Chapter Twenty-Eight
MASON
“HER LEG has a hairline fracture, and she has a bruise in the orbital bone over her eye. We stitched the cut in her hand, it wasn’t big, but it was deep, and bloodwork showed hCG making her positive for pregnancy.” The doctor looks between Jax and me, “Who is the father?”
“I am,” I say. I never imagined there would be a time I would be asked that question, panic surges through me as I wonder what kind of a father I will be.
Hanging my hands on my hips, I try to look like I am listening to everything the doctor is saying, but the sweat beading at my hairline as I realize this is real is distracting me. My father did a good job with six of us after Mom died, I had a good role model. I can do this.
“We’ve given her a sedative and some pain medication to help her rest, she’ll be sleeping for a while but you can go in to see her if you’d like.”
Once I knew she was safe and resting, I told the nurse at the desk to let her know I would be back soon and the three of us returned to the barn on the ranch.
Dad meets me at the door, “Is she okay?”
I nod, “She’ll be okay, she got pretty beat up so she’s resting. I can’t just sit around; I need to do something.”
He claps his hand on my shoulder and nods.
I realize that he knows what I’m feeling, after losing my mom to her illness.
He and Gray have both felt what it’s like to lose the woman they love.
They’ve felt the fear that’s gripped me since I’ve been separated from her, not knowing, but I get another chance. They didn’t.
We walk shoulder to shoulder to the runt tied on the practice horse. Dad hooks his thumbs in his pockets and chuckles, “He’s been singing like a canary since we pulled out the bolt cutters, we haven’t even had to touch him.”
Spits had already identified and located the main players for this area and the runt just confirmed what we know.
I step up to him and see the tear stains on his cheeks, when he sees me, his shoulders fall and he starts to cry harder, “Please don’t kill me, I was jus’ followin’ orders, man. I gave ‘er back.”
“Who beat her up?” I don’t care about his orders; I want to know who owns the hand that hit her so hard it bruised the bone over her eye. That kind of hit comes from a different kind of place and person.
He vigorously shakes his head, “Not me, man, that’s Miller, he’s got a beef with ‘er. He wanted to kill ‘er but boss told him nuh uh.”
“What kind of beef?” I clench my hands and flex them over and over. He was going to kill her.
“Man, she’s the chick ‘at stabbed him a couple years ago, near severed his vocal cord, he can only talk in whispers now. He hates her and wants her dead.”
So, it’s the asshole in the picture that upset her yesterday. Was that just yesterday? “Where can I find Miller?”
His eyes go round, “Left ‘im at boss’ house, but if you go there, they’ll kill ya, man.”
Turning to look at Callum, I say, “I’ll take my chances.”
Callum’s eyes lock on mine, he knows that I will go alone if I have to. After a moment, he nods his head, “Spits, give him the address. Jax and Scott, go with him, take the supplies you need from the dining room in the house.”
“Yep.” Jax and Scott say at the same time, and we turn together to leave.
“Harlow.” I stop and turn to Callum.
He steps next to me, “The rest of us are going to look for the brother and the other investor in Kansas, he’s about an hour north of the Oklahoma border, he’s got the guy here in Tulsa in his pocket.”
I nod, “Ok, I’ll check in when we are done with the guy here.” After he nods, I turn to catch up with Jax and Scott.
“Son.” I stop at the door and turn to wait for my dad to catch up to me.
Jax and Scott keep walking after turning to see my dad jogging to catch up with me, then he walks in step with me, “Make sure no one comes looking for her again, even her brother.”
I stop and face him, “Dad, when we’re done, there won’t be anyone in this area to grab another woman. Especially her brother.” I know cutting the head off the snake will only make room for another to slither in and take over, but I’m doing it anyway.
He looks at his boots and back up to me, “So, is she pregnant?”
A half smile, which probably looks like a grimace, forms on my face, “Yes, Dad, you are going to have another grandchild.”
He slides his fingers into his pockets and suppresses the smile that’s trying to tip his lips up, he may be a tough old asshole, but he loves Lainey Rai more than he loves his land, “What’re you gonna do about it?”
Locking eyes with him, I take a deep breath, “I’m going to make sure that there isn’t anyone left to threaten her or my child and then I’m going to make her a part of this family.
If she’ll have me.” I lift my hat off my head and scratch my head with the bill as I lean a little closer to him, “But I’m not sure what kind of a father I’ll be. ”
A smile slowly spreads across his face, and he chuckles, even though it sounds like a growl, before he slaps his hand over my shoulder, “You’ll do fine, son, we all ask ourselves that question, even me, and you turned out okay.”
Twisting my hat around backward, I take a deep breath, “I guess I can’t argue with that.”
He nods and pats my shoulder again, before he can say anything else, I jog to catch up with Jax and Scott.
***
Soft floodlights illuminate the entire area around the giant house, it’s in a gated community on a large lot south of Tulsa, and an hour and a half drive away from Sloane which is bothering me but I’m trying to push that anxiety aside.
There are no guards visible from the street where we’re parked and that tells me that this fucker is used to doing whatever he wants and getting away with it.
He fucked with the wrong family, and he won’t be getting away with it this time.
Jax hands me a comm and I put it in my ear as we holster our weapons and strap on our Kevlar.
After studying the floor plans of the house, we worked out our plan of attack. Scott, who excels in explosives and chemical fires and was the EOD specialist when he was enlisted, will take care of the fire that will burn the house.
Jax and I will take care of ‘the boss’ and Miller who, according to the weasel in my barn, stays at the boss’ house.
If this mother fucker didn’t have a problem with taking from me, then I won’t have a problem taking from him. Tit for fucking tat. Before we get out of the car, I turn to Jax, “Miller is mine.”
Shoving his magazine into place on his Glock, he nods, “Got it.”
For such a large investor in the trafficking operation for this region, the only security this guy has is locks on his door and a security system that we disabled when we cut off the power. Spits said that the piece of shit has been doing this for a long time, he probably thinks he’s untouchable.
There are no guards inside the house either, but the show of wealth covers the walls and furniture from floor to ceiling.
We silently search the bottom floor, and I signal to Scott that Jax and I are going upstairs, he gives me a thumbs up and turns to work on his part of the plan. To make sure that there is nothing left of the house and make it look like an accident.
Not sure what we’ll find upstairs, we move back-to-back through the large hallway.
I point Jax to the door at the end, which is the master bedroom and I move to the first bedroom to see if my friend Miller is inside.
The bed in this room is empty, so I back out and as I move to the second door a scream pierces the quiet.
Turning my back to the wall, I wait to see if one of the other two bedroom doors will open. I don’t have to wait long.
A big, burly guy in nothing but sweats, holding a gun, steps into the hallway and I level my barrel at his temple, “Stop.”
He freezes and holds his hands up, the gun dangling from his finger, in my ear I hear Jax, “I’ve got the boss, what do we do with the wife and kid?”
The wife and kid are an unwanted surprise.
“On my way.” I say to Jax, “Move.” I say to the guy in the hall and tip my head toward the master bedroom as I grab the gun from his hand, he has a scar on his neck, and excitement bubbles in my chest.
A baby starts crying as we step into the master bedroom, the boss is sitting on the side of his bed in his boxers with his hands up.
The wife is sitting up but still under the covers with them pulled up over her bare chest, her scream scared the baby in the crib in the sitting area and it’s screaming at the top of its lungs.
“On your knees.” I press my gun against the back of Miller’s head and wait for him to get down before I look at the woman, “Do you have access to a car?”
Her eyes flick to the man sitting on the edge of the bed and back to me before she nods her head.
Lifting the gun I took from Miller just moments ago, I point it at the wife, “Get the baby and get out, this place will be nothing but ash soon.”
Her hands are shaking, and she looks at the boss again, fear crossing her face, and then to Jax before she looks at me. She slides out from under the satin sheets, grabs her robe at the end of the bed to cover her naked body, and then runs to the laundry hamper close to the crib.
I look over to Jax, keeping her in my peripheral, who looks at me, while keeping the gun aimed in her direction to give her privacy as she slips on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt she pulls from the hamper.
She turns to me as she lifts the baby, “I want to get the money from the safe.”
“Don’t you dare, you fucking bitch.” The boss grinds out between clenched teeth.
Jax hits him on the forehead with his gun, “Shut up.”
She ignores him and starts bouncing the baby on her hip, her eyes locked on mine, “I’m not married to him, I never wanted to be here, if I don’t take the money from the safe, I have nothing.”