“John…”
“This is what’s going to happen here, Lukas,” Dad says, leaning over the desk to stare Lukas down. “You’re going to get rid of that contract.”
“You know I can’t…”
“I know you can, and you will! You’re going to make that contract disappear.”
Make it disappear? It’s a fucking piece of paper? Why can’t they fucking burn it?
“Wait, what?” I demand, looking at my dad. “What do you mean, get rid of it?”
I might as well have a fucking sticker on my forehead that says ‘stupid’ or maybe guilt and denial are a stronger cocktail that brings delayed understanding because as I look between Lukas and my father, trying to understand what they’re talking about, I hear my Cole curse from where he stands by the door.
Everything happens in fucking slow motion.
The pieces fall together, the fucking jagged puzzle pieces fitting in until I can see the big picture.
“Nathan never really sold Mia to this fucking imbecile family, did he?” I seethe, staring at my father.
“Julian—”
“What did he ask you to do with that contract?” I demand, my fist banging on the desk. It rattles under me as I stare at Lukas Matthews. He looks behind me, then at me.
“I’m just the facilitator, son,” the bastard says. “I didn’t do anything.”
“The fucking facilitator?” Liam mocks. “What the fuck does that mean?”
Silence.
“It’s sort of like a broker,” Lukas says slowly. “I just facilitate the deal between parties.”
In that instant, all I see is red.
A sort of haze falls over me but unlike in the warehouse when I saw Mia, I don’t have a target for my anger.
I don’t know whose fucking face to bash in. The next thing I know, the fucking desk is flipped over.
I can see papers flying in the air, broken glass strewn everywhere.
I can hear shouts, but they all drown and fade in the distance.
“No, son, let him go.” I finally hear Dad say behind me. It’s then that I realize I have this fucking bastard by the collar against a wall. “Let him go.”
I drop the jerk and start pacing, my mind racing. I’ve heard about this shit. High rollers who are part of a fucking trafficking rings, buying and selling people, including kids! And now, Mia’s in it? Because of her own father?
Jesus Christ!
“Where the fuck is it?” I seethe. “Did you fucking sell it?”
“Fucking answer him!” Liam shouts.
“The contract has pretty high interest!” Lukas says, splattering and coughing. Maybe I strangled him a little hard but fuck, I’d do it all over again.
“What the fuck? You talk about it like it’s a fucking Google Doc interest form!” I snap. “Shut it the fuck down!”
“The contract Nathan gave me…” the asshole says, looking up at me. “It’s already on the market with bids reaching fucking million of dollars.”
Fuck! That’s how Nathan was planning to get rich. Shit!
“So fucking shut it down because I swear to God, I will break every bone in your fucking body right now and slice your son’s fucking face right in front of you when I find him!”
“Stop, Julian,” Dad says, placing a hand over my shoulder. I shake it off.
“Tell me!”
“The only way to stop the bidding is by placing a bigger bid above all the other bids.”
In other words, the only to stop Mia from being fucking bought by a disgusting pervert is to buy her.
“And?” I demand. “What else are you not saying?”
“The bid has to be accepted.”
“By fucking who?”
“Nathan Montague.”
The fuckery of it all.
“And if that bastard refuses?” Liam seethes.
“Well then the contract will fall to the second highest bid.”
Fuck! Ad we have no idea who that might be,
“Okay, backtrack. What if your fucking stepbrother doesn’t have a say in the contract? What if he’s removed altogether?”
Dad sighs, looking tired. “It won’t work.”
“It’s a fucking good plan.”
“No, you don’t understand, son,” Dad says, looking at me now. “Nathan is the proprietor of the contract. He put some… measures in place that ensured if something were to happen to him before he accepts the bid and the money is given to him, private information about Mia will all go to some syndicates and fucking dark groups that will hunt the girl down, kidnap her but this time they will quickly put her up on some fucking black market.”
“Holy shit,” Cole whispers behind me, but I can’t look away from my Dad’s gaze.
“She’d be gone before you can even blink.”
The silence that falls over the room is fucking loud, the entire state of Cali can hear it. Nathan has to be dealt with, there’s no doubt about that, but I won’t fucking let anything happen to Mia. The bids are already on going which means only one thin.
“Whatever it takes,” I say holding my father’s gaze, surrendering to the cards I’ve been fucking dealt. It’s not like there’s another path for me now. Everything else has been eliminated.
“Son,” he says, “Are you sure about that.”
I scoff. “Isn’t this what you wanted from the beginning?” I seethe. “This is it.” This is me giving in.
We stare at each other for longer than I even know. He’s assessing me, studying me, trying to see if I mean this. Before, I had a plan to dump all this on Liam’s head but now… fate has other news for me.
“You’re wasting fucking time,” I finally snap.
“Okay, whatever it takes,” the man finally relents.
“What’s going on between you two?” Liam demands. I can’t exactly tell him what’s going to happen in the future, so I just say the only thing that I know he can accept now.
“We’re going to get Mia.”
“Damn,” Cole mutters. “Sherlock’s not going to like that. Especially after everything.”
“We’ll just have to fucking deal with that later,” I seethe, glaring at Lukas. “Dad?”
“Of course,” he says, then walks over to a locked cabinet and opens his safe. Taking out a folder, he flips through them.
“Lukas, there are two things you’re going to fucking do for me,” he says, now looking at the disgusting piece of shit who’s struggling to get up from the floor.
“W-what’s that?” Lukas stutters.
“First, you’re going to make sure the charges and the fucking fake investigation on my son that you and Nathan are running get dropped. You already know he didn’t kill your son.”
“Yes, I have enough attention from the cops already,” Lukas says.
“Because your fucking sons abused and killed a baby, only to bury it in your back yard after driving their own sister, your daughter, to kill herself?” Cole says calmly, too calmly. “As if that’s not enough, they abused and impregnated another poor kid.”
It’s as if Lukas just saw a ghost. His fucking fat face pales, his eyes widening like fucking saucers.