This baby saga needed to come to an end. I was new to this baby drama, but as for Rayne, she had suffered long enough. For five years I was raging against her for her betrayal. For those five years she was living in agony, followed by grief when she thought her child was dead. Now she was living in despair, not knowing the truth.

  The thought of her having to live with Leroy for another minute was tearing me up inside. Knowing she did not betray me was also wreaking havoc on my emotions … emotions I thought I’d buried. My carefully construction defense around my heart was toppling down with all the revelations that were coming to light.

  Braun came out of his room near dinner time looking much more relaxed than he had for the last few days. He was holding a file in his hand when he came into the living room. He took a seat opposite me in an armchair and gave me one of his usual devilish grins.

  “You’re back,” I remarked. “Where had you been for the past few days?”

  He ignored my comment and shoved the file my way. “We’ve been approaching this all wrong.”

  “What?”

  “Finding your son.”

  “Your investigator has traced hospital records and done everything the usual way. He’s been following Leroy, keeping tabs on him. But Leroy is no fool. He knows we’re going to have him followed.”

  I opened the file folder to reveal files for the members of Leroy’s team complete with photos, itinerary and personal information. I looked at my baby brother in awe. He never cease to amaze me with his critical thinking skills.

  “That’s what you’ve been doing the past few days?”

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “I know my brake hose was not defective when installed a few weeks ago and I also knew that there wouldn’t be sufficient proof that Leroy was behind this.”

  It was then I realized something about Braun. When pushed, he would push back, unafraid – a formidable opponent. I would hate to be on his bad side.

  “Three of those guys are of interest to me. Tundra is Leroy’s right arm, he goes out of state once per month to visit a sick mother. Jonny-M takes three days each months to go God knows where and then there is Nickoy. I don’t have enough info on him, but I just think he might know something.”

  “So what you’re thinking is that one of these men might be the ones who are actually responsible for keeping an eye on the child.”

  “I am also checking into his bank transactions. In order to do that I had to open back his accounts. He’ll think that we did it because we got scared.”

  “You’re doing all this?” I almost shouted. “What the hell do I need to hire investigators for?”

  “They can follow him physically, keep track of what’s happening on the road. My friends who helped me dig up this info has to go back to school.”

  “Thank your friends for me. I know this can’t be easy for you, so let me handle this from now while you focus on classes.”

  “I’m not going back … not yet anyway.”

  I stood to my feet. “Like hell you’re not!”

  “Don’t start Gage. I aint in the mood for your shit today.”

  I grabbed his arm, pulling him up. “You’re not dropping out of university.”

  Rather calmly, he pried my hand away. “Who says anything about dropping out? I’m only taking a break.”

  “Like hell you are.”

  “You’re not the boss of me, so stop telling me what to do.”

  “I am your brother.”

  “Cousin … we are cousins Gage. I’m just the orphan everyone got sorry for that was left …”

  My palm came up and swiped across his cheek. “You are my brother no matter the circumstances that my parents found you. Being brothers isn’t about whose loins you came from, it’s about the bond we share. Now, you might not feel I am a brother to you, but I sure wont deny that you are to me.”

  “I’m sorry Gage, of course you’re my brother.”

  “Moreover …,” I wasn’t sure if I should say what had been on my mind for the last decade or so.

  For a long time I wanted to broach the subject with my father and never got around to doing it. Then he died a year before all this started. Now more than ever I was determined to discover the truth about Braun’s paternity. In my heart I believed I knew the answer but he had always believed that his father was unknown.

  “Moreover what?” he urged.

  I was chickening out for fear that I might be wrong and would have brought this all up for nothing. “Forget it. It was nothing.”

  “No, you can’t leave me hanging. You’ve done this before, every time we talk about kinship or your parents. What aren’t you telling me Gage?”

  I started to walk away. “I said, it’s nothing.”

  It was his turn to grab my arm. “No, you’re not getting away from this. You tell me the truth or else…”

  I turned to face him with a frown. “Or else what?”

  “I’ll denounce you as my brother, drop out of college for good and move to New York.”

  “That’s blackmail and who the hell you know in New York?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “You’re not dropping out to university.”

  He stepped close to me, our eyes connecting. “Try me Gage.”

  The look in his eye told me that he was not kidding. This boy was working my last nerve. He was just like our father. Headstrong, fearless and dangerous. In that moment, there was no doubt that he was Roman Wilder’s son.

  I was a little bit pissed that our father cheated on my mother … hell he cheated on all his women. But I would not have had my brother standing in front of me if he’d been a faithful husband, and that I would not change for the world.

  “Sit.”

  He complied and returned to his seat. “Start talking fast.”

  “Just shut up and listen,” I said. “Look, this has been on my mind for a while now, long before Dad past away. I would have confronted him about it, but I chickened out…”

  “Like you were about to do just now?”

  “Just shut up and listen.” I took a deep breath before continuing, not sure this was a good idea. “I want us to do a sibling DNA test.” He just stared at me without saying anything. “Did you hear me?”

  Without replying, Braun stood and started towards the door. I honestly did not expect that reaction. I didn’t know what to make of this. I expected him to at the very least decline, but this stunned me that all I could do was watch him walk away. My heart sank to the floor as my hands came up and covered my face.

  I buried my face in my hands as I wanted to follow him and apologize for bringing up a subject that I knew was sensitive. Not knowing who he was father was, had been a terrible ordeal for him and now this. I wanted to kick myself.

  Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. Dropping my hands I raised my eyes to see him grinning down at me. Jumping to my feet, I engulfed him in my arms.

  “You idiot!” he exclaimed. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to suggest that?”

  I let him go and grabbed his shoulders. “You did?’

  “Yeah, I suspected something after one of our conversations and you almost blurted out that we were from the same loins. Moreover, we do kinda look alike.”

  I ruffled his hair. “Let’s make this official. I know you have the Wilder name, but now you will be sure of your paternity.”

  “You’ve got to promise me something though.”

  “What’s that?”

  He shuffled. “Let me take a break to help you find my nephew. Please let me do that?”

  “How long you want to break?”

  “A year?” he replied. “After we find your son, you will need my help teaching our older a brother a lesson. Plus I want to work with you when you return to the office.”

  “One thing at a time,” I responded. “Let’s do the test and find Gage junior, then we talk about the rest.”

  “Fair enough.”

  That was that, one more thing to tick off my agenda because I got busy with this mission of ours. I was confident that the results would be positive and would bring closure for Braun. A negative result would not change our bond and how we felt about each other. My only concern would be his disappointment. However, he reassured me that a negative result would not upset him in anyway as he was heading into this with an open mind.

  After discussing the subject some more, we talked about our next move toward finding the child and getting Rayne away from Leroy. The one thing I regretted was sending her back there. Soon, this would be all over and we could get our lives back on track … hopefully with Rayne and my child.

  I said Rayne, didn’t I? Might as well admit it in my heart that I wanted her back, not just to piss Leroy off, but because she was the mother of my child and she belonged to me.

  14 – Rayne

  When we were living at Wilder Oaks, everything was organized so that I would not encounter anything personal or business related belonging to Leroy. Now that a hotel staff was cleaning the room, anything they found, they would consult with me about it.

  Leroy had gone to Detroit for the last few days, still trying to find his merchandize. When we had checked into the hotel, his accounts were frozen so I had to secure our rooms with my own credits card. They had not touched my account and for that I was grateful.

  Now that his accounts were unblocked, he insisted on footing the hotel bill and said that my money was supposed to be for my own personal use. But on this day, while he was out of town, I found something that gave me hope that I would soon find my son. While the housekeeper was cleaning the suite she brought me a piece of paper she said fell out of a bag from the closet.

  It was a bank statement with automatic payments being made into an account every month. There was no name on the account, just the account number and bank name. I didn’t know why I felt it was important so the first thing I did was take a photo of it and sent it to Gage … along with a snapshot of my boobs.

  He texted me back almost immediately.

  Him: Stop sending me nude pics.

  Me: Oh, are you asking for naked pics? Because I can do that too.

  Without hesitation, I stripped off my summer dress and my underwear and knelt on the bed. Trying to get a selfie of my entire body wasn’t easy. But I got enough where he could see I was naked.

  Him: What do you think you’re doing Rayne?

  Me: You asked for nudes so I’m sending nudes.

  I spread my legs, snapping a photo of my freshly shaven self.

  Me after sending the pussy pic: Now your turn.

  Him: You must be kidding me.

  Me: No, I want a dick pic. What are you afraid of? You said anything sent through this sim card won’t be stored.

  Him: I don’t have time for this Rayne.

  Me: I miss your hard cock inside me Gage, let me rephrase …I want your hard cock inside me. I will come to Wilder Oaks to get it if I have to.

  Him: You forget you’re someone else’s wife and why do you assume you’ll get anything from my end?

  Me: I know you still love me. You just don’t realize it yet. We’ll talk later, I think Leroy is back, I hear his voice in the other room.

  I switched the phone off and back on, like Braun instructed me. After which I double checked the messages. There was nothing there. I quickly dressed and went into the other room. Leroy had returned from Detroit and was looking quite agitated.

  “Who pissed you off now?” I asked, not really caring.

  “Take a wild guess.”

  “Gage?” I was laughing inside, but had to put on a serious face. “What did he do?”

  “Have you seen the news?” he asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “The cocksucker basically handed my goods to the feds. There was a big haul, the news said, based on an anonymous tip. Guess whose stash it was? Mine!” He kicked the foot of the arm chair he was standing next to. “Seven million dollars down the fucking drain.”

  “That is a lot of money!” I shrieked. “You just going to let it slide like that?”

  “Are you crazy?” he was looking at me as though I was crazy. I couldn’t wait for Gage to take him down. “Look, I can help you take Gage down,” I said. “I know him more than anyone else.”

  “You would do that for me?”

  “You’re my husband,” I said. “In sickness and in health, till death.” I ran my fingers up his arm and stood close to him. My stomach churned as I almost puked in my mouth. I reached up and kissed his cheek. “I so want us to consummate our marriage Leroy, but every time I try, I keep hearing my son cry and then…”

  Tears welled in my eyes and my voice cracked. These were not fake tears. I was crying from the frustration I was feeling. The helplessness of not knowing how, or where to look for my child. I was frustrated that the man I loved suffered for so long and I wasn’t there to help him. I was angry that this leviathan was holding us captives.

  I allowed my tears to flow. “I’m sorry. Every time I come close … if I could just see my son or hear his voice I would feel much better.”

  “Don’t cry. I promise you, I will get your son after I destroy Gage and we three will live happily together as a family. But Gage will want to take him from us if I take him to you now.”

  “Then show me a photo … something I can hold on to. Give me hope so that we can really start building our lives together.”

  He nodded. “Okay. I’ll be away for a few days, when I get back I promise I will have something for you.”

  Brushing back my tears, I grinned, flinging my arms around his neck. He slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me close. I could feel his heartbeat through his jacket and hear his groan deep in his throat.

  I laughed inwardly. It’s not Gage that was going to be destroyed. It’s you, Leroy. You’re heading for a fall and I can’t wait to stomp on your grave.

  15 – Gage

  “Leroy is travelling today. We need to know where he’s going so I can get my guys on it,” I told Rayne after receiving her message about Leroy.

  “I’m on it right away,” Braun replied. “Rayne is really coming through, isn’t she? So you two can start planning your wedding.”

  I leaned over Braun’s shoulder as he sat at the computer desk and typed away. I had no clue what he was doing and I didn’t want to know. Both him and his team were doing all they could to help me find my son and I didn’t care if what they were doing broke the rules.

  “Stop talking nonsense, no one is getting married.”

  Braun twisted around to look at me and I stared at the computer monitor, pretending not to notice.

  “Stop hiding behind that rage you so blatantly display,” he remarked. “You know that you aren’t over her by a long shot and she didn’t betray you.”

  “Shut up and do what you’re supposed to do.”

  “You’re not my boss. You don’t get to tell me what to do,” he replied with some acid. “Now when this is all over, you two better get your shit together. I’m not doing this so you can continue hating on her.”

  “I don’t hate her,” I quietly replied.

  He smirked. “So you admit it, you love her.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Pussy,” he muttered under his breath as he turned back to his task. “Shit, I got him.”

  “What?”

  Braun pointed to the screen. “See, he’s headed to Cleveland.”

  “How did you…?” I began but quickly retracted my question. “Don’t answer that. I’ll get the boys on it ASAP. Do you also have his flight schedule?”

  “It’s all here.”

  My investigators gathered their team and headed to Cleveland. According to Leroy’s itinerary, he was making a stop in Detroit first. I hired a chartered flight for the investigative team. According to our communications, they would keep a tail on Leroy and some of the men would get a head start to Cleveland.

  All I had to do was sit and wait. But in the meantime, I needed to keep Rayne calm because every few minutes my phone would beep and she would ask via text message if we found out anything yet. This time, I needed to hear her voice, therefore I called.

  She picked up after the first ring. “You took long enough!”

  My heart did backflips at the sound of her voice. “What the … why are you yelling at me woman?”

  “How long have I got this damn phone and how many times have you actually called me?”

  “I don’t need to call you Rayne.”

  “Yet here you are, calling me … finally.”

  Ignored her childish behavior. “We’ve got a lead on Leroy, so sit tight and stop texting every two minutes to ask me how we’re doing.”

  “Is that all you got to say?”

  “What else is there?” I asked. “That’s what the phone is for.”

  “You know what Gage, I’m not running after you. If you want me, you know how to contact me.”

  “What’s got into you? What does that even mean?”

  “Nothing,” she said, he voice high pitched. “Goodbye Gage.”

  The phone went silent in my ear. I redialed the number. She picked after the third ring.

  “What do you want?”

  “Why are you mad at me?” I demanded. “I thought you’d be happy that we’re on to something and we may find our son soon.”

  “I’m mad at you because that’s all you care about, your son this and your son that. What if Leroy is just toying with us and he’s really dead? Do you even care about me, Gage? I have suffered too. I am married to a man because he scared me. Why can’t you forgive me?”

  She sniffed and I could hear this thickness in her voice. “Don’t cry. This will be over soon and then you and I will sort out our differences. I promise.”

  A moment of silence passed between us. I could feel the electricity flow between us through the cellphone. Her breathing, her voice, her very essence warmed me. I could hardly wait until this ordeal was over so we could be together. I was barely holding back now, but the thought of her being tied to Leroy even through a piece of paper held me back. As soon as I found my son, that would be over.

 

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