Chapter 36
Seth
W e’ve been scouring everywhere for Waylon, and no one’s heard a peep from him.
He sent the email to Ricardo, somehow secured Giovanni inside his rental house, and seemingly disappeared.
Devlin and James put trackers on his accounts, flagged his car tag in case he’s running, and have their system looking everywhere, but we’re still no closer to finding him.
Ricardo had information, but nothing we didn’t already know.
He explained how after Sergey died, Kelly became de facto leader until one of the families stepped up and took control, but she kept them as odds with each other, playing everyone to gain control.
It was her idea to kidnap Rylee and Hannah and Ricardo said Kelly was livid about the initiation being interrupted.
She believed if she could gain members, she would rise to the top, but the ceremonies continued to be raided, and the families were dwindling to almost none.
He said it was her idea to seek out the illegitimate children, but it seemed too convenient to the brothers that everything was Kellys fault.
Devlin told me afterward that James barely kept his rage contained and as soon as they were sure he’d told everything, they let Rhys and James at him.
The two of them beat Ricardo for over an hour, and he finally died choking on his own blood. He was placed into a barrel of acid and sealed up until he was liquified. Then, they neutralized the solution and poured him down a drain, so he could float in the sewer for eternity.
James told me he pleaded to save Waylon, that it wasn’t the kid’s fault his mother warped his mind.
And besides him securing Giovanni, and when he kidnapped Hannah until Kelly’s orders, he seemed to have clean hands.
But if he was the financial backer as suspected, then he was guilty and had to be dealt with.
I was staying at Rhys house with Regan, and I could tell he wasn’t happy, but it was his request that she not go far until Waylon was caught that had us here instead of my house.
We still hadn’t gone past simple making out, and the few times she let me go down on her, and I could tell the wall she’s struggling to break down, allowing us to be intimate, was starting to frustrate her.
Yesterday, we went to my house for dinner and Edgar kept headbutting her, demanding attention.
When we left to go back to her place, she picked the fuzzy asshole up and smiled as he hugged closer to her while she carried into the car.
I stood, shocked and speechless that he let her pick him up and that he seemed happy about a car ride.
I got behind the wheel, and she smiled over at me as she scratched his head and he purred contently.
Now, the little asshole’s asleep on her bed and in the middle of the night, he crawled between us and bit my hand that was resting on her hip. I yelped, she jumped, he scratched me, she consoled him, and I sat bleeding alone on the bed, confused.
“Good morning,” Regan said as she walked into the kitchen and took a seat next to me at the island. She looked at the small bandage on my hand and pinched her lips as she asked, “Are you okay? I’m sure he didn’t mean to bite you.”
I gave her a crazy look and replied, “Little asshole intended to bite me, and you can’t convince me otherwise.”
She giggled and reasoned, “I’m sure he’s sorry and promises not to do it again.”
My head flopped over and I shook it at her. “He’s not sorry. He’s a fuzzy asshole.”
My statement had her laughing until tears rolled down her cheeks.
Every time she would get it under control, she’d look at my hand, then me, and start all over again.
Seeing her so free spirited and alive was amazing.
However, I wasn’t going to give up sleeping with my woman just to make Edgar the asshole happy.
“What’s so funny?” Hannah asked as she walked into the kitchen.
“Regan thinks Edgar biting me in the middle of the night is fricking hilarious,” I explained and lifted my covered wound so she could see it. “Little bastard is moving in on my woman.”
That got Regan laughing again, and she was leaning on the stool as she enjoyed my adversarial relationship with the creature I saved. Ungrateful little shit.
I stood and made them both a cup of coffee as they continued to giggle and as I passed the cups to the ladies, Rhys walked into the room accompanied by James.
They gave me a look that said something went down and I glanced at Regan and Hannah who hadn’t noticed them yet.
James shook his head, and I knew whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
Regan turned her head and smiled. “Good morning. I didn’t know you were going to be here today.”
James pushed a smile as he said, “We need to talk.”
The smile on her face dissolved and she turned to him. “What?”
Hannah went to stand, but Rhys approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Please stay. This . . . this involves you too.”
“What’s going on?” Hannah asked, and I walked to the table and sat down next to Regan.
Rhys took the seat beside Hannah, and James sat at the end. Regan gave me a worried look, so I took her hand and turned to Rhys. “Whatever it is, just say it.”
“Last night, I got an email on the private server for Callahan. It’s not unusual, so when I got the alert, I didn’t rush to open it.
When I woke up this morning, I went to the server floor in the building and .
. .” He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, I saw remorse staring back. “We received an email from Waylon.”
Hannah perked up. “Where is he?”
“Hannah, baby,” Rhys began, and Regan squeezed my hand, “Waylon sent us a confession video about the part he played in everything.”
“So, he was involved in the Syndicate?” she asked dejected, and James glanced at me. “I guess I shouldn’t have given him the benefit of the doubt.” She looked at Regan and said, “I’m so sorry my family caused all this pain.”
James interrupted and that’s when I realized the gravity of the situation. “Waylon wasn’t involved like you think, but . . .”
“Whatever it is, please just say it and stop beating around the bush,” Hannah demanded.
“In the video, he outlined what he was involved in, but when he finished telling that part, he began to ramble about his life and all the crap that was heaped on him. Something about it was off, and then he admitted that he’d taken a handful of pills.
He signed off and said he was sorry for all the problems he caused and he wouldn’t be a bother to anyone again. ”
Regan was shocked silent as Hannah began to cry as she asked, “Is he dead?”
“I don’t know to be honest, but Devlin and Lucian are on the way to the location he said he would be at. I came down here and we’re waiting for the phone call. I think it will be within the hour,” James explained.
“I want to see the video,” Hannah declared as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, baby. He was . . . emotional, and I don’t want it to upset you,” Rhys reasoned.
“I don’t care. He was my brother, and I want to know what he said.”
“Seth?” Regan asked, and I turned to look at her. “Please let her see it.”
I knew Regan had been eager to find Waylon, but none of us thought it would be this way.
We suspected he was involved, but not really involved, and were planning to hear him out before we decided on what to do with him.
I wanted to see the video, and I agree it may be upsetting for Hannah, but she had the right to watch it.
Just like Regan did.
James looked down the table at us and replied, “I’ll show it to you, but I’ll turn it off if I see it’s becoming too much. You don’t need that mental image in your head.”
Rhys seemed unsure, but I was glad he kept his opinion to himself as he, Hannah, and James stood from the table. Hannah looked at Regan and asked, “Are you coming?”
Regan glanced at me, and I nodded, telling her I’d be with her and when she stood, I followed her lead.
The five of us walked down the hallway and into the war room before taking seats at the large conference table.
The same screen that we video chatted with Waylon almost three months ago was already lowered across the wall and it was ironic we were watching his confession on the same screen.
James opened his laptop and typed something into it before the screen illuminated in front of us. Regan scooted closer to me as James pulled the video up on the screen and pressed play. He took a seat on the other side of Regan, and with all of us on the same side of the table, we began to watch.
The background was black with no distinguishing features. Waylon stepped in front of the camera and took a seat. He looked tired, his hair was greasy and slicked back away from his face, and when he began to speak, his voice was filled with pain.
“I know you’ve been looking for me for months, but I’ve had a good reason to remain hidden.
I’m the one who’s been controlling the purse strings for the remaining members of the Syndicate, but not for the reasons you think.
I’ll try to be concise, but there will be some tangents I need to go down to make sure you know everything.
” He exhaled deeply before he spoke again.
“Four or five years ago, before Regan was brought to the house we were living in, Mother tasked me with finding hidden money some associate of the Syndicate supposedly hid. After some digging, I found he had some hidden Bitcoin, and after I convinced Mother there wasn’t anything but rumors, she backed off and I claimed the Bitcoin, allowing it to grow.
I wanted a new life, a fresh start somewhere away from the evil that Mother brought into the world, away from Sergey Junior, and in no way connected to the Syndicate.
But when she died, I didn’t know which way was up. ”