Roxi nodded. “Thank you.” She looked at Paige and before she asked Paige said,
“I don’t mind staying with him. I’m getting stir crazy doing nothing every day. But, my mother...”
“I’ll make sure she’s taken care of,” Roxi said. “I’m not really the domestic type, but I have a housekeeper that comes in a few times a week. I can have her come in.
“Okay then,” Paige said with a smile. “A mother for a father, I guess.”
“Really Paige,” Roxi said seriously. “Thank you.” Paige gave her a smile and a nod. She was like Jake, just by virtue of her being here she could be throwing away her entire future...but how could she not help him?
“Damien, you can go with Paige and I’ll stay with Roxi. I don’t have anything going on in the city this weekend,” Jake told him.
“Thanks,” Damien had that worried, intense look on his face that Paige was coming to know so well. She waited until Roxi and Jake started cleaning up before asking him,
“What’s wrong?”
“I was just thinking about this big family meeting my...Jackson called tonight. I wonder how he’s planning to explain Kevin’s absence to them.”
“Do you think this will have any bearing on Alex’s decision to help us or not?”
“I think that Jackson is having the worst few months of his criminal career. Now would be a perfect time for Alex to overthrow the king. I’m just not sure if my brother has it in him. He never disagrees with my father.”
“He did today. He didn’t kill Kevin.”
Damien nodded. “Yeah...I guess it’s kind of nice to know he has some small bit of conscience.”
“To me it’s nice to know that family means that much to him...at least I don’t have to worry that he’ll hurt you.”
Damien slipped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. He kissed the top of her head and just held her there. Neither of them spoke and they were both rapidly becoming content in each other’s silences.
Chapter 17
Three days passed before Damien got a call from his brother. “Meet me back at the pier,” Alex told him.
“I’m in New York.”
“Where?” Damien wasn’t about to tell Alex that. It wasn’t so much his brother he was worried about...but he wouldn’t put it past Jackson to tap Alex’s phone just in case he did call Damien.
“Huh uh, just tell me where to meet you and I’ll be there.”
Alex snorted. Damien knew it pissed him off that he was asking for help from him, but still didn’t fully trust him. “There was a time when I was the only person you trusted.”
“There was a time when you didn’t remind me so much of Jackson,” Damien said.
“Meet me at Battery Park by The Sphere at noon.”
“Will you be alone?” He heard Alex sigh and then he hung up without answering. Damien told Roxi and Paige he trusted his brother to help him...he was going to have to go with his gut instinct on that one. He just wanted this all to end.
He went into the guestroom that Kevin was staying in. Paige had just given him his pain medication and changed his bandages. Damien liked watching her do what she does. She’s so conscientious about everything and he found that actually watching people save lives instead of end them, was a refreshing change. But then again, he liked to watch her do just about anything. She saw Damien and told Kevin, “I’m going to start some lunch for you. I’ll be back.”
As she passed Damien he reached out and pulled her into him. He held her there for several seconds before placing a kiss on her forehead and letting her go. There weren’t many women in her position that would do all she’d done for Kevin. He wasn’t good with words...he never had been. He wished there was some way to show her how much he appreciated her. As soon as this mess is all over...if it ever is, he plans on taking her out for a nice dinner and a movie or something. He chuckled at that. He couldn’t remember the last time that he’d taken a woman out on a “date.” If any woman deserved it, it was Paige.
“How are you feeling?” Damien asked Kevin. They hadn’t talked about “things” yet. Paige kept him well-medicated for pain and Damien wanted him to be coherent when they talked.
“Like I got shot in the gut,” Kevin said. He chuckled then...and winced.
“Do you remember what happened?”
Kevin nodded. “My own brother shot me.”
“Yeah...unfortunately. Did you know that Alex refused to play “clean-up” crew? He waited for Jackson to leave and then he called Roxi and he took you to the agency where Paige patched you up...”
“That’s hard for me to imagine. I never thought that I was Alex’s favorite uncle.”
Damien grinned. “You’re really not...but I already had Brad...”
Kevin tried to laugh, but it came out in a groan. “Don’t be funny, it hurts.”
“I’m avoiding being serious, Dad.”
“I was wondering if you read the letter. I didn’t think you seemed mad enough at me.”
“I read it. Before I got a chance to kick your ass over it, you went and got shot.” Kevin laughed again.
“God damn it, you’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”
“Slowly yes,” Damien said with another smile. “But seriously...I was pretty pissed at you at first. I was even pissed at my mother. But, I know Jackson and I know you had good reason for keeping the secret. Obviously, you being his brother was not enough to keep him from shooting you this time. I being his “son” was not enough to keep him from sticking a knife in my side either. He’s loyal to his family as long as he thinks they’re all “behaving” the way he wants them to.”
“I wanted to tell you, Damien...so many times. At first it was your mother I feared for. Jackson was hard on her when he first found out she was pregnant. She’d been gone to her mother’s for so long that he knew you couldn’t be his. She didn’t want to tell him you were mine. She thought it would be better if he thought you belonged to some random stranger.
He drove her to an abortion clinic when he first found out. She refused to go in. She told him he could kill her there in the parking lot...she wasn’t going to kill her baby. When he took her back to New York he locked her in a room with him for about eight hours and held a gun to her head until she finally told him that you were mine. I was in California on legitimate business for the company and I didn’t even know that she was pregnant. I stepped out of my car in front of your father’s house that day to a baseball bat across the face. While I was writhing on the ground I looked up and saw my brother’s face. He was smiling at me. He told me that if I ever so much as breathed a word to anyone that you were mine, he would kill me. I was young and stupid at the time. I can’t even remember what I said that day through my broken teeth...but whatever it was pissed him off. I woke up three days later in the hospital. They found me in an alley. Jackson came to see me in the hospital and brought me flowers. He told me the next time, Maryann would be the one found in the alley.”
“The more I find out about him, the more I want to kill him myself,” Damien told him.
“Please don’t,” Kevin said. “Now that you know I’m your father, I’d like you to stick around for a while. We’ll figure this out.”
“Yeah, we’ll figure it out,” Damien told him. He didn’t tell him that he had a meeting with Alex. He didn’t tell him that he wasn’t joking about killing Jackson...if he ever got the chance; Jackson Paine was as good as dead.
*****
Damien stood next to the Spheres in the park and waited for his brother. As he stood there, he watched the “normal” people walk by. There were couples hand in hand...business men with their phones to their ear, women having a girl’s day out...and happy kids everywhere. He wondered sometimes if he would ever get to have that kind of life. He always wanted a family. He wanted kids and a wife and a “normal, boring” job. He wanted to come home at night to his wife and have dinner and spend time with his family. No more killings, drugs, violence...Just a n
ormal guy with a beautiful and blessedly “normal” wife and two point five kids. His ideas of what that life would be or should be like came mostly from television. He had no personal experience with it...but fantasizing about it made him feel at peace in his heart.
“Hey,” Alex walked up behind him. Damien jumped. He had been daydreaming...in his line of business that wasn’t the safest thing to do in public. Alex voiced that out loud. “For a man on the run, you sure aren’t very observant.”
“I saw you.”
Alex laughed. “Bullshit. How’s Kevin?”
“Do you really care?”
“Did someone piss in your Wheaties this morning? I saved his fucking life. Give me some credit.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m just so fucking sick of all of this. Paige’s mother can’t go home, Paige can’t go back to school, Kevin has to pretend to be dead...it’s all fucked up.”
“I have more bad news.”
“Shit, what’s that?”
“Kelsey Kramer bailed.”
“Fuck! Lucas knows where she is, I guarantee you.”
“I’m sure. But, Lucas is not going to tell anyone. The good news is if he has her hidden out somewhere she won’t be able to run around loose with a gun.”
“What about Lucas? Is he still pounding his chest and insisting that Jackson do something?”
“Every chance he gets. Dad has also lost two shipments in the past three days. The first one was on a truck that was hijacked. As far as the police report goes, the truck was carrying a shipment of Video game systems...”
“Guns?”
“Yeah, a lot of them. The next shipment was a boat that has so far, disappeared off the face of the earth. The last time it made contact with anyone it was right outside of Bermuda...”
“Well, there is that triangle,” Damien said with a grin.
“Yeah right. Dad knows it’s Kramer, but he can’t prove it. It’s taking everything in him to keep from putting a bullet in Lucas’s head himself. Meanwhile, Lucas is stirring shit up on the streets with people who did business with Caine. He’s telling them that Jackson’s step-daughter killed Caine and Jackson refuses to do anything about it. Dad’s losing face and you know how he feels about that.”
“It sounds like Lucas is looking for a war.”
“He’s going to get one if he doesn’t back off soon...The only thing keeping Dad from doing it is that once people start turning up dead in droves, the F.B.I. starts getting interested again and snooping around.”
“Which will hurt Lucas as well as Jackson.”
“Yes, but at this point Lucas is so far gone he’s not thinking clearly. He’s running on his anger which is dangerous in our business.” Alex took a manila envelope out from underneath his arm and handed it to Damien. Damien opened it and pulled out the documents inside. A USB drive fell out with them. He looked at the paper in his hand. It was a copy of a handwritten paper. It said:
Kramer Construction, Slate construction and Backwoods buildings: Physical similarities in bids or proposals submitted by different bidders (all of the bids were prepared by the same party) evidenced by: Identical stationary, type, layout etc.
Same calculations, type face, handwriting, spelling errors or corrections appear in four of the five bid packages. Bids or proposals Contain corrections indicating last minute price changes. Multiple losing bidders submit defective, forged or sequential bid securities, or securities purchased at the same bank on the same day, etc. Correspondence or other indications that contractors exchange pricing information, divide territories, or enter agreements. A bidder brings multiple bids to a bid opening and submits its bid only after determining who else is bidding.
“What is all this?”
“It’s called a “Collusive Bidding Scheme,” and it’s something the F.B.I. would be really interested in...especially since the two companies bidding against Kramer are owned by our...my father.”
“I’ll be damned. Where did you get all of this?”
“Do you remember last year when Jackson sent us after Joe Madrid?”
“The ATF agent, right?”
“Yeah. He worked for Jackson for almost two years before he was made as a cop. The USB a lot more information on it...the handwritten paper is proof of who discovered it...”
Damien’s eyes widened and he threw his arms around his brother and hugged him. He felt Alex stiffen. His brother wasn’t much for being touched. “Sorry! Fuck! This is amazing! Joe Madrid’s murder was never solved. They couldn’t find any evidence they could use against Jackson or Lucas. Where did you get this?”
“Off of a dead man,” he told him. “I’ve had it since the night I killed Madrid.”
“But none of this will implicate you...and the evidence all looks like it came from Madrid so Jackson won’t have a clue it was you...You’re a fucking genius!”
“Be careful who you give that to,” Alex told him. “If Dad or Kramer catch up to you and they find that on you...it’s dangerous enough to them to kill for.”
“If Lucas catches up to me, I’m dead anyways and so is Paige. We’ll never get to have a “normal life” as long as we’re running and hiding from them. This is perfect.”
“There are names and dates on the USB. You and I aren’t on there, but Brad is...There’s one more thing that you need to understand Damien.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know if you’re having delusions that this is going to scare me straight...but if you are, you can give those thoughts up right now. I’m in this for the money and the lifestyle, little brother. I like my life. When and if Jackson is behind bars I will run this operation the way that I want...you can live your life the way that you want and Paige will be free to do the same.”
“I had no delusions,” Damien said, only half-truthfully. He had entertained a thought or two...a hope in fact, that Alex would someday see the light. His worst fear was that his brother would get caught in the sights and end up in prison. “Thank you. Are you good, if I give this to Jake right away?”
“I’m so clean I’m thinking of shaving my head and buying a white suit.”
Damien grinned and Alex took a step back. “But don’t hug me again. I might have to take you out right here.”
*****
When Damien got back to the penthouse, the doorman stopped him on his way inside. “Mr. James?” Jake introduced Damien and Paige to the doorman as Mr. and Mrs. James. He told him that Paige was his cousin and they were visiting from out of state. That way, no one would become suspicious of them going in and out of the building.
“Yes?”
“Mrs. James asked me to give you this on her way out.” The doorman handed Damien an envelope. On her way out? She wouldn’t leave Kevin alone...He had a sinking feeling in his gut before he even opened it. Inside was a piece of torn lined paper with a phone number on it. Trying to keep his composure when in reality he wanted to rip someone’s head off he said,
“Did you see her leave?”
“Yes sir.”
“When did she leave?”
“It was about half an hour ago.”
Fuck! “Was she alone?”
“No sir...” the doorman suddenly had a look on his face that said he was sorry he’d gotten involved. Damien took a deep breath. “She was with a gentleman.”
“How did this “gentleman” get into the building?”
“I’m sorry sir...I didn’t see him come in. My lunch break is from twelve-thirty to one-thirty. He must have come in while I was gone for lunch.”
“Who mans the door while you’re gone?”
“I have a regular relief...but he called in sick today. One of the front desk clerks covers when that happens...but after I got back, he went home sick too...” the doorman was getting the idea that something was wrong. It was apparent in his voice and on his face.
“What did the man she left with look like?”
“He was probably in his fifties, light brown hair with a few s
treaks of gray...I don’t remember really looking at his eyes. He was maybe six foot tall...and very nicely dressed in a suit and tie...”
Fuck! The doorman just described Lucas Kramer to a “T.” Why the hell would Paige leave with him? Why not kick and scream all the way down if she had to?
The doorman was still talking when Damien walked away. He pushed past an older company and got on the elevator. When they started to get on anyways he said, “Wait for the next one!” and pushed the door close button. He jumped off on the twenty-second floor. As soon as he walked into Jake’s apartment, he felt sick.
Things were overturned in the living room and it looked like there had been a struggle. He made his way down the hall towards the guestroom. Before he got there, the doorbell rang. He ignored it and peeked into the room. Kevin lying there with a needle in his arm and a tourniquet wrapped around his upper arm and tied tightly. Shit! He ran over to Kevin and pulled the needle out of his arm and felt his pulse. He still had one, albeit weak and thread.
Damien untied the tourniquet and picked Kevin up off the bed. He was dead weight and heavier than shit. Struggling to keep his knees from buckling and his back from breaking, he carried him into the master bathroom and laid him down on the rug in front of the tub. He filled the tub with water, picked Kevin back up and plopped him down into it, clothes and all. Kevin’s face went under but he came up quickly spitting and sputtering. Damien called Roxi first. She told Damien she was calling Jake at the office. A few minutes later she got a text message that said,
“Your girlfriend is really pretty.” Damien typed in,
“Fuck you. If you hurt her, I will kill you.”
“Be at the dock at six-thirty tonight with what you have against J and K.”
“Who is this?”
“Just be there...and bring what we’re looking for.” Fuck! Damien yelled out as the line went dead. Lucas Kramer has Paige....
House of Paine - (A Romantic Suspense - Book 2) Page 9