There it was, the hitch.
"Tricky?" I asked. It wasn't a word I was used to hearing when it came to this line of work. Either it was dangerous or it wasn't. "I need the truth, Janson."
"Nothing for you to worry about. I'll be fine, but I can't say the same for the people around us, you got it?" He watched as my face fell and I crinkled my brow. "I don't want to be the monster that I am."
I grabbed him and kissed him softly. "You are not a monster. Not one bit. You do what you need to do in order to protect us." I believed it, too.
I'd never really thought much of it before, but at that moment, I knew the truth of it. The man was the only thing that kept me safe at night. My father put us all at risk, and he and Greyson were working so hard to make sure that it ended well.
I trusted him. I trusted my brother.
I may have run away before, but I was seeing things clearly now. I understood the stakes.
Why did it sound like they were putting themselves in harm's way?
I got out of the car and looked up at the big, tall building. They were all the way at the top. All I wanted was a nice long nap. I was exhausted from the show.
I swung the door open and looked back at Janson before I stepped out of it.
"So, what do I have to do?" I asked.
"Just go to bed in their guest bedroom. Someone will get you if you are needed." It was Greyson's voice that pulled me out of my stupor.
"Greyson?" I asked, looking around. He was hidden in the shadows. My adrenaline spiked. Did he see that kiss?
I pulled myself from the car and stood up, looking around.
He stepped into the lamplight from my right and almost gave me a goddamn heart attack.
I remembered the car door being closed. The tint of the windows hiding us from any prying eyes. There was no way he saw me, he couldn't have.
Relief flooded over me.
No, he couldn't have.
Kathryn
"Kat?" Joanna's voice was so light I didn't hear it at first, but as soon as I realized what it was, I popped right up out of bed. I'd only been asleep for a few hours and my body needed more, but that didn't matter. Not when it came to this.
"What do you need, Jo?" I asked. I knew it had to be serious if she was waking me up in the middle of the night. I was in pajamas, but they were more than my usual get-up. Since moving in with Janson, I'd taken to sleeping in one of his t-shirts. But I had a full outfit on, one of Joanna's.
"I, um. I need you to take me to the hospital." She swallowed hard. "I'm having contractions and they are not the Braxton Hicks kind.
"What? Are you sure?" I didn't expect this to happen. My job was to be here as a precaution. It was unlikely this would even happen. At least, that's what Greyson told me. So of course, it had to happen.
"I've had them both. I am very sure," she explained.
Of course, I had to be the only one here.
"What do you need me to do?" I asked. "I've never done this before."
"Me either," Joanna admitted. "Call for a taxi. I already have my bags packed."
She put her hand on her belly and hissed, leaning against the door jamb. "Another contraction," she explained.
"Are you okay? Is there anything else I can do?" I was already feeling around for my phone. I dialed the taxi service after a quick search and ordered one. I felt helpless watching her go through this.
"No, just get the car." Joanna leaned against the wall and gritted her teeth. "Another contraction," she said in between the breaths.
"It'll be here in a few minutes. But now you need to breathe," I told her as I rubbed her back. "They're coming, hon. They'll be here."
"Okay, good. I already tried to call Greyson, but it just went to voicemail. I'd imagine he was in the middle of something. I'll keep trying to call and hopefully he'll meet us there," she explained. "He has our driver, so I need a taxi."
"I'll text Janson just to be sure that they get the message," I said as I pulled out my phone and started my message. I didn't even really need to look at my phone, I knew the placement of the letters so well. It was good, because I could focus on what mattered. I could focus on Joanna.
Baby is coming. Need you both. Now.
Joanna wandered into the living room while I dressed quickly. I ran down the list of all the things that needed to be done. I'd already contacted the boys and she had her bags packed and by the door, she said, so I didn't need to pack them. What she really needed was someone to be there by her side.
"Kat?" Joanna called for me from out in the living room. I hurried out to see her sitting on the couch clutching a bag and her purse as she looked up at me. She was scared.
"What do you need?" I asked. I would do anything I could to make it better, but this next part was all up to her. I couldn't help with what she needed, but if I could, I would take away the pain.
"Just, thank you." She had tears in her eyes as she said it. She was in pain, but she was thanking me.
"For what, hon?" I asked, confused.
"Being here. I needed you tonight. I had a feeling it was going to happen. I had a feeling-"
I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her. "It's going to be okay. We'll get you where you need to go and the boys will come to us. They are always there for us when we need them." It felt like a falsehood even as I was saying it, and I flinched. I wanted them to be there, but I couldn't guarantee that they would. Those men put their business first and their family second. It was the nature of the job, and it always would be. We had to love them in spite of that.
"They are. But I need you now, and you are here. You are a good friend, Kat." She let the tears flow as she barred down for yet another contraction.
"Breathe, Jo. Just breathe." I took note of the time and told her so that she could inform the doctors.
"It'll be okay," I reassured her. I'd do whatever I could to make sure she was comfortable.
"Will you stay with me?" she asked.
"I will. I'll do whatever you need me to do," I promised.
I'd be there with her until the end. She was family.
Janson
"Is this the club?" I asked as I looked out the tinted windows up at the bright neon sign. El Gato blinked in neon blue letters down at us. Men and women lingered just outside the doors, cigarettes in and alcohol in their hands as they chatted so loudly that we could hear them all the way from the car. The music spilled out onto the street, the backdrop for these loud, drunken conversations, and even I cringed. The bar was uncharacteristically seedy for Canton, which was a normally a family-friendly middle-class neighborhood.
Of course, David would find a place like this. It was the one place that stuck out in all the normal.
The nasty little seed that sprang forth.
"Is he in there?" Greyson asked from his phone. "Do you actually see him?"
He looked at me and nodded. That motherfucker was going to pay. He'd played the family for a fool, kidnapped the only thing that mattered to my boss, and tried to force her to be his. Even if I wasn't involved in what was about to happen, I would have no sympathy for a man like him.
For the threat to the family, for what he did to Joanna. He was a fool and he needed to die.
At our hands. It wouldn't be quick, it wouldn't be painless, that was a given, but it was Greyson's job to decide who got to live and who got to die and how. It was his right as the soon-to-be leader of this family.
It was gruesome but it was the truth. It was the only way our families would be safe. His wife, his child. My Kathryn.
She was mine.
I'd never get used to feeling this way. But I knew I needed to protect her at all costs. It was the one thing I knew better than I knew myself.
I opened the car door and stepped out. "Well, let's fucking go get this bastard and end this shit once and for all."
He got out of the other side and nodded. "You took the words right out of my mouth."
I saw his gun flash from under his blazer and reached for my own, checking its location. It made me feel safe. Powerful. I knew that if I had to, I could defend myself. I'd been handling firearms since I was a teenager, and I was smart enough to be an expert at it by now.
But the same could be said for David.
The reality of that man was that he worked twice as hard as us to get half of the legitimacy that we had, and he still failed. I wondered what kind of force we would be facing, his men against ours, but I had a feeling it wouldn't come down to it.
One on one, that was what Greyson wanted. I was just meant to be there at his side.