Page 50 of Cade

It took him nearly ten minutes to fully explain everything to his friends. He left nothing out, including the fact that he was pretty sure his father had been the one to tell April’s work that she was pregnant. She didn’t need that job anyway, but he didn’t like seeing her upset.

“What the fuck?” Jake was the first to speak. “I always hated your father, but I think he’s off his rocker.”

“Definitely could use a mental evaluation,” Evan agreed. “Does dementia run in your family?”

Cade shrugged. He didn’t know, but he hoped not.

“You knew this whole time who was behind all of this and didn’t think to tell any of us?” Luke demanded.

“Knock it off,” Ryker told him.

“No. I’m not going to knock it off. You put them through a lot of shit because you didn’t want to tell us and now you want us to help you?”

“What is wrong with you?” Evan asked, just as shocked as Cade as the outburst.

“What is wrong with you?” Luke countered. “You’re just going to sit here and take this shit? He’s been lying to us!”

Luke stood and stormed out, slamming the door when he did. Cade looked around and everyone else who appeared just as lost as he was.

“We can deal with that shit later,” Ryler finally said. “I’m not unpacking a bunch of feelings because the kid is acting like a fucking idiot.”

“Awe, no one asked about your feelings, big guy,” Cade teased.

Ryker grunted and everyone laughed.

“Okay, back to business. What can we do to help?” Evan asked.

“I don’t even know. I am all up for ideas or anything you think that might help me find him or get him to stop this shit.”

“I have a guy that does this kind of thing,” Ryker said.

Cade bit back a smile. “I know. He hasn’t found him yet either.”

“What the fuck. Y’all know I’m the one paying him, right? And it’s not to do any of your and your sister’s shit.”

“I can’t speak for her, but it was more of a side job. I was paying him,” Cade said, knowing it wouldn’t make Ryker feel any better about the situation.

“At this point, I think he’s community property,” Evan added. “I’ve hired him too.”

“What the fuck?” Cade growled. “Get your own employees.”

“Awe, but you have the best one for that stuff,” Jake pretended to pout.

The room broke out into laughter at Ryker’s face. After a few minutes, they mostly had themselves under control and returned to the reason they were all here.

The conversation went better than Cade had expected, and they called Lauren in for perspective. It took a few minutes to catch her up and then ask for her opinion.

“When my mom does these things, it’s all motivated by money. I don’t think I’d be much help in sorting out your father, unfortunately. Can I say now that I never liked him?” Lauren made a face.

“Maybe we need to find out who else would need the money enough to do these things for him?” Jake said.

It was as good a place as any to start. The problem was that there were too many options if they worked that way. The amount of money that everyone in the room had at their disposal meant that pretty much everyone was a suspect.

They discussed it for a while and always came back to the same result, nothing. The options were too broad or non-existent.

“You said your mother is in town?” Ryker asked.

“Showed up right after Catherine told her about the baby,” Cade confirmed.

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