Chapter 27

Erik

I slept the rest of the day and all through the night without even turning over. Clarity rested on me the next morning when I woke up, and I was sick over some of the things I'd said to Grace. Get rid of the baby? What the fuck was I talking about? He was a representation of the love between us, of her opening up her beautiful body and letting me in. I was the only man she'd ever let touch her, fuck her, explore her.

Something like a vice grip tightened in my chest, and I knew what I had to do. It started with an apology. Life was fucked up, and there was no way in hell I was bringing her into my darkness, but I'd figure out a way to kill my old man or run to another country and hide. Either way, she and my son would be beside me.

I walked to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. Yesterday was a blur of sorts, as if someone had been putting something in my food. What the hell?

The sound in the hallway caught my attention, and I moved toward the kitchen to find Lizzy and my father wrapped up together, talking about something softly. A bottle of liquid Vicodin sitting next to a plate with breakfast on it.

"No fucking way," I mumbled and turned, jogging through the house and making it outside without anyone seeing me. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted Cole, expecting a response right away. Nothing. "Whatever."

I drove to the library, breaking every rule known to man only to find out that Grace hadn't shown up for her shift that morning.

Had she left town like I told her to? I called Jenna, hoping she would answer, but only got her voicemail.

"Where the fuck is everyone?"

Nate's number appeared on my phone, and I answered it. "Nate."

"Hey man. Sorry to bother you, but Jenna's pretty upset. She was supposed to meet Grace for breakfast this morning, but Grace never showed."

"Did she call?" I got back on the bike.

"No, man. Do you know where she might be?" He sounded sick.

"No, but I'm headed over to her place now. I saw her yesterday, and things didn't go too well, but I'm praying like hell that her missing isn't because of me. Have Jenna call her brother, Thomas. I'll check in shortly."

My body ached, but I ignored it, pushing harder on the bike until I pulled up to her place. I ran from the bike to her door, popping the lock and hoping that I'd find her half-dressed and pissed as a hornet about me breaking into her place.

"Grace? Kitten?" I walked through the house, finding everything in place. "Damn." I jogged back down and found her car in the parking lot, which was even more reason to panic. Where the hell could she be?

Nate called a minute later. "Thomas has no clue, dude. We need to track her phone."

"It was sitting in her kitchen, Nate." I ran my fingers through my hair and pulled. "Goddammit. I swear if anything happened to her, I'll kill everyone involved."

"Walk me through what happened yesterday, man. You went over there and what? Did you talk about her being pregnant?"

"Yes, but my father's maid has been giving me Vicodin, dude. I was out of it yesterday. I faintly remember you coming by, but not much more."

"You shot at me twice, you cock." He didn't sound too thrilled.

"Foreplay, Nate. Get over it." I let out a breath I was holding. "We have to find her. I'll go back by the library."

"Find Cole. He'll know where she's at."

The idea alone chapped my ass. "And why would Cole know where my girl is, Nate?"

"Dude, I don't know why the cop has a hard-on for you, okay? He's watching your back non-stop. That's why he knows where she is. He's been treating her like a little sister since you guys became a thing. Sue him, but don't hate him. He's on your side."

"But why?" I screamed into the phone, gaining some odd looks from a couple of older women who walked by.

"Find Cole, Erik. Stop worrying about the why and let's just find him and Grace."

"Fine, but this shit isn't over. When everything is settled, I'm tying his ugly ass up and beating him until he comes clean on what the fuck he's up to."

"Deal. I'll help."

"Liar." I dropped the call and drove back to the library to find that Grace hadn't come in still. The older woman at the front desk appeared worried. It would seem that Grace hadn't been late to work but twice in three years, and had never missed a shift.

"Where are you?" I walked around at the base of the stairs that led to the library and tried to call Cole again. It went straight to voice mail. "Fuck." I did the one thing I didn't want to do. I called my father.

"Erik."

"Dad. Where's Cole? I need to talk with him."

"He's here, son." My father's voice was cold, detached.

"Alright. I'll be there shortly."

"Fredrick Carrington has a daughter that we'll be holding as collateral for his missing payment." He cleared his throat. "I don't want you taking the girl though."

"Alright. Then why are you telling me about it?" I sounded a little more asinine than I should have.

He chuckled. "Because this will be your syndicate soon, Erik. You need to know the inner-workings of what's going on. Thomas Adams owes us a chunk of his flesh but seeing that you let him live, we're going take our payback in a different manner."

"Thomas is a pussy. He's not going to take the girl if that's what you're thinking."

"Sure he is, Erik. Every man has something that matters to him. You just have to find what it is, capture it and threaten him with its vitality. If he fucks up or doesn't do every last thing I ask him to do, then his college career will be ruined."

I let out a long exhale. "Thomas cares about his degree more than anything else?"

"Yes."

"Above his sister?"

"Yes, son. She's not his greatest weakness. She's yours."

Something in his voice made my blood run cold. "What have you done?"

"Nothing that you won't one day do too. Come home. Let's talk about our next steps." His voice almost held a chuckle to it.

"I'll kill you if you touch her!" I screamed into the phone as any semblance of hope drained out of me.

"No son. That's not the way the game is played. Leverage is the best weapon for battle, and you don't have it on me. Everything I love was taken from me years ago, you included." He cleared his throat. "This syndicate is all I have, and you will honor it, grow it and make it your own when I'm dead."

"I hate you."

"And I hated my father too. Come home and let's figure out where we go from here."

"Do you have Grace?" I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose and prayed to whoever might be listening above.

"You know I do, Erik. Come get her." The phone went dead, and a scream ripped from me that left my vision dimming. He had my woman. And my baby. There was no plan other than to massacre him.

The man who raised me. Who held me during my mother's death? Who tucked me in at night and promised to always take care of me.

The man I loved and in some way always would.