Lakelyn Chapter 10 #2
“We were about to watch a movie and discovered there was no popcorn. River said Cobra didn’t have any.
I recalled seeing some in the pantry off the main kitchen.
I thought it would be okay to run over and grab some.
I didn’t come into this room. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.
It was supposed to be an in-and-out snack run.
And it would’ve been if your voices hadn’t gotten loud, and I heard what I did. ”
“What did you hear?” Brutus asked.
“You’re working with the fucking Jacquot family. You’re partners or employees, whatever you call them, of Hugo, Jean-Baptiste, and the rest. Don’t act like you don’t know who we are. I heard the talk about a shipment. I know you were talking about us,” I snapped.
Most of them looked at each other but kept their faces bland.
More tension entered Tyrant’s body. His arms tightened slightly around me.
I kept going. Now that the cork had been removed.
I planned to reveal all and tell them what I thought of them.
I’d spit in their faces when the Jacquots came for us.
“I ran back to the house, told River what I heard, and he agreed we should leave. We gathered what we could, and we got out of there. Our mistake was that we should’ve headed straight out of Nebraska the second we could, instead of trying to plan.
I saw you have people who’ll help you. I recall seeing Dunk before, but I had no idea he snitched to you.
There you have it. How long do we have?”
“Have for what?” Cobra asked.
“Before Jean-Baptiste comes through that door,” I stated.
“Why do you assume our talk about a shipment pertains to you? Why would the Jacquots want you two?” Tyrant asked next to my ear. His warm breath made me want to shiver, but I fought it.
“Because you always pay the debt to them, even if it was never yours. Those left pay,” River snapped.
“What debt are you paying?” Charmer asked softly.
“Do you really want us to tell you? Surely, they explained when they offered you the reward.” I scoffed.
“When will you accept that we have no idea what the hell you’re talking about? The shipment had nothing to do with you. It was about one of our businesses. Why didn’t you wait and find out for sure?” Tyrant growled.
I turned to glance over my shoulder at him.
“We didn’t because even if you didn’t know about us, you would.
And anyone working with those motherfuckers, we want nothing to do with.
You’re soulless if you do. I knew you weren’t law-abiding people, but associating with those people I can’t overlook or accept,” I hissed.
His body barely jerked, but I scored a hit.
“Tell us why they want you and would pay to find you?” Cobra demanded.
I was kept from telling them by River. “I’ll tell them, sis. The Jacquots expect a repayment of a debt that isn’t ours. We’re not willing to pay it. No one cheats them or interrupts one of their lessons. We dared to do it.”
“Our dad wasn’t the best role model for us.
He often tried to find ways to make a quick buck.
If he could get away with not working for it, he would.
Despite that, he was our dad, and we loved him.
Our mom was the one who kept Dad on an even keel and out of most trouble.
He loved her and would do what she asked.
So, while he did minor shady things, he never did anything too terrible.
She died in a car accident when I was fifteen, and River was five.
That changed things.” I stopped to swallow.
“What my sister isn’t saying is she picked up where Mom left off.
She became our dad’s moral compass. Not only did she do that, but she also took over raising me while she was going to school, working, and managing the household.
She became my mother and his housekeeper, my nanny, and my guiding voice.
It was a lot to put on a grieving teenager, but she did it.
And she kept doing it until she finally had enough three years ago.
She wanted to live her life, and living with Dad didn’t allow either of them to do it.
We hoped he might meet someone. He still had years ahead of him,” River added.
“Except it didn’t happen,” Cardiac guessed.
“It didn’t, although we thought he had learned to stay on the right path, or at least a lesser gray one.
Dad found a job, and everything he told us about it indicated it was a good one.
He was making decent money. He appeared happy.
He went out on dates, although not with anyone exclusively.
We were happy. When she moved out, Lakelyn knew Dad couldn’t provide oversight for me, so she took me with her.
I was delighted to go. She was my mom in every way that counted.
We had a fantastic routine down, and we were satisfied, too.
“She had a job she loved, and I was ahead in school. I graduated early and was eager to start college. At least he never fucked it up enough to prevent her from going to college, even though she had to get loans for what her scholarships and grants didn’t cover.
Anyway, it all looked pretty perfect in our eyes. We should’ve known it wasn’t.”
River paused to swallow. Drax set down a bottle of water in front of him. Even the prospects were in on this. As my brother took a big drink, I took over. I gave Knife a chin lift for the bottle he handed me.
“We thought it was all great until three months ago. That’s when everything fell apart.
Dad showed up at our place in a panic. I’d never seen him like that.
He was rambling about how he fucked up and would be killed and that he had to run, and we should, too.
It took a while to calm him enough to get the story out of him.
It seems that the job his employers hired him for was technically illegal.
He wasn’t out killing people or anything, but the accounting he did for them was on illegally gained money. ”
“He was laundering it for them through legit businesses,” Smuggler guessed.
“Bingo. Dad was always good with numbers. Like scarily good. I’m the same way.
Anyway, it seemed that among their various legitimate and illegal businesses, they had added a very lucrative illegal one a couple of years ago.
His boss had acquired plates that were so good they could make counterfeit money that fooled practically everyone.
They were smart, and Dad found ways to wash and distribute it across the country and even the world.
They were overjoyed. He was trusted and vital to them. ”
When I paused this time, Tyrant asked, “What did he do to destroy that?”
“He got greedy, the stupid asshole. He took some of the money. Since he did their books, he thought he was too smart at skimming that they’d never notice.
It went on for over a year. They didn’t completely trust anyone who wasn’t family, so they had someone else review the books without Dad’s knowledge.
That person caught on that he’d been stealing.
They brought him in, confronted him, and when he denied it, they showed their proof.
He was given a week to return the money.
If he didn’t, we’d all pay the price,” River told them.
This revelation caused the men to burst out swearing and muttering.
When Tyrant raised his hand, they fell quiet.
We’d seen other displays of his power over them.
It was frightening yet exhilarating to me.
A tiny shiver ran through me. He must’ve felt it because he brought me back to lean against his chest and rubbed my arms as if to ward off the cold.
I had news. I wasn’t cold. I was burning up.
I jerked when his mouth grazed my ear, and he whispered, “Tell us what happened. Finish it, Lakelyn.”
His words made me spill the rest. I talked so fast. I almost couldn’t breathe.
“He didn’t have all the money to pay it back.
He’d been hiding some of it, but the rest, he got the stupid idea that to prepare for retirement and to live the way he always wanted, including having an inheritance for us, he would gamble to increase the amount.
He thought with his head for numbers that he could beat the odds.
The only issue was that Dad couldn’t stay focused on counting cards.
We knew it because he constantly got distracted when we played for fun at home, unlike me.
I can do it, though I’ve never done it for real.
“He’d lost a large chunk of their money.
He had no idea what to do to get the rest. We told him to sell his car and anything else of significance.
That’s when we found it wouldn’t be nearly enough.
Dad stole a million dollars from them. He had about three hundred thousand left.
There was nothing of value he could use to regain that much.
We didn’t own houses. Our cars would bring in a little, but not much.
I didn’t own fancy jewelry, and the bank wouldn’t loan us that amount without significant collateral.
“Dad said we had to run. I told him no and urged him to go to the cops. River was soon to start college. I didn’t want to uproot him for Dad’s mistake.
Yes, he’d likely spend time in prison, but it would be less than the Jacquots.
He could survive it. Dad left to make arrangements to talk to the police.
Or that’s what he told us. Instead, we found out later that he went to see his boss and his family.
“We didn’t know he had done it until the police arrived at our door.
They weren’t there to ask us to help with the case.
They came to inform us that our dad was found beaten to death and left in a dumpster in an alley.
They wanted to know if we had any clue who could’ve done it.
We knew right then that to name the Jacquots would end us, so we lied and said no.
After the police left, we got to thinking about what to do.
Undoubtedly, Dad had either gone to see them or was caught and made an example of.
We didn’t know the extent of it until two days later.
” I had to stop. I gulped some of my water.
“I’ll finish it. It seems that dear old dad went to them and offered them a deal. He’d give them what money he still had left, and to make up the difference, if they wouldn’t kill him, he’d give one of them something he knew he wanted desperately.”
“What?” Cobra asked.
“My sister. It seemed one of them had been watching her and wanted Lakelyn. She never gave him the time of day. It galled him. He didn’t like it.
If Dad essentially prostituted his daughter to them, he expected them to let him live.
He sold out his daughter to save himself,” River spat. His disgust was evident.
A loud growl rumbled in Tyrant’s throat.
“How do you know this?” Brutus asked. There was a ton of muttering happening.
“Because one of the women who works in the boss’s household happened to know us, and she felt she owed Lakelyn a debt for what she did for a family member.
She called and explained what she had overheard.
She warned us to run. They would be coming for Lakelyn the next day.
She said not to leave me behind because they’d only use me to lure Lake out.
We didn’t need to hear more. We packed what we could carry and grabbed the money that was easily accessible.
“But we still couldn’t believe they would do it, so we stayed close to our apartment the next day, where no one would know we were hiding.
They arrived in a big limo. When no one answered the door, the men who worked for them broke in.
When they came out empty-handed, the man who wanted Lakelyn was waiting by the car.
He was furious and threw a fit. He was screaming at his guys to find her no matter what.
After they left, we ran, and the next thing we knew, we were living on the streets.
At least we were smart enough not to stay in our hometown.
We thought that by coming here, they wouldn’t look for us. No one truly sees the homeless.”
The guys grew more restless as my brother finished, and their mumbling and swearing grew louder. I anxiously waited for Tyrant to say something, anything. I twisted on his lap so I could see his face better. He stared deep into my eyes.
“Who is the one who wants you? Don’t lie. Tell me the truth, Lakelyn.”
“As we said, Dad’s boss was Hugo Jacquot. The one who wants me as his plaything is Jean-Baptiste Jacquot, though I don’t know that I wouldn’t be passed around to his brother and cousins or even their men,” I said quietly. The others heard me, and the loud inhalations didn’t mask Tyrant’s reaction.
A deafening roar came ripping out of the man holding me.
His entire body stiffened, then he came to his feet with me in his arms. He turned and sat me in the chair he’d vacated.
As soon as I was, he swung around and took two steps to stand by the nearest table.
A second roar echoed around us. Then, there was a loud cracking sound as he slammed his fist into the top of the table.
There was so much force behind it that the table cracked.
I vaulted to my feet, ran to him, and wrapped my arms around him as far as possible. I did it from the side. I clung to him.
“Tyrant, stop. There’s no reason for you to hurt yourself,” I protested. Why I cared, I didn’t want to acknowledge, but I couldn’t watch him hurt himself.
“Those cocksuckers are dead. I don’t care how we do it or how many we have to bring in from the other chapters. Crypto, I’m asking for extra help on the research you’re already doing on them. We need to have a solid case if we have to take it to Big Daddy for help.”
Astonishment filled me. He was truly beyond pissed off and meant to kill them. Why? What was his involvement with them? Nothing made sense to me. His guys were angry as well.