Page 43 of Stryker

“Care to explain?” Brickasked.

“The bastard’s crazy asthey come,” Stryker said.

“Oh brother, you wound mewhen you talk like that.” The prisoner smirked.

Stryker shook his head in disgust.“This fucker here is Raymond Witherson. When my mother remarried,the guy had a son, exhibit A right here. He was away at a boardingschool; a rich asshole who didn’t take too kindly to someone asbasic as me being in the picture.”

“You never talk about yourfamily,” Roman said.

“You never told them aboutme?” Raymond sneered.

“Why would I, you crazyfuck. My mother chose her rich new husband over me, which wasn’t sobad until I met my psychotic so-called stepbrother here. Who wasn’taway at boarding school but more of a reform retreat for troubledyouths.”

“Great,” Eliasgrumbled.

“I was eighteen then, soher decision expedited what I’d already planned and moved it intoreality. I signed up and shipped out,” Stryker explained. “Ishouldn’t have been shocked, given she wasn’t a family type ofperson. The group home she was in cured her of that.”

“Where does this assholecome into play?” Elias asked.

“That mission I went on,and the reason I didn’t join the team here in Fire Lake right aftergetting out of the Navy, is sitting in that cell.”

“You said you had aproblem to take care of.” Brick frowned.

“Yes. Him.” Stryker jerkeda thumb at the man behind the bars. “My mom outlived her newhusband. It’d been decades since I’d seen or spoken with her. I’mtold she regretted her decision to abandon me and, in her way,thought to make it up to me.”

“Make it up to you?” Brickasked.

“Tell them, brother. Tellthem how you stole what’s mine,” Raymond said through grittedteeth.

Stryker looked at the pathetic excusefor a human. “Trust fund baby over here has been in and out oftrouble his entire life.”

“Assaults, robbery,trespassing, theft, impersonation, forgery, just to name a few,”Spencer stated from behind his laptop. “Those are only thehighlights.”

“Real upstanding citizen,”Elias growled.

“I wouldn’t have beenforced to do those things if my father had given me what was mine.”Raymond slammed a hand against the bars.

“That’s it, blame everyoneelse for your shit,” Styker said in disgust. “In the end, Raymond’sfather left his fortune to my mother, who in turn left the bulk ofher fortune to me in her will when she died last year.”

“I’m sorry your motherdied,” Roman said softly.

“The bitch took my money,”Raymond said. “That money is mine, and I want it back.”

“So that’s where you went,to deal with your mother’s estate and this idiot in the cell,”Brick stated.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”Roman asked.

“Yeah, I wanted to dig upold history about how I wasn’t good enough for my mother’s new lifeor how she chose this other guy over her son. Those aren’tconversations I want to bring to the table.”

“I get it,” Brick said ashe placed his hand on Stryker’s shoulder. “We all have skeletonshanging in our closets, but we could have helped you. We’re family;we stick together.”

“Isn’t this so verytouching,” Raymond spat. “But if you ever want to see your loverboy again, you’ll hand over what’s rightfully mine.”

Stryker spun around so fast that theasshole didn’t have time to back up to a safe distance. He reachedthrough the bars, taking hold of Raymond’s neck in his onehand.

“You took John? Where ishe? What did you do with him?”

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