Page 56 of Bound By Secrets

“Callie.” My voice is strangled, and I take a hesitant step towards her. She holds a hand up, halting my movements.

“I’m okay,” she says, wincing when she tries to smile.

“Please baby, will you stop saying you’re okay or fine all the god damned time?” Brad remarks. “We can all see that you’re not okay.”

Kat rushes towards her, arms outstretched in front of her, ready to pull Callie into a hug. Before Kat reaches her, Callie takes a step back, shaking her head.

“Please, don’t. I’d love to hug you all right now but I can’t. My body hurts.”

“What the hell happened?” Brad asks, swinging his gaze toward the twins and Ryker.

“My brother is what bloody happened, lad,” Johnny grumbles as he strolls back into the room with my dad following closely behind. When my father spots Callie, his steps falter, and his jaw drops open.

He quickly recovers from his shock, clearing his throat.

“I know you all likely have a lot of questions and a lot of things to talk about, so I’ll make this quick, but I need to talk to Callie, Connor and Callum for a moment before I leave,” he states, his gaze sweeping between all three of them.

I hear Callie’s sharp intake of breath from behind me and I watch as Connor shifts uncomfortably from his seated position.

“What is it? Is something wrong? Has something happened?” Callie asks, walking further into the kitchen until she’s by my side, her eyes locked onto my father.

“No, no, nothing’s wrong,” he assures her, shaking his head. “I just wanted to explain to you all about what’s going to happen now that your father is gone. I’ll be putting a few things into place.”

Callie shifts beside me, her arm brushing against mine. She looks up at me, her worried eyes flickering across my face as she entwines her hand with mine. I smile down at her and she sighs before turning back to my father, waiting for him to continue.

“Your mother and Crystal will be moved to a different safe house tonight. They will stay under protection until your father is caught. As for you kids, I could put you all into witness protection as-”

“With Mum?” Callum asks, interrupting my father. He shakes his head and cringes.

“No, I’d put you three into a different-”

“No,” Connor growls. My father huffs in frustration at being interrupted again. “We’ll stay here.”

“Well, Johnny told me that you’d say that. So, if you want to stay here, I will have a police car outside at all times with two officers. They’ll be there to watch over the house, they will also follow you to and from college and anywhere else you may go.” He pauses, waiting to see if anyone has any objections, and when no one speaks up, he continues.

“I have already been alerted by one of my colleagues that your father has been caught on CCTV an hour out of town. We will be tracking him and keeping tabs on him. So far, it looks like he’s only with Paul, but we’ll be trying to find the others as well. I’ll leave my card here for you all so that you have my contact information. If you have any evidence or if you need anything, you only call me, no one else, because your father has a lot of corrupt people on his side and I’m not sure who we can trust just yet.”

Everyone nods along with him, listening to every word that he’s saying.

“Fraser has told Johnny and Ryker a lot of information, so I will be having a team go to every warehouse that Fraser knows about so that we can hopefully find something. Callie, I will also need a statement from you and if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like pictures of the injuries you’ve sustained tonight.”

“Yes, of course, I can do that. I also have the letter to give you.” She squeezes my hand before releasing it and then hobbles out of the room.

My father turns to face Callum and Connor. “I understand from the note that you left for me that you have committed a few crimes over the past few years and that your father has proof of those crimes. I’d like to inform you that I will make sure neither of you will be convicted for anything you may have done. I would like for you both to tell me anything that you may know about your father and his business, though. Every little thing you knowor find out will help put him behind bars, hopefully for the rest of his life.”

Connor stiffly nods and grunts in agreement. Callum on the other hand, walks over to him and holds his hand out for a shake.

“Thank you. I really appreciate everything you’re doing for us.”

My dad shakes his hand and then turns to Johnny, his eyes flicking over to Ryker as well. “You did well with doctoring the video, but to be safe, I’ll be sending it to a friend of mine so that I can be sure neither of you will be implicated from it.” He walks over to the kitchen side and places a card down with his name and contact information.

“Does anybody have any questions?”

“Yeah, when are you going to be home again?” Kat asks, frowning at my father. He sighs and slides his hands into his pockets.

“I’m not sure, Kitty Kat. Hopefully, it won’t be too long.”

Callie walks back into the room then with teary eyes and a folded piece of paper in her hands. She walks over to my dad and holds it out to him, quietly thanking him when he takes it from her.

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