Page 12 of Fight

“Deme?” Robbie gasps as all the women in the room rush toward Demelza.

“Well, fuck me sideways, Gerald. How the hell are you?” Dexter grins, striding forward and shaking his hand before giving up and just pulling him in for a manly hug.

The guys and I move over to one of the vacated couches and take a seat, all of us smiling as we watch them all joyful reunion. My emotions take a leap when Mason Sr and Lillian realise that their granddaughter is there, and it’s evident from the emotional reaction that they thought she was dead as well.

“They deserve this,” Rip mutters from beside me, his eyes still watching the grandparents.

“Definitely,” Rome replies.

They start to catch each other up on the short versions of where they’ve all been and what happened, and none of the others are surprised that Demelza and Gerald needed to get away from the town, not only because of the memories that the place held but also because they needed to try and find their son. My grandparents are absolutely fucking livid that they were kept in the basement. Demelza starts to rant about everything she should’ve done to Silas when she got hold of him, the other women joining in with their own bloodthirsty suggestions.

I watch curiously as Gerald turns to the men and says just loud enough for me to hear, “If any of you need any sort of therapy, let me know, I know a good one that is incredibly discreet that will be able to help.”

Hugo nods, his worried eyes on his wife as he says, “Thank you, we might take you up on that.”

My heart swells with emotion for him, Gerald has always been amazing to me, and I have to admit that now I’ve had time to adjust, I’m incredibly proud to have him in my family.

Eventually, the mini catch-up is over, and Dexter gets everyone back on track as he asks, “Okay, what’s the plan for Daniel then?”

I’m assuming Daniel is the twin's father, but I’m not entirely sure, that is until Mason leans over and confirms that he is.

Gerald replies, “Well, we need to see what he’s up to. The last I checked, he was hunkered down and sending his staff after the kids fairly regularly. He’s pretty well protected and has upped his security by a lot.”

“You’re killing him?” Cecil asks, for once sounding serious.

I share a look with the guys, hoping that they understand my meaning.

“Actually, Jynx has a solution that would work without us having to kill him while still ensuring that he gets the maximum punishment for everything that he’s done so far,” Rome suggests interrupting Gerald.

All of the grandparents look at me curiously, and Gerald smiles as he replies, “Oh, what’s your solution?”

“I think that we should extract him alive if we can, and then I’ll call in a favor, and ensure that he ends up in a maximum security prison for the rest of his life,” I tell them plainly, I decided that I very much want to keep the two sides of my family separate for the moment so I’d rather not tell this room full of veritable strangers that my uncle, is a criminal boss and involved with a secret branch of the government. It’s just safer for everyone involved.

“I like that idea,” Hugo is the first one to respond.

“So do I. It’s smart and ensures that he suffers for a long time like he made his children suffer,” Lillian practically spits, her anger at her son palpable.

“How reliable is this person that you’re calling in a favor with?” Dexter asks, thinking of the logistics and how reasonable it would be to get this done.

I smile, “I trust him with my life, and other than my guys, my contact is the only one I truly trust with my life.”

Of course, Wave’s, Micha, Atlas, and Alaric are in there, too, but for the sake of proving a point, I decide to leave it as it is.

Dexter inclines his head with a small smile and replies, “That’s good enough for me. Is everyone in agreement that we try to extract him and let Jynx take care of the rest?”

Everyone, to my surprise, nods, placing a lot more faith in me than I thought they would considering they’ve just met me.

Rome interrupts whatever Dexter is about to say next as he adds, “We’d like to be the ones that extract him. The twins have knowledge of the house that will prove valuable, and this is what we do.”

Dexter smiles, “Forgive me, but I just assumed that you would be doing the extraction. We’re not as spritely as we’d like to be, and we’re also out of practice.”

Demelza smiles as I look at her to make sure that she’s okay with it as well. She is, after all, the one that started all of this.

“I agree,” she starts, and then talking directly to me, says, “You’re grandfather has filled me in on how capable you are, and I have no doubt that you can handle this. I’m not getting any younger, and I have a feeling that extracting Daniel is going to take more than I’ve got. I would hate to mess up an opportunity to extract him just because of pride.”

I smile, appreciating her words and feeling incredibly grateful that she’s here and I get a chance to get to know her properly. After all, I have said that I’ve wanted to get to know her more times than I can count over the last few months.

“I want in,” Malory announces, her eyes hard.

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