Page 81 of Rebellion of a Kingdom

He stalks toward us and gives her a big smile, “princess.” He beams at her and then nods hello to the guys before looking at me, “we need to talk.”

No good ever comes from hearing those four words. I force the swallow of my burger down my throat and wipe my mouth with my napkin. Ash nods that he’s got Cassie and I follow Lincoln to the corner of the diner. He hands me a file and when I open it there is a picture of a little girl. Her name is Sofia Decker and she’s seven years old.

“Should I know who this is?” I ask, my stomach curdling in anticipation and terror, wondering where he is going with handing me a file of a beautiful little girl.

“That is the adopted daughter of Gerry and Ava Decker.” He confirms. I frown in confusion and when I don’t say anything, he adds, “turn to page seven.”

I flip the pages and scan the words until I am a third of the way down and right where the birth parents are listed, I see a familiar name. Trisha Conrad.

"Jace's Mom?" I ask to pointlessly confirm, because he wouldn't be bringing it to me for any other reason. "Jace has a little sister." I whisper to myself in both despair and hope. Jace has a little sister. A sister he knows nothing about. A sister who looks well and cared for. This could change everything, change him. Bring him back from the path of destruction he's now on. This could be exactly what we need to save him.

I close the file and sigh, because as much as this could help him, I know he's not ready for it. At least, not right now. I look at Lincoln and I can tell he feels the same. He sees the way Jace is, barely sleeping, never eating, drinking, smoking, and taking God knows what. He's in a bad place and we need to handle this carefully.

"Get me everything on them…" I start, but he smiles, and I shake my head knowing he will have already done that, so I change course. "I want to meet with them, explain the situation and prepare them for what has to happen."

Lincoln’s nodding before I even finish speaking, "I'll reach out to the dad, he works for a charity for foster children born to drug addicted parents." He explains and all it does is remind me of Jace’s shitty past, and think how lucky his little sister is to have escaped it.

I feel eyes on us as he talks and when I look up, I find Asher staring at us. No. not at us, at Lincoln. Watching him like he is analyzing him. I flick my gaze back to Lincoln, but he must have followed my stare because now he’s staring back at Asher.

Breaking into the tension I speak, "Keep me updated." I flick the file back open and stare down at the picture of the little girl again. Now I know who she is, I can see the resemblance. She’s got his hazel eyes and her blonde hair is the same shade as his. I hope she can be reason enough to save him. I hand the file back to Linc and we walk back over to the table. We all finish our dinner listening to Cassie tell us about some ridiculous dinosaur game she played with Logan and we can't help but laugh.

Once we are finished eating, I have one more thing I want to do today, and I look at Cassie. "Baby, daddy is going to take you home okay. I've got to go somewhere."

She smiles easily, all that darkness from before Christmas forgotten. "Okay mommy." I lean down and give her a kiss and a cuddle before Ash scoops her up into his arms.

"Catch you at home, Hells Bells." He says to me, then nods to Marcus and then awkwardly lingers on Lincoln before just turning and walking away. Weird.

Lincoln watches them leave, then nods at us, taps the file in his hand, and goes on his way.

"And where may I ask, are we going?" Marcus flips me round and leans down to drop a kiss to my lips.

I smile into it before pulling back, "It's a surprise."

I slide in the back seat having already given my destination to the driver. Marcus slips in next to me and we go on our way. Marcus is silent until we make it to the road leading up North Hill.

"Ells, where are we going?"

"I told you, it's a surprise."

I don't say anything else until we pull into the gates of Marcus' old house. His grip on my hand tightens and we move down the driveway until we are stopping in front of the steps.

I turn to him and squeeze his hand back. "Just don't say anything yet, okay?"

He looks between the house and me before nodding. I take a deep breath and step out of the car and he follows close behind. I lead him up the steps and quickly type the code into the security pad that Max had one of his guys set up, and the doors beep open. We step inside and I lead him into the middle of the foyer, so we can see into the rooms that surround it.

I've spent the last three months having the whole place restored and renovated, and I did it for him.

I turn so I can stand in front of him, but I can't decipher the look in his eyes, so I take another deep breath.

"I know you might not want to live here, after what happened to Michael, but that is just one memory. This place is filled with a million other good memories and someone deserves to make some more here." He looks over the entire place in silence, and I can feel the pangs of regret starting to circle inside of me. "This house was always more of a home to me and well, I just thought… I just wanted to give it the chance to create new memories. Even if they aren't ours."

He finally brings his eyes to mine and I see unshed tears dancing behind them. "Ells," he breathes out, "baby I don't know what to say. It looks beautiful. I never imagined… I never even thought." He shakes his head. "I love it. Thank you."

He cups my cheeks and uses his hands to tip my head so he can kiss me. The kiss is everything it always is. Passionate, heart fulfilling and completely and utterly soul destroying.

When he pulls back, he gives me that heartbreaking smile of his and my stomach rolls, like always, at the fact that he's mine. "That's not all." I manage to whisper out.

I take his hand and lead him through the house to the garage and once there I switch on the light. Standing in the center of the room is a black bike. An exact replica to the one he lost in the fire.

---