Page 20 of Jericho

"Eli will be punished for this," she whispers, another sob escaping her throat.

Part of me wants to do her bidding. She's clearly a distraught mother wanting to protect her child, but not having one in the first fucking place would've been the best recourse.

"There is another team in Connecticut that is getting your son," I tell her as I stand barefooted and grab my go-bag so I can change my wet fucking socks and get a dry pair of boots.

"Is he getting all the kids?"

I snap my head in the driver's direction. "What the fuck did you just say?"

Jersey stands from his spot on the sofa and walks closer to the driver. "He has more kids."

The man swallows, and I can see the fear in his eyes, and it's not there because of us. It's there because of Damien fucking Gaines.

"Your silence right now isn't protecting you from anything," I growl when it's clear the man isn't going to speak.

"Samuel?" Aspen whispers. "He has more children?"

I can hear the disbelief in her tone. She had no idea about this.

"My daughter," the man says. "He has Sabrina."

Another sob escapes Aspen's mouth, and I see the same fear in Samuel's eyes that I've witnessed in hers.

"It's how he keeps us working," Samuel continues. "We aren't supposed to talk about it, but I know for a fact he has at least ten if not more kids. All are employees' children, and then, of course, Eli."

"How long has he had them?" I ask, wondering if this is something new.

"I haven't seen my daughter in person in almost two years, and it's been six months since I've been able to speak to her on the phone."

I look back at Aspen, and the look on her face tells me what I need to know.

"My father knew about this?"

Samuel glares at her as if she's been part of the problem this entire time.

"Your father is the one who ordered her to be taken."

Aspen shakes her head, instantly rejecting his words. I can't believe after the life she's lived and the things she has witnessed that she'd even think for a second that her fatherwould be innocent in all of this. Blood related or not, the man was evil. He'd do anything to protect his safety and his empire.

"My father loved Eli," she says.

Samuel just glares at her rather than arguing.

"Eli gets to come home twice a year. Sabrina and the other kids don't get to do that. Macy hasn't seen her son in four years."

Aspen drops her head into her hands as she cries.

"Enough," I growl at the man. "Clearly she didn't fucking know what was going on."

I catch the look on Jersey's face from the corner of my eye and I know I'm reacting in the way a man who is too close to this situation would act, not like a man working a job.

I turn my attention back to Aspen, waiting until she looks back up at me before I speak.

"You have to keep our son safe," she pleads.

"We'll do everything we can to ensure your son's safety."

She swallows, her throat working as she shakes her head. "Yourson."

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