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Giving music lessons was just one of the things I used to distract myself from everything that happened with Jet. When I wasn’t giving a lesson, I tried to get lost in binge-watching some of my favorite televisions shows on Netflix. I had to do that to keep myself from holding my phone and staring at it for hours, just trying to talk myself out of giving in and calling him. The feeling that I was being watched at times late at night had helped to make it a little easier to keep myself from it. Every time my skin crawled, I would make sure my curtains were closed and remembered exactly why I couldn’t be with Jet. No matter how much I loved him, I couldn’t put my life in danger just to be with him. I couldn’t worry that every day would be his last either. It was only a matter of time before someone would smuggle another weapon in and finish him off during a fight, especially considering the type of men he faced. 

My phone chirped, alerting me to an incoming voice text.

A moment later, the voice of my very excited best friend interrupted the silence.

“Evie,” she exclaimed. “You’ve got to call me ASAP. You won’t even believe what I have to tell you.”

I was definitely intrigued, but I knew her well enough to know it could be anything in the world, up to and including that she faced a clown head on and survived. I smiled at the thought, hoping one day she would actually be able to get over her fear of clowns.

“Sit down,” she demanded.

“Well, hello to you, too,” I said, plopping myself on the couch.

“Sorry, but we have no time for formalities. You are never going to believe what I have to tell you.”

“Get to it then,” I said, my mind racing on what it could be.

“Okay, so you know how Alex left Oakton that morning in a rush?”

“Yeah,” I said. In the craziness of that weekend, I’d almost forgotten about Alex completely.

“When I went home the other day, she wasn’t there, and hasn’t been. I could only get a text from her saying she was okay, and that she’d call soon. Well, I finally got to talk to her a few minutes ago and found out what’s going on… So, I guess she had this brother who was kidnapped when her mother was pregnant with her. They’ve been looking for him for over twenty years. Crazy, right?”

“Crazy, but also really sad,” I said. “I can’t imagine how awful that has to be for her family.” My heart ached for them.

“Well, thanks to you, they think they might have found him.”

“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah, you did. Think about it.”

“How about stop being cryptic and just spill it already, woman,” I exclaimed. Just as the words left my mouth, it hit me. There was only one man I’d been around while Alex was there, one man who’d seemingly unnerved her to the point that she couldn’t keep herself from studying him. “Wait… Jet?”

“Bingo.”

“But…” The words wouldn’t come. I’d never actually been speechless in my life until that moment. My mouth hung agape as I tried to come to terms with what she’d said and what that meant for everyone involved. Most of all, Jet.

“Evie?” she asked after a few moments of silence from me. “Are you still there.”

“Yes… How did she know?”

“She told me he looks almost identical to her older brother. Same eyes, same hair color, nearly the same height and build. She said they even both have the same smirk.”

“Do you know what this means?”

“Yeah, Jet was kidnapped.”

That was just the tip of the ice berg, but his secrets weren’t mine to tell her. Jet had gone through things that most people couldn’t even imagine, all because he’d been taken as a child by a psychotic prick. He could’ve had a normal life away from that bastard. He could’ve thrived. He could’ve known parental love the way normal kids do. Instead, he’d experienced nothing but hatred, abuse, and the feeling of being unwanted.

My heart ached for everything he’d lived through, knowing that I probably didn’t know half of it. Jet was the strongest person I knew to have endured the things he did. How he managed to keep going was beyond me, but how would he fare with this revelation?

“Should I call him?”

My decision to distance myself from him and the things I’d seen him do to Preston faded quickly in light of the news. I couldn’t forget completely, but at the heart of our relationship had been our friendship, and I knew I had the ability to lift him up just like I’d done so many times before. If I could help him through such a terrible event in his life, that was all that really mattered. Besides that, Big texted me the day after the fight to let me know Preston was fine, and no matter how hard I tried to suppress it, a little part of me was happy to see him get what he deserved for hurting me.

“It’s up to you, babe, but I’m sure a shoulder to lean on would be much appreciated, especially if that shoulder is attached to you. I wouldn’t even bother calling. Just go to him.”

“I can’t do that. I don’t know where he lives.”

“Do what you have to do, okay?”

We ended our conversation, and I immediately called Jet. After six rings, it went to a full voicemail box. The only thing I could think to do was send him a text and leave it up to him to respond or not.

Do you need me?

A little voice whispered in the back of my mind that I’d be better off if he ignored it and that’s what I should hope for, but how can you hope for the opposite of what your heart really wants?

CHAPTER 27 – JET

Pulling up to the warehouse, I parked Big’s truck and pulled my phone out. Her text almost made me turn around. Almost made me abort my mission. But I had to keep going, not only for me, but for her and Georgia. Neither of them would ever truly be safe until he was taken care of, and as much as it pained me, I made the decision to ignore her until after everything was all said and done. There was no other way.

The warehouse was nearly empty. Nothing like it had been the night of the last time I’d been there when I faced Preston. As I entered the building, a voice far off to the left caught my attention.

“Hey, Jet,” the bartender called out. I’d never had much of a conversation with him, but it didn’t stop him from trying to act like we were tight.

I moved on, ignoring him completely. Even if I wanted to talk to him, I couldn’t afford any distractions.

I didn’t bother to knock when I got to Niall’s office. Flinging the door open, I stepped through, only to find him with one of his whores on his lap, her ample tits hanging over her stomach. She giggled, covering her mouth as I glanced at her.

“Now’s not the time, son,” he said with contempt.

“Oh, but I think it is,” I replied. “We’ve got some shit to work out… Get out,” I said to the woman on his lap.

She sat there, unmoving and only glanced at Niall for his approval. His gaze stayed firmly planted on me. The sound of the clock on the wall ticking amplified in the silence, like the countdown to a bomb about to go off.

Reaching behind me, I grabbed the gun from my waistband and pointed it directly at her. I wouldn’t have really shot her, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Move,” I said firmly.

She scrambled to her feet, grabbing her top on the way out.

“What? You gonna shoot me, boy?”

“Nope… That’d be too good for you. Too quick,” I said, placing the gun in the front of my jeans, tucking my shirt behind it to make sure it’d be easily accessible if necessary. Didn’t bother to turn my back to him when I closed the door. That would be stupid. If I gave him the chance to pull a gun on me, he would in a heartbeat, and I doubted he’d be as generous as I was being.

I pulled up a seat and sat across from him, the desk acting as a much-needed buffer zone, though I couldn’t completely rule out a flip-the-table moment if I decided to say fuck it and kill him right there.

“What is it this time? How have I wronged you now? I swear to Christ dealing with you can be such a fucking headache,” Niall said, placing his hand on the desk. “Come to finally tell me you’re taking Georgia and leaving? Over my dead fucking body.”

His demeanor said calm and cool, but the bead of sweat that trickled down the side of his face told me so much more. He was a master at appearing to be in control, to be unaffected by whatever shit went down around him, but I knew better. I knew I intimidated him to some degree.

“Yeah, you know, maybe you should’ve thought about how much of a pain in the ass I might be
before
you ripped me away from my real family.”

Studying me, his eyes narrowed. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. Could almost hear his thoughts and all the excuses he was trying to conjure up to save his ass.

“Nonsense,” he finally said. “You’re
my
son.” His Irish accent faded at times, but when he was flustered, he never could quite control it as well and it spilled out in full force just then, further alerting me to the fact that he was coming unglued. “
I’m
your da. Don’t need to be thinkin’ otherwise.”

“Is she your daughter? Or did you take her, too?”

“Oh… Well, Georgia… Georgia, she
could
be mine.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“I fucked her mother around the time she was conceived. Don’t know for sure if she’s mine or not, but you… you’re my son. No doubt about that.”

“Really? Because I’ve got a private investigator and a long lost fucking sister claiming otherwise. I want the truth.”

“The truth… Hm.”

“Stop playing games with me and tell me the goddamn truth,” I said, drawing my gun again. “Unless you want the wall behind you decorated with the back of your head.”

He hesitated, watching me presumably for any sign that I was bluffing. In that moment, I was ready to end it, no matter the consequences.

“Your sister… Alex, isn’t it?”

My jaw clenched.
He already knows.

“Well, Alex is your sister. Stupid for them to come around like that, as if I don’t have the whole place wired and covered by cameras. I heard the whole goddamn conversation. You almost made me proud when you thought about blowing that man away. I’ve taught you well.”

My mind swam with all the dirt he must have had on me and what that could ultimately mean.
Does he know about Evie?

“Alex didn’t come to the house.”

“It’s not the only place I monitor. Big is your closest confidante, is he not? Makes sense to me that if I wanted to keep tabs on you, then I should watch him, too.”

“Does he know?” My gut churned, wondering if my best friend had betrayed me.

Niall shook his head, scratching his chin before placing both hands on the desk and leaning forward.

“Stop talking in circles, and tell me straight. I deserve that before you’re carted off to prison.”

A deep, almost maniacal laugh erupted from him. “If you think I’m going to prison, you’re mistaken. Your bitch of a mother signed over custody of you when you were little more than a baby.”

“I don’t believe you. Why would she do that?”

“Because she didn’t want her rich husband to find out she got knocked up by me. She couldn’t risk her perfect life being ruined for a bastard like you or for a drug dealer like me, even though she claimed to love me. She didn’t love me. She didn’t love you either. Despised you, actually. It was her who approached me about staging the kidnapping. I only did what any loving father would do for his boy.”

“Loving? You’re far from it.” My stomach knotted and the urge to vomit grew increasingly stronger. But I still kept my cool.

“You know, your mother is why we have all of this,” he said, raising his hands. “The houses, the cars, all the money we could ever wish for to buy things we’d only be able to dream about. If I hadn’t been so motivated by the fact that I was never good enough for her, I wouldn’t have ever built this empire. I’d still be pushing dope for someone else, and this wouldn’t all be yours someday. Let’s forget all this bullshit and put it behind us.”

“I don’t believe a word of it. You
took
me from a family who loved me, and you gave me nothing but a world of shit. You stole my future away from me and condemned me to this life. I don’t care about the luxuries or the power or the reputation that follows me everywhere I go. All I ever wanted was to have a parent who cared.”

“Believe what you want. It’s the truth,” he said, pulling a key from his keyring and unlocking a drawer in his desk. Producing a legal-looking paper, he pushed it toward me. “What do we do now, son?”

“Stop calling me that,” I said, tears stinging my eyes as I glanced at the custody papers with my name on them. There at the bottom was my mother’s signature, along with the judge who’d heard the case. I was quick to keep my tears at bay. There was no way in hell I was going to show him any weakness, even if every bit of my soul was being ripped to pieces. I didn’t know up from down or my ass from a hole in the ground right then. My mother was apparently alive and well, yet she’d thrown me to the wayside. My worst nightmare. I always wanted to believe that she had no control over not being in my life or that she’d died, and I’d forgiven her for not being there, but now that I was faced with the fact that she’d handed me over to him to save her marriage… That was something I could never forgive. I decided right then and there, that I had no mother. No siblings aside from Georgia. Not family at all.

I stood, seething with pure rage, and said, “I want out. I’m taking Georgia and getting the fuck away from here.”

“And why would I let that happen?”

“If there is any
part
of you that ever cared about me, that ever loved either one of us, you’ll do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Not a fucking chance I let you walk away. And Georgia sure as fuck isn’t going anywhere either.”

“I want to see your ass in that ring. I’m gonna beat the fuck out of you in front of everyone, knock your ass down a peg and expose you for the coward you really are, and I don’t give a fuck if you make it out alive or not. You know, in all these years, you’ve rarely ever done anything to fight your own battles. You’ve always sent someone else to do it. Me, one of your lackeys…”