at a few specific lines. "The laboratory values have deteriorated over the course of months. One value in particular. And it says here that this may be due to certain substances. But Sage never took anything, not even pain killers because she was afraid it could do something to the baby."

"So Fawn drugged her own sister?" Unser's features fell, shock written on his face. "But shouldn't Sage have noticed that? Did she ever say anything?"

"Yes. But apparently she paid close attention to the dose. Fawn wanted to cause harm but kept the dose small yet still dangerous enough so that it couldn't be detected in Sage's blood", Gemma concluded, clenching her teeth before she nodded slightly. "Sage had frequent problems with severe headaches and circulatory problems. But all the lab results were too vague to say anything, so the doctors figured it came from the pregnancy and told her that she should avoid any stress. And after she lost the baby Sage was so nervous and jumpy for weeks but everyone thought it was because of the miscarriage. But apparently it was a withdrawal because Fawn had stopped drugging her sisterᅳ she had everything she wanted by the time."

Wayne rubbed his hand over his freshly shaved chin, completely taken back by Gemma's suspicions. But everything fit together and made sense. "I don't even really know what to say about that. That'sᅳ"

"Bad, right. And plain evil", Gemma finished for him, her tone cold and bitter as she sat back with a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. "You have to be absolutely cold and ruthless to accept the death of a baby. I couldn't even go that farᅳ and I did a lot of shit in my life."

And that meant something if even Gemma was shocked by such brutality. Wayne looked at Gemma for a while, knowing that the woman he secretly loved wouldn't let this go.

"What are you planning to do now, Gemma?", he asked directly, earning a shrug from her.

"I'm going to confront Fawn, let's see how she reacts." A vengeful smile formed on her lips. "And then everyone will find out about it. Everything that happens after that is her own fault."

"Oh boy." Wayne exhaled tiredly and rubbed his index finger along his temple. "This won't end well for her."

"No, it won't." Gemma collected the papers from the file again and slammed the stack on the table before standing up. "Thanks again Wayne, I owe you one."

"Be careful", he called after her, but Gemma was faster than the wind. Of course she was, she had something to handle.

And if Gemma was deeply hurt, which Unser had seen in her eyes, the story wouldn't end with a happy ending.

ᚔ

Annoyed, Fawn rolled her eyes as Gemma walked through the door without waiting to be invited in. She was starting to have a real problem with Gemma and her unannounced visits.

She turned to Gemma with her arms crossed. "I was just about to take a walk with Hayley. What do you want, Gemma?"

A strange feeling took over the youngest Trager sister when Gemma just stood in front of her with a foreboding smile. In addition to her bag, she was holding something that looked like a file in her hands.

"I don't think you're going anywhere with Hayley anymore, sweetie", Gemma said, her tone bittersweet as she was really enjoying the situation.

"As if you had any say in that." With an annoyed groan, Fawn leaned against the wall. "Can you stop playing games and tell me what you want so I can kick your attention needing ass out and spend time with my daughter?"

"If I show Jax this..." Gemma waved the file and stepped closer to Fawn so that she could lean forward, ignoring the blonde's little tantrum. "..then Hayley will either grow up without a mommy at all, or with a mommy who is in prison", she whispered close to Fawn's ear.

The dark blonde young woman backed away suddenly and viciously glared at Gemma. "What is that? And why would either thing happen, huh?! You're so full of shit, Gemma."

Oh, how Gemma loved to unsettle someone she wanted to see suffer. She tilted her head to the side and opened the file, pretending to read the lines. "Okay, let me enlighten youᅳ it's the least I can do."

"I swear, don't play with me, Gemma", Fawn warned, the heavy swallow was louder than she'd intended, which only made Gemma seem even more satisfied.

"Oh, I don't, sweetie", Gemma hummed, holding the file up. "By the way, that's Sage's medical records. Pretty interesting what the lab results showed around the time your sister lost her baby."

All color was drained from Fawn's face after Gemma finished her sentence. Her breath hitched and caught in her throat. Her limbs felt numb as panic rushed through her veins.

"Give me that", Fawn snarled as she tried to reach for the file, but Gemma pulled her hand back.

The triumphant grin on Gemma's lips faded and was replaced by a look of pure hate and anger. She approached Fawn again so that the two women were now face to face.

"You are the reason why my grandchild never had the chance to meet his parents", she hissed surprisingly calmly, but the hatred in her tone was clearly audible. "And even though Sage is no longer my son's Old Lady, she still means a lot to mea and will always be family. I love this girl like my own child, and you caused us all a pain that was almost unbearable."

Fawn opened her mouth, trying to speak through her trembling lips. But Gemma didn't let her say a word and shoved the young woman into the nearest wall, her hand around Fawn's throat. "Do you know what you did to your sister? To me? Jax? You can say whatever you want, but if you really loved Jax you wouldn't have done that!"

"He never fucking wanted that baby!" Fawn yelped as Gemma's fingers tightened around her throat, taking away her breath. Gasping, she dug her nails into the older woman's wrist. "Let go! J-jax will kill you for that!"

Chuckling, Gemma raised an eyebrow, not thinking about loosening her grip. "You think so? I think you should be more concerned about you, bitch."

"Mom!" Jax yelled as he burst through the front door. Because of the argument and the tense situation, no one had heard Jax' bike or even remotely noticed anything else.

Sighing, he dragged Gemma away from Fawn, who put a hand around her throat and rubbed it gently as she gasped for air.

"What the hell?! Someone want to explain what this bullshit is about?" Jax asked, his voice raised as he heard Hayley starting to cry. He was tired of the constant war between Fawn and his mother and was just exhausted. “Can’t the two of you get along for once?”

"I tried, Jackson", Gemma snorted. Without waiting long, she picked up the file from the floor that had previously fallen and shoved it into Jax' hands. "She's the reason why Sage lost the baby back then, you'll find the proof you need in there."

Jax glanced at Fawn, who was still huddled against the wall, shaking with fear. With the file in his hand, he stared at his wife while Gemma's sounded muffled. He heard what his mother was saying, what she was explaining, but he was too busy killing Fawn with his looks.

He couldn't and didn't want to believe this, and at the same time everything Gemma said made sense. Fawn avoiding his gaze didn't make the situation any better for her and basically just confirmed that Gemma was telling the truth. But he wanted to hear it from Fawn's mouth.

"Is it true? Is it your fault that my son didn't make it?" His tone was so sharp and cold that Fawn flinched when he spat the question at her.

Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and rolled down her temple as she thought about an explanation. For an excuse that would save her ass. Her mouth felt as dry as the desert, sending a scratchy feeling down her throat every time she swallowed. Then, finally, she raised her gaze and swallowed dryly as Jax' blue, deadly eyes stared into hers.

Gemma was right, he would kill herᅳ now she no longer had any doubts about it. So she did the only thing that came to her mind. She ran. Thanks to the still open door, Fawn managed to escape quickly.

She heard Jax calling her name, but she didn't turn around, she just kept running. She had to talk to Sage before Jax or Gemma could do that for her and get her sister on her side by making her believe that this was a big misunderstanding. Sage had only given birth four days ago, that meant she was probably still emotional and might be ready to forgive her for the sake of their children.

The only thing left for her now was to play the sneaky game herself so she wouldn't lose Hayley. She had to ride the pity rail now. And before Fawn would leave Hayley with Jax and Gemma hell would freeze over.

At the moment she couldn't even imagine how badly trying to get Sage on her side would end for her. But if she had just let Jax kill her and face her fate, she probably would have been spared a lot of pain.

ᚔ

authors note; the next chapter is going to be bloody and I can't wait to write it down! Still deciding if I want Fawn dead or let her rot in prison, we'll see! 🙈

hey guys! For my non-followers but Happy fanfiction readers; I published a new story. It's actually the sequel to PAINT IT BLACK and is called PAINT IT RED. If you want to check it out, feel free to do so, I'd appreciate it. But please read the trigger warnings. 🖤