Page 5 of Peaceful Chaos

Breaking Free

Sin

I slipout of the room while Lucien, Ted, and Shane get ready to leave to find a house. It's yet another thing someone else is doing to take care of my wife, and it adds to the fire burning inside me. Once again I find myself trapped in a house paid for by Blackthorne money. It's almost more than I can bear.

My phone dances across the night stand. I grab it and see I've missed several calls from my mother. For reasons I can't explain, I take the call.

"Carina," I greet her, not yet ready to call her Mom.

"Oh, Jackson! I've been calling all morning. Your father told me what happened yesterday. How are you holding up?"

I sigh. She's relentless, but perhaps I'm not as upset about it as I thought I would be. "It wasn't the first time I've seen someone killed. Not even the second. I'm fine. It's Raven I'm worried about."

"Yes, of course you are. Darling, won't you consider bringing her here? We can protect you both at our home."

"I appreciate that." I'm surprised to find I actually mean it. "Are you both willing to accept her then?" Damnit, why do I sound like a child seeking his mother's approval?

"Your father and I have made a lot of mistakes. One of them was trying to force you to be someone you aren't."

I pinch the bridge of my nose and try to breathe through a sudden pain in my chest. This is what I want, for them to see me, the real me. But why does it hurt so bad?

My voice breaks when I try to speak. I clear my throat and try again. "I know I'm not who you wanted me to be. I've done things you'll never be able to forgive. I'm a monster, and I know it's hard to accept."

Her end of the line is eerily quiet, until I hear her softly sobbing. "No," she murmurs. "No," she repeats in a stronger voice. "You're not a monster, you're still my little boy. My angel. But, you've become an avenging angel, and you're going to bring the world down on top of Damien Blackthorne."

I smile hearing the fury in her tone. Perhaps I've got more in common with her than I first thought. "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to live up to that. Damien thinks he's broken us, and he has to continue thinking that for a while. My hands are tied with the bullshit rules of the FBI. They expect us to sit around and watch while they try to string Damien up for his crimes. I don't like sitting around waiting."

"So don't," she replies.

"That's easier said than done. His money pays for our house, and it will buy his way out of any crime they manage to pin on him. There's only one thing that will stop him—" I stop myself before I tell her my ultimate plan is to murder my father-in-law.

"I hope it doesn't come to that. I know you've killed, and no one deserves a bullet more than that asshole. Don't tell your father, but I've been digging through the files he has on that man. I'd like for nothing more than for him to rot in an unmarked grave, but I hope for your sake it isn't your hand that sends him there. That said, if you get a shot, take it."

I chuckle. "You don't have to worry about that. What we all need to focus on is making sure he does not win this race. I'm sorry I've already done so much damage to Arthur's campaign."

She makes a clucking sound. "He's fought hard campaigns before. Don't count him out just yet. You aren't the only fighter in the family."

Family is an odd concept for me to understand. Growing up believing I was sold to Damien, it seemed like a dirty word. I suppose not an impossible one to grasp though. Isn't that exactly what Lucien and I found when we took his sister that night and ran?

"Jackson, I mean, Sin," she starts, and I smile realizing she really is trying. "I think I can help. You need to get out from Damien's control right now, so what if I gave you access to your trust fund?"

"My what?" I sputter.

"Your father isn't the one with the money in this family. When you were born, my father set up a trust for you. I can't give you the full amount until you turn twenty-five, but I can open the allowance you were supposed to get every month since you turned sixteen. I always believed I'd find you again, so I've been investing that money in a separate trust. It should be enough for you to purchase a home."

"What kind of money are we talking here?" I ask.

"Well, I'd have to speak to the financial manager to be sure, but I think it should be just around five million dollars."

"What business is your family in?" That's a lot of money to be throwing at a teenager.

"Oh, my boy. You aren't the only one with skeletons in the closet. My father is Gabriel Perez. Have you heard of him?"

"Founder of Soldiers of Chaos? Aren't they a black ops group?"

"Honestly? I never wanted to know. My father is a hard man, but mostly an honorable one. He might work on the questionable side of the law, but as far as I know he's always worked to stay within at least the spirit of it. He became a much harder man after my younger sister was murdered."

"I had no idea," I mumble.

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