Chapter Six
Seth
Patience. Most would say I had none, and those that did, well, they were right. If I asked to have something done in a timely manner and the job wasn’t finished, you can bet your ass someone was going to be a hurting unit for not following through.
Which explained why Tony was now on the ground holding his knee against his chest, tears of pain streaming down his cheeks.
Pussy. Men didn’t cry over pain. They cried for death… or loss, but never pain. Pain was weakness leaving the body and this man, Tony, he reeked of weakness.
“I asked you a week ago for answers, Tony. Answers I know you have. You knew the girl. You knew what she needed the money for and yet you hide the very simple information from me.” I stood, the crowbar weighing heavily in my hands. I had promised my brother answers and I never let my family down.
“Okay, okay, okay. She begged me to keep it a secret and since she was doing it from the kindness of her heart for someone she loved, I promised I would…” I narrowed my eyes, it all suddenly coming to me.
“You mean to tell me she sold herself for money, not for herself, but for someone she loves?” I gestured for one of my men to pick up the pitiful excuse of a man off the floor so I could look him in the eyes.
“Yes, Sir… She did it to save her mother. I do not know the details, Sir, just that she needed the money for things at home.” I rubbed a hand a long my jaw. It made sense, but it also meant I still needed to do some digging and, honestly, I hated having to dig in more than one place.
“You know more… I’m sure of it,” I hissed out, raising the crowbar and landing a hard blow against the asshole’s injured knees. A sob ripped from his throat as he sagged against my guard.
“Fuck…” He started to breathe hard. Didn’t he realize by now that I wasn’t a man to be messed with? If you lied to me I would bury you six feet under.
“I will give you one more chance, Tony… Who is her mother? I want names.” I licked my lips in anticipation of spilling this asshole’s blood.
“Alright, her name is Grace. That’s all I know. I swear.” I looked him straight in the eyes and knew that he was being truthful. Now that I had a lead I needed to dig deep into my bank account so that I could get the rest of the information I needed.
“Good…” I held the crowbar underneath his chin and looked him square in the eyes. “Lie to me again, Tony, and I will set this entire establishment on fire, with you and your entire family inside it. Do you understand me, fuckhead?” My tone was condescending, but I was anything but joking. I would rip the fucker to shreds if he withheld information from me again.
Lifting the crowbar in the air, I landed a blow to the side of the asshole’s head, his body going limp in my guard’s arms.
“Let him go,” I ordered, and my guard dropped him like he was a burning piece of wood. Frustration settled into my bones. Grace… The name bounced around inside my head longer than it should have.
That name… Grace Miller. I had heard it somewhere before. I closed my eyes, trying to jog a memory from somewhere deep in the confines of my dark mind. I walked out of the underground nightclub and to my SUV that was parked outside waiting for me.
I pulled out my iPhone and opened the secure background checking app I used nearly every day. I typed in Grace’s name and the small amount of information I had on her, including date of birth and middle name, which I got from Tony, and watched as the search engine made its decision.
“Bingo,” I spoke out loud, as her name and photo popped up. My hands shook as I read through the information given, her employment and home address. For fuck’s sakes the woman had worked for my father for nearly twenty years. Yet she was sick, and obviously poor enough that her daughter felt the need to sell her virginity to some piece of shit like my brother.
“Where would you like to go, Mr. Smith?” Kalob, my driver, asked, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. I had a decision to make. I could either go talk to my brother and relay the information to him, or I could go talk to my father on my own and better our odds of getting the answers we needed.
I tapped two fingers against my chin, thinking for a fraction of second before answering him. “Take me back to the mansion, but through the back entrance, please. I need to talk to my father alone.” Kalob nodded his head in understanding and put the SUV in drive.
I scanned my phone screen once again, wondering what the hell had happened that caused Grace to quit her job? Had my father fired her for being sick? She could’ve taken time off. I didn’t care about many things but those that had cancer being treated like garbage made my blood boil. Those people were already going through something hard and making things worse for them didn’t seem fair to me. My teeth ground together, a memory of my own mother hitting me in the chest.
“You need to be a big boy, Seth. Take care of your brother, and keep your daddy in line for me.” I couldn’t even look at her, my eyes were swollen with tears and my hands were shaking as I held her weak one in mine.
“I’m not ready to let go of you yet…” I would do anything to keep her here with me, if only for a few more days.
She cupped my cheek, her blue eyes, eyes that used to be filled with so much life, piercing my own. “You aren’t letting go of me, sweetheart. I’ll always be here in spirit, in your heart and mind. I will never leave you son. Never.” My eyes darted to Fox’s. He understood what was happening but didn’t get the consequences. Mom was dying and there wasn’t anything that either of us could do to stop it.
“Let’s go boys, your mother needs her rest.” I blinked away the tears that wanted to fall from my eyes when my father called to us. I released my mother’s fragile hand and gave her one last once over.
It wouldn’t be long before she was a piece of the Earth beneath our feet and I would be forced to watch over my little brother. I grabbed Fox by the hand and pulled him in the direction of the door.
“Remember boys… I’ll always be here.” Those were my mother’s final words to my brother and I. I tried to remember her in my mind with a warm vibrant smile, and bright blue glittering eyes, but I never could. All I could remember was her weak body and frail smile, and how she was so close to death that it terrified me to lose her.
“Were here, Sir…” My driver’s voice pulled me from the sad memory of my mother. It had been years since I last thought of her and I didn’t like that my father’s actions were sparking these shit memories of her.
“Thank you, Kalob. Go around and park in the garage,” I ordered, as I slipped out of the backseat, putting my phone in the front pocket of my suit jacket. Daddy dearest would pay for the things that he had done to the innocent. He may lie, and claim he didn’t know, but that background check I just ran proved otherwise. Even if he didn’t know she had cancer, someone did, and that someone would pay dearly.