The sound of sirens cut my statement short as well as what sounded like a gunshot. El Lobo’s men started to disperse, backing away with their weapons still trained on me and my men.

  “You call the guripas (police)?” El Lobo railed. “I should wax you right here.”

  I took offence to that and made a step in his direction. “Why would I do that?”

  “Let’s bounce!” El Lobo’s right wing man shouted.

  The sirens got louder as the men fidgeted. El Lobo lowered his weapon and backed away. His men followed, keeping their weapons aimed. As soon as they disappeared into their vehicles and burned the pavement, I and my men did the same.

  “Damn it!” I shrieked as soon as I settled into the back seat of the car with Tundra at the wheel. “Gage, you’re a dead bastard!”

  After a few minutes of me getting some control over my emotions, I took my cell phone from my jacket pocket and dialed the number of a friend who owed me a favor. Jack answered right away. In the background I could hear sounds as though someone was getting punched. I also heard muted cries and groans.

  “Jack, I need a man to do a job.”

  “Who’s your target?”

  “My brother Gage. I want a clean job, no mess.”

  There was a few second’s silence. “I’ll call you back in twenty minutes.”

  I knew Jack would come through for me, therefore I leaned back and closed my eyes. I could imagine the announcement over the news. Gage Wilder found dead floating in the Great River ... or some similar headline. That would be the happiest day of my life.

  Tundra’s voice broke through my musings. “Where he heading boss?”

  “Take me to my hotel. We’ll head home tomorrow.”

  8 – Rayne

  “You’re playing a dangerous game Gage. You don’t know what your brother is capable of,” I warned. “Don’t get me caught in the middle.”

  Gage took my wrist and pulled me up from the bed. He grabbed my robe and shoved it into my arms. He then proceeded to shove me towards the door. I braced against his hand but forgot how strong he was. His palm on my bare skin was sending electrical charges through me. I’d forgotten what a real man’s touch felt like, what it was like to feel the fire deep in my core. Gage reignited a fire in me that I had long ago doused and Leroy trampled on.

  “You already got caught in the middle when you married him,” he sneered. “Now get out.”

  “Are you throwing me out of the house in the middle of the night?”

  “Count your lucky stars that I am not that callous. You might be of some use to me, so you may stay here, in one of the guest rooms.”

  “You can’t do this Gage, Leroy will…”

  He grabbed my upper arm tightly. I could see the ferocious beast threatening to let loose. His jaw clenched tightly as he obviously was trying his best to rein in his temper. With nostrils flaring and his lips curled back, for the first time I was scared of Gage.

  “You utter his name once more and I might do something I’ll regret. Leroy no longer lives here or own you.”

  “You don’t understand Gage,” I tried to reason with him. “You don’t understand.”

  “What you don’t seem to understand is that I am back and intend to reclaim all that’s mine.”

  My heart twisted in my chest. “Including me?”

  “Only if it’s beneficial for me,” he retorted. “Right now it seems convenient. When I am done with you, you can disappear and never return for all I care.”

  The rush of air that hit my face as the door slammed had me reeling back. I stood there, seeing a different side of Gage for the first time. I knew he would be tougher coming out of prison, but he had a cruel side I never thought I’d see in him. He had been such a loving gently soul, always kind and caring when we were together.

  All I now saw was loathing from a man who once thought of me as his life. Now I couldn’t blame him. I’d allowed his brother to not only manipulate, but intimidate me as well. I knew I was weak and I didn’t want to be, but if I pushed back against Leroy, I didn’t want to imagine the outcome. I winced as my mind went back to five years ago when Leroy invited me to dinner as my brother in law.

  “I know you’re hurting because of my brother. Come have dinner and let’s talk about how we can work together to get him out of that hell hole.”

  The dinner itself had been fine, but what happened afterwards had my blood running cold in my veins. It had seemed strange that the restaurant had been deserted except for us and those working the kitchen. The dim lights caused me to think that Leroy had some romantic notion about the two of us.

  We dined alone, being served by men I thought looked more like bouncers than waiters. We talked about Gage and how unfortunate it was that he’d been sent to prison after such a short trial. All through dinner he was the perfect gentleman until we finished our desert and then things took a bizarre turn.

  “The food was delicious, Leroy. Thank you for this evening,” I said, dabbing my lips and setting my napkin down. “But why did you have the restaurant closed?”

  Reaching across the table, he took my hand. “Because I needed to ask you something.”

  “Yes, ask me.”

  “I know you love Gage, but he’s not coming back from prison, Rayne.”

  Shaking my head vigorously, I contradicted him. “No, he’s coming back. He has to.”

  “No he’s not. I know he’s not.”

  “How do you know that?”

  He chuckled. “Don’t worry about how I know. What I want to ask you is this. Will you marry me?”

  I snatched my hand away. “What?”

  “Marry me.”

  “Are you out of your mind? I love Gage and he’s your brother.”

  “Then you give me no choice,” he said.

  The legs of the chair craping against the tiled floor as he arose, sent chills up my spine. His steel grey eyes hardened as his face tightened. Leroy came around to my side of the table, gripped my shoulders rather tightly and leaned into my ear. His voice was as steel as he whispered.

  “You have no choice if you want your brother and your precious Gage to live.”

  My brother? He knew where my brother was? My heart started beating heavily as I began to realize that Leroy wasn’t who he appeared to be on the outside. I tried to shrug him off, but his fingers dug into my shoulders painfully.

  “I will show you just how serious I am,” he continued. “Come with me.”

  I was forced to my feet as his grip on me tightened and began to cramp my shoulders. He kept his hold on me as he guided me through the dining area. We passed through the kitchen and went down a basement.

  The place was damp and cold. A single bulb overheard hung from a string. A man was sitting in a chair much like you would see in the movies. The whole thing was surreal to me. I felt that I was caught in some kind of drama. The way Leroy dressed in his white suit, matching shoes and all, his dark brown hair slicked back and his always having an unlit cigar reminded me of mafia movie.

  I blinked, thinking this was all a dream and that I’d wake up in Gage’s arms and everything would be okay. Leroy pushed me forward as a man stepped from the shadows with a baseball bat. He was wearing a badly soiled t-shirt and jeans.

  “Do it,” Leroy instructed. “And you my dear Rayne will watch.”

  “No,” I cried. “Take me home now.”

  “Shut up,” he roared. “You will leave when I say so.”

  I heard the bone crack before I realized what was happening. The man with the bat slammed the man on the chair at the side of his head. The man’s head lolled to the side, his eyelids drooping. Another hit with the bat and the man’s head snapped back.

  ‘Stop it!” I shrieked, trying my best to free myself from Leroy’s grasp.

  “That’s what will happen to Gage in prison. In fact as we speak, a few of my buddies are paying him a visit.”

  A tremor passed through me as my blood curdled. “No, you can’t hurt him.”

  With all the strength I could muster and twisted from his grip, turned and landed an open palm on his cheek. A second later, a back hand swiped against my cheek, sending me reeling on my ass.

  Coming to stand over me as I sat on the floor of that murky basement, he made himself clear. “From now on, Rayne Brubaker, you belong to me.”

  The entire night, I was in fear, unable to sleep. I didn’t know where my brother was. He just disappeared after going off to Detroit to work. Now, Leroy was threatening his life as well as Gage’s. The following morning I went to the prison to make sure Gage was okay, hoping that Leroy had been bluffing. I was told that he was in the infirmary due to a fight and I was unable to see him.

  For the next three months, I lived in fear not for my own life, but for the life of those I loved. When next I saw Gage, a scar was on his face running along his right cheek. It did not make him look any less handsome. In fact, it added a little more machismo to his already very masculine appearance.

  I tried to hold on as long as I could. Even after receiving that fake letter from Gage, I tried to see him but was told he didn’t want to see me. It was when Leroy showed me a video taken on someone’s phone of Gage being beaten, I lost my nerve. I could no longer resist what Leroy demanded. It was my life for Gage’s and I was willing to give all I had to save him.

  9 – Gage

  I took the weapon apart, cleaned it and put it back together three times. That was overkill, I knew. But being in the same house with Rayne, with her sleeping in the room next to mine was wreaking havoc on my nerves.

  I should just throw her out and forget she ever existed, but I would not go back on my promise to strip my brother of everything her owned, especially the things he took from me. Whether I would keep them when I was done remained to be seen.

  Picking up the gun again, I aimed at the wall separating us, briefly closing my eyes as I envisioned her naked body curled up in bed. With the heat in the high nineties, she would be wearing a lace underwear and nothing else.

  My finger itched to squeeze the trigger as the contempt I felt for her boiled over. How could she have done this? The love we shared, was it all a lie? But the contents of that letter came back to me and the realization that she allowed Leroy to manipulate her. Even if she thought I’d written that letter, it was no reason to just marry Leroy, and so soon afterwards.

  “Damn it!”

  Lowering the weapon, I set it on the nightstand and walked to the window overlooking the back lawns. That was a mistake. Memories were a hell of a thing. No matter how I tried to wipe my mind of them, they refused to leave me alone. Our walks, kisses in the rain picnics and us ravaging each other in the freshly cut grass assailed my mind.

  Stomping away from the window I came back to the bed. My eyes settled on the closet door which was slightly ajar. My initial intention was to close it, but I found myself tearing it open to view it contents.

  Rage overwhelmed me at seeing not only Leroy’s clothes hanging there but Rayne’s as well. I began pulling them out and dumping them on the floor. I’d finished tossing them out of the compartment which used to house mine and Rayne’s clothes when I saw the small wooden music box I’d gifted her.

  I picked it up and was about to toss it against the wall when the lid opened and something fell out. picked up a folded piece of paper. Setting down the box on the bed, I turned over the document. I wondered if perhaps it was another letter that Leroy forged with my handwriting. When I unfolded the document, my eyes narrowed as I perused the contents.

  My entire body went cold as the blood drain from my head. Weakness overcame me as I read and reread the contents again. Like a hot potato, I dropped the document and walked to the window. After a few seconds I came back, picked up the paper and read its contents once more. I found myself pacing the room, trying to decipher what I just read.

  Again, I read it more slowly, unable to comprehend it. For a moment, I stared at the piece of paper in my hand. Moments’ elapsed while I paced the room, my brain in tizzy. Half hour later, I found myself moving towards the door, my feet carrying me like an automaton. Like a zombie, I moved down the passage and was at the guest bedroom door, my mind now racing with many thoughts. My anger for her had not diminished. In fact, it multiplied to the point where I wanted to strangle her.

  “Rayne!” I slammed my fist against the door. “Rayne!”

  The door opened suddenly with Rayne standing there in a baby blue underwear and a t-shirt that barely covered her navel. Her full round breasts wrestled against the tight garment. My eyes settled on them for a moment before cruising the rest of her five feet five inches frame.

  “What do you want Gage,” she asked, her voice cold.

  I raised my eyes to hers and noticed the red rims and puffiness. Had she been crying? I stepped closer, my anger dissipating for a moment. She backed away, holding her hand up.

  “What do you want Gage?” she asked again. “It’s late.”

  Pushing aside my concern over her countenance and the tone of her voice I shoved the document toward her. “What’s this?”

  She snatched the paper from me, her face losing some color. “Have you been going through my things?” she demanded.

  “Where is my son?”

  Ignoring me, she countered with a question of her own. “Is that the only thing you found?”

  “Answer my question, Rayne. Where is my son?” heat flushed my entire body as rage rippled through me. “You had my child and didn’t think to inform me?”

  “Stop it, Gage!” she shrieked. “Just shut the fuck up and answer me. Did you find anything else?”

  “What else do I need to find? This is a birth certificate with my name on it as father of your child.”

  Grabbing my arm she started pulling me towards my bedroom. “Come with me, now.”

  I followed her as I needed answers. “This better be damn good.”

  When we reached the bedroom she started towards the closet then paused upon seeing the clothes piled on the floor. Her eyes blazed with fury. She stepped over the pile of clothes and marched towards the closet when she turned, her eyes settling on the music box on the bed. She came back, picked it up and opened it wide.

  A look of anguish crossed her face. Pursing her lips, she reached inside the box with a tremoring hand. Gently sitting the box on the bed, she raised her eyes to me before coming to stand within inches. Holding up the document she now gripped tightly in her palm she shoved it under my nose.

  “This is a fucking death certificate!” She then snatched the certificate and bunched it up, tossing it into my face. “A death certificate … you hear me?” her voice was high pitched and bordering on hysterical.

  “Is that why you married him?” was all I could think to ask. “Because you were pregnant and I wasn’t there?”

  Her response was short and clipped. “No.”

  I choose not to believe her as all I was now thinking was her pain. Was she still grieving? That why she was crying?

  “I’m sorry you had to go through this without me,” I said, losing some of my earlier bolster. “I can’t imagine what a mother goes through losing a child.”

  She straightened her shoulders, he voice regaining some amount of verve. “I did not lose my child.”

  “But you said…”

  “My child was taken … taken from me!”

  Puzzled at her response I stared into her eyes. “What do you mean he was taken?”

  “There’ no point hiding the truth from you now,” she replied. Her voice softened as tears welled in her eyes and she sniffed. “He didn’t die. That bastard stole him and I don’t know where he is. I’ve been searching for him for four years!”

  Everything as I knew it shattered in that moment. The walls I built up around my heart threatened to crumble. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that a child thrown into the mix was a game changer.

  I knew Leroy was shit, but I never realized just how evil he was until that moment. Several thoughts hit me. I could have lived with knowing my child was died. It would have been difficult and I would have grieved the loss. But what Rayne was saying to me changed everything.

  My mission was not only to see Leroy beg for his life. I needed to find my son. However, something just didn’t add up. She married Leroy three and a half months after I went to prison, and then disappeared for a year afterwards. That’s what Ron said. But I still wasn’t understanding why she married Leroy. Now she was telling me that Leroy stole the child and hid him somewhere?

  “Tell me plainly what you have to say.”

  “Did you hear me?” she shrieked. “Leroy, your brother stole my baby and let me believe it was dead. At first he denied it, but now he openly admits it.”

  I gripped her shoulders, watching the tears stream down her face. My heart jerked, melted and dropped heavily as I witnessed her pain. “What I can’t understand is why you married him.”

  “Don’t do this Gage, I can’t tell you anything else. I must find our son. That’s the only reason I haven’t murdered him in his sleep.”

  Somehow hearing her say those words erased a small iota of my pain. Before I knew what I was doing, I was pulling her into my arms as she sobbed uncontrollably on my shoulder.

  “Da-fuck?” Braun’s voice sounded behind me. “That’s why you disappeared for a year … to have the baby?”

  I twisted my head in the direction of his voice. “Braun, not now.”

  “I still won’t forgive her for marrying that creep. You shouldn’t either.”

  “Go to bed Braun,” I grated.

  “I was sleeping peacefully until y’all made such a ruckus.”

  After Braun left us, I guided her to the bed where we sat. She cried some more and I held her close. Having my arms around her evoked some sensations I had thought I’d buried while in prison. While I processed all she told me, I was even more determined to make sure Leroy paid for all his sins.

  “My child,” I whispered, the news finally hitting me smack in the face. “I have a son!”

  Rayne raised her head, a sliver of a smile breaking through her anguish. “Yes, we do.”

 

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