Some Way

by Tiffany Jade

  "D, are you hearing me? She needs to go," Jenna whispers again, her eyes pleading with me. I quickly nod. I agree, but I don't know what to do.

  Dad paid for this place, Dad made the deal, we were bound by family. And that was the only reason this bitch was even standing after what she had done to Grayson last time.

  "We can't kick her out, you don't understand—" I start but Jenna quickly shushes me, fuck it's kinda hot when she gets all controlling. Focus Dumb ASS.

  Shaking my head clear, I watch as Jenna heads over to the corner Gray is sulking in and grabs his arm. As she walks by me she grabs my arm too. Serafina stops her tirade short.

  "Where are you guys going? I was just getting to the good part." She begins to follow behind us but as we reach the door Jenna quickly lets go of my arm to open it, walks us out and slams the door in Serafina's face.

  "Just one good curb..." She grumbles as she pushes Gray towards her door. He doesn't even fight just walks in, but we all stop dead as we look around.

  Shoes are thrown by the door, like someone couldn't decide which ones they needed. Drawers left open in the kitchen, dug through, with papers sticking out. The couch's throw pillows on the floor. To most it wouldn't seem like much, but these girls kept their apartment in perfect shape.

  Gray rushes to Liv's bedroom door and yanks it open. Panic in his face as he glances around. Half of her clothes are gone, her duffel bag, her purse, her favorite slides, her phone charger.

  "Where the fuck did she go?" His voice comes out stretched thin, like he's barely holding on. He flips around when Jenna doesn't answer right away, but when I look at her, she looks just as shocked.

  "I-I don't know..." She wanders around the room taking note of what is gone. "I figured she was just over here waiting for me to come home, but she wouldn't answer my phone calls."

  "Well where could she go?!" Gray is pacing now.

  "Would she go to her family?" I ask Jenna as she steps out of Liv's bathroom.

  "All she has left is her sister, in Lake Havasu, but they haven't talked in years." Jenna walks out of the room, tears balancing in her eyes.

  "Mom?" Grayson asks, following her out.

  "Dead."

  Gray's eyes and mine both widen, how little we really knew about these two, but how crazy involved we already were.

  "Dad?" I ask as she curls herself into my chest.

  "Hasn't seen him since she was three."

  A shrill ring from my phone interrupts. Yanking it out of my pocket, everyone glances at the screen hoping it’s her.

  "Dean?" I answer as Gray falls back, his hands pushing hair out of his face as he paces again.

  "I've got news," Dean's voice comes over the line, along with Liam cursing in the background.

  "I'm assuming it’s not good." Knowing even though Grayson is struggling, he will want to know what's going on, I turn on speakerphone. "Go ahead."

  "Devlov's son was murdered in London, four years ago." Dean drops the words, and I damn near drop my phone. Grayson takes a breath so deep, I'm surprised he doesn't pass out.

  "So, we've been chasing a dead man?" Gray's voice comes out as a growl.

  "It gets better," the fact that it is not better, is clear as Liam starts speaking.

  "I'm sure it does," I mumble as Jenna squeezes me. I had done my best to explain what I could before we had gotten here, so the fact that she was trusting me at this point was fucking amazing.

  "Devlov still has a kid enrolled here. A kid who doesn't know anything about him."

  "So what the fuck does that have to do with us?" Grayson is losing his patience with the entire conversation.

  "The mission he was on was never about drugs, he's looking for an heir. The fucker is getting old, and honestly, damn near everyone who deals with him wants to stab him in the face. He's out of kids. This is his last shot at handing down his empire."

  "So if we get to the heir first, Devlov is done?" A flash of hope sparks in Gray's eyes, if he can stop Devlov's legacy, Dad will have no choice but to do what he asks, he will owe us more than just getting rid of Slutfina.

  "Exactly, Dean's family is running back traces on every student at the school now, pulling every single parent household, cross referencing them all with known dates and locations where Devlov was seen at the times when this boy should have been conceived and born. We've got a lead boys, and it's a good one. I'll call you back when we get a lock." With a click Dean and Liam end the call. A smile spreads across Grayson's face.

  "I need your phone," I hand it to him right away.

  "Who you calling?"

  "Luca, he's got the best hackers in the country at his compound, if anyone can figure this out it’s them."

  A quick five minute phone call and we've gotten Luca's word that we will have a name by the end of the week.

  "What do we do about Liv?" Jenna asks as we all sit down on the couch, exhausted. Grayson instantly tenses back up.

  "First thing we all need to do is get some sleep," before we can get too comfortable I pull Jenna back up off the couch and pick her up. Carrying her to her room I stop right outside her door, watching Gray get up he heads for Liv's room. He meets my eyes before he walks in.

  "You good brother?" I ask him. He takes another deep breath.

  "I'm going to get her back Daxon." I can feel Jenna smile as her face rests in the crook of my neck. "I love her."

  "Well it's about damn time you realized it," Jenna pops up with a grin. A small smile pulls at the corner of Gray's mouth before he goes to lay down on Liv's bed. Laughing I carry Jenna into the room and lay her on the bed. Too tired to even change, as soon as I lay down she curls into me.

  "We are going to get her back right?" she whispers, fading into sleep.

  "Of course baby." I place a kiss on her forehead. "She's family now, and we never leave family behind." A sleepy smile hits her lips as her eyes close.

  "You intrigue me, Son. You are fighting awful hard to get out of a marriage you were convinced would be a great benefit to the family only a short time ago." Luckily my father couldn't see my face over the phone because the eye roll probably would have earned me a punch.

  "Are we just going to forget that I was in the hospital because of her? That she chose the other side and tried to not only fuck over our family but oh yeah TRIED TO KILL ME?!" Dax's eyes widen as he lands a hand on my shoulder. In support I'm sure, but also trying to remind me to calm down, because yelling at our dad probably wouldn't help me get anywhere with him.

  "Her father's momentary lapse in judgement has been discussed and dealt with." Code for somebody over there dead. "He has had an... eye opening... couple of weeks and has realized that his support lies better with the Demonte family.

  "And he paid you a shit ton of money right?" Dax's hand squeezes again, yeah yeah, I'm not winning any brownie points.

  "Not everything is about money, Son." I can hear my father take a deep breath and the squeak of his old leather office chair. "Listen Grayson," he tries to soften his voice, but in the steady progression we’ve been seeing of him not giving a shit about us, he doesn’t really succeed. "Do you really want to bring this girl you think you love into this life? You want her to see who you are when it's time to work, when it's time to kill? How cold hearted you really are? You want to ruin her normal little life and drag her into the life that you so desperately want to leave?"

  I have to sit down, I have to take a breath.

  "You know you never get to walk away Grayson. You know that at some point, even if you've settled down, stepped away from the family business, bought a nice little house in the country like you always talked about," the image of Liv and I in our own home together makes me smile. "Two little kids running around, maybe even a dog? You know that every time you left that house you would worry. Every time you walked away would you be sure that nobody was coming for her? Nobody was coming for those kids? Because you may be able to walk away Grayson, but our enemies will always find their way to you. To he
r. Can you live with that? Can you live with her dying for you?"

  Grayson's face falls as Dad says the words. Fucking fabulous. Leave it to Dad to destroy anything good we got going on. I get ready to speak but Gray beats me to it.

  "You're right Father." His hand shoots through his hair before he brings it back to rub at his eyes.

  Whaaat?!

  "That doesn't mean I want to be, Son," Dad's voice replies but whatever words he says, I know he's just content that he got an agreement. "You tell me the girl has left anyway, yes?"

  "Yes, Father." Gray leaves the phone sitting on the dresser and walks to Liv's bed to sit down.

  "Good. Without distractions we should be able to get the wedding done and you and Serafina settled with no problems. I need you to consider whether you would like me to purchase you a home there or back here in New York." Gray's eyes close in pain, but the thought of living with Sera would be enough to give anyone a fucking migraine. "I assumed you would rather come back here so I have had your mother and sisters out looking at potential locations for you. Gigi has found one in particular she thinks you will really enjoy, something about a spa room?"

  "What about Devlov's heir?" I interrupt, there's no way Dad was just going to let that go, we had to eliminate any chance he had at continuing on.

  "I will make some calls. You boys are done. Focus on the wedding."

  "But Dad," he clears his throat as I try to speak, it's pointless to argue with him. Glancing over at Grayson, his shocked expression must mirror mine. Dad had never pulled us off of something before. Young or not we were the best he had. He clearly knew though, that if we finished this, we would ask for something he did not want to give us.

  "It will be handled." Leaving no room for comments, he hangs up the phone. Grayson throws himself back on Liv's bed.

  "I really don't want to go back in there," I motion in the direction of our apartment with a grin.

  "What do you need to go back for?" Grayson stares up at the ceiling, and I can almost watch the gears turning as he thinks.

  "Uh to get our stuff dumbass, or are we just leaving for Havasu with the clothes on our backs?" He takes a deep breath before sitting back up and straightening his spine.

  "We aren't going to Lake Havasu, Daxon." Gray stands up and tries to walk past me but fuck that—I shove him back and block the doorway.

  "Excuse the fuck out of me, but yes, yes we are." He shakes his head as he grabs his phone off of the dresser.

  "You heard Dad," he shrugs as he waves his phone around at his point.

  "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" I start laughing. "Out of all the times we have not done what he has told us to, you want to choose right now to be a good lil boy and obey Daddy?"

  Grayson glares and puffs his chest out, but I just laugh harder. Walking up to him I get in his face to make sure I have his attention. "Where is 'Fuck you, sir,' Grayson? Where is the Grayson with an authority problem and a gun? Where the fuck is my brother who knows sometimes our father is just a dumbass with a high opinion of himself?"

  I poke his chest as my anger starts to take over, "I told you to leave her alone. I told you not to pursue her, and you ignored me. Now for some reason I will never fucking understand, that girl fell for your stupid ass and made you happier than I have ever seen you and you're going to let Dad tell you to walk away? You got handed a fucking queen you dumb son of a bitch, and maybe, just maybe, if you grew some fucking balls to stand up to Dad you wouldn't have to be married to SeraSlut for the rest of your life and you could actually have a life you enjoyed. Oh and you know what, I bet Liv would never try to kill you. But standing here with you right now I'm starting to understand why Sera fucking tried."

  Pure rage lights up Grayson's eyes as my words sink in. His jaw clenches, releases, clenches again. If he wasn't holding me in a death stare, I'd look, but I'd bet money his fists were clenching as he debating introducing me to his knock out right hook right now. I can feel the smirk turning up the corner of my mouth.

  "Go ahead brother, connect that punch, but it won't change the fact that I'm right." I take a step back. "I'm done hiding over here, I'm going to go tell your fiancé to get the fuck out of my apartment. And you can either come with me and we will go get your girl back, or you can leave with Serafina. You can go plan your bullshit wedding and prepare to be miserable for the rest of your—what will probably be short knowing her affinity for murder—life. Your choice."

  Without waiting for him to speak, I spin around, just in time to see Jenna grin at me from the doorway.

  "Can I come with you?" she asks with a mischievous sparkle in her dark eyes, I stick my arm out for her to grab onto.

  "No curbs," I scold her, whispering in her ear, she giggles. My fucking heart man...

  We head for the door together, "Na, I think your brother is the one I may need to take outside now," her giggles gone now, a sad look passes over her face. I glance back and notice Grayson is sitting back down on Liv's bed, a blank look on his face.

  "He'll figure it out," I tell her, landing a quick kiss on her cheek. She gives me a small smile and nod.

  "I hope so."

  Me too.

  "Now, let's go kick this bitch out of my apartment."

  Chapter 19

  "Wait, wait, wait, he was hiding a whole ass wife from you?!" Sofia's eyes about pop as I start in on the Serafina drama. "You have any hidden wives you need to tell me about?" Flipping around to Ryan, she asks as he chuckles.

  "No honey, no hidden wives," Ryan glances over to me. "Now really Liv, a wife?"

  "Well not a wife, it’s the fiancé I told you about, and she’s an arranged one at that. He didn't look happy to see her, I mean and not in a , 'Shit I just got busted way,' but in like a real, hatred-y kind of way. Ya know. And the way she talked to him was insane, like you could tell that she was not any happier about it either. Oh and she's the same fiancé who tried to kill him a while ago. Something about her family trying to pick a side. But she just—"

  "TRIED TO KILL HIM?" Sofia's eyes open even wider...if that's possible. Ryan's mouth drops a bit.

  "It's not all as bad as it sounds..." I mumble, knowing it sounds pretty bad.

  Okay, it is pretty bad.

  "What the hell did you get yourself into baby bear?" Sof wraps me up in a hug and squeezes tight.

  "Dude must be buff...and ridiculously good looking..." Ryan starts commenting in an amused voice. "And rich, oh I bet he's so rich." Sof smacks him on the arm. Both Ryan and I laugh. "I mean he has to be all those things to have this much drama and still be able to steal our little Liv's heart."

  "I mean... he is pretty hot," I admit, making both Sofia and Ryan start laughing. "Wait, where is Lizzie?" I glance around, realizing the sun is much farther up now and my niece is nowhere to be found.

  "She's at my dad's house," Sofia responds. "This is our adult weekend," she winks as Ryan smirks. It had been years since I had talked to Sofia's dad too. Him and Mom had divorced when Sofia was four, Mom's rebound resulted in me. Apparently my dad had stuck around a little bit but after I turned three he disappeared and I hadn't heard from him since, a part of me had hoped he would show up to Mom's funeral, but if he had been there I had been too upset to notice. When we were younger, Sofia's dad had done everything he could to make sure I felt included though, a lot of the time letting me stay at his house when he had custody of Sof. When Mom had passed away when I was sixteen he took me in, no questions asked. He was a wonderful man, and I had ghosted on him too.

  "Wait, adult weekend? Oh no! I'm so sorry." I go to stand up, instantly feeling bad again for just barging in on them. "I'll just go get a hotel, you two—"

  "Sit the hell down Liv," Ryan stands and gently pushes my shoulders down until I'm back on the couch. "You're not leaving. I'm going to go make us some food. Sof, while I am gone I expect you to find out just how buff and rich this mafia man is so we can judge if it's enough for Liv to deal with all his shit."

  Both Sofia and
I start cracking up, Ryan heads out of the room with a wink. As we calm down from our giggles, Sofia sends me a warm smile, surrounded in love and comfort I lean back into the couch and relax.

  "I get the feeling that I still don't know the whole story," Sofia says gently. "But I can see from the look in your eyes and the way you talk about him, even when he's fucking up, that you love this Grayson guy." Not even trying to deny that, I nod. "Does he love you?"

  My heart flips at her question. He had said he did. Even if he thought I was basically asleep and it had been right after...well yeah.

  Hundreds of moments flash through my brain. The smile on his face as he showed me his hidden spot, hidden away in nature. The ease with which he moved me away from the edge of the trail when I was scared. The tenseness leaving his body as I had wrapped my arms around him when he shared things with me he thought would scare me away. The intake of his breath and the tug of his smile the first time we kissed. The look of absolute power on his face when he saved me from Aaron in that room. The childlike happiness when we played laser tag. The heartbreaking pain in his eyes when I walked away from him...

  My eyes fill with tears and I nod as Sofia reaches out and places her hand on mine. "I think he does. But I know he loves his family, and I don't think he may have a lot of options this time."

  "We always have options baby bear. I think you know what you are willing to do. Now we will just have to wait and see what he is willing to do for you."

  "Do you think he's going to figure it out, or is he going to just let that evil bitch ruin his life?" Jenna runs a finger across my chest as she lays across me.

  We had effectively tag teamed Serafina a couple of hours ago and had gotten her to pack her shit and get out. Sadly, no fists had been thrown and no guns had been discharged. But I had ended up with the psycho out of my apartment and Jenna in my bed, so I'm calling it a win.