Page 1 of Jared's Redemption

Chapter 1- Jared

I frown, watching my breath puff out in a huff. Amelia mimics my stance, perching her little gloved hands on her hips while she scrunches her brow in thought. I turn my head away, hiding my smirk to avoid incurring the wrath of her terrible twos. With the toe of my boot, I nudge the bright orange carrot closer to her through the snow and she squeals in delight, snatching it up and holding her arms out for me.

“Uncle Jaw-wed! Up!” she demands, grinning excitedly while bouncing on her toes. I chuckle and scoop her up, tossing her into the air before holding her up to the snowman’s giant round head. She proudly stabs the carrot into the middle of his lumpy face, clapping and bouncing in my arms.

“Oh, it’s perfect.” I say, holding her tight and looking at the monstrosity of a snowman we built. His arms are sticking out of the bottom snow mound, where Amelia insisted on climbing to stick the buttons on its chest and chin. She also gave him eyes on opposite sides of his head and asked me to give him cat ears. The two sad lumps on top of its head made her happy, and that’s all I cared about.

“Well, that’s the prettiest snowman I have ever seen.” Isabelle calls from the front door. I turn to see her covering her mouth to hide her smile while she looks at our creation. Amelia is the spitting image of her mother, except for the bright green eyes that come from both of her fathers. The dark brown hair twisted into a messy bun on Isabelle’s head lacks the bouncing curls that are currently peaking out from under the hood of Amelia’s coat.

“Mama! Uncle Jaw-wed help.” She calls excitedly, wriggling until I set her down and she runs to Isabelle. Her mother scoops her up and kisses her rosy cheeks while I follow, dusting as much snow off as I can.

“I can definitely see that Uncle Jared tried his best.” She snickers and I squint at her.

“Can it, Princess.” I huff, stepping inside after them and stomping my snow packed boots off beside the door. Isabelle peels off Amelia’s layers of winter gear I bundled her in and shakes her head as she removes both scarves.

“She couldn’t decide between the pink or purple one, so she wore both.” I shrug, winking at Amelia. She nods in agreement, giving me a thumbs up and almost falling over while Isabelle wrestles her boots off. I hang my coat up on a hook by the door, stuffing my gloves into the pocket and turn to see Markus coming from the kitchen with two steaming mugs in his hands.

“For my little love bug.” He coos to Amelia, handing his daughter a mug of hot chocolate overflowing with whip cream. He turns to me and holds out a cup of coffee, grinning before dropping a marshmallow on top.

“For my giant love bug.” He mockingly coos at me. Amelia finds it hilarious and almost drops her cup from laughing so hard. Isabelle tries to cover her chuckle with a cough as she ushers her daughter into the kitchen with us following behind.

Alec is sitting at the table, frowning at his phone and sipping coffee. Amelia slides her mug onto the table beside Alec’s and his entire demeanor changes. A bright smile lights his face, one he reserves for his daughter and wife, as he scoops her up, kissing the top of her head.

“Daddy, we made snowman.” Amelia excitedly says, licking the whipped cream from her sticky hands. Alec gives me a knowing look and I roll my eyes, nodding to his phone that is lying with the screen down on the table.

“Is it business?” I ask him. He frowns at the little girl he and Markus both father and then looks at Isabelle. She rolls her eyes and takes their daughter, kissing Alec with a shameless display of affection.

“Us ladies will go watch a Christmas movie then, while you boys talk about work.” She says. The unspoken agreement to keep both of them out of our screwed up world hangs in the air. Isabelle turns to Markus, leaning up on her toes to kiss him as he slaps her ass, making her squeal when she walks past him.

“You kids just can’t keep your damn hands to yourselves.” I grumble, sliding into the breakfast nook across from Alec. Markus grabs a stool from the bar and drops onto it next to us, raising his brow with a smirk.

“Isabelle has baby fever, and as her husbands, it’s our responsibility to give her everything she wants. Especially when what she wants is dick.” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively while I rub a hand over my tired eyes.

“Now that Amelia sleeps through the night, we’ve all got our energy back and she’s been insatiable.” Alec chuckles, throwing back the last of his coffee.

“Can we discuss work now? Put me outta my misery.” I groan, and Alec leans back in his seat and crosses his arms.

“Aden wants us all to sit down and talk. Steffen slipped up, and we finally caught wind of where he might be hiding out.” Alec says, worry laces his tone.

“He’s back in town.” I surmise, judging from the tension in Alec. He nods once, confirming my suspicions, and Markus’ hands curl into fists on his thighs.

“I’m going to rip his fucking heart out while it still beats for touching our girl.” Markus’ voice is crisp, calm and I raise a brow at him. I’ve seen him torture and maim countless men for less, and I know he means every word. Steffen kidnapped Isabelle years ago, blowing the Barone house apart and killing some of our men. None of us will forget the nightmare that ensued.

“Where?” I ask. Alec shakes his head and glances at the time on his phone.

“Aden will tell us everything when he gets here. All he told me was Steffen is in town and we need to strike before he makes a move or slips away again.” Just then, a bell chimes through the house and Markus shoots out of his seat so suddenly the stool falls over as he rushes to Isabelle and Amelia. I pull my gun from my waistband and follow him, just to see Isabelle roll her eyes as she holds her phone up.

The screen is of the security footage at the gate. Aden’s face is clear in the camera as he gives us a middle finger while leaning through his car window. Alec calls the security guards at the entrance of their property and instructs them to let Aden through.

“I heard you say he’s back.” Isabelle bites nervously at her lip, adjusting the sleeping Amelia in her arms as she looks nervously between the three of us. Alec sighs and pulls a blanket from the back of the couch to drape it around her and Amelia. I holster my gun, blowing out a breath as she looks at me expectantly.

“I’ll make him bleed for every tear you have shed.” Alec’s voice is so low I nearly miss his words as he tilts her chin up to look into her eyes.

“Nobody will ever take you from us again and he won’t get near our daughter. We will protect the both of you with our lives.” He vows, placing a kiss on her head before walking to the front door. Markus nearly dives onto her, burying his face in her neck and wrapping his arms around their sleeping daughter. Amelia grumbles and stirs, smiling sleepily at Markus.

“I’m going to lay her down for a nap,” Isabelle mutters, her nerves obviously on edge.

“Why don’t you take her to our bed and curl up with her? I’ll take care of dinner.” Markus suggests, helping her stand and taking Amelia into his arms. After their housekeeper and adoptive grandmother Mimi passed away, Isabelle spent nearly every evening at the stove. Markus and Alec both spent countless hours helping her learn Mimi’s recipes, so much so that they learned quite a few themselves.

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