Chapter 24
twenty-four
Christian.
Leaving Scotlyn naked in my bed this morning was hard as fuck, just like my dick when I left the house, but necessary.
After the call I received stating Parker was trying to challenge the ownership Scotlyn recently acquired for the waterfront property, I needed to pull up and make sure he understood just how much I wasn't playing behind her.
The goal was a quick flight to New York to remind Parker I wasn't my father—a man who let threats alter his decision making—then meet up with Alex before I headed home.
I wanted Scotlyn, there was no doubt in my mind about that now, so I owed him the respect of making sure he knew she was good with me.
With what I knew of their father, I never would have extended that courtesy, but Alex was a good dude and he loved his sister.
After I landed, a car waited to drive me to the city. I walked into Parker Holdings, ignoring the receptionist who tried to stop me from heading back to his office, delivering her a look that forced her to mind her business.
When I reached his door, I didn't bother knocking and smirked when I found Parker in a meeting with three men seated around his conference table.
"Gentlemen, whatever you're discussing can wait. The meeting is over. Get the fuck out."
They looked at me, then Parker, confused. He narrowed his eyes and growled in my direction, "You can't just?—"
"Tell them to get out or I’ll expose your shit in front of them." I looked right at Parker whose jaw clenched before he stood, looking stiff as hell but making the right decision. "Please wait for me in the conference room next door. We will continue this meeting when I'm done."
The men stood and lifted the stacks of papers, giving us both curious glances before they left, closing the door behind them. As soon as they were gone, Parker rounded the conference table, glaring at me.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Reminding you not to fucking play with me. I told you to stay away from Scotlyn."
"And I told you I do what I want. I hope you're seriously not naive enough to think you can stop me."
I laughed arrogantly. "Before you stick your chest out, you might want to think about who I am."
He looked nervous as hell but tried hard to pretend he wasn't bothered. "Say what you mean, Christian. You're wasting my time. There's nothing you can say or do that will make me lose any sleep."
"My father taught me a lot of things. Some of it was bullshit but the one bit of advice he gave and was most right about is that a man's ego is more toxic than the purest narcotic and yours is about to fucking ruin you."
He frowned and I angled my head to the side.
"Let's talk about the twenty-year-old in Florida you have a two-year-old son with or how about the twenty-two-year-old in LA who has your three-year-old son and is currently carrying another of your seeds. Maybe it will be a girl this time. Y’all working on names yet?
" I stepped closer, noticing the way his entire expression dropped.
Yeah, muthafucker…
"I have more. You want me to run that shit down?”
"How did you?—"
"It doesn't fucking matter how, does it?
What matters is what I do with all of this.
Y'all let Aja drag my name, knowing the type of shit you were into.
I'm fucking disgusted that you're taking advantage of these women.
They're young as hell, and even if they willingly ended up in your bed, you were dead ass wrong and the shit ends now. You will pay them enough to take care of their children and maintain their lifestyles but the only contact you’ll have moving forward is to be a father to your kids.
They deserve that, even if you're the piece of shit father who helped create them.”
Parker’s eyes narrowed and his jaw locked tightly but he kept quiet.
"I'm guessing since you don't have shit to say we're clear on the fact that you're going to leave Scotlyn alone and stay the fuck away from those women. Or would you like to keep trying me and risk your wife finding out about what you've been doing on your so-called business trips?"
There wasn't a chance in hell Parker would play that game. His wife came from old money and was the reason why he had been selected as a member of The Collective. If she found out about his outside children and the life he had with them, she would ruin him, socially and financially.
"My wife stays out of this." His tone was clipped, which had me smiling arrogantly.
"That's what I thought. This is the only warning you’ll get. Keep fucking with mine and I’ll destroy yours. There is no gray area or compromise. I will blow your damn life up."
I turned to leave his office and paused at the door. "Wire the money to them by close of business today and stay the fuck away from those young ass girls other than to parent your children. If you choose not to listen, then the world finds out and I'm sure you know how that will end."
I walked out of his office and headed straight to the elevators, knowing he wasn't stupid enough to try me, but if he was, that would be the worst mistake he ever made.
While I waited for the elevator, I called Alex's office and requested a meeting with him, setting the plans with his assistant.
Before I could wrap my mind around how that would go, the doors opened and I froze.
Parker's youngest brother Kevren was the first person I noticed before my eyes narrowed on the woman he was kissing because I knew good and gotdamn well she wasn't trying me like this…
"Jona, what the fuck are you doing here?"
Her eyes got big as hell and she tensed.
I was the last person she expected to see but she damn sure wasn't on my agenda for today either. I knew something was going on with her. Cress even hinted at Jona dating someone she was hiding from us but I damn sure hadn’t expected it to be Kevren Parker. How the hell had I missed this?
Kevren moved off the elevator first and she followed. He stepped in front of my gotdamn sister like he could shield her from me or he needed to shield her from me and that pissed me off.
"Baby girl, I assume from the way he had his tongue down your throat that you care about him. Tell this muthafucker to move now or I promise you'll be wearing black at his funeral real fucking soon."
Her eyes were on me but mine never left his, not even when she did what I asked. "Kevren, can you give us a minute?"
"Nah, I'm good…"
"Kevren, leave, please." She shut that down quickly and I appreciated that she knew how serious this was, even if she was stupid enough to be caught up with him in the first place.
He hesitated for a minute, looking to his side when she moved around him, then at me, grilling me hard. He was smart enough not to try his luck by staying but the slick ass muthafucker kissed her temple before he walked away.
"How long?" I looked at Jona and kept my voice calm but could have easily snatched her ass up and dragged her out of this building.
"Can I explain…"
"Nah, you can't do shit right now but answer my fucking question. How long?"
She lifted her chin defiantly. "A few months."
"So this is why you been dodging me and Cress, avoiding calls and not hanging around?"
"It's not like that…"
"It's exactly like that. What the fuck do you think you're doing, Jona? You don't have a damn clue what this family is involved in."
"Don't I? It's the same thing you're involved in."
I laughed, shaking my head. arrogantly "We're very different, baby girl. I toe the line with a lot of things, but Kevren and his family don't have a gotdamn line. They don't care who they hurt or how they get their money."
"His brother maybe, but Kevren is different."
"Jona, you don't know shit about his world."
"I know enough. This is not the thing with Elias. Maybe I didn't know back then, but I do now."
"You don't have a damn clue what the hell you're talking about."
"Yeah I do, but even if you don't believe that, I'm grown, Christian. I love you but you really can't tell me what to do."
As much as I hated that, she was right and what I hated even more was that some lessons had to be learned from experience.
Kevren might be different but I highly doubted he was, and regardless, if a side had to be chosen, he would pick his family over mine, which meant Jona would be stuck in the middle.
She was old enough to make her own decisions, even if they were ones that would end up causing her heartache. The realization landed in a way I wasn't comfortable with.
"You're right. You're grown, and if this is what you want, I really can't do shit about it."
She looked relieved but I wasn't done. "But please understand if this ends badly and he hurts you in anyway, any fucking way, Jona, I'm killing everybody he loves and that will be on your conscience.
If you choose him, I pray you can handle that.
Because when the bodies drop, I will sleep just fine, without a care in the world, but can you? "
For a brief second, she looked like she wanted to run, but true to the Devereaux blood in her veins, she rolled her shoulders back and schooled her expression.
"Yeah, I can."
Her tone wasn’t steady or certain but she kept her eyes on mine until I nodded and she walked away, leaving me with a horrible feeling I couldn't do a damn thing about.
That conversation changed so many things between us, but she was still my sister, and I would burn down the world for her.
I just hoped she could live with the consequences of her actions if it came down to that.
I walked into the Meridian and found Alex sitting at a table in the back that gave a clear view of the entire place. I smirked because it was the exact spot I would have selected. He looked up when I reached the table but didn't move.
"I hope this won't take long."
“It won't; I have a flight to catch."