Chapter 41
JACK
“You know, for someone who hates kids, you sure make being a mummy look hot.” I slide my body up behind her as she finishes changing our little boy’s nappy on the changing unit.
“I never said I hated kids!” she snarls at me, lifting him up and placing him over her shoulder.
“Those were your exact words.” I laugh, wishing I didn’t have to pop our perfect little bubble and leave the house. It’ll be the first time I’ve been away from her in months, and the first time I’ve ever been away from him.
“Well, I like this one.” She raises our little man up and rubs his nose with hers.
“How long will your meeting take?” She has a suspicious look in her eyes as she takes a seat on the sofa.
“Don’t look at me like that. I told you it’s important I close this deal.”
“Am I really supposed to believe that, when last time you left us you murdered a man?” she reminds me, dutifully taking out her breast when Benjamin starts to moan.
“You know, if you feed him every time he whinges, you won’t be able to carry him.
” I smile, taking a seat beside them and watching him latch on hungrily.
Dr. Stratton said he was a good weight, and I have to agree, nine pounds two is impressive.
I just hope it hasn’t put Gracie off having any more, because I have plans for our future, and it entails her delivering many more of my babies.
“You're just jealous that he gets all the good stuff these days.” She smiles up at me and kisses my lips.
“I’m sure you’ll save some for me,” I whisper against her mouth, pulling away before I change my mind about leaving.
“Are you sure you're going to be okay here by yourself? I could call Olivia or Bea. Or how about one of the girls?” I suggest, knowing she must miss them. I’ve decided I’m going to offer each of them enough money to get themselves started in whatever they want to do.
Gracie’s been so preoccupied with the baby that she hasn’t had a chance to see them yet, and I don’t know what she’s going to tell them about Jonah when she does.
“I’ll be fine. I was quite independent before you crashed into my life and made me all needy.” She laughs sarcastically.
“Gracie, you're not needy. You’re the most capable person I know. You just permit me the honour of taking care of you.” I kiss her temple, feeling so fucking grateful that she does.
“What are you doing now?” she asks when I straighten back up, take out my phone, and capture the moment of her feeding our son.
“Just one for the collection.” I look at the picture proudly.
“You must have hundreds of them, and he’s only a week old.” The sound of her laughter makes my chest feel warm. “Daddy’s obsessed,” she tells Benjamin, cupping his tiny head in her hand.
“And the sooner Daddy leaves, the sooner he can get back.” I reach down and kiss him goodbye, too.
“Don’t be too long, we’re going to miss you,” she tells me, looking serious and sexy as hell.
“You sure you don’t want me to call a guard?” I check; ever since she found out the truth about Jonah, there's been no need for me to have men here. “I can have a man here in under twenty minutes.”
“Jack, we’re going to be fine. We don’t need men on the door anymore. We’re all safe and can live a normal life.” She smiles contentedly.
“I’ll disagree on the normal part, but you’re right about being safe,” I assure her. Staring at her in awe a little more.
“Jack, you're leaving,” she reminds me.
“Shit.” I shake myself out of my trance. “I am, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I drag myself away from them and head to the door.
“Don’t kill anyone,” she calls after me, sarcastically. I remain silent and make her no promises.
“It’s been a while since I did anything like this.” Alex jumps in the front seat of my car when I pull up at his shipping yard.
“I didn’t think you’d want me having all the fun without you.” I wait for him to buckle up before driving on.
“You sure the old fucker’s there?” Alex checks, glancing at the Sat Nav on my dashboard.
“Your sister told the girls to call as soon as he arrived. I sent Steve there to make sure he doesn’t leave,” I assure him before giving him one more chance to back out. “Listen, Alex, you don’t have to do this with me. It’s my family that created this mess. It’s me who wants to close shit down.”
“I get that, but what will you do when it’s done?” he asks.
“I retire and focus on knocking my wife up, some more,” I answer honestly.
“Addictive, isn’t it?” Alex laughs.
“I don’t expect you to get involved in what I’m doing her–”
“Jack, I want in,” he interrupts me. “These men deserve way more than prison. I have a daughter of my own now; I see it as my duty. Let’s rid our society of these sick predators.
” He picks up the list I have of all the men who were my father's exclusive club members from the dashboard and glances over it again.
“There are some big fucking names on here; we need to be careful in how we go about this.”
“We know how to be smart, Alex, and I have a team we can trust to help us,” I assure him. Both of us have too much to lose to be sloppy.
“We’ll take our time, enjoy it.” There's a spark in his eye that tells me Alex Stanley will never retire from being bad.
“I take it you gave the girls the rest of the day off?” Alex checks, grabbing the holdall that's on the back seat after I’ve pulled up outside The Residence.
“It’s just us, and our guest,” I answer, nodding to Steve, who's manning the door.
“Where is he?” Alex asks, looking like a coiled-up spring; it really must have been a while since he let loose.
“Room five, bagged and gagged,” Steve assures me, with a grin on his face.
“Have the boys ready to clean up; this one's going to be messy,” I warn him, as I head through the empty club towards room five.
I open the door and enter, followed by Alex, who calmly places the holdall he’s carrying on the bed and cracks his knuckles.
We share the same dark look when we see the man in the centre of the room, perfectly placed on the podium, under a red light, where the girls can do private dances, tied to a chair with a sack covering his head.
“Who’s that? Who’s there?” He starts to struggle. “I don’t know what sick joke this is, but I want to talk to management.”
Alex sniggers as the panic in his voice gets more obvious.
“Do you know who I am?” he calls out as I step forward and drag the sack off his head.
“We know exactly who you are, Lord Linchford.” I smile at him, the last smile he’ll ever see, before slamming my fist hard into his face.