A Night of Redemption (The Redemption Saga Book 5)

by Kristen Banet

  Quinn looked around again. At Zander, at the teenagers, at Sawyer in the main room with Vincent. The Italian was finally on the ground, with a kid on his lap, smiling as the child appeared to be telling him something. Shade and Scout were keeping a close eye on their leader. Elijah and Jasper finally walked out of the back with Charlie, laughing about something.

  Sawyer’s new world. The one she made for herself.

  And they had to put the old one to rest. These kids wanted to know Shadow and they didn’t know she was in the building, right behind those dark eyes. Always just beneath the surface. Sawyer was hunting. When she looked up and noticed him, he caught just a flash of it, that focus, then she smiled and waved, the feeling disappearing.

  First they had to let Shadow rest. They had to make sure that persona wasn’t always haunting them in the back of her eyes.

  10

  Sawyer

  “Charlie, I need to talk to you privately,” she said quickly, grabbing him before he went anywhere else. Now that Vincent was settled, enjoying the company of a six-year-old on his lap, she could handle this. He needed to know that she was going to put protection on him. Just in case everything went sideways.

  “All right,” he responded, waving a hand. She thought they would go to his office, but instead, he led them all the way up to the old apartment. He locked the door behind them and pointed to the dining room table. It felt like old times, like she was about to be checked over and berated for getting as hurt as she did. It felt like the last time they had a private talk about Axel.

  She sat down obediently. There were times she just wanted a father like Charlie, and she figured he knew that. She just wanted to be the young one, the one who needed some advice, some guidance, and even a telling off. She hadn’t realized how much she genuinely missed sitting at this table, knowing she was about to divulge a secret she could only tell him.

  He didn’t sit with her immediately. He wandered into the kitchen and got them each a glass of water. He pulled out two of her favorite premade salads, which surprised her, and brought everything over to the table.

  “We’ll feed your men and the children junk food,” he said casually, putting a salad in front of her. “But I’m trying to bring my weight back down and I know you don’t like eating trash.”

  “Worried about your health, finally?” she asked softly, watching him pop open the salad.

  “It’s about time. With you dealing with the IMPO, there’s only me and Liam here with all of these kids. He’s too young to be on his own, I think. I never had kids. You and he are all I have left of me when I go. I want to stick around until I think you’re both ready.” He smiled sadly at her. “James was my age.”

  She nodded slowly. “Yeah…”

  “He loved your men like sons. He wasn’t ready to leave them here, I think.”

  “I know.”

  “You and Liam are the children my wife and I always would have wanted.”

  “Damn it, Charlie.” She couldn’t touch the glass of water. Her hands were shaking too badly for a moment as tears flooded her eyes.

  “What’s so important that you needed to tell me alone?”

  “We discovered Axel escaped from prison,” she whispered, hoping there weren’t already bugs in his home. She hadn’t checked. She should have. “I…”

  “They want you to catch him again.” His voice was strained, his face tight with an emotion she couldn’t yet identify.

  “They want me to kill him, and I’m going to. They’ll pardon me if I do it. They were going to pardon me for the Triad situation, but then we found out that Axel was free and…” She finally grabbed her glass and took a long swallow of water. “I’ve spent the last few weeks digging into everything I can about him. No leads yet, but when they come, I have a feeling things are going to get wild.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “I’m going to put protection on you. Don’t argue with it, please.” She knew there was a possibility. “Please, Charlie. I can’t let him come after you. I couldn’t handle that.”

  “Why would he?”

  “To hurt me. To knock me off my game. Maybe even just to get revenge against you. You publicly admitted you’re the reason I’m alive after…”

  “Okay. I’ll accept the protection. I’m going to keep Liam here too, so he’s protected.”

  “I’ll have one of our agents follow him to class and shit,” she promised.

  “I wish I could say I can’t believe or understand it. Why would our government do this? Why would they ask this of you?” Charlie leaned back, dropping his plastic fork, shaking his head. Anger, that was the emotion on his face. He looked so upset for her.

  “But you do understand, don’t you?”

  “I do,” he admitted softly. “And when it’s all over?”

  “I don’t know. I plan on living through this, Charlie. I plan on them living through this. I don’t care what I have to do to succeed, but no one is going to die for this. Not you, not them. Not me.” She gave an aimless shrug. “But I don’t know about when it’s all over. Where I’ll be, what I’ll do. I can’t think about that yet. First I need to do this, ya know?”

  He frowned, going back to his salad. She started eating her own, letting the silence grow longer. She didn’t think about after. She couldn’t. She needed to stay focused on the task. She needed that. She had so much to do and things would get missed if she wasn’t completely dedicated to them right now. The future was just that. The future. She wouldn’t worry about it, not yet.

  When they were both done, she played dutiful daughter figure and took all of the trash, tossing it out for him. She noticed his trash can was nearly full and pulled out the bag, tying it off. She placed a fresh one in. Tossing the old one over her shoulder, she stopped next to him before leaving.

  “Thank you for listening to me. Charlie, you are the first important thing I ever had after him. The first person I trusted, the first person I knew would never hurt me. The first person who taught me that sometimes we all fall and it’s okay to get back up, fighting back stronger and faster.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You’ve defended me and I hope-”

  He stood up and wrapped beefy arms around her shoulders. She needed it. Of all the people who knew how Axel had left her, only Charlie got to see. Only he got to see for years the nightmares and the pain, and yet he loved her anyway. He was always there, watching out for her, dealing with her.

  “You can do this, Sawyer. I hate that you have to, but you can do it. I’ll be here on the other side of it, and will be for a long time after it. I promise I’ll always be in your corner, whether it’s Fight Night, or the IMPO, or the press. I’ve got you. Just promise an old man you really will do this and it’ll be the end. That I’m never going to have to worry about whether you come home alive or not.”

  “It’ll be the end,” she promised. She knew that much.

  “Take the trash out,” he ordered, trying to lighten the mood.

  He pointed to the door and she chuckled as she made the short walk back down the stairs and left through the back of the gym. She tossed her bag in the dumpster and stayed there for a moment. Damn that old man for breaking her heart and still being everything she ever needed from him. She could only wish she helped people as much as he helped her. He never had to hurt people. As a healer and a doctor, he knew how to do everything else. He put people back together. He put her back together.

  She went back inside and saw him finishing the climb down the stairs.

  “Let’s go order these boys some junk food,” he said, smiling.

  “Yeah.” She was smiling as they went back into the main section of the gym. She saw Vincent and frowned. He wasn’t as content as when she’d left him. He was pale and sickly as he walked away from the younger children towards her. “What’s wrong?” she asked quickly.

  “I think I have guesses as to who Missy was,” he answered.

  “And?”

  “Too many people,�
� he said ominously. “I want to go see her.”

  “Vincent…” She didn’t think that was the best idea. “We promised to take the holidays off. This is work. She’s not going anywhere.” If anything, she felt Vincent visiting might just escalate Missy. So far, the prison had been doing really well at keeping Missy from harming herself. It helped that Missy hadn’t tried either, which boggled Sawyer’s mind. She would have thought Missy was loyal enough to her master.

  “I want to go see her, Sawyer. I’ll leave it to you to schedule. Not right now, but tomorrow. Make it happen.”

  She recoiled slightly at the order as Vincent turned on his heel and walked out the front of the gym. She watched him light a cigarette and enter his own world again.

  Pulling out her phone, she sent the text to Thompson. He would make sure Missy was ready for whatever Vincent had planned for her.

  Sawyer drove silently the next day. She was taking only Vincent to the prison, leaving the team to enjoy another full day with Charlie and the kids. Sombra would have the company of the wolves. She wasn’t going to put her big feline through another visit.

  She didn’t want to admit she was pissed off at the man next to her. He knew she had wanted some holiday time, but apparently that didn’t matter. Apparently, they had to catch Axel right now, or bother Missy or something. She didn’t know what he was going to get out of this right now that he couldn’t deal with in a week.

  Was catching Axel a priority? Yeah, it was.

  But she didn’t want it to overtake her life. She was done with losing everything for that man. She wanted this to be another case, which was going to take time since Axel was already ten steps ahead of them.

  She had just wanted some peace for the last week of the holidays. The team had done nothing for Christmas. Couldn’t they at least have the week between that and New Years? Even just the last few days of the year?

  Apparently not.

  “Stop sulking,” he said softly, looking away from her like he had the entire drive. “We’ll do this, then get back to the guys.”

  Gritting her teeth, she resisted a very Quinn-like snarl. Sulking? Her? She wasn’t sulking.

  “Fine,” she snapped. She turned into the parking lot too fast, knowing Vincent wasn’t going to be ready for it. He swayed and hit the door, turning to glare at her when he regained his balance from it. She slammed the brakes a little too hard when they were in the parking spot, causing him to jerk forward.

  Sulking.

  “Someone’s in a bad mood,” he muttered, getting out of the car, her car, as fast as possible.

  She ran her hands over the steering wheel, considering the last time she and Vincent had been in it together. He’d been drunk and upset. She’d been exasperated.

  But she hadn’t been furious with him and he hadn’t been…whatever he was now. She knew what his problem was that night. She had no idea what was going on with him now. He would give her the same small, loving smile sometimes and others he would be completely closed off to her. This wasn’t Elijah, or any other time she had an issue with one of the guys.

  This was Vincent Castello, and she knew he was being torn up inside but she had no idea how to get him to tell her. She had no idea how to tell him to open up so she could help or find someone who could. She didn’t even know the source of his issue yet. Was it that Axel was free? Was it the fact that she had to execute him? Was he reeling that hard over James still? All of the above? None of it?

  She just felt the gap between them widen with every time he shut her down, and it was barely fixed when he finally offered her a normal smile or comment.

  She got out of her car, watching him walk inside. He hadn’t waited on her. This was what she kept thinking about. They didn’t spend time together anymore and…he was treating her like one of the guys, or like he had when they met. Not one of his closest friends, not his lover.

  Just the criminal he needed to deal with.

  That thought ran through her mind like a hot poker, more painful than she considered it could be. No, she only caught glimpses of the Vincent she had come to know and love. This man was the one she’d had issues with when they met.

  She walked in and saw him waiting at the front desk, the guard not there. He kept tapping a knuckle on the plexiglass, hoping to catch someone’s attention.

  “You were so excited to get us moving this morning that we’re early. Sit down. They’ll have her ready when they come to get us.” She pointed at the waiting area. He frowned, apparently not liking her order.

  “This was supposed to be-”

  “I told you the meeting would be at ten a.m. You decided we should be here at nine thirty. This is on you. Sit. Down.”

  He groaned, pushing away from the guard window, and went over to the waiting area.

  She waited another two minutes and smiled as the guard walked into the back room where she could see him.

  “Hey. I’m going to pretend you aren’t here for a little while longer.”

  “Oh, okay,” the Magi mumbled, sitting down in his spot in the window. She just kept smiling.

  “Is she ready?”

  “Yes, she is. Why are you…?”

  “Teaching a friend some patience,” she answered. He was forgetting the world didn’t run on his schedule or hers. Hell, it didn’t even run on Axel’s. It ran the way it ran and nothing, no amount of being an ass, was going to speed it up or slow it down for any of them.

  So, she waited with the guard for another ten minutes, until she felt like that was good enough. Being early wasn’t a bad thing, but rushing was. She hoped Vincent spent the few moments of silence in the waiting area thinking about how to approach this calmly and not whatever he was now, whatever was wrong with him since James died.

  She went and waved at him to follow her. He sublimated and crossed the distance in half the time of just walking. She frowned as he reformed next to her. She decided he must be feeling anxious. She narrowed her eyes on his hands, noticing how they stayed curled up until he shoved them into his coat pockets. A guard led them back to the same interrogation room she met Missy in the last time.

  Before he walked in, she grabbed Vincent, knowing she needed to give him one last warning.

  “Vincent, I did this without you or the rest of the team last time so you didn’t have to know this part.” She took a deep breath. “Axel had a standing order for his Ghosts and me that if we got arrested, we needed to…handle it before we gave up any information.”

  He turned slowly, looking over her face. She waited for the judgement.

  “He wanted you to kill yourself,” he whispered, devoid of emotion.

  “Yes.”

  He nodded, looking away again. “And you came here since you knew…”

  “I knew seeing her and saying what needed to be said could push her over the edge. The fact that she hadn’t tried yet meant she was still hoping he would come save her. He won’t, and I needed her to tell me anything I could get. So we had a conversation between two people. Two people who used to work for him.” She swallowed.

  “You were willing to be the push over the edge.” He narrowed his eyes at her.

  “Yeah, because I wasn’t willing for you to be that push. Or any of the team, really. So, whatever happens in there, I need you to understand it’s not you. She’s not…the way she is because of you. Hell, while I accept some responsibility, it’s not my fault either.” She wouldn’t carry Missy around like that.

  “How has she not gotten away with it yet? Suicide.”

  “I’ve had the guards on watch for it. I warned them before I left last time. Just in case.”

  “That’s nice of you,” he murmured. “Okay. Thank you for that.” He turned back to the door, but she didn’t let go of his forearm. “Sawyer…”

  “I’m coming in with you.”

  “I wasn’t going to leave you out here,” he responded, looking back at her over his shoulder. “I’m not dealing with any of these people without you.”

>   That relieved her in ways she couldn’t describe. At least she had that. He wasn’t going to pass over her to deal with people he didn’t know, when she had a wealth of knowledge and experience with them. That meant he still trusted her.

  They walked in together, like they had when they visited Axel earlier in the month.

  No…when they had inadvertently visited Missy, thinking she was Axel.

  They sat across from her. She didn’t look as pleasant as she had the last time Sawyer saw her. Her hair was wild and so were her eyes. She glanced between them furiously, baring her teeth in an anger Sawyer knew had no end. Missy hated them. They were her enemy and she was theirs.

  “You were my tutor. And one of my father’s advisors.”

  Sawyer didn’t react, but she wanted to. Internally, she was gasping in shock. Her eyebrows would have climbed up her forehead like they were trying to escape.

  But she showed nothing, just like Vincent as he said those words.

  “I know this since there was a tutor who always knew certain things about my father’s business I never could quite explain. And she kept saying she was just preparing us for the future when Axel and I asked. The advisor, a man, would always make sure to spend time with me and Axel when he visited, where all the others, including our father, would ignore us. You made sure to keep interacting with us.”

  Missy finally changed from anger to a smile. “You were always intelligent. Took you a decade longer than Axel to figure it out, but then, I gave him the hint a decade ago.” Missy leaned back in her chair, relaxed finally. “What does it change, Vincent?”

  “I just want to know your story, really.”

  Missy laughed. It was a laugh that made Sawyer uncomfortable. “My story? I could tell you my story over the last three hundred years. Did you know that we doppelgangers won’t die of old age unless we accidentally take on an old form? As long as I find a new, appealing, younger form to take every few decades, nothing can stop me from living for eternity. No, you want my story with Axel, and in a way, you. I can tell you that. It won’t help you, but maybe if I satisfy your curiosity, you’ll leave me alone.