Caleb (The Unseen Series Book 1) (25 page)

“Yes, I want to be able to jump on your private plane and go to New York every weekend.” I laugh.

“This technically isn’t Edward’s plane although I’m sure he’s considering buying it now, especially with Dana’s family being in England. Most of us rich boys hire planes and because we usually use the same company and plane, the company will assign us the plane on a permanent basis, ready to go at a moment’s notice.”

“So I could go somewhere and then call the airplane company and get a flight out to somewhere else, just like that?” I ask.

“Usually yeah, but there are the odd occasion when a plane will be booked and we’ll have to take another, but I know Edward trust the pilot of this plane and he never uses another,” he tells me and I wonder what other sort of trust issues these rich boys have. “Go get yourself and the twins settled and strapped in, I just need to make a quick phone call.”

I leave him to it and get Maddie and Mitch strapped in. “Mommy, you won’t leave us again, will you?” Maddie asks.

“I didn’t leave you Maddie. I promise I didn’t. Mommy’s eyes were just really sore and I needed to have them fixed—they’re fine now.”

“Are we going home now?” Mitch asks.

“Yeah, we’re going home now,” I reply, not really knowing how to explain we don’t have a home to go back to. “You start kindergarten next week, are you excited?”

“Why can’t we have a bedroom like Nathan’s?” he asks.

“Nathan’s daddy has the money to build him an indoor play area in his bedroom.” I see the look of understanding cross his face and guilt eats away at me. “You know what little man, I’m going to save up and you can have an indoor play area okay?”

His smile is huge and I’m more than determined now to keep my promise. “Thank you, Mommy.”

“What’s this I hear?” Caleb says as he climbs the stairs into the cabin.

“Mitch wants a indoor play bedroom like Nathan’s,” I say.

“Mommy said she’s going to save for it.” Mitch’s grin widens, if that’s even possible.

“Oh yeah?” Caleb responds, but I don’t know what he means by that response. He doesn’t elaborate, takes his phone out of his pocket and sits in the chair across from me.
What the fuck?

We’re in the air for almost two hours. We start our decent and suddenly my heart rate picks up.

“SJ, look at me,” Caleb orders. I try to see him, but instead I see darkness. I feel Buccieri’s breath on my neck.

“No! Please, I’m begging you. I’ll be good. I’ll behave.” I can’t deal with this, my breathing is fast and I barely feel like any air is getting into my lungs.

A splash of ice cold water to my face forces my lungs to take in air. My vision begins to return, but my pulse is still thrumming in my ears.

“It’s okay, SJ. I’m here. I sent the children into the bedroom as soon as I saw your eyes glaze over.”

“Thank you, Caleb. I don’t know what triggered that panic attack.”

“We’ll get you some professional help when we get home. I’ll come with you if you want, but we should find out what we can do to stop these attacks.” Caleb holds me as my beating heart returns to normal and my breathing evens out. “I’m going to get the children. They should really be strapped in. Look at me,” he orders. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

I nod and smile but my brain is unconvinced. He can’t save me every time.
Can he?

***

I’m not really paying much attention in the car. I’m still coming down from my panic attack. It’s only when I see a sign post for Fort Lincoln that I realize I have no idea where we’re going.

“We’re going home,” Caleb says as if he’s reading my thoughts.

“I don’t understand,” I reply.

“You will, just five more minutes.”

I have no idea what he’s up to, but I do know that the next five minutes will be the slowest of my life. My brain is on overdrive. Even if Caleb has set us up somewhere, what about all the other residents? What about Rita and Claire?

I’m not sure when I first notice it, but when I do my heart almost beats out of my chest as hope begins to seep in. We drive down a road of half built houses and I know these weren’t here before. This was just grassland I’m sure.

We pull into a beautiful communal car park, full of flowers and greenery. There’s a crowd waiting at the doors to a brand new apartment building. It takes me a second but I realize it’s all the residents.

“Caleb, what is this?” I ask, completely stunned.

“Your new home, SJ,” he replies. “This is just two of the new apartment buildings.” There are thirty apartments in each row. The blocks are fifteen houses long each with two doors, they look huge.

“Welcome home!” the crowd says in unison as we step out of the car.

I have no words. I can’t even begin to take it all in.

“How?” I ask. I’ve only been gone four weeks.

“I’ve had contactors working around the clock. My main priority was these two building. I needed to make sure all the tenants from the old building had somewhere to go, even if it’s just temporary. Two hundred houses and another four apartment blocks will be going up in the next year. As the houses go up, they will be offered to the residents with families in the apartments first and then I’m going to get as many people off the street as I can. Rent will be the same as you paid at the last place, but I won’t earn from it. They’ll be buying these houses from me on a sort of rent to own basis.”

“Caleb, I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe you did all this. Do you have any idea how many people you will help?” I manage to ask as I break down in tears.

“Those better be happy tears,” Rita says, Gur and Raj just behind her.

“Oh God, Rita. I’ve missed you so much,” I cry, just wanting to hold my friend. “I didn’t think I would see you again.”

“Caleb would never have let that happen,” she replies with her arms wrapped firmly around me. “We are going to talk about this later, with a bottle of non-alcoholic wine.” She winks.

“How did you know?”

“I knew at Jungle Rapids when you said you were feeling sick. I’ve had two children and I know the signs.”

“The area the old building was on is going to be turned into a kid’s playground in honor of Alonzo, your old landlord.”

“That’s such an amazing thing to do.” I sniffle.

“It the least I can do for such an amazing man,” he replies.

“Mr. Slate,” Claire calls out as she comes toward us. “These are the plans you asked for.”

Caleb takes them and gets down on Mitch’s level. “So I need you to look at the plan for your new house, I has this idea about putting in an indoor play area.”

“Really? I can have a room like Nathan’s?”

“You can have any room you want because it will be yours and Maddie can have whatever room she wants too because you’ll both have your own rooms. Mommy get’s her own room as well. That’s pretty awesome, right?”

“Will we have a bed?” Mitch asks causing me to cry even harder.

“You can pick whatever bed you want.”

“You really don’t need to do this Caleb, you’ve done so much already.”

“I’m doing it for all the residents. Plus I need to take care of my baby’s mommy,” he says, lowering his voice at the last part. “You see the house over there that’s almost finished?” We all look to where Caleb is pointing. “That’s your new home and you should be able to move in sometime next week.”

“I love you so much. I really, really do,” I cry and fall into his embrace.

“I love you SJ, and I love Maddie and Mitch too,” he says, kissing me gently on the lips. As he brushes his lips across mine, a whisper of breath escapes them. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” I reply and pull his lips back to mine.

“What happens now?” he asks.

“You move in with us?” I suggest.

“Can I bring my bath tub?”

“Hell yes,” I say as I take hold of Mitch’s hand and Caleb picks Maddie up. Together we walk toward our new home and our new life. I would never have thought two months ago that this is where I would be now. I was just trying to make ends meet and keep a roof over our heads.

I’d like to think Caleb and I both learned something during the small period of his experiment. Caleb has decided he’d rather help people than make as much money as he can. I’ve realized my children need to be children and I need to be a little less worried about money.

I look forward to starting this next chapter of our lives together and I know I don’t have anything to worry about, because my very own superhero will always be here to fight in my corner for me.

Epilogue

“
Well
if it isn’t the man of the hour,” Grayson greets me on my first day back at the office. I wanted to start the day getting caught up on everything I missed while I was in New York, so I called a family meeting. “Does SJ like her new home?”

“She agreed to marry me so I’m going to say yes.”

“Congratulations,” Logan says quietly with his eyes downcast.

“Before we get into this, we need to clear something up,” I say to Logan.

“Caleb, I know and I’m sorry, I tried to warn you before you left—”

“Stop. I’m not angry at. I just need to know what the hell happened almost a year ago. You’re going to tell me what the ring is and you’re going to tell me about this greater cause so I can help,” I demand.

“I don’t know where to start. When we all got shipped here, I found out that the reason Dad left Mom was because he thought she had cheated on him and he didn’t think I was his son. He told me I was going to the same boarding school as Aiden and Jess, but it wasn’t a school, it was a damp house in the middle of nowhere full of children. Children that men and women would pay to use in whatever manner they wanted. You asked if I knew SJ’s mother, well I did. Intimately. Vitale and MJ loved involving us in their games.”

“Why have you never told me any of this?” I look between Logan and Aiden.

“Aiden, is this true?” Kade asks.

“Yes it’s true. I’m not looking to go into detail right now and neither is Logan. We just thought you should know the reason behind why we do what we do,” Aiden responds.

“And what is it you do?” I ask.

“We are ridding the world of vermin. Some of the kids in the ring didn’t survive the attacks on them. We’re avenging them while getting revenge for ourselves,” Aiden replies.

“We kidnapped Molly. Vitale had a week to get one million dollars wired to our account or we killed her. He never paid up. We told Molly the moment she came around from the sedative, what was going on. We showed her photos and films of what her father did to the children in the ring. She threw up a few times. She couldn’t believe her father wouldn’t pay up to save her life, so she joined us. She is currently being sponsored in Australia, on the understanding that she stay there until her father was dead,” Logan explains.

“But the police found her body. They said her abduction was because Vitale owed money to Buccieri. They found my semen during her autopsy,” I say, wanting to know how any of that was possible.

“There is a small section of the CIA that has given us permission to deal with the ring’s members. The FBI and the police can’t stop us, they don’t want to stop us and actually assist us. It was actually Molly’s idea to have the police find your semen—she’s pretty clever.” Aiden informs us.

“I take it Molly isn’t the only one you’ve
kidnapped
?” Grayson asked. “Is one of our senior executives also a member of the ring?”

“Yes and as you well know, his daughter was recently abducted,” Logan answers and now I know why he was smiling that day in Grayson’s office.

“Can you tell me if this senior executive is going to die any time soon? I’ll need to start looking for his replacement,” Grayson asks like this is the most normal conversation to be having first thing Monday morning.

“You have about a week,” Logan answers as equally nonchalantly.

“Tell me about Vitale. Why was he after you?” I ask and Logan looks at me with a blank expression. “When we were in the warehouse, you said to him he wouldn’t have removed the tracker because he wanted you.”

“Ah yes, Angelo Buccieri wants me alive and is offering up a fair-sized reward for me. By shutting down the ring, he lost a lot of valuable income, at least a hundred thousand dollars a week.”

“What does he plan to do with you?”

“I don’t know.” Logan shrugs. “But I was his favorite and Leo was more than happy to lend me out to him and his friends.”

“I’m sorry, Logan. I should have made more of an effort to find you—”

“It’s not your fault,” He brushes me off. “Buccieri thought he’d broken me. He was trying to get Leo to sell me to him when I turned sixteen. I don’t know what made him do it, maybe it was just to be sure, but a week before I turned sixteen, Leo got a DNA test done. Turns out I’m his son after all.

“He begged me for forgiveness. The great Leo Slate actually got down on his knees and begged me. I put a bullet in his head. One less parasite for us to worry about.”

I should probably be upset or something, that my father was murdered by my brother, but I’m not. The only thing I feel is that justice was served.

“Can I speak to Molly?” I ask.

“If you want. I’ll set up a video link with her this afternoon. She should be home from university by then,” Logan says.

I feel lighter. The guilt has lifted, and knowing I wasn’t the cause of her death lets me breathe again.

“Caleb, I really am sorry. The whole thing with Molly was the reason I’ve struggled to face you. I hated myself because of what it did to you. I didn’t expect Vitale to come to Slate Securities for protection, but like I said to him, he was the only one of the ring members who didn’t expect the ring kids to go after him,” Logan explains.

“I forgive you, Logan. I’m just thankful she’s actually alive and that she didn’t die because of her father’s sins,” I say, trying but failing to explain how I feel.

“We always ask their permission first,” Logan says, I look at him perplexed. “The children we abduct. After we’ve told them about their parent, we ask their permission to kill them.”

“And they say yes?” I ask incredulously.

“We haven’t had anyone say no yet,” Logan replies. “SJ’s father is dead, but her mother is still alive. What we do best isn’t going to work under these circumstances.”

“If you attempt to abduct SJ, I will personally rearrange your face,” I respond.

Logan’s lips quirk as he attempts to hold back a smile. “Exactly, do you think we’ll get her permission?”

“To kill her mother? She’d probably want to help. Hell I want to help,” I answer honestly to which Logan and Aiden nod. “How are things with you Grayson? Did you and Kade find Evangeline?” I change the subject.

“Eventually, we only got back a few days ago ourselves,” Grayson replies.

“She was in a pretty bad way. I’m trying to help her at the moment, but it’s going to be a long road to recovery,” Kade explains.

“Does she know who you are?” I ask Grayson.

“No, as far as she’s concerned, I’m offering her half a million dollars for six months of service.”

“What the fuck, man? You’re prostituting her?”

“She is a prostitute. Proposing an offer like that was the only way to get her back here. She’s an addict,” he says quietly.

“How? What happened?”

“I don’t know yet, but she was as high as a kite when we found her.”

“I’m currently treating her withdrawal symptoms. It’s a painful process on both the body and the mind,” Kade injects.

“If there’s anything I can do, let me know,” I offer.

We spend the next few hours discussing the Decavalcante family and what we can do to make sure nothing like what happened with SJ, can ever happen again.

***

I’m such a girl, just press the call button.

“About time, Caleb,” Molly’s melodic voice flows through me, alleviating any remaining guilt I had about her death. She isn’t dead—she’s right in front on me.

“Molly,” I whisper.

“Did you miss me?” she jokes.

“You have no idea,” I respond.

“Caleb, I’m so sorry for what you had to go through. I was so scared that night, seeing the terrified look on your face as your brothers pulled me into the van was heartbreaking. When they told me what was going on, I wanted to call and let you know I was okay, but I couldn’t. Logan said if you knew I was alive, it would put you in a terrible and dangerous position,” she says. I just want to hold her and yell at her at the same time.

“I’m glad you’re alive. Logan said you’re at university?”

She goes on for the next twenty minutes about her studies and I’m so happy to hear she’s doing well.

“You have a sister,” I blurt out.

“Logan told me the last time we spoke. He said she’s having your baby,” she replies happily and I can’t help my grin.

“She agreed to marry me too.” I laugh.

“Wow, the tin man got a heart from the wizard after all,” she jokes. “I can’t wait to meet her and the twins. I’m going to be an aunt!” she says excitedly.

“She’s only two years older than you. I think you two will get on great.”

“I’m really happy for you Caleb, truly I am.” Her smile brightens. “I love you, but I realize now it was more of a brotherly love. You were protecting me and I saw you as my superhero.”

“I always loved you, in an annoying little sister sort of way.” I laugh. “I can’t wait to tell SJ all about you.”

“You haven’t told her yet?” she asks.

“I needed to make sure you were real. She’s had to deal with enough fucked up shit to last a lifetime. I didn’t want to get her hopes up just to have them taken away.”

“I get it, now go home and tell her all about me.”

We spend another few minutes just chatting to each other before finally get off the phone.

“Everything okay?” Logan asks.

I stand and walk toward him. He cowers back instantly. So I grab hold of him and pull him to me, wrapping my arm around his shoulder and clapping him on the back.

“I don’t hate you. I’ve never hated you and I never will hate you,” I say to him.

“Thanks Caleb. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you or Grayson again,” he says, bringing his arms around me.

I don’t know what’s coming next but I know it’s going to be hard. My brothers and I will take the Decavalcante family down if we have to. Together we can do anything.