Chapter 45
My dad glancesat Hailey as she climbs out of the passenger seat of my car, a look of displeasure on his face. Closing the door behind her, I watch as she looks up at the mansion she lived in for the first seventeen months of her life.
My dad trusts her—she wouldn’t be here if he didn’t—but I think he’s worried about what’ll happen once she’s inside those walls.
“Don’t let her out of your sight,” he says quietly to me.
“Never,” I vow.
“Kai.”
“Hm?”
“Is she the one you want?”
“Yes.” I nod, not taking my eyes off her back as she takes in the stone walls and arches. “I don”t want to live without her, Dad. When I picture my life, she’s all I see. Every fucking minute of it belongs to her.”
When my dad doesn’t say anything, I peek up at him. He’s looking at me, but his eyes are distant, seemingly lost in his own head.
That’s how he felt about my mom.
After a moment, he snaps out of it and gestures for me to go back to Hailey, dismissing me. I press myself against her back, my arms locking around her waist, my nose in her hair. She’s tense at first, but she relaxes into me, making me feel like the motherfucking king of the world.
“I got you, baby.”
She nods, turning her face up to mine. “I heard you.”
I smile against her cheek. Even though it didn’t look like she was listening, I knew she might be able to hear me. I wasn’t trying to hide it from her.
“Your life belongs to me now?” she asks.
“Yes.”
She sighs, but she’s not mad about it. She’s accepting it. Accepting us. “I think mine belongs to you too,” she grumbles. “I can’t shake you.”
“Do you want to?”
She shakes her head. “Not anymore,” she whispers.
I grin so hard my cheeks hurt. “Say it back.”
“Maybe later.” Her grin matches mine, and I have to fight the urge to drag her pretty ass back to my car.
“Where are they?” my dad asks, pulling my attention back and reminding me why we’re here.
James appears from wherever he’s been hiding all day, watching Maverick and Derek on the interior cameras he hacked into. “They’re moving to the west living room,” he answers.
“How many guards does he have here?”
“Seven.” He scans the seven of us. “One for each of you, I’m guessing.”
When Levi and Callie pull their guns out of their jeans, my dad shakes his head at them. “You won’t be needing those.”
“Just in case.” Callie grins as they cock them.
“Callie,” my dad warns. “Do not shoot anyone.”
“One kneecap.” She holds a finger up, laughing at the hard look on my dad’s face. “Relax. I’m kidding. Kind of,” she mutters under her breath.
Letting it be, my dad leads the way into Kingston Manor, the six of us falling in line behind him with James at our back. The large wooden doors are wide open, so we walk right in. Making our way through the vast entryway, we enter the west living room where Maverick and Derek await us with their seven guards. Maverick’s sitting back on the couch in the center of the room, his body relaxed, his right ankle resting on his left knee, a glass of whiskey dangling between his fingers. Derek’s standing next to him. After checking his form for damage, Hailey glares at him for being a fucking dumbass. He glares right back at her for being here.
As Maverick looks us over, there’s a look on his face that tells me he thinks he’s won this war already. In his mind, they outnumber us by one. He thinks it’ll be easy to overpower us, but he underestimates us. He has no idea what’s about to happen to him.
“Elijah,” my uncle says. “Don’t be a tease, big brother. Step aside so I can see her.”
I tighten my grip on Hailey’s hand. She’s staring at the back of my dad’s jacket, her blue eyes hard as she listens to the sound of Maverick’s voice. This is the first time she’s hearing it as an adult.
My dad doesn’t move, doesn’t even bother gracing his brother with a spoken response. Maverick’s forced composure slips within seconds. He gestures toward us with a flick of his hand. Two of his guards are holding guns at their sides. The other five aren’t. When the armed guards’ arms twitch, ready to lift, my dad snaps his eyes toward them. “If you point those at my children, I assure you it’ll be the last thing you do.”
The men falter, their guns remaining down at their sides. Maverick’s face reddens with anger. I can tell he wants to give the order, but he’s refraining out of fear of being disobeyed by his own men.
“Put them away,” my dad orders. “Now.”
They take half a second to scan our group, searching for weapons. When Callie lifts her hands in mock surrender, they slowly tuck their guns into the backs of their waistbands. Maverick’s anger burns even hotter. In less than a minute, my dad has erased his brother’s good mood and made him furious. I almost smile at how easy it was.
“I want to see the girl.”
“I know what you want, Maverick,” Elijah says, speaking to him for the first time in months. “You’re not getting it. Any of it.”
His nostrils flare. “What?”
“Katherine told us what you’re planning. You want to burn us all and take what’s ours.”
“You don’t think I can do it?”
“I know you can’t.”
“You always did think you’re better than me. Smarter.” Another smirk touches his lips. “I’m not going to burn you in that precious little coffee shop of yours. I”m going to burn you in this house.” He waves a hand. “The place we grew up in. The thing you gave me to try to keep me in line. It will be the thing that ends you and your children.”
My dad breathes evenly, waiting.
“Tie them up and bring Hailey to me.”
The two guards who were holding guns when we walked in begin to move, freezing when they realize the other five aren’t moving a muscle.
“They’re unarmed, you cowards. Do it.”
Again, they don’t move, their heads held high, eyes forward and alert, their arms behind their backs.
“Should I be concerned about those two?” my dad asks, keeping his eyes on Maverick as he tilts his head at the other two guards.
The guard closest to us shakes his head.
The veins in Mavericks forehead look like they’re about to burst as he looks between his brother and the men he thought were his men.
“They do not answer to you, Maverick,” my dad tells him.
As he fumes, I see the wheels turning in his head. He knows what’s about to happen now, and he’s desperately searching for a way out. The only way is by using the guy standing next to him, the guy my dad loves like a son despite his flaws.
As soon as I realize it, Hailey does too, her eyes widening as she panics. Before she can take a step toward her brother, I wrap my arms around her from behind, holding her captive against my chest.
In the same second, Maverick leaps off the couch, pulls Derek in front of him, and holds a gun to his own son’s hip. Hailey shouts, struggling in my grip, but I refuse to let her go.
In the next second, Callie and Levi’s guns are up, and James is in front of Maverick with the barrel of his own gun pressed to Maverick’s forehead.
Nobody moves for a few beats. Maverick’s eyes are crazed as he scans the room, once again searching for a way out. There isn’t one.
“Let him go, Maverick,” my dad says calmly, though I can tell from the way he’s clenching his fists at his sides that he’s far from calm. “Slowly.”
“I do not answer to you.” Maverick sneers, echoing his brother’s words from a minute ago.
Thinking for a moment, my dad curses under his breath before he says, “Callie.”
Knowing what that means, James moves just in time for Callie to shoot Maverick in the kneecap. The sound of the shot splitting through the silence makes Hailey jolt against me. I hold her tight as James gets between Maverick and Derek, pushing Derek away as Maverick drops to the rug. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he tries to grab the gun he dropped. James kicks it away, standing over him with his gun aimed at Maverick’s face.
“Nice shot, little Kingston.” Levi grins proudly.
She grins back, her chest heaving with adrenaline.
“It was a little close to my kneecap,” Derek grumbles, his fucked up version of thank you.
Callie’s grin widens. “Lucky for you, I don’t miss,” she says, her version of you’re welcome.
Derek smiles a secret smile to himself as he falls in line beside Hailey and my dad. I let Hailey go, and she launches herself at him, hitting him in the chest. He grunts, and she hits him again before wrapping her arms around him. He hugs her back, resting his chin on the top of her head.
“Derek,” Maverick growls, held up by two guards in front of us. “You’re choosing them over me? After everything they’ve done to you?”
Derek doesn’t bother mentioning all the things he’s done to him. He stands beside his uncle and looks his father in the eye. “I’ll never choose you again. Not after what you did to Valerie.”
“You know why I did it!” he shouts. “She was keeping Hailey from us. You were in on it, you little cunt! You’ve been playing them for weeks!”
Knowing he’s lying, none of us bat an eye.
“They’re not gonna believe you, Dad. It’s over.”
Maverick growls, his arms pinned behind his back, all his weight on his good leg as he sneers at my dad. “I’ll find a way. If you don’t kill me, I’ll find a way, Elijah. I will take everything from you.”
“No, you won’t.” My dad shakes his head. “You’re never getting your hands on my empire, Maverick.”
“What?”
“You’re not in the will. You haven’t been for a long time. If all of us die, it’ll go to Derek. And if you sink so low as to kill your own son, it’ll go to his wife.”
Hailey startles next to me as we all stare at him and Derek in shock.
His wife?
Just then, Freya fucking Thorne strolls into the room, looking smug as fuck as she cozies up into Derek’s side. Hailey takes a step away from them, her back hitting my chest again as she gawks at the huge diamond on Freya’s finger.
Maverick blinks at his brother. “You’re lying.”
My dad pulls something out of his jacket pocket, the guards pushing Maverick to his knees so he can see the marriage certificate my dad tosses on the floor.
Maverick cries out in agony, spittle flying from his lips as he laughs and shouts. “Freya Thorne. You think you can derail my plans with Freya Thorne?! I’ll kill her too, you stupid son of a bitch.” He forces a savage grin. “After I marry her.”
“But then who will you frame?” My dad asks. “You lost Katherine already. You were planning on making it look like she killed us, right? If you kill Freya, who will you pin the murders on?”
“Hailey.” His unhinged eyes snap to my girl, and then up to me. “Your little bitch will spend the rest of her life in jail.” Another grin as he looks at Hailey again. “With Katherine.”
I take a step toward him, and Hailey pushes her back into my chest, stopping me. I can’t see her face, but I can tell by the way Maverick’s nose flares that she’s showing him no fear.
My dad sighs, tired of his delusions. “Okay.” He steps aside, waving a hand. “Take her.”
“What?”
“Try it, little brother. Take her from him.”
Maverick hesitates. With a flick of his hand, my dad silently orders the guards to take their hands off Maverick, freeing him to do as he pleases. All of the guns are lowered and put away, but still, Maverick hesitates, his eyes on me and my siblings surrounding Hailey. He doesn’t fucking dare.
He sneers at us as my dad orders the guards to take him outside. They’ll take him somewhere and keep him prisoner while my dad searches for evidence of his crimes. It shouldn’t be too hard to force the two guys who chased Hailey and attacked Derek to confess everything they know about their boss.
Just as they begin dragging him away, Maverick yells, “I killed your wife!”
My dad stops moving, his dark eyes lifting to meet his brother’s.
“What?” Maverick taunts him. “You didn’t put that part of your little puzzle together? Katherine’s been working for me for years. Who do you think gave her the drugs she forced down Claire’s throat? I told her to do it, Eli. She was following my orders.”
Hailey’s hand covers her mouth as my siblings and I burn with rage from the inside out. Derek looks like he’s about to throw up, the guards look stunned, and my dad…. I’ve never seen that look on his face before. He looks bloodthirsty. Psychotic. Terrifying.
Slowly, the guards back away from him, releasing Maverick and letting him fall to his knees with a rage-filled shout.
My dad looks down at him. “Tell me you’re lying.”
“I’m not.” Maverick laughs maniacally. “I did it.”
“Why?”
“Because I hate you,” Maverick hisses. “And I want nothing more than to see you broken, to take everything you love. The day your precious girl was taken from you was the best day of my l?—”
He doesn’t get to finish that sentence before my dad slams his fist into his face. Maverick’s back hits the floor with a crash, and my dad hits him again. And again. He doesn’t stop hitting him.
“Oh my God,” Hailey whispers.
Blood is spilling from Maverick’s face and coating my dad’s hands. He’s beating him to death, but not one of us moves to stop him. We’re all frozen, watching in shock and horror.
Breathing hard with his hand wrapped around Maverick’s throat, my dad doesn’t look up as he rasps, “James, take them home.”
“Don’t touch us,” Damon growls, and James hesitates, unsure what to do.
“Damon.” My dad’s voice breaks, and my heart cracks right down the middle.
“No,” Damon says to him, the words bitten through his teeth. “We’re not leaving you.”
“I’m going to kill him, Damon.” And he won’t do it in front of us.
“Don’t,” Damon chokes out, releasing Callie as he steps closer to him. “Dad. Death would be too easy for him. Don’t do it.”
My dad squeezes his eyes shut. Braver than me, Damon puts his hand on his shoulder and pulls him away from Maverick, holding him back as the guards carry Maverick’s unconscious body outside. My dad slumps against him, the two of them dropping to their knees. Wren and I drop in front of them, hugging our dad to us as he breaks.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I’m sorry.”
Sorry for beating him. Sorry for not doing it sooner. Sorry our mother is dead. Sorry he couldn’t protect her when he promised he always would.
We hold him until he stops shaking.
When I look up at the others, Hailey’s crying as she watches us, and Callie’s crying tears of rage as she snatches my dad’s phone from Damon. Pressing it to her ear, she speaks to who I’m assuming is our dad’s contact at the prison where Katherine is. “Take everything from her cell and burn it right in front of her. Then throw her ass in solitary.” She pauses. “Until Elijah Kingston says so.”