Chapter Twenty
Caius
“T his is surreal.”
I swallow down the beer and glance over at Romy. She’s perfectly relaxed in a chair near the pool, drinking sweet tea and watching Kaitlyn swim. The kid’s been at it for hours.
Surreal is an understatement. This is the most in control of my life I’ve felt in decades. I have my girls safely with me. Romy with her adorable belly on display and in nothing but a red bikini is a sight to behold.
“Kaitlyn,” Romy calls out, “time for more sunscreen.”
“In a little bit, Mommy!”
Bermuda tosses her into the deep end and her squeal is submerged by the water. She resurfaces giggling and begging for him to do it again. Sunshine, sprawled out on the pool’s edge, whaps her tail happily as if in tune with her human sister’s joy.
“You missed the meeting,” Koyn says as he saunters our way from the garage. “I thought I made it clear we had shit to discuss.”
Romy whips her head toward him and arches a brow. “He’s been through a lot. I’m sure it can wait.”
Koyn smirks and pulls out a chair beside her. “This compound attracts the most obnoxious, bossy, pigheaded women in the whole damn country.”
Romy smiles sweetly at him. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You would.” He sighs as though my woman exhausts him, which is amusing to me. Then he turns his attention my way. “I’m assuming you don’t care if she hears what we discuss.”
I snort. “I’d just tell her anyway.”
“Fine. Now that we killed the doctor and took his wife and kid—”
“He was not my husband,” Romy interjects, lip curling in disgust.
“You know what I mean,” Koyn says in exasperation. “To the general public and those at that facility you were. Any-fucking-way, now that you two have gone missing, things are going to heat up and quick. We need to stay on offense if we have any chance of taking these assholes down.”
Kaitlyn interrupts when she runs over to us, flinging water all over me. “Hurry, Mommy! Bermuda is going to dive for rings with me.”
Romy, shockingly comfortable in her mother role, quickly dries Kaitlyn off and applies more sunscreen. She gives her a quick kiss on the forehead before letting her run off again.
“Cute kid,” Koyn states. “Where are her real parents?”
“They’re gone,” Romy says sadly. “I’m all she’s got now.” She glances my way and I nod. “ We are all she’s got now.”
How do I feel about stepping from an uncle to a father role to Kaitlyn? It feels right. Especially since she calls Romy her mother. The need to protect Kaitlyn like my own daughter is overwhelming and undeniable.
“So this isn’t another LuLu situation?” Koyn asks, arching a scar-puckered eyebrow at me.
Romy whips her head toward me. “LuLu. I know that name.” Then, as if memories flood her, tears well in her eyes and she shoots me a horrified look. “I left her there. She’s at the facility!”
It takes a few minutes to explain what really happened to LuLu. I’d meant to tell her earlier while in bed after my confession, but the moment was heavy and I just needed to touch and kiss her. Words could wait.
“Is she safe at home with her parents?” Romy asks, swiping at another tear. “Can I talk to her?”
“I’m sure we can make that happen,” I assure her. “She’s safe enough.”
Koyn’s lips thin out. I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing. Until we get these snakes out of the grass where the innocent play, they’ll never truly be safe from their venom.
“The process of dismantling this global elite human trafficking operation is complicated,” Koyn explains as he toys with his cigarette pack. “It’s multi-layered and it’s going to require some help.”
“Most everyone is compromised from the local police all the way to the top government. Where will we get that kind of manpower?”
“I know other biker bastards from sea to shining sea who owe me favors. We’ll have the manpower,” Koyn assures me. “What we need is the element of surprise.”
I rub at my temple, doing my best to think how we’ll attain such a massive goal. There are so many people involved. So many. Most are picture-perfect according to the public eye, like that of our US president. Not everyone can simply be killed without repercussions. Once we light the match, it’ll spread like a wildfire. Either we figure out a way to contain it, or it’s going to consume us.
“First thing we need to do is figure out how to dismantle the Stem Lock shit,” I say with a groan. “I don’t know enough about it, but I hate that it has some unseen control over us.”
“It can be disrupted,” Romy says, leaning forward. “I swear the storms interrupted the feed somehow, which is how I was able to snap out of it.”
“Bermuda has a program running as we speak. He’ll find a way to hack into the software.” Koyn casts his gaze to a window where his woman stands, their baby on her hip. He flashes her a brief smile before turning his gaze back on me. “Give him three days tops.”
“I think I’ll have it cracked by tomorrow,” Bermuda calls out from the shallow end, clearly eavesdropping.
Luckily, Kaitlyn is too engrossed in playing to pay attention to the adults talking.
“Three days,” Romy mutters. She sits up straight and shoots me a panicked look. “Eva. Oh my God. I was so happy to get out of there, I completely forgot she was coming for me. I have to get in touch with her.”
Koyn nods. “We’ll track her down. Is she a friend?”
“Stepmom,” Romy says. “She’s divorcing my dad.”
“So she might have useful information to our operation?”
“She will. My real mom, too. Vivienne. Huxley got her pregnant while she was in his custody and doctoral care.”
“The plot thickens,” Koyn says, standing. “I’m going to get Halo on it.”
He stalks back into the house. I watch him kiss his wife and baby before they all disappear from the window. My chest aches at the sight. I’m going to make Romy my wife soon. We’re going to be a family, and no one will take that from us.
“Want to swim?” Romy asks, frown lines between her brows. “I’m getting hot.”
I pull off my T-shirt and follow my pregnant woman into the pool. Bermuda, once satisfied we’re going to entertain Kaitlyn, exits the pool, dries off, and heads inside.
“Throw me like Bermuda did,” Kaitlyn says, bobbing in the water beside us. “He can do it high and far.”
I’m not stacked with muscles on muscles like Bermuda—who I hear once played college football—but I can toss a little kid around easily enough. We spend the next half hour playing with Kaitlyn, forgetting all the drama that is our lives.
When Kaitlyn gets out to guzzle down two Capri Suns, I pull Romy into my arms and give her a chaste kiss on her pouty lips.
“We’re going to fix all this shit,” I vow, “and then we’re going to be happy like this all the time. The four of us.”
Sunshine barks nearby.
“You left someone out,” Romy teases.
“The dog too.” I smirk at her.
The dog takes off, barking fiercely. A sudden chill ripples down my spine.
“Get Kaitlyn in the house,” I command, pulling away from her and launching myself out of the pool.
I quickly towel off and throw on a shirt before following where Sunshine went. When I round the side of the house and the driveway comes into view, I take in the intense scene.
A man in a suit stands with his hands in the air. One of the bikers, Katana, holds a fucking sword up against the man’s throat. Dragon bounces from one foot to the next, poking at the man’s chest, demanding answers. Koyn exits the house, along with Bermuda and Filter, as I make my way over to the other men.
Green eyes meet mine and bore into me. “He’s my brother. Let me go, assholes.”
Theo.
How in the hell is Theo here?
I left no trails whatsoever.
Is it this stupid Stem Lock shit in my head? Can it be tracked? I’ve never wanted to cut my own flesh open and go digging around before, but I sure as hell want to now. I want this tech out of my body.
“We need to talk, Caius,” Theo says, a droplet of sweat running down his temple. “Call your dogs off.”
He thinks I have any control over these guys? He must not know too much about my situation.
“What do you want?” I say instead, crossing my arms over my chest. “How did you find me?”
Theo’s jaw muscle ticks with irritation that I haven’t immediately chosen his side. Tough fucking luck. I owe him nothing.
“Your laptop. I installed new software when you were… indisposed .” He gives me a pitying look. “You never removed it. But don’t worry, Dad doesn’t know where you’re at or that I’m here.”
Indisposed? They fucked my brain with their Stem Lock shit. Now I feel like a total idiot for jumping through so many hoops only to lead him right to us. And he’s lying to himself if he thinks Dad doesn’t track his every move.
“Kill him,” Romy says as she exits the house, thankfully without Kaitlyn in tow. “He deserves it after his betrayal.”
I’m blasted by memories of catching him kissing her, the argument in the hallway of her being my girlfriend, and then later learning he drugged her and took suggestive photos of them naked together.
“He does,” I agree.
Theo’s eyes widen in horror. He always was an expressive man.
“But,” I say quickly before Katana can behead him, “he has information we need. Information only he has access to.”
Romy moves to my side and takes my hand. “You were my friend and you tricked me. You took Kaitlyn from me and let Doc Junior bring me back to that horrible place.”
Theo’s eyebrows furl and a flash of guilt flickers in his eyes. It’s then he notices her belly. “Holy shit, babe, you’re pregnant?”
I crack my neck audibly, irrationally pissed at him calling her “babe.”
“You sent a pregnant woman to be tortured,” she accuses, voice quaking with emotion. “You deserve all the terrible things you have coming to you.”
Dragon glances over his shoulder and grins evilly at her. “How do you want him to die, lady? I’m a creative fucker. We could cook him alive in the bonfire.”
Katana doesn’t even grimace, clearly used to his psychotic friend’s antics. I cringe at the thought of what that would smell like.
“Nobody’s cooking him,” Koyn snaps, stalking over to my brother. “Yet. We’ll torture what we can out of him first.”
Theo gapes at Koyn. “Dude. You don’t have to torture me. Why the fuck do you think I’m here? I came to help take my father down.”
This intrigues me, but I don’t necessarily believe him.
“Liar,” Romy spits out. “All you do is lie, Theo. Ever since that night you kidnapped me. I hate you.”
He deflates at her vicious words that he no doubt earned. I feel a little bad for him. Despite everything, he’s my brother. They can’t kill him, at least until I feel like I get to the bottom of why he betrayed me so willingly.
“Let him help,” I tell Koyn. “If anything, we can use him as a connection to my father.”
Theo lifts his chin and defiantly says, “I’ll only speak to Caius. Alone. Without you freaks in the room.”
Dragon laughs as he pulls a tiny bottle of liquor from his pocket. He pours it into his mouth and then sprays it into my brother’s face. Theo curses, rubbing at his eyes. Then Dragon produces a Zippo lighter and flips it open to produce a flame.
“Make another demand, dipshit,” Dragon threatens. “Go on. I want to see you burn up close—to smell your skin as it fucking cooks.”
Theo, with bloodshot eyes, whimpers. “Dude, man, calm down. Don’t set me on fire. Please, man. Fuck!”
Dragon cackles as he brings the lighter within an inch from Theo’s alcohol-soaked cheek. “Will your eyeballs pop or melt? I’ve always wondered.”
“You’ll have to stay in suspense a bit longer, Dragon,” Koyn grunts. “We’re all going to sit in on this chat. I’d like his eyeballs intact in case we need them.”
Theo sends me a pleading look. I simply shrug.
He made his bed. Now he has to lie in it.