Chapter Twenty-Four – Laina
I didn’t know how long Jason and I were awake, but eventually we must’ve fallen asleep. The sun was peeking in through the windows on the far side of the room when I was woken up by someone saying, “There you are. What do you want for breakfast?”
My eyelids cracked open just in time to watch Kieran stroll around the couch. I was on top of Jason, who apparently was awake already if his alert expression meant anything. Hopefully he’d heard Kieran coming and tucked away his cock while I was blissfully dozing off.
Anyway, when Kieran walked around that couch and saw I was on top of Jason, he froze. His dark eyes widened, then squinted, then widened again—and then he turned away from us and started to dry heave in a fashion you could only describe as stupidly theatrical.
The man wasn’t actually throwing up. He was just trying to make a point.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Kieran deadpanned, trying to wave it off. “I’m just… I’m suddenly feeling the need to vomit, for some strange reason.”
I had to roll my eyes at him as I got off of Jason. I sat up, and Jason was up beside me momentarily. “Stop being dramatic,” I told him, watching as he went to collapse in a recliner a good ten feet away. No way in hell would he join us on this sectional.
“Dramatic? I don’t know anyone who’s being dramatic. I just walked in to find my girl on my dad, so, yeah, I’m going to burn my eyes out now. Thanks for that.” No one could give sarcasm quite like him, it was true.
Fang appeared before I had the chance to respond to Kieran, and unlike him, he didn’t gag or act ridiculous when he saw me sitting side-by-side with Jason on the couch.
No, in fact, Fang only grinned and came to sit on my other side, giving me a kiss on the lips even though I was pretty damn sure I was sporting some morning breath.
Was cock breath a thing? Whatever. Either way, Fang didn’t mind at all. He said, “Good morning, Princess.”
“Uh, Fang? If you don’t mind, I’m having an existential crisis over here,” Kieran said.
Fang glanced at him. “I’m sorry. Do you need a kiss, too?” When he asked that, I couldn’t help but chuckle, which I promptly had to hide. I was fairly sure I heard Jason chuckle, too.
Kieran did not find it so amusing. He frowned. “The only time I would ever need a kiss from you is if I’m drowning and you’re the only person in a mile that could give me CPR. Even then, I don’t think I’d be the same after, so no. Thanks, but no thanks.”
“How about a hug?” Fang suggested.
The other man still didn’t find it amusing. “No. I don’t know what kind of Full House episode you think this is, but a hug can’t fix an existential crisis.”
“I don’t know,” Fang said, glancing at me. His silver eyes radiated a warmth that made me blush. “I think a hug can fix a lot of things.” Though I was trapped in his metallic gaze, I still heard Kieran groan.
Kieran hopped up. “You know, actually, instead of being in here, with all that going on—” He gestured to Fang, me, and Jason. “—I’m going to join Mike in the kitchen. Maybe he can teach me how to make pancakes without burning the first one.” He hurriedly left the living room, icked out.
Icked out but still here. Still my Kieran, my Devil.
“So,” Fang started, that twinkle in his eyes only growing, “long night last night?”
Even though he wasn’t judging me, I still felt a prickle of heat in my cheeks, and that prickle of heat was only made worse when Jason coughed and looked at me. Both men waited for an answer.
In the end, all I said was, “You could say that. I, uh, couldn’t sleep, so I wandered down here. Jason was still up. I crashed his little party of one.”
Fang must’ve found it amusing, because he flashed his silver fangs in response. “As much as I wish you would’ve woken me up, I understand. Now, I do believe Kieran was serious about pancakes, so if you’d like something different, tell me and I’ll be your messenger.”
“Pancakes are fine,” I said with a shrug. “I’m not really hungry.” Which was insane, considering how late I was up last night. As it had been the last few days, eating was the last thing on my mind.
Jason and Fang said the exact same thing at once: “You should eat.”
Well, how could I argue when I was clearly outnumbered?
Pancakes it was.
Hours later, everyone was in the living room. We had the local station on the TV. Online, my dad’s funeral arrangements were being made, and it looked like his funeral would be this upcoming Saturday. One full week after his murder. It both felt like too soon and not soon enough.
Tessa was arranging it. She was taking any opportunity to be in the spotlight, playing the grieving widow perfectly.
Too perfectly. Only I and everyone in Lola’s house knew it was nothing but an act. She was a pure psychopath who didn’t care about anyone other than herself.
We were waiting for something, for a call. Sylvester was out of the house. He’d taken Viper and Mike with him as backup. He was meeting with Tessa’s doctor. Either with money, blackmail, or threats, he’d find out whether this pregnancy was real or not.
I was done playing around. Done waiting. Regardless of what the answer was, we had to do something, and we had to do it soon. Like hell would I let her play the grieving widow at my dad’s funeral. The bitch didn’t deserve to step foot in a place, at a time that was meant to be in memory of him.
Hell, I wasn’t sure I deserved to be there, either, with how much I used to claim to hate and not trust him. Felt pretty damn stupid about it now.
And then, who knew how long later, Lola’s phone rang. She was sitting next to me, but when she picked her phone up and saw it was Sylvester calling, she got to her feet and answered it, putting him on speaker. The first thing she said was: “You’re on speaker. Tell me you got it.”
In my chest, my heart pounded like crazy.
I kept telling myself that I’d take care of Tessa one way or another, that it didn’t truly matter whether she was pregnant or not, but with how desperate my dad was to be a father again…
how much he was willing to sacrifice and forgive, a part of me still held hesitation.
“I got it.” Sylvester paused, and it felt like he paused for an eternity, when in reality it was more like three seconds. “She’s not pregnant. She paid off the doctor to go along with it and falsify the paternity test.”
Everyone in the room looked at me, waiting to see how I would take the news. Honestly, I was relieved I wouldn’t have to worry about dealing with an innocent baby in her belly, but at the same time… I didn’t know. Was it weird to be a little sad?
Yeah, it was definitely weird.
“Hopefully you gave that not-so-good doctor a good speaking to,” Lola said, a devilish smile tugging at her lips.
“Don’t worry. I have the feeling he’ll be leaving his practice soon.”
“Good. I’ll see you in a bit.” She ended the call and spun to face me, tapping her phone against her palm. “So, now that we know… what’s the plan, girlie?”
I sat there for a while, thinking. Having all eyes on me didn’t necessarily help, but it did reinforce the fact that I had the biggest crime family at my disposal.
They had ins everywhere, even the police station.
It wouldn’t be too hard to find out where Tessa was hunkering down in the city, switch out the police guarding her with some of their men.
I’d tried talking to her. I’d tried to play nice, and with her recent actions, she’d made it clear she wasn’t going to back down.
Well, neither was I. She thought she had this in the bag.
She thought she’d skate by and get everything she wanted.
Probably feign grief and then, a few weeks later, come out and say she’d miscarried.
She’d have the sympathy card, the exact same card she used to help my dad win the mayor’s seat after I was kidnapped two and a half years ago.
And that sympathy card? It could take you places.
It could make you an online superstar, an influencer or even a politician of your own right.
It wouldn’t matter that she didn’t have experience herself.
She could run on a hard anti-crime stance, and everyone would know who she was, even out of state.
No, she wouldn’t stay here, not after the funeral. I’d bet any money she planned on moving far enough away she thought I’d never be able to get to her. That I’d never find her again.
She wasn’t going to get that far. Not this time.
The plan that formulated in my head this time was on another level than the one I’d thought of before. It was dark, maybe even evil, but I didn’t care. I wouldn’t shy away from it. The time for that had passed.
“I’m going to need help,” I said, glancing all around the room.
“From all of you.” Lola and Maddox, then at my guys, Kieran and Fang.
Jason was the only one who would remain hands-off when it came to Tessa, which I understood completely and wouldn’t hold against him.
He might’ve disowned his daughter, but he would not help in her downfall.
As long as he didn’t try to stop me, we’d be good.
“You have it,” Lola, the woman who radiated confidence, said as she sat down beside me.
The half-smile she sent my way was icy, the kind of smile only a serial killer would have.
That girl crush I had? Still had it, but now I was starting to realize this woman was my new best friend.
She’d walk through hell with me, all I had to do was ask.
Kieran rubbed his hands together. He sat on the far end of the sectional couch, near Fang. Jason was pacing the area in front of the TV. Maddox looked bored, but I was pretty sure that was his typical expression when he wasn’t balls-deep in Lola.
“What’s the plan, then? Don’t keep us in suspense,” Kieran said.
As I started to explain my plan, what I’d need each of them to do, a devious, devilish smile spread across Kieran’s face.
He was clearly looking forward to this almost as much as me.
Tessa had tried to have him killed, so he’d play a bigger role this time than he had before. He wouldn’t be a simple recorder.
Oh, no. All my guys would have a starring role this time.
Lola and her guys would help make the ol’ switcheroo when it came to Tessa’s police detail, and fortunately for me, they had quite a few places where they kept their enemies and tortured the living shit out of them when they needed information.
This was a plan I could not pull off on my own. There were a lot of working parts, and we all needed to work together, but I was beyond confident we would succeed.
Tessa was going down. She wouldn’t know what hit her.