Page 96 of Believe In Us

“Scar, come on sweetie I need you to calm down okay. I can’t deal with you passing out again when I need to find my sister and my niece and nephew.”

“I just, she was so scared, Roman. She was so afraid for the babies.” I wrap my arms around her and Caeli, kissing her on the top of her head.

“It’s going to be okay. Bass and Ace are with Stephan. They called me when they were on their way to see him and asked me to come by.”

Scar pushes me back, her eyes suddenly going wide in surprise. “Stephan, it was him Roman, I know it was. Jade told me today that Stephan ambushed her the day the twins and Caeli were born. He offered her half a million dollars to leave. She didn’t take it, didn’t heed his warning, and now she’s gone. You know I’ve never believed in coincidences.”

I nod in agreement. We both know that nothing happens by chance, everything, and everyone we know has always been manipulated. “Stephan must have purposefully called the guys away so the two of you would be alone. He probably had them staking out the house, watching you. Skeet works for Kane Dalton, The Order must also be behind this, following orders from Stephan.”

“Roman we need to get a hold of them, I don’t even want to think about what they could be going through.”

I wrap my arms around her once again, trying to calm her down. Caeli is now fast asleep in her arms, looking like the little angel she is. “We will Scar, I promise. I know where The Order’s clubhouse is, I know where they took her.”

Chapter

Forty-Nine

BASS

“Ifucking knew it,” I mutter under my breath, as I pace back and forth my father’s office. “You know what, I should have expected it. This whole ploy you created, it’s fucking predictable. Come tonight son and I promise you I’m done with you. Help me close this deal with The Cobras and you are free to live your life the way you choose. Honestly I can’t believe I was so fucking stupid.”

My father sits behind his desk, casually rustling through the large stacks of cash we just picked up from our drug deal with The Cobras MC down in Pleasant Hills. When my father called me earlier, then texted both Ace and I when I ignored his calls, it was to demand our attendance for a deal we first put into play six months ago. Back when I still followed his orders. The Cobras have been trying to venture out of their gun trade ever since the recent and continuous gun violence has been inching closer to town. The daily shootings are putting a damper on business, andit’s time they cool things down before the Feds show up and start stirring shit up trying to link their guns to all the shootings.

Which is why my father decided to bring them in deeper with the drugs they already sell but have always refused to produce. Without guns, Zeke needs a source of income to keep his club up and running, and my father bet on that. It’s why we went, why my father sold The Cobras half a mil worth of Devil's Kiss to cook.

Of course that wasn’t enough for my greedy father, not after the millions he lost from his business deal gone wrong with Kinsley’s father. The casino they both had invested money into fell through the moment I discovered Carlyle was fucking broke, spending all the money he was supposed to put forth for the casino on his own gambling vice. The irony is truly poetic.

However, that complicated things, but since Kane was there the day Beck and I presented the deal to Zeke, he seized the opportunity and jumped on board the deal Ace and I set up. He followed us down to Killian’s tonight, claiming to have taken the lead in the months we’ve been absent. He brought in another half a million dollars’ worth of his drug TranQ, totaling in a million-dollar deal Ace and I will see nothing of. Talk about irony.

Of course Kane also followed us back to my father’s estate and is currently perched behind him watching our exchange like it’s the most entertaining thing he’s ever witnessed.

“I warned you son, you turned your back on me, on this family. I’m simply showing you the consequences of your decision.” My father stands, walking around his desk to stand before me with a wad of cash in his hand. “I once told you a little tale, a story of when your grandfather gave me a second chance. This was yours, but you failed me son. However, I’m a good man, despite what you may believe. I’m willing to give you a third.”

My laughter echoes through the hollow walls of the room at his blatant narcissism. “Is that what you think I want?” I chuckle loudly. “You are not, in any sense of the word, a good man, but I at least used to believe you were a smart one.”

His anger is visible in the way his body tightens, his eyes narrowing down to meet mine. “You underestimate me Sebastian, that isn’t smart. You think because you are my son, blood of my blood, that I won’t hesitate to end you. What good are you to me if you do nothing but embarrass our family legacy, dragging it through the mud as you cozy up with that whore.”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” I shout out, pouncing on him but his men who have been guarding the door like someone’s trying to break in instead of breaking out, pull me back just in time to spare him. Instead I spit at his feet, “Don’t you dare speak of her, Jade is worth more than you could ever imagine.”

“One hundred thousand,” he utters, handing me the stack of money in his hand.

“What the hell is this?” I sneer, not reaching out to take it.

His slate eyes watch me impassively, not an ounce of emotion in them. This is the monster who created me. The Victor Frankenstein to my hideous monster, and I'm Dr. Jeckle to his Mr. Hyde. “Your cut,” he states, as if it’s obvious. “Ace will receive the same. Though Jade was a bit more ambitious.”

I smack the cash out of his hand, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I had a nice little conversation with your whore at the hospital, right after she gave birth to my grandchildren. How are they by the way?”

“Stay the fuck away from my kids father, I am warning you,” I growl, pushing at his chest, but his men, well Kane’s soldiers step forward to grab me. However, my father surprises me, raising his hand to halt them.

“Don’t worry, those two are nothing of mine as I have no interest in them. I was already punished with you and then burdened with Stella. I’ve had my fair share of incompetence to last a lifetime.” He walks over to the bar, pouring himself a glass of bourbon. “But Jade on the other hand, was very eager to converse. She’s quite the negotiator.”

“I don’t know what you're playing at but Jade told me you went there to scare her away, telling her the same old age bullshit about us not fitting well together because of our class levels and status. I don’t care about any of that father.”

“Oh but she didn’t tell you the best part. Five-hundred-thousand dollars. That was her price tag. To leave you, to leave those little bastards you fathered. Honestly, I didn’t think she’d go for it at first, thought I was going to have to do some serious threatening but she took it in stride. Took the check and said she’d do it the moment I decided it was time.”

“You’re pathetic father, Jade’s been by my side this entire time. Those two bastards are my children and they mean the world to her, to both of us.”

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