Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
CHRISTIAN
“How long does it take to see what’s going on?” Maximus asks behind me as we hide in the car down the road from Mitchell’s place, waiting for Sean to return from looking around.
“As long as it takes to get all the information we need,” I sigh, looking at the house across the street. Placing my elbow on the car door, I lean against it, glad the headache is slowly easing. I’m going to be feeling like shit for days, though. I swear, the older I get, the longer the hangovers last.
We’ve been in this car for three hours waiting to see if Mitchell was coming home. He finally arrived fifteen minutes ago with another male I don’t recognise. The two of them entered the house and have been there since. I sent Sean to look around as he is the best man for the job. He can hear through any wall or window and has a much better memory for layouts than Maximus. Jason and I are too beat up to be sneaking around, plus neither of us wants to be seen looking like this.
When we were talking this morning before the others joined us for breakfast, we decided to keep a low profile for a few days until some of the bruising goes away. Or until it fades enough for us to cover it with some sort of makeup. It's not ideal, but people know we weren’t badly hurt after last night's brawl. They will all start talking if they see the two of us now. The last thing we need is for people to realise there’s tension between us. They will try to divide us further. Not that they can do as much damage as it seems I have done all on my own.
“Here he is,” Jason mutters.
Sitting up, I see Sean walking towards us out of the windscreen. His hands are shoved in his jeans pocket, his head down as he hides his face under his baseball cap.
“He looks like a fucking drug dealer,” Maximus teases as Sean opens the back door and slides in. He removes his hat and runs his fingers through his hair.
“What did you see?” I ask, looking at Sean through the rearview mirror.
“The other guy is one of Mitchell’s dealers. He’s come to pick up some stash. I heard them arguing about missing stock, and then Mitchell forced the guy to give him head. The guy got onto his knees, and I think you can guess where it went from there.”
“Fucking joy,” Jason sighs, rolling his eyes. “I’ve heard a few times that Mitchell is known for using the guys who deal for him.”
“Well, when you look like Kermit the Frog on crack, you ain’t going to get people lining up to suck your little cock are you,” Maximus groans, turning up one side of his lips. I burst out laughing, no longer able to see the bastard Mitchell as anything other than Kermit the fucking Frog. “So, what’s the plan?” Maximus asks.
I look out the window into the darkening sky and check my watch.
“We wait for the guy to leave, give it fifteen minutes, then go in,” I answer, looking at Jason, who nods in agreement.
“Sounds like the best plan.”
“Can someone check on Jasmine? She was putting on a front earlier after her panic attack. This has upset her more than she would admit in front of me.” I can’t get the sight of her gasping for breath out of my head. I’ve seen her struggle before or have a panic attack, but I have never caused it, and that made this one a lot harder to deal with. I always swore I would never hurt that girl; she is everything to me, and I honestly thought I was dealing with all this shit on my own was best for her. I was wrong.
“I’ve just checked the cameras; she’s in your bed,” Jason replies. “I‘d leave off messaging in case we wake her.”
“How did she sleep?” I ask Maximus, who shrugs.
“She tossed and turned all night. I’m not sure how much rest she got.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath to try and calm myself.
“I fucked up.” I don’t know if I mean to say the words out loud, but getting them out of my head into the open doesn’t help the guilt as I had wished it would.
“No shit.”
“Maximus,” Sean warns. As always, he’s the peacekeeper between the two of us.
“What? He did, in more ways than one! I’m not going to pussy foot around that!” The tone in Maximus’s voice confirms how pissed off he is. When I look at him in the rearview mirror, the anger is there at the forefront. But there is also pain, and I know I put that there, too.
“What did you think was going to happen? Did you really think none of us would find out what was going on?” Jason asks next to me.
“Well, you hadn’t yet, so I thought I might have a bit longer,” I shrug, knowing how blasé that sounds. But it’s true. I’ve been waiting for one of them to hear about the hit, but there’s been nothing. I’m surprised by how long it's taken one of them to find out.
“I knew something was going on, especially when you started finding reasons to deal with everything alone, but I would have never guessed this,” Sean sighs. “There again, I never thought you would be as careless as you have been with Jasmine's safety.”
“I was protecting Jasmine,” I snap.
“No, Christian, you weren’t,” Sean answers firmly. “If you had been, you would have made sure we were all aware of what was happening. You have put her in danger every time you have been in the same building as her.”
“Terry has been aware of it all from the start and put extra security in place. No one would have gotten near the house or her without someone knowing.”
“But we wouldn’t have known.” Jason looks at me, and I see the hurt in his eyes. “We wouldn’t have known to be weary and what we were looking out for. What if they tried to get to you through us and Jaz? We haven’t been on guard like we should have been.”
I rub my face, knowing that he’s right.
“I know, okay. I know I fucked up, and I’m sorry.” I turn in my seat so that I can see my three brothers. “All I have tried to do is keep you as safe as possible. Let’s face it Tommy didn’t give a shit; if he had, he wouldn’t have dragged us into this mess. Without Mum to protect us from his crap, I had no choice but to step up.”
“We know that, and we are grateful for all you have done for us,” Sean starts, but I shake my head.
“I don’t want you to be grateful; I want you all to be safe!” I’m feeling overwhelmed with it all again, and it shows as my voice gets louder. I take a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. I look at Jason, who has been by my side for as long as I can remember. “Which means, at times, I have hidden things from you, keeping you out of the loop and protecting you in any way I can.
“Do you really think this is the first time someone has put a price on my head? After all the shit I’ve pulled over the years, do you believe that I haven’t pissed off the wrong person a few times? Because I have, and I have kept you out of it so that you are safe.”
“For fuck’s sake, Christian. How many times have I told you over the years not to hide shit from us!” Jason curses, looking away in anger. “You aren’t the only one Tommy threw to the wolves. I know you were the first to kill, but it was me who had the gun held to his head that night. You think I wasn’t with you every step of the way? Because I was! You aren’t the only person who Jaz’s dad’s death has haunted. He died, so I didn’t; you don’t think I feel guilty about that because I fucking do. Even more so now we know who he was to Jaz and how it affected her.” He takes a deep breath and runs his hand over his face.
“This shit needs to stop, Christian. You need to stop trying to protect us and let us work with you. We only discussed it this morning.”
“You are asking me to go against every instinct I have. You are telling me to ignore my gut, the one thing that has kept us alive for this long. I know it needs to change, but it’s hard.”
“What about when we have kids? Will you continue to pull this shit?” I turn to look at Maximus, who is red in the face. “You keep going on about wanting Shorty pregnant as soon as possible. You know we all want that, but how can we bring a child into this mess? How can we trust you to be the father we know you can be if you don’t keep us in the fucking loop!” He slumps back into his seat and closes his eyes. “I want nothing more than to get married and live our lives with our girl and any children that come along. But right now, I worry that we are putting her in danger just by living with her.” When he opens his eyes, he looks deep into mine; for a moment, I think I see tears.
“I love you, Christian. You have been the only father figure I needed. But-” Maximus takes a deep breath, obviously to calm himself before he continues. “But, if I have to choose between you or Shorty, she will win every time. I will protect her over you, even if that means taking her as far away from you as possible. I will not let her get hurt again, not because of who we are. I will not lose her.”
“I think it’s safe to say we all feel like that,” Jason sighs as I look at him. “We are a team, the four of us. We always have been, but if I had a choice, I would walk away from our lives and never look back. I want nothing more than to pack Jazzy up and take her as far away from this mess as possible. Because losing her isn’t an option, not anymore.”
“I would never ask you to choose me over her,” I point out, looking at each of them. “She is my world and protecting her is my priority. If it ever becomes a choice of saving her or me, then I want you to grab her and run as far away from me as possible. I want you to give her the life she deserves.”
“Yeah, well, hopefully, it will never come to that because, like I said, we are a team, and Jazzy losing a husband isn’t something she will survive.” Jason sits back in his seat and looks out of the window. “There's movement.”
We all turn our attention to the house across the road and see the guy walking out of the house, Mitchell, standing at the door in a dressing gown.
“Take it he had more than a blow job,” Maximus mutters under his breath. I hate people who use their authority over others to get sexual favours out of them. It’s just another form of rape in my eyes.
“Fuck waiting fifteen minutes; I say storm the place now,” Maximus announces behind me. Anxious to get in there and end this shit as much as I am.
“Then let’s get this shit done and go home,” I answer, looking to Jason, who nods in confirmation.
We all get out of the car and give each other a quick nod for encouragement before heading off to our chosen places. Maximus and I head for the front door, Jason and Sean at the back. We have checked everywhere, and there are no other exits other than the windows.
I wait momentarily, giving the others a chance to get into position, as I pull on my leather gloves before knocking on the door.
“I never get why you attempt to be civil. Why don’t you just kick the door down?” Maximus whispers beside me.
“Because this way doesn’t cause anyone to be suspicious of us hanging around.” I look around to check to see if there is anyone walking a dog or driving past, but luckily, the streets are quiet.
I knock again, this time a little louder, to ensure that he will hear me. Checking the windows at the front of the house, I try to work out which room he might be in and if he has seen us. My curiosity is answered when I hear the door being opened.
Mitchell is standing at the door, flicking through some money in his hand, not looking up at us.
“I hope you have change 'cause I don’t,” he mutters, moving some notes into one hand and holding it out in front of him. He finally lifts his head and sees me looking down at him.
“Afternoon, Mitchell.”
“Fuck!” he tries to slam the door in my face as he turns on the spot and attempts to run. But fails and trips over his own feet, causing him to face-plant on the hard-tiled floor in his hallway.
I don’t say anything as I sigh whilst stepping into the house. Maximus closes the door behind us and drags Mitchell to his feet as he tries to escape.
“Whatever you think I have, I don’t!”
“I think you know exactly why I’m here.” I nod towards the door I know is Mitchell's office, and Maximus drags him in there. I walk to the back door and open it for Jason and Sean. We walk into the office together to find Mitchell sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with Maximus standing over him.
“I hear you don’t like me very much,” I say, pulling up a chair and sitting with my eyes firmly on the piece of shit in front of me.
“I never hid that fact,” Mitchell answers, trying to look in control. “In fact, I think I’ve told you exactly how I feel about you to your face on more than one occasion.”
“You have, and I’ve always admired your balls for doing so,” I nod in agreement. “However,” I continue. “I don’t admire the hit you took out on me. I’ll admit I was surprised. I figured you weren’t much of a coward, but I have been known to be wrong occasionally.”
I don't know how I’m keeping my cool right now. My brothers are right. Whoever has taken a hit out on me is at the same time putting our girl at risk. That is something I will never let stand.
“Prove it.”
Well, he’s not denying it straight out. Turning my attention to Sean, I nod to Mitchell’s desk. He takes the hint and moves to the computer to start going through it for any proof he might be able to find.
“I have plenty of reasons to believe it was you. The biggest was only last night; I beat someone who confirmed that my suspicions were correct, that you have put a fairly pricey sum on my head.”
“Who the fuck talked? … I mean, they’re lying.”
A typical dealer who uses his own stuff can’t keep the truth from falling from his vile mouth.
“I think you’ve just given me all the confirmation I needed, don’t you?”
Mitchell snarls at me before noticing the sounds coming from his desk.
“Get the fuck away from my laptop O’Reilly, that's fucking personal!” he goes to jump to his feet, but Maximus is there, placing a hand on his shoulder and shoving him back down. Mitchell looks at him and snarls. “Don’t you ever get sick of being his lackey?”
“Do you ever get sick of being a fucking piece of shit?” Maximus retaliates.
“I’m not!”
“And I’m not his lackey; I just enjoy causing others pain.” Mitchell looks Maximus up and down, and I don’t miss the way he swallows deeply. Maximus smirks as he sees it, too. “Don’t worry, Christian has put me under strict orders not to hurt you too badly … yet.” he grabs Mitchell’s arm with no warning and pulls it until it pops from its socket. The scream that leaves Mitchell hurts my ears, but I force myself to keep a straight face.
“Found something.”
We all turn to see Sean looking at Mitchell’s computer screen. Jason looks at me, and I nod, telling him to check it out.
“You’ve found fuck all; there's no way you could hack into my protected space that quickly,” Mitchell moans through the pain from his shoulder.
“It’s easy, considering your password is written on a piece of paper pinned to the board beside it,” Sean answers, shaking his head. He moves out of the way and starts pointing things out to Jason.
“It’s all here, not only the contract but a list of properties we own and what’s happened to them, as well as plans for others.”
I look at the piece of shit with a raised brow, but he just stares at me.
“There's also a schedule for each of us; someone’s been following us and …” I don’t miss the way his voice trails off. When I look back, I can see the rage taking over. “You need to see this.”
Knowing it takes a lot to rattle Jason's cage, I get to my feet and stand beside my brother, who is pointing to the screen.
Everything is there. Where we go, eat, sleep, what will get us to change our plans and what we will never change them for. But when I look to where Jason is pointing, my blood starts to boil. Jasmine's name and a list of nicknames we call her.
Clicking on a link, I realise it brings up her class schedule and her appointments for the wedding, therapy sessions and who will take her; my heart drops when I see the following list: the times she's home alone.
Pulling my phone out of my trousers, I dial his number on instinct.
“Yeah?” Terry’s voice comes through thick and heavy.
“I know you are meant to be resting, but the cat’s out of the bag. Everyone knows, and I have who took out the contract. I want someone with Jasmine, now. Find out if she is still in my room and place someone outside. Whatever room she is in, someone stands guard outside, and I want people on foot checking all entrance points. But I don’t want anyone to know why.”
“Where are you?” Terry asks as I hear him moving around, no doubt to give the orders to others.
“We will be home in an hour. I have something to take care of first.” I don’t wait for him to answer before ending the call. I trust him to do as he’s been ordered and know he will ask questions when I get home.
“I want that contract down and bring his laptop and any other devices you can find in the house.”
“There's information here he shouldn’t have been able to get hold of,” Jason whispers as we both turn to see Mitchell sweating in his chair.
“I know, and it only means one thing,” I answer, looking at the screen as Sean does his thing. “We have a mole in our team.”