To Redemption (Whitsborough Chronicles Book 4)

by C. A. Rene

  She turns to look at me, tears streaming down her face. Ember isn’t a crier and I don’t like seeing her do it.

  “If anyone else says you are like your father again, I will have them in that cage. Whether it be Carm, Trent, or even Emmett himself. I’m not going to listen to it anymore.”

  I hear a small chuckle and turn to face her. Her eyes still shine with tears but now they hold a hint of humor.

  “You would fight Emmett?” She asks.

  “Yes.” I answer. “No hesitation. You will always come first, Em. While you look after all of us, I will always be looking after you.”

  “Like following me to Carm’s office?”

  I roll my eyes, of course she knows I was there the entire time. “Especially when you put yourself in dangerous situations.”

  “I love you, Vincent Greene.”

  “I love you, Ember soon-to-be Greene.”

  She throws her pretty little head back and lets loose a laugh, a real one. I wasn’t kidding, if one more person compares her to her piece of shit dad again, I’ll fucking lose it.

  “I found something else in Carm’s office too. I just need to read through it some more and process it before I talk about it.” She murmurs.

  “Bad?” I ask her.

  “I’m not sure.”

  We end up getting home before the others and I carry a sleeping Ember into the house and up to her room. I haven’t officially moved in here yet, although I spend six out of seven nights here. My mom is alone and I hate the thought of her being that way, so I make sure to see her as much as I can and stay at least one night a week.

  My mom works long hours at the restaurant and it hasn’t been a big deal that I stay here most of the time. I just know once I say I’m moving out, she’ll get all sappy about it. Kind of like when I asked for Nana’s ring. She was surprised and at first she tried to talk me out of it. Not because she doesn’t like Em but because she still feels we are too young to take this step. I know where she’s coming from, her young love turned out to be her worst. Thankfully, her and Em have patched everything up and Em makes sure to visit my mom once a week too. Are they as close as I’d like? No, but it’s getting there. My mom is having a hard time relinquishing the title of woman most loved by me to Em.

  Speaking of, my phone begins to vibrate and Ma flashes across the screen. I throw a blanket over Em and kiss her cheek before I step out into the hall to answer the call.

  “Hey Ma.”

  “Hi Baby, just making sure you got in okay.” She says.

  “Yeah, just got in. How was your weekend?”

  “The restaurant has been steadily getting busier.” She sighs. I know she’s been tired and trying to find extra help.

  “Did you hire anyone yet?”

  “Actually, Adrianna came by and asked if I had something open. I told her to come in on Monday.” Adrianna has been privy to my concerns about my mother being too busy.

  “That’s good. Probably wants to pass the time before college.”

  “It was really sweet of her, God knows she doesn’t need the money.”

  “Hey Ma, can you tell me a bit more about Jack and Rebecca’s relationship? Were they close?”

  “They were close, yes.” She pauses, “but she was always worried about upsetting him or disappointing him. Rebecca never dated because she didn’t want to upset her father. He was strict about boys. That’s why I figured she ran because he wouldn’t let her be with Ray.”

  I bet he didn’t approve of guys, probably because he wanted to be the only one touching her. The thought makes me feel slightly sick.

  “Why the questions?” She asks.

  “Em went by the storage unit and found some of their belongings, I just wanted to know.”

  “He was a really serious and stern man. The neighbourhood kids and teenagers stayed away from his property unless invited by Rebecca. I was there often because I was best friends with both her and Debby but no boys were allowed and if he caught one on the property… well, let’s just say he had a favourite rifle.”

  “Sounds intense.” I mutter. “I’ll be by later. Just waiting for everyone else to get home.”

  “Okay Son, see you soon.”

  I hang up the phone with my mom and head back into Em’s room. She’s still out because of the physical drain her body has gone through this weekend. Her words still replay in my head about her and her father comparisons. I think I’m like mine too, in the way that I don’t convey emotions well and I also have a darkness that has settled inside me. If anyone ever comes at Em, I will obliterate them. This woman will carry my children and be my wife until we grow old and die together. There’s no other scenario I will accept.

  My security app pings on my phone, letting me know a car is turning into the driveway. I see it’s the Mercedes and head downstairs to meet them.

  Travis is the first to enter, his tawny hair tousled on top of his head and his green eyes looking tired.

  “Bro,” he shakes his head. “I need like twenty-four hours of sleep.”

  “Em does too.”

  “Hey,” Emmett says as he strides in the house. “Where’s Ember?”

  “She’s sleeping. I thought the four of us could have a quick meeting before I leave to check on my mom.” I tell them as Adri steps in the foyer.

  “Is everything okay?” She asks. A meeting to us means something or someone needs dealing with in some nefarious way.

  “Yeah, I just want to go over something.”

  They follow me into the kitchen and I watch as Travis pulls out a beer for each of us. When we’re all seated, I begin.

  “Ember has a lot on her plate, she has Judge Watkins she wants to roll up on this week and she wants to check in with Andrew. I was thinking we could maybe pair up and each take something off her agenda.”

  “Like what?” Travis asks as he takes a swig of his beer.

  “Two of us need to continue to go through Rebecca’s things. Now, no offense Emmett but I was thinking you shouldn’t do it. Sometimes looking at shit like that as family will cloud your judgement.”

  “You’re right.” He nods.

  “So, I was thinking Travis and Adri could work on that.”

  “Cool.” Travis nods. Travis has the most analytical brain besides Em in this group and I know he would catch something the rest of us would miss.

  “What about you and me?” Emmett asks.

  “Shay.”

  “Wait, maybe I should talk to Shay.” Adri interjects. “She sees me as a friend.”

  “Again, I think she would try to take advantage of that. Besides, I think Emmett and I can convince her to be straight up.” I tell her.

  “Makes sense.” She murmurs. “You’re not going to hurt her, right?”

  “No.” Emmett says.

  “Not if she complies.” I answer at the same time.

  Emmett grins-identical to Em’s-and slaps his hand to the table, “yes! I vote for waterboarding!”

  “Emmett!” Adri hisses at him. “She could be a victim, too.”

  “Or she wants people to believe that. Maybe her and Marlana both.” I tell her.

  “Oh.” Her eyes widen, “do you think they are still up to something?”

  “Only one way to find out.” I shrug.

  7

  I watch as Emmett and Vin leave the house to go speak to Shay at the gym. When he told me his plan-I will admit-I was relieved. I have so much on my plate right now and I was beginning to feel like I would never get to accomplish everything. Travis and Adri have taken every tote we have of my mother’s and grandfather’s things and set up a spot in the kitchen. Again, I am beyond grateful for that. Vin is right, they will have a more observant eye.

  My job today is to go over everything I have collected on Judge Watkins in the last six months. I head off to my uncle Scott’s old office and now mine to set in stone what I will do. Walking through the door brings me some comfort know
ing he used to spend a lot of time in here. I feel close to him when I sit in his big leather chair and pull up close to his mahogany oak desk. I miss his sarcastic humour and the way he would draw me out of myself.

  I open up the folders on the desk and get to work.

  Judge Joseph Watkins-Ontario’s provincial judge-has been on the job for nineteen years. Next year, he plans to retire to his cottage in the Kawarthas. Lavish I’m sure. He has been acclaimed in his position, people speak highly of him and call him fair.

  I know differently.

  Judge Watkins has set free rapists, murderers, child abusers, and drug dealers with rap sheets as long as the river Nile. How? He sets up evidence to be ‘lost’ with police chief Moore and the Toronto police chief, he has a few paid lawyers under his belt, and he has friends in Federal court. His pockets are fat and swollen with the money of very evil people. One of those people was Robert Greene.

  I found out after exhaustive research, Robert was DNA tested for the multiple rape victims who came forward to police. His test results came back negative thanks to the work of Moore and Watkins. Dream team of motherfuckers.

  His final court session ends at four in the afternoon tomorrow. Vin and I will be there to watch the proceedings. He has no wife or kids and I am relieved because I hate the prospect of dealing with the families of my victims. Our plan is to make the whole thing look like an accident. It fucking sucks because I would love nothing more than to sink my blade into him repeatedly, but I don’t have the Toronto police in my pocket.

  After that, I need to spring a surprise visit to Andrew Cox-elementary school principal-also corrupt as hell. He made a promise to me a few weeks ago that he would turn in his resignation as principal and live a life free of child pornography as long as I don’t kill him. I’m hoping to find some shit so I can kill him. Two in one day, that will be a new record.

  A knock comes through the office door and then I hear Travis, “E, you need to eat. You’ve been at it for hours now.” I look to the clock on the wall and see that he’s right, I’ve been in here for four hours.

  I get up and open the door, “any word from Vin or Emmett?”

  “Yeah, Emmett says they are waiting for her shift to end. Should be soon but they want to watch her to see if anyone comes by while she works.”

  “Cool,” I close the office door and follow him to the kitchen. “I just hope she makes it easy for them. I’m tired of trying to dig for needles in haystacks.”

  “Same. If Emmett can’t charm it out of her then I’m sure Vin can scare it out.” He says casually.

  “True.” I agree and hug Adri as she stands at the stove. “Please tell me you didn’t cook. I’m actually hungry.”

  “Fuck off.” She says with a chuckle. “Travis made this, I’m just stirring it.”

  I look into the pot and see a beef stew, looks so fucking good.

  We sit at the table and begin eating. I’m lost in my thoughts of our plan to kill off the judge when Travis calls out to me.

  “Shit, sorry.” I shake out my head. “What’s up?”

  “We gathered that your grandfather was definitely abusing your mother. All the signs are there in her journals.” His face looks sad and I know it’s because this is so close to what he endured as a child. “She also wrote about running away with him.”

  “With her father?” I clarify.

  “Yeah, just him and her.” He nods.

  “So, he wasn’t doing the same to Aunt Debby, just my mother.”

  “I can’t be sure yet. But I think it was just your mother.” He scratches at his chin.

  I don’t think Aunt Debby was affected at all, from what I can remember she had nothing too bad to say about her parents other than they were strict. I really believe if she knew about that she would’ve been more understanding about my mother’s disappearance and would’ve tried to help her before the asshole died in that car crash.

  “What about the crash that killed them?” I ask. “Are we sure the fucker was dead?”

  “Nothing I found is official.” Travis rubs his cheek.

  “At least this is before Moore and his cronies.” I shake my head.

  “We have a few more totes,” Adri cuts in. “They belong to your grandfather’s office.”

  “Thank you for what you’re doing.” I smile at them both.

  We sit in the Mercedes waiting for Shay to finish her shift. We decided to take this car since my Hummer is pretty well known around here and we want to catch her off guard. She hasn’t done much today except scroll on her phone and greet people as they came in, but her phone is her main time consumer.

  “She doesn’t seem to be very happy about whatever the fuck it is she’s looking at.” Emmett says.

  “You’re right.” I agree as I see the furrow between her brows and the nervous looks she keeps making.

  “What the fuck is this girl messed up in?” He murmurs.

  “We’re going to find out today.”

  “I hope it doesn’t fuck shit up even more, we already have so much shit to do.” Emmett grumbles.

  “Keeps things interesting though.” I chuckle and then laugh harder as he shoots me a scowl. “That face can’t intimidate me, it belongs to the girl I’m going to marry. If anything you look so adorable.” I reach over and pat his cheek.

  “I’m getting plastic surgery.”

  “Your loss,” I chuckle. “That face is gorgeous.”

  “Fuck, that’s true.” He rubs at his chin and throws me a grin.

  I slap his chest and point out the windshield, “she’s getting her shit. Looks like her shift is done.”

  “I’m ready.” He says as he rubs his hands together.

  Shay steps out of the gym and shades her eyes with her hands as if she’s looking for someone. I put the car in drive and pull up right beside her. Emmett pulls his baseball cap down over his face and opens the passenger door.

  “Get in.” He tells her gruffly.

  “What?” She asks with a slight tremor in her voice. “Who are you?”

  I lean across the center console and look out at her. “Shay, we need to chat.”

  “Fuck, Vin.” She says on an exhale and gets into the passenger seat. Emmett hops into the backseat and we pull out of the gym parking lot.

  “Where are you taking me?” She asks.

  “Just to the park. That way we can sit and chill.” I tell her.

  She remains quiet as we drive to the park I once took Travis. I do notice how nervous she is as she wrings her hands in her lap. That’s good, it won’t take much for me to convince her to tell us everything.

  Emmett leans up from the backseat, placing his head between us. “Can I give you some advice?” He says to Shay.

  She turns her head to look at him and nods.

  “Good. Tell us what we need to know. Help us and we’ll make sure you’re good.”

  I see the angle he’s working here, good cop to my bad and fuck him but I think he’s onto something here. With his big ass green-blue eyes and thick black lashes, he might just suck her in.

  She nods and he flops himself back against the seat. Our eyes meet in the rearview and he winks. Little bastard.

  I pull into the park and we all get out of the car. Shay follows us to the bench but I notice she keeps looking behind her.

  “What’s up?” I ask and her head snaps around to look at me.

  “N-nothing.” She stutters and drops her head to her shoulders. “Someone has been watching me.”

  “What?” I ask as I also look around our surroundings. “Why?”

  “Because Vin, I know some shit and when I tried to inform Ember last time, I got in trouble.” She whispers.

  “You’re going to tell us now and I promise we will protect you.” Emmett tells her.

  “Oh yeah?” She turns and looks at him. “How will you protect me?”

  “We’ll figure it out, we’re not fucking liars.” I growl
.

  “What do you want to know anyways?” She asks.

  “It’s about coach Halbert-“ Emmett begins but Shay cuts him off.

  “-You need to look beyond that.” Her voice is small.

  “Then tell us.” I tell her as I lean my elbows onto my knees.

  She turns and looks me in the eye. “It’s who’s connected to Halbert.”

  “Okay…” I draw out.

  “Marlana’s mom.” She whispers as her eyes dart around the park. “She used to be a… an escort.”

  “A prostitute?” Emmett cuts in.

  “Sure,” she shrugs. “She was friends with Halbert.”

  “And?” I prompt her.

  “She had some high end clientele around here. Rich folks. I saw her once, in a car at the mall parking lot… with your dad.”

  Her confession has my head reeling, I thought I couldn’t be surprised anymore with the shit my father was capable of, but I was fucking wrong.

  “And?” I wave her on.

  “I told Marlana…” her head drops against her chest as she inhales. “I didn’t know she was a prostitute until then. Marlana confessed Robert was her mother’s number one customer.”

  “Fuck.” Emmett growls and gets up to pace. “Everyone is connected here.”

  “I only met Marlana’s mother once and she looked normal.” I say as I scratch my chin. “What’s her name again?”

  “Tonya.” Shay groans.

  “Sounds familiar.” I say as I try to place the name. Emmett looks like he’s seen a ghost as he looks at Shay.

  “Tonya… that’s her name?” He asks her.

  “Yes.” Shay is sure as she nods her head.