Chapter 29
Ramsey~
W hen I had pulled up to the house, I hadn’t expected to see Maddox’s car parked out in front, but I wasn’t actually surprised to know that he was here. I’d known that he was going to continue digging up as much as he could on Adrian Cossacks, so if he was here, then it was because he had uncovered more stuff and was ready to share.
Walking into the house, I headed straight to the kitchen because Emerson liked to believe that her grown sons still didn’t know how to feed themselves. While it didn’t take a genius to understand why it was important to her to make sure that her children were fed, they were grown at this point. Plus, there’d never been a shortage of food in our house while the boys had been growing up.
As predicted, Maddox was sitting at the kitchen island, a variety fruit plate right in front of him, Emerson leaning up against the counter on the opposite side. She was also a fanatic about healthy snacks, and so I wasn’t surprised to see her force-feeding Maddox some fruit.
“What did I miss?” I asked as I set my briefcase on the counter before walking over to kiss Emerson on her cheek.”
“Want some fruit?” Maddox asked, ignoring my question.
I chuckled. “No, thank you.”
“You guys act like I’m serving you poisoned apples or something,” Emerson muttered
“No offense, Mom,” Maddox snorted. “But I’ve eaten enough fruit during my childhood for it to give me issues as a grown man.”
“Then don’t eat it,” she grumbled, a bit embarrassed by her smothering.
“Whoa, let’s not get too crazy now,” Maddox quickly said, pulling the plate closer to him. “I came right over here after work, and I’m starving.”
Ignoring my youngest son, I walked over to the refrigerator for some cold water, wanting him to hurry up and get to the point, so that Emerson and I could finally put this thing to rest. While I loved my sons, I hadn’t been lying when I’d told my wife that I’d be perfectly content in life with just an occasional phone call from them every now and again.
Turning back towards my family, I said, “Do you want to get to the reason that you’re here or what?”
Maddox’s brows shot upward. “Rude.”
I shot him a look. “I assure you, I can get ruder.”
My son rolled his eyes before reaching into his back pocket, then depositing a silver thumb drive on the countertop. “I come bearing gifts, so be nice.”
“What’s on it?” Emerson asked, even though she already had a good idea of the answer.
I walked over to stand next to her, my hand automatically running over her hip and ass. “More stuff on Cossacks?”
Mad nodded. “Yep, and I gotta tell you, the man was a real sleaze.”
“What did you find?” I asked, even though I knew that this was hard on my wife.
“There’s a total of eight young girls that he exploited throughout the years,” he answered, and though the subject was a distasteful one, Maddox sounded like he was in the middle of a board meeting, sticking to the facts. “You’ve got the three that we already know of, but he’s been doing this for years.”
“Ages?” Emerson asked, her voice a bit hesitant.
“The youngest was fifteen at the time of Cossacks’ interest in her,” Maddox answered truthfully. “He was thirty-five at the time, and his entire work history is with organizations that work with troubled youth.”
“What about his personal life? No red flags?” I asked.
“Only one, but you had to be paying attention to notice,” Mad replied. “While he hadn’t ever married, he did date, but only women with young daughters. During his younger years, he dated indiscriminately, but it was during his mid-thirties that he started targeting women with teenaged daughters.”
“So, he likes them young, but not pedophile young,” I remarked in thought.
“I guess that depends on your definition of pedophilia,” Maddox retorted. “While the dictionary claims that it’s a psychiatric disorder involving sexual attraction towards prepubescent children, as far as I’m concerned, a fifteen-year-old girl is a child. If she wasn’t, then she’d be able to vote, join the military, move out, drop out of school, etc. So, yeah, I guess it depends on your definition of the word.”
“You thought you were grown at fifteen,” Emerson stated pointedly.
“And I was wrong,” he replied easily. “Luckily for me, I had two parents that were constantly in my ear about that, so that helped to keep me grounded.”
“What else did you learn?” I asked, eager to find out everything.
“Five out of the eight went on to lead decent lives, and they seem to be doing well,” he went on. “Well, relatively speaking, they’re doing well.”
“And the other three?”
I began rubbing Emerson’s back after she asked the question, and it was clear that Adrian Cossacks was going to have to pay in a way that was going to have to bring Emerson peace. I also had no doubt that Maddox would make it happen, even if I didn’t say anything about it. Seeing Emerson upset bothered Maddox just as much as it bothered me and Ram.
“One died in a freak house fire about six years ago,” Maddox answered, his voice softening for his mother’s benefit. “The house that she’d been renting had faulty wiring, and her younger sister had been able to get a healthy wrongful death settlement from the property owners.”
“Okay, so what about the other two?” I asked.
“One is in a shitty marriage with two kids and a loser for a husband, and the other one lives alone and works at a bookstore,” he said, his voice still soft. “From all accounts, the second girl keeps to herself, but I don’t know if that’s due to her personality and shitty upbringing, or if it’s a direct result of her relationship with Adrian Cossacks.”
“And does the other girl work?” Emerson asked. “Or is she dependent on her husband?”
“She works at a crafts store, and her husband stays home and watches the kids,” he said, grimacing a bit, reminding me of just how very chauvinistic we all were. “Now, with daycare costing what it costs, it could be cheaper for him to stay home and watch the kids, but I don’t think so. I dug deep into their online presence, and he’s just a loser. Still, their kids are as cute as buttons.”
Emerson looked up at me. “Ramsey?”
“I’ll get right on it, baby,” I promised her, not even needing to ask for details.
“I already beat you to it,” Maddox announced. “She had really good grades in high school, so she was able to get some financial help for college. However, she dropped out during her junior year when she got pregnant with her first child. With no help from her man, she immediately started working odd jobs. They got married while she was pregnant, then had their second child three years later.”
“What did you do?” Emerson asked, eyeing our youngest son carefully.
“I sent her an email from our education department, telling her that she’s been randomly selected to continue her education on behalf of Educational Pursuits. The letter stated that all her educational costs will be paid for, and that includes any childcare that she may need, travel accommodations, etc.” Maddox looked like a kid in a candy store, and it really should be disturbing how much we enjoyed messing with other people’s lives. “I also informed her that Educational Pursuits would take responsibility for all of her household expenses, so that she can continue her degree without worry. All she has to do is provide us with the statements of her bills for the past six months.”
“Okay, good,” Emerson sighed. “Hopefully, it’ll make a difference.”
Maddox and I exchanged a look before he said, “Mom, you can lead a horse to water, but-”
“Yeah, yeah…I know,” she quickly said, interrupting him. “I just…I’m going to think positive.”
“Well, since my work here is done, I’m going to head home,” he said as he stood up from the barstool. “If I leave Cassidy alone for too long, then she’ll start thinking that she can live without me, and I can’t have that.”
I grinned as Emerson let out a choked laugh. “What is it with you men?”
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Mad retorted before jerking his chin my way. “Take it up with the man that raised me.”
Getting serious, Emerson said, “Thank you, Maddox.”
His entire face softened as he looked at his mother. “It was either this, or else watch Dad go to prison, and we kind of like having him around.”
“Thanks, son,” I drawled out.
Maddox just grinned before leaving, taking his plate of fruit with him. Now, was he really going to eat it? I had no idea. However, I knew my son well enough to know that he’d cut off his own arm before intentionally hurting his mother’s feelings.
“The kid really is something else, isn’t he?” Emerson remarked, and she wasn’t wrong.