Chapter sixteen
Lammerton Home for Boys
August 1998
Harrison
“C..o..m..p..l..i..c..a..t..e..d.” I screw my eyes up as I try to read the word on the page. “Complicated,” I shriek, knowing it’s correct.
“Well done, Harrison,” Mr. Chase says enthusiastically. “Complicated. Your reading is improving magnificently. I’m proud of you, boy.” I beam up at the man who has become a father figure to me, though he doesn’t realize it.
“Complicated,” I repeat then focus on the next word on my list. Every week he visits for two hours on a Friday and helps me with my studies. I still call him Mr. Chase and he refers to me as Harrison. It makes me sad he doesn’t consider us friends yet, but he comes, which is what matters.
I’m trying to decipher the next eleven-letter word when he speaks. “I’ve been thinking, Harrison, maybe it’s time you meet my sons. How would you feel about that?” he asks. I stop focusing on the paper in front of me and turn to him.
“Russell and Connor?” He nods, confirming my statement. “I don’t know. Why would they want to meet me?”
“Well, they were the ones who found you, and they always ask about you when I’ve been here. In the last year and a half, I’ve watched you grow into a young man I’m proud to know. You could be a good friend for them and them for you.”
“Maybe,” I say with a shrug. “I don’t have any friends. People don’t like me.”
“They don’t understand you, Harrison. There is a difference. You have a quiet determination that is disconcerting for some people.”
“Disconcerting?” I repeat. The word rolls off my tongue. “What does that mean?”
“It means you make them nervous.”
“But I don’t do anything wrong,” I protest. I’ve learned to keep quiet in the home, not stand out from the crowd. If I slip through my life here, no one annoys me.
“You don’t need to. You have a presence about you that makes people take a step back. No one messes with you, but no one approaches you either. I’ve seen the other boys and the way they look at you. You have control even if you don’t realize it.”
“Possibly,” I reply, confused.
“My sons are like you. Strong willed. Confident. Argumentative.”
“I’m not argumentative.”
He laughs out loud. “Yes, you are. You’re also one-hundred-percent confident in your own opinions, which in a young man is an excellent quality and will stand you in good stead for life ahead. But you need to be spending time with other boys like you, boys with promise. You have promise, Harrison.
In your life, you will be successful. I’ll make sure of it.”
***
September 2022 – The Level
“Harrison, I am very disappointed that you ignored one of the most important rules of our friendship,” Mr. Chase states.
Tonight, I know I’ll be paying for the time I enjoyed with Violet.
“When I supported you as a young man, I did it because I knew you would be an asset to both me and my family. I saw you as someone who could be incorporated long term into our business. A loyal associate that could be relied on.”
He walks over then around the chair I’m tied to. They haven’t gagged me, yet. His fingers are clenched around the knuckleduster on his right hand.
“You have surpassed every challenge I’ve set for you, then gone on to become one of the most influential lawyers in the city. Sometimes, I feel prouder of you than I do my own sons.”
Russell and Connor watch their father as he strolls around.
They visibly bristle with the comment. “Your success has not only been of benefit to the law firm and its amazing growth, but also to our family operations. The clients you attract have allowed us to gain information previously never at our disposal. For that reason,
I respect you as a professional man and partner in business.”
I look over to the men I consider to be like my brothers; they divert their gaze from me. My focus returns to the man in charge. The man who is always in charge of the Chase family. Edward Chase.
“However,” he says turning to face me. He leans down and looks me directly in the eye.
“Violet was always fucking out of bounds; I told you that as a sixteen-year-old boy with a hard-on. Nothing has changed. You and my daughter are a no-go area. She will not be with someone from your background. She deserves better.”
“Sir,” Connor says, stepping forward. His father spins to face him. “Waite was the one who found her and brought her home to us. She ran again, we’ve only just got her back. Surely, we should be thanking him."
His father straightens his shoulders and shakes his head.
“No, from what your brother has told me, she ran because of him.”
His furious scowl lands on me. “In our family, those who cause the problem, pay. You will suffer a debt of your misguided actions and your complete disregard of my orders. Whether an instruction is ten minutes or ten years old, it is still a fucking command. Do you understand me, Harrison?”
“Yes, sir,” I respond firmly, never dropping my eyes from his. Like his son, this man is a bully who rules both his family and businesses with an iron fist.
“Once I’ve delivered this penalty, the matter will be put to bed. It won’t be discussed again, and you will not be in the same room as Violet for the rest of your lifetime.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. We have an understanding once more. You play your part but stay in your fucking lane. Diversion will not be tolerated.” His arm draws back and the metal crashes down on my cheek. “One,” he growls.
***
“Harry,” Mrs. D. whispers as she dabs at my eye. Fuck, my head hurts. My hand lifts to my cheek, the skin stinging. “Harry,” she says again, “can you hear me?”
“Yes,” I reply, my voice almost silent. “How long have I been out? Where am I?” I blink my eyes open, and she’s smiling down at me, but there is no hiding the concern in her eyes. The last thing I remember is Mr. Chase lifting his fist to bring down the fourth blow.
“You’re at home. Connor brought you in an hour ago. He wouldn’t let me phone an ambulance. You’re a mess. What happened?” I chuckle under my breath, causing my ribs to strain.
“Shit, don’t make me laugh. It bloody hurts.”
“Who did this?” she asks again.
“The Chase family.” Her eyebrows draw together in confusion. “I broke the rules, and this is my punishment. When Edward Chase tells you something is off limits, it’s fucking off limits.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Violet,” I reply sadly. “He found out that she and I were…” What are we?
“In love?” she suggests, and I glance at her, startled.
“No, of course not. Intimate, or had been. He told me as a young man she would never be mine. And I didn’t listen. This…” I signal to my face with my hand. “Is this what happens when you go against the rules.”
“It’s barbaric,” she wails, her hands covering her mouth. “You and Violet are adults. It is none of his business. This can’t happen. We need to phone the police.”
“He owns the police,” I say. “Everything anyone does connected with the Chase family is his business. I’ve seen it with my own eyes since I was a boy. Mrs. D., I knew I was playing a dangerous game. This hasn’t come as a surprise. Edward Chase has been both my savior and my captor since childhood.
Without him, quite honestly, I would either be in jail or dead. But the day he decided I was his pity project sent me down a path where I would always be beholden to him and have to dance to his tune.”
***
Monday morning rolls around. I walk into my office to find Damon McKinney and Hunter Devane sitting waiting for me.
Both of them are holding takeaway coffees in one hand and a doughnut in the other.
“I hope you pair of assholes brought refreshments for me too. Doughnuts are a bit cliché, are they not McKinney?” I snap as I throw myself into my chair.
“Eat what you’re bloody given. What the fuck happened to you?” Hunter says as he places a coffee and my favorite apple cake in front of me.
“I had a debt to pay,” I reply.
“For what?” Hunter sits back down in the seat across from me, Damon beside him.
“For sticking his cock where he’s not allowed to,” Damon suggests and Hunter laughs. “Am I right?”
“Old man Chase dealt out the punishment himself,” I mutter angrily.
“And he fucking loved every minute of it.”
Damon gives me a knowing look. He is aware of the Chase family’s underground businesses and connections.
As I’ve come to know him better, he’s told me stories of Edward Chase and his punishments that would curl your toes.
His reputation precedes him. Get in his way and prepare to be disposed of.
“Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?”
“McKinney wanted to make sure you were still alive after the other night. He said your rescue mission didn’t quite go to plan.” Hunter sips at his drink as he watches me. “You got the girl out but put a target on your back in the process.”
“She’s back where she needs to be,” I say, not acknowledging the comment. “The beating was something I had to take. I knew it was coming since Russell found out I’d slept with her.”
“You’re sure about that?” Damon asks. “You think her being back at her parent’s house is the best place for her at the moment?”
“Where would be better?” I ask, glaring at him.
“You told her she always had a home with you. Your words, Waite.”
“It was an empty promise to get her to leave Guilty Pleasures. We can’t ever happen; you and I both know that. Even if I wanted it to, it would never be allowed. I owe Edward Chase and his family my life; this is a wish of theirs I need to honor.”
“Why?” Hunter interjects. “Do you not think you’ve repaid them enough over the past ten years? How many cases have you won for them? How much money have you earned them? How many times have you done their dirty work?”
He pulls a knife from his waistband and starts twisting it between his fingers.
He presses the blade into the tip of his middle finger, a drop of blood beads on his skin.
“Once the debt is paid, Waite, the debt is paid. The Chase family can’t hold you in indentured servitude for your whole life for a few years in school and university. There comes a time where both parties are even.”
“I doubt he will ever be of that opinion,” I say with a smirk. “Though the thought is sweet.”
“Allow people to use you, and they always will.”
He fixes me with a stare. “You don’t owe them fuck-all. It’s time you both realized that. Anyway, I’ll see you at The Level on Wednesday. We have lots to catch up on. My team are getting closer to finding the kitchen. That shit will be off the streets. We’re going to win this one, boys,
I can feel it in my bones.”
He jumps up and strides toward the door.
Before leaving, he calls over his shoulder, “The bastards behind this will pay for every death that shit of theirs has caused. Painfully. With their blood.”
Damon and I stare at the closed door. He turns back to me and laughs. “That idiot is a fucking madman. How have I ended up on the same side as him?”
“How have any of us ended up here?” I say, dropping my eyes to my hands which are twirling a pen.
“We spend our days balancing light and dark. Walking in circles we’d rather not. Working with men who become more ruthless with each day that passes. We pretend that our little mission to rid the streets of dirty drugs cleanses us of our own bad behavior. We’re all criminals at the end of the day,
only dressed differently.”
“That’s an awfully deep sentiment for a Monday morning,” he mutters.
“If this weekend has taught me anything, it is that I will always be the boy from the ditch in everyone’s eyes. I can earn more, learn more, and win at every opportunity but at the end of the day, the life you’re dealt is the one you’re stuck with. It defines who you are.”
“I don’t think that is strictly true,” he argues, crossing his arms across his chest.
“Everyone has the option to change direction. Part of the reason you’re sitting here in front of me is that you met Edward Chase as a small boy. The other reason is you’re a shit-hot lawyer and fucking good at reading people.”
“Today, I’d rather be a trash collector.”
He laughs out loud. “I doubt you could afford a Ferrari on that wage.”
He stands. “People will stop looking at you like that boy from the ditch if you stop appearing like him. He’s gone, and you’re here. It’s time to take control. You think you need them. I promise you, it’s the other way around.”
He walks toward my door, pulls it open then closes it again, turning to face me.
“And Waite, one more thing—Violet certainly didn’t look at you as if you were a charity case.” With that, he leaves.