Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Levi
When we get to Lake Renegade, we head straight to the Cimaruta MC clubhouse.
Under the clubhouse, there is a basement.
It’s not your ‘normal’ basement, there are several rooms down here.
I’ve seen a few of them, and they look like interrogation rooms. Some of the rooms have shackles attached to the walls.
I asked about those, and I was told that sometimes shifters can get violent, so that’s what those are for.
“We’ve separated all of them. Who do you want to talk to first?” Enea asks my sisters and me.
“Let’s start with our father, I don’t know if I can deal with that bitch yet,” Leighton answers.
Lynton and I nod in agreement.
“Okay. You won’t be in there alone. Ares, Celestino and Sebastiano will be in the room with you. Galen and Noah will be out here. Giacomo and I will be talking to the pilot, then the attendant,” Enea says.
We all say okay and watch them go into one of the rooms. Ares leads us to another room. I take a deep breath and follow my sisters into the room. Our father looks up and just stares at us. I don’t see any love in his eyes.
“What the fuck do you want? None of you have any right to keep me here!” he yells at us.
“We just want to know why you came after us,” I say as I look him in the eyes.
“Why does it matter? Either your new friends are going to kill us or turn us in. So why would I tell you a fucking thing?”
“If you’re going to die, why not just tell us?” Lynton asks.
“Fine. You want to know why we took the little shit? It was because she was the easiest to take. And we need money. The cartel is after us and we saw a notice in the paper about you and your criminal boyfriend. So we knew you had money. And you all owe us,” he says as he looks at Leighton.
I laugh. “We owe you nothing, you piece of shit.”
“The fuck you don’t. You three owe us everything. We raised you and kept you alive. You wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for us.”
“The only thing you can claim on us is the fact that you gave us life. After that? We raised ourselves. We made sure we got up for school. You two were too fucked up every day to even notice what was going on. We had teachers and neighbors who helped us get food and took us to school,” Lynton says to him.
“If we were so horrible, why didn’t social services take you away from us?” he laughs.
“Because we asked the people who helped us not to let that happen. We knew even back then that they would separate us. And we begged them to help us. Not you. Us,” Leighton tells him.
“You’re all fucking delusional. We’re the ones who took care of you. It’s because of your mother and me that you’re alive.”
We can see our father’s visibly starting to shake. I’m guessing he needs whatever drugs he’s been taking. I hope his withdrawal is painful as fuck.
“I hope you rot in hell,” Leighton says as she walks out.
“You can at least get that criminal family to help us.”
Sebastiano laughs.
“What the fuck are you laughing at? You’re all criminals, just like me. The only difference is, I admit it.”
“Fine. We’re criminals. But we also know how to take care of our family.” Sebastiano stares at him.
“You want me to take care of my family? Fine. Give me a phone and I’ll make sure my kids have a good, loving home with the cartel. They’ll let us off the hook for the twins.”
I lunge across the table and wrap my hands around my father’s scrawny neck.
“You’ll never touch either of them again. I promise you that,” I snarl at him.
He starts clawing at my hands and arms, but now that I’m bigger than him, there’s no way for him to get free of me. I feel a hand on my shoulder.
“You don’t want this on you. Let him go and let us handle him,” Celestino says in my ear.
“No. He’s mine. He did so much to my sisters and me.”
“I know he did. But trust me when I say this isn’t something you want on you.”
“Celestino’s right. Let us deal with him and know that we got your back. No matter what. He’ll never hurt any of you ever again,” Ares says softly.
I slowly release my hold on my father. Our Lake Renegade family would never let anyone hurt us. I know that deep in my soul. I watch my father gasp for air as the color starts to return to his face.
“You’re a coward,” my father sputters at me.
I take a step towards him, but Ares gets in his face.
“You might want to quit while you’re ahead. Especially if you don’t want to die right now.”
“You won’t kill me. You’re all under Enea Mancini’s fat fingers. He’s not just going to let you kill me.”
“Want to bet?” Sebastiano smirks. “Do you even know who we are?”
“I know you’re all his puppets.”
Now I know my father’s crazy. He’s all over the place with what he’s saying.
And I don’t even think he knows what he’s saying.
It’s time to talk to our mother. I need this closure and then I plan to never think of them again.
Noah and Galen come into the room so that Ares, Celestino and Sebastiano can go with us to talk to our mother.
As we’re leaving the room, my father falls to the floor.
“He’s not dead. Just passed out.” Noah shakes his head.
“Bummer.” I sigh as I walk out the door.
We walk four doors down and I look at my sisters.
Facing our mother feels harder than our father.
You always hear the saying ‘Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.’ I’ve never felt any love from my mother.
Or my father. Only my sisters, and now our Lake Renegade family.
And even when Felicity’s brothers are glaring at me, I feel like they’re more family than my own parents.
“Ready?” Lynton asks.
Leighton and I nod, we take each others’ hands and walk into the room. Our mother looks up at us and if looks could kill? All three of us would be dead. I can almost see the hate rolling off her. How can a mother hate her own children so much?
“What the fuck do you want?”
“We just want to know why you did this,” Leighton says to her.
“Because you’re all a pain in my ass and I wish you were never born.”
My stomach drops as we listen to her. I wanted to hear her say that she’s sorry for shooting me. For taking my woman and for everything she’s ever done to us. But what we got was the complete opposite.
“You’re a fucking monster and after today, I’ll never think of you again. The only thing I can say is thank you for giving me life. Because now? Now, I have a wonderful life. One that you’ll never be a part of,” Leighton says, then she walks out the door.
“As for me? I don’t share the same gratitude to you for birthing me. So fuck you, and I hope you have a miserable rest of your life,” Lynton says as she walks out.
Now I’m left standing there looking at the woman who should love me.
“I just want to know why you did it.”
“Because you and your sisters are worth money to the people we owe money to. And your little girlfriend was a part of the deal. So just because you have us here, doesn’t mean you’ve won. They still think you’re their payment.” She laughs.
“I’m not worried about that. You might think that’s how this works, but it’s not. I don’t know who you owe, but I can promise you, whoever it is won’t cross my family.”
“What family? Your dad and I are your only family.”
“You stopped being my family the day I turned eighteen. And even before then, Leighton and Lynton were my family. You and Tyler were never really family to us.”
I see a flash of emotion cross her face. Good. I hope that some part of her feels something and that feeling is pain. Because that’s what she did to us for as long as I can remember. I don’t have even one memory of her hugging me or telling me she loved me.
“Oh, and you should tell Leighton to keep an eye on that brat Davis. One day he might not be there.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I snap at her.
Marcia smiles at me. “You’ll find out, probably sooner than later, but you’ll definitely find out.”
I spend the next thirty minutes trying to get her to tell me what the fuck she’s talking about.
But she won’t tell me. And I finally have to give up.
The only answers I’ve gotten is that she hates us and they were selling us and Felicity to the cartel.
She won’t say which cartel, but I know the guys are already trying to figure it out.
I turn and look at Marcia before I leave.
“I feel sad for you. I wish you knew how much we just wanted you to love us when we were little. We didn’t need anything else.
No fancy clothes or house. Just your love.
Just a hug and kiss. That’s it. I don’t wish anything bad on you.
Because I know that one day you’ll realize what you lost. So I hope the rest of your life is what you deserve. ”
Marcia stares at me with no emotion in her face. I turn and open the door, Felicity is waiting for me on the other side. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. She’s all I need.