Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Remember Sarge? Man, did he have some shit to say about the guy from the fancy-pants legal family and how you were their secret shame for years.”
As an investigator, Carson gave him props for having done his homework.
He’d somehow managed to find most of the scumbags Carson had called friends back then.
And they’d been happy to spill the tea about the many ways Carson had done them wrong before he “found Jesus” in rehab and started talking shit about the rest of them.
That part wasn’t true. He’d never said a word about the people he’d hung out with then or any of the hideous things they’d done while in the throes of addiction. He’d take those secrets to the grave with him, but Marlon had learned enough to change how Cresley and Ty saw him forever.
How would he ever look either of them in the eyes again?
“I bet you thought your old buddies would keep your secrets, right? Well, it turns out that they haven’t forgotten how you turned your back on them and never gave them a thought after you went straight.
They think it must be nice to have rich parents who can pay for the best rehab money can buy.
Who needs junkie friends when you’re living in a mansion in Beverly Hills, am I right? ”
Carson had paid for countless trips to rehab for people who were desperate to get clean. None of the guys Marlon was talking about had ever been desperate for anything other than their next fix.
“Nothing to say, pretty boy? That’s disappointing. By the way, hot shot, your so-called security guys are a joke. You might want to tell them that checking the perimeter every thirty minutes makes them predictable and easy to slip past. It was ridiculously easy—both times.”
“Leave him alone, Marlon,” Cresley said. “Your beef is with me, not him.”
“Aw, look at you worried about your widdle boyfriend’s feelings. Too bad you never gave a shit about mine.”
“That’s not true, and you know it. You’re the one who doesn’t give a shit about anyone but yourself. It’s all about you, Marlon, isn’t it? It was never about me or our son.”
“Oh poor, sweet Cresley. How pathetic can you be? If it’s not all about you all the time, you’re not happy.”
“That’s not true,” Ty said, his voice quivering.
Carson had never wanted to murder anyone as much as he wished he could permanently end Marlon Beckett before he did more damage that could never be undone.
“She only cares about me, which is more than you can say.”
“Shhh, baby,” Cresley said. “Don’t waste your breath. He’s not worth it.”
Marlon turned to glare at her in the back seat. “That’s what you’ve always thought. That I wasn’t worth your time or attention.”
Carson watched in the mirror as she stared back at him without changing her impassive expression.
“Answer me!”
“You didn’t ask me a question.”
“That’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“You very quickly showed that you weren’t worth my time or attention because you don’t care about anyone but yourself.”
“I should blow your pretty face off.”
Ty lunged toward her, throwing his arms around her. “Leave my mommy alone!”
“Aw, look at that widdle mama’s boy you’re raising. What a shame. He could’ve been a real man.”
“Like you?” Cresley asked. “Hard pass.”
“Watch your mouth, bitch. It would give me great pleasure to end all three of you before I make my great escape.”
“How’d you find us anyway?” Cresley asked.
Marlon’s nasty laugh came with a gust of disgusting breath. “I’ve had an AirTag in your car for two years. I always know where you are.”
“What a creep,” she said. “So obsessed with a woman who doesn’t want you.”
“I could make you want me.”
“Not in this lifetime or any other.”
Carson was unreasonably proud of them both and how they’d fought back against Marlon’s cruelty.
Depending on traffic, it could take up to three and a half hours to get to the Mexican border.
His only focus was on battling through the pain, remaining conscious, keeping his eyes on the road and getting Cresley and Ty home safe.
Minutes after he completed his final meeting of the day, Julian was in the elevator on the way to the parking garage. Since Isla and the kids had come into his life, leaving work on time had become a priority. He had better things to do than work, and he was always eager to get home to them.
It’d been just over a month since he first laid eyes on her, and his life today bore no resemblance whatsoever to his meager existence prior to her.
Then it had been eat, sleep, work, rinse and repeat.
The only deviation in his routine had been the nights he played with the band or when he had dinner with his siblings or hooked up with someone for no-commitment sex.
Otherwise, it’d been same shit, different day.
He took a call from his grandfather as he drove through Beverly Hills on the way to Laurel Canyon. “What’s up, Gramps?”
“Where’s Carson?”
“With Cresley at Isla’s rental in the Canyon. He got discharged earlier.”
“He’s not answering his phone.”
“He might be sleeping.”
“That kid never sleeps through a ringing phone.”
“He’s never been stabbed before.”
“Don’t get cheeky with me, young man.”
“Sorry,” Julian said with a chuckle. “That was a gimme. I’m on my way over there now to check on him. I’ll tell him to call you.”
“Very good. What’s new with you? You never call, you never write…”
“That’s not true.”
“When am I going to meet those kids of yours?”
“They’re not technically mine. You do know that, right?”
“Aren’t they?”
The question hit Julian like a punch. Were Theo and Mila his kids now? Was that how this worked? If he went all in with their mom—and he was all in with her—did that mean they were his kids?
“You still there, pal?”
“I am.”
“Was it something I said?”
“You just got me thinking.”
“About how you’re a father now?”
“Yeah. That.”
“How do you feel about it?”
“Surprisingly good. They’re great kids. I love being with them.”
“A lot of changes in your life all at once, my boy.”
“For sure, but it feels good. I get excited knowing I’m going to see them when I get home.”
“I love that for you, Jules. There’s nothing like that feeling, at least not that I’ve ever experienced.”
“It’s truly the best thing ever, even if my siblings look at me with the side-eye. They’re pissed that I’ve gone to the dark side.”
“They’ll get over it. They love you too much to punish you forever.”
“I guess we’ll see if that’s true.”
“It is. What do you think of Carson seeing Cresley?”
“He seems happy when he’s around her, even in a hospital bed.”
“I saw that, too. She’s a beautiful girl, inside and out.”
“That’s true. No one in the business has a bad word to say about her. Well, they didn’t until her ex stabbed Carson in her yard, and now speculation is running rampant.”
“I saw the statement she put out. I think it helped to shut down a lot of that shit.”
“You’re too funny. Are you the only ninetysomething in your place who keeps up with everything that happens in this town?”
“Probably. The rest of them don’t care about much of anything anymore, and that’s their problem.”
“I’m glad you still care and that you’re as sharp as ever.”
“Gotta stay sharp to keep track of my nine grandchildren and all their shenanigans. Let me know what Carson has to say for himself and tell him he’s on my shit list for not answering the phone.”
“It’ll be my great pleasure to tell him that.”
Spencer was laughing when he disconnected the call.
He was certainly used to their sibling nonsense after all these years.
Julian honestly couldn’t imagine life without his grandfather smack in the middle of everything, minding everyone’s business and passing out wisdom, whether they wanted it or not. He’d say, Who cares if you want it? You need it.
Sometimes he wondered what would’ve become of them all without Spencer’s steady hand on their shoulders during the roughest years of their lives.
He’d suffered over Carson’s years of addiction, had worked tirelessly to see him through rehab and had even attended countless NA meetings with Carson when he was first out of the final rehab, or the one that’d worked, as they referred to it.
He pulled up to the house he still thought of as Isla’s place, even though she and the kids had spent every night at his house for the past week, and noticed that Carson’s SUV wasn’t there, but Cresley’s was. Where in the hell had he gone? He wasn’t supposed to be driving yet.
Julian got out and went to ring the doorbell, hoping he wasn’t waking his brother. When there was no answer, he knocked on the door and then looked into the window by the side of the door and immediately noticed two cell phones sitting on the table inside the door.
What the fuck?
He called Isla.
“Hey, babe,” she said. “Are you on the way home?”
“Hey, what’s the code to your place again?”
“Seven, six, two, two. Why?”
“I’ll call you back in a few.” With a growing feeling of concern, he let himself into the house and looked down at the phones on the table, recognizing one of them as Carson’s because of the blue case. The other one had a floral pattern on the case. “Carson? Cresley?”
He walked farther into the house and noted a backpack on the floor in the living room and Iron Man paused on the TV. Carson’s laptop sat on the chaise, next to a blanket. A glass of ice water on the side table was beaded with condensation.
A trickle of unease went down his back.
He reached for his phone as it rang with a call from Anthony, who worked for Carson. “Where’s my brother?” Julian asked.
“That’s what I was calling to ask you. He told us Beckett had been arrested and that we could take off, but he’s not answering his phone, and I can’t find anything online about Beckett being arrested.”
“His phone is in the house, along with Cresley’s, Carson’s SUV is gone, and there’s no sign of them or Ty.”
“We brought Ty home an hour ago.”
“His backpack is here, but he’s not. None of them are.”
“He’d never leave his phone, Julian. No way.”
“I’m calling the cops.” Julian ended that call, ignored one from his grandfather and called 911. “I need to report three people missing from a house in Laurel Canyon. They may be with a man who’s wanted for stabbing one of them.”
“Your name, sir?”
“Julian Remington. One of the missing people is my brother Carson, who was released from Cedars today, a week after he was stabbed by Marlon Beckett. He’s with Cresley Dane and her son, Ty,”
“The address of the home?”
He went through the motions of answering the required questions, providing the names of the missing people and drawing a line to Marlon Beckett.
“Their cell phones were left on a table inside the door. My brother would never leave without his phone, so my assumption is they were taken against their will.”
How he managed to keep the growing hysteria out of his voice was anyone’s guess.
“I’ve alerted officers in the area. They’re on the way. Would you like me to stay on the phone while you wait for the officers to arrive?”
“That’s okay. Thank you for the help.”
He no sooner ended that call than his grandfather called again. “He’s not here,” Julian told him when he answered. “I’m trying to figure out where he went.”
“His location is at that house, Julian.”
Julian so did not want to have to tell Spencer that Carson was missing. “His phone is here, but he’s not. Neither is Cresley or Ty. I called the police.”
“Oh my God. Do you think Beckett has them?”
“I really hope not.”