32. Jordan
32
JORDAN
Usually, I hated leaving Vail and Hartley. It was like pulling off my fucking arm and leaving it behind. Essential and missing. But this was for a good reason. We had a solid lead as to where the Everharts were. And this time, I made a call on the way.
“Why the fuck are you calling me?” Barrett yelled into the phone, a spare he had that wasn’t traceable to the police department. I had Reghan’s phone. Not even a burner. We rushed out of the building so fast we didn’t stop to grab more than guns and people, as well as a shirt for me.
“Say that to me again and I’ll fucking slit your throat,” I seethed into the phone.
“Jesus, why the hell are you calling me?”
I growled and said, “We found them and are on our way there. If you come, you do it alone.”
“Got it.” I could hear his shoes hitting steps then the noise of a door opening and the world seeping in. Barrett got into his car and started the engine. “Where? ”
“County Line Road. I’m not sure where on it, but that was their last location.”
“They could be gone.”
“Doubtful. They stole Lane. He’s mine and I’m getting him back.”
“Let me know if you find them.”
“My guess is they aren’t hiding in a big-ass house. Without much money, they aren’t living in the lap of luxury.”
“I’ll come in from the west.”
“East.”
I hung up before he could say more. Staying on the line long wasn’t safe, even if Barrett never stabbed me in the back.
Reghan drove out of the city, entering the road from the east. We were in his Jeep Gladiator, not my Maserati. I wanted the element of surprise. Plenty of people outside of the city drove SUVs and trucks that didn’t look like the ones I typically had with me. Noel wouldn’t expect us in this, or Sheldon on his motorcycle or Oleander in a ridiculously fast Subaru. We were spread out, not clumped together.
We worked from one end of the road to the other, passing Barrett along the way. Raiden sat in the back seat of Reghan’s truck, looking for things we might have missed. It was on the way back that he pointed out a run-down farmhouse that obviously wasn’t being lived in, yet there were fresh tracks in the dirt driveway.
Reghan turned us around as I called the others and told them where we were heading. Without knowing how much firepower the Everharts had on them, I didn’t want to go in hot, so we parked down the road along a lane that led to the farm from the other end. It was a decent-sized property that was still being farmed. The soil was recently tilled, signaling they were getting ready to plant their crop soon. It provided the perfect cover for us.
No words were needed as we made sure our guns were loaded and started on foot toward the home. The closer we got the louder the yelling was inside the house and a horrible coughing. I hoped whatever Edison had didn’t infect any of us. He could keep that shit to himself. Fuck it. I’ll just put a bullet in him before he can so much as breathe in our direction.
I spotted Sheldon coming in from the back, walking low in the tall grass. Why my mind went to the ticks he could be picking up was anyone’s guess. I was going to blame Albert for that. Albert and his talks about nature and all that shit. We received a lesson on tick-borne diseases one day. Afterward, I made sure Tahoe never missed a dose of his preventative. Fucking parasites.
“What do you want from me?” I heard Lane yell. “I’ve never done a damn thing to get in your way, yet you pull me off the street like I’ve spent the last who the fuck knows how long plotting against you.”
“Haven’t you?” Noel accused. It sure as hell wasn’t his father. This voice was clear.
“You think I wanted to be with them? I was kidnapped, asshole. They grabbed me when I was going through my dad’s house.” We were close enough now where their voices didn’t need to be as loud, thanks to the broken windows and the way they echoed through the home. He was smart not to admit he would rather be with us, that he gave himself over. He was buying time until we got to him. I didn’t doubt he was lying. After what I’d witnessed, Lane wanted nothing to do with them .
“Your dad?” a man rasped then started coughing again. “I’m your fucking father.”
“No, you’re the man who pretended to be. But I know the truth. You think I didn’t find the paper in his home of the amount of money Weathers owed you? What else could it have been from? I’d never met the man.”
“You were always too smart for your own fucking good,” Edison said. He gasped for breath before coughing once more.
“So, you admit it? He was my father, not you?”
The sound of a slap reverberated around the space and out the windows. My men and Barrett were waiting for my signal. I was running this shit. And I wasn’t going in until I heard all they had to say. It was easier this way. Then I could off Edison the moment I was in the door.
“You’re no son of mine. The only reason you lived was because of her, and the money you have.” His last word was barely more than a panted breath.
“Smart,” Noel growled. “He might think you are, but what a fucking fool you’ve been for not figuring it out sooner. You think Dad wanted more children? You came along after a one-night mistake, and he kept you from that lowlife. But the money, that was owed and more. He needed to pay for the food you ate and the clothes you wore. I had someone go to his house to kill him, but he was already on his last leg, barely able to move. Instead, I had them deliver a message. That he would die alone, never meeting his son. And he did. But the real icing on the entire situation is that his grandson is dating Jordan Altair. All the pieces came together. Except we were supposed to grab one of his lovers, but all we could get to was you. They’ll come and when they do, I’ll kill them and you.”
That was all I needed to hear before walking to the front door and kicking it off its rusted hinges. I said nothing before pointing and firing at Edison. Barrett was at my back, his arm past me with his gun aiming and landing true on Noel’s wrist, so Noel’s gun fell to the floor. Reghan was on my other side, his gun there. I had backup and then some. Sheldon entered through the rear of the house with Oleander.
“I got one outside,” Sheldon said.
“Same,” Oleander added. That explained while we didn’t see any guards when we walked up. I also trusted my men to handle them if they were there.
Noel howled in pain as he dropped to his knees and tried to lunge for the gun with his good hand, but Lane was there, on his feet that they stupidly didn’t bind. They couldn’t even be good criminals. Shameful. One swift kick and Lane’s foot connected with his brother’s head, knocking him backward.
Lane stood over him and spit. “Fuck you.” Then he went to the man he thought was his father before he met us, and spit on him as well. “Untie me.”
Sheldon came up behind him and used his knife to cut through the plastic zip ties. Lane grabbed the gun off the floor. I couldn’t lie and say my shoulders didn’t tense or that Raiden didn’t rush around me to cover me while Reghan shoved Barrett behind him. I’d let that slide just this once.
Lane wasn’t a threat. If I needed proof, I had it when Lane lifted the gun and repeatedly shot Edison until the gun was empty, no bullets remaining. Dropping it onto the dirty wooden floor, Lane leaned heavily against the wall, slowly sliding down. He had dried blood caked on his face and his bottom lip was split. There was a decent-sized knot forming on his forehead. Other than that, he looked okay.
Reaching into my pocket, I withdrew a knife and opened it, watching as the blade hit a beam of sun that poured into this otherwise rattrap of a building, lightening the space and adding a kiss to the blade before I crouched in front of Noel and drove it into his stomach, twisting it.
“I should have fucking killed you decades ago,” I said low. “But I was too caught in my head, and you got away. It was a mistake I’ll never make again. Anyone who comes for me or who’s mine will die.”
“Just end it,” he said, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and beneath his nose.
“I wanted to drag it out. To make you suffer for what your family had put my son and myself through but now with you in front of me, all I can think is to bring Lane back to his family, to the men I love. Why the fuck would I waste my time on you? You’re nothing.”
I pulled the knife out of his stomach and held it up as his blood ran down the hilt and coated my hand, seeping into my sleeve. With one swift move, I dragged it over his throat, slitting it from one side to the other, then I nodded.
Barrett knew what to do. He fired, killing Noel, who was already halfway there.
What happened around me after that was Barrett going into cop mode and devising a plan that had Lane at the center of it and me and my men nowhere to be found. It seemed Barrett got a tip that Lane went missing from my building and one of my guards was hurt. Not shot. Barrett interviewed Vincent and went looking for Lane. He wanted to call it in, but his phone had died, and he had no other way to contact anyone since he rushed out of where he was catching a bite to eat in his personal vehicle.
He came upon the scene where Lane was beaten, and a gun held to his head, but Lane had managed to grab a gun and shoot and kill Edison then plunge the knife Edison held into Noel. Barrett came in and killed Noel when he saw him lunge for Lane with his gun drawn. Since I put a bullet into Edison, I had to leave my gun, with the fingerprints removed, and pretend it was his
Would they buy it? It would be the second crazy-ass story they got from Barrett in a short period of time. As it was, he was currently running to the farm next door to use their phone. Which was why I made sure I didn’t track blood as I left the house while Sheldon and Oleander grabbed the dead guards to drag them inside. One had his neck snapped and the other… poisoned. Something untraceable that will somehow look like natural causes from stress. Maybe his heart? Who the fuck knew or cared? My hands would be clean of this, as would my guards’. Lane would look like he was fighting in self-defense.
And I could go home, shower, and tell the men I loved this latest fucking mess was finally over.