Damien had to smile at that. “Yeah, we’d give the Adams family a run for their money, that’s for sure. I’m not sure how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. That letter was from my mother as you know. It told me that Jackson Paine is not my father.”
Roxi’s eyes widened, but that was the only part of her expression that changed. “Did she say who is?”
“Yeah, that’s the part that involves you. It’s Kevin.” Now her face showed her shock.
“What the fuck?”
“He and my mother had an affair and I was created.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. My mother and father split up when I was three but he was always there for me. He was actually more there for me than she was. I can’t imagine him having a son that he didn’t claim.”
“He didn’t have a choice...I guess.”
“That mother-fucker! Jackson! He would have lost face if people found out that his wife was having an affair...with his brother no less.”
“Yep. Apparently he did either beat or have Kevin beaten to within an inch of his life. He threatened him and my mother. It was the only way she obtained her freedom. She told him that if he let her take Alex and I away from the business...she would keep her mouth shut. She wouldn’t even tell me. Kevin went along with it because if he didn’t...”
“People would have died.”
“Like people do around Jackson Paine.”
Roxi sat there stunned for several minutes. Then she said, “I guess this explains why I’ve always liked you so much more than I did your asshole brother.”
Damien laughed again. “I guess you never imagined you’d end up with a brother at this stage in your life.”
“Nope. I guess you never imagined you’d end up with a smart, savvy, sexy sister like me, huh?”
Still laughing he said, “No, I would have never imagined.” It felt good to joke about it. It relieved some of the tension. He liked Roxi too. He was glad if he had to have a sister all of a sudden, it was her.
“So now what?” she asked him.
He looked at the clock on the wall. “I’m meeting with Alex at noon.”
“Shit! For what?”
“You sound like Paige.”
“The girl is smart. Don’t trust him, Damien.”
“I have to tell you the same thing I told Paige. He’s my brother, no matter what. I have to trust him. I need his help.”
“Fuck. Well, it was nice having a brother for a minute.”
“You give a guy a lot of confidence,” he told her.
“I’m a realist and the fact here is that Alex is his father’s son. He might care about you...but he’s committed to your father. I’m not sure that you’re not making a grave mistake here, Damien.”
“I’ve given it a lot of thought, Roxi. We can’t use the evidence we have to bring the Kramer’s down without destroying our family. I know that you don’t want your father...”
“Our father.” Damien hadn’t quite accepted that yet. He just nodded and said,
“He doesn’t deserve to be in prison. In spite of the things he’s had to do in order to survive...”
“I agree.”
“The only way I’ll be able to do this is with help on the inside.”
“And what makes you think Alex will help you?”
“He’s my brother for one thing...and he’s as addicted to power as Jackson is.”
“Meaning? You think he’ll betray Jackson for a place at the top?”
“I’m banking on it,” Damien told her.
“Shit,” Roxi said again.
*****
Damien saw his brother standing on the edge of the pier looking down at the water. So many times in the past ten years he wished that they could go back in time to when he was that nineteen year old kid who looked up to his twenty-one year old brother and both of them had hopes for the future. Alex had definitely changed. Damien often wondered if the ruthlessness and callousness that his brother exhibited in his daily life now was always there. He wondered if you had to be born with that kind of thing...or if in ten short years you could learn it as well as Alex had.
Alex turned and spotted him when Damien was just a few feet away. He didn’t look happy, but Damien hadn’t expected him to. “Hey. He thinks I’m down at the docks. I have to head back within the hour before he starts to wonder what the hell is taking me so long.”
Damien nodded. He was well aware of the close tabs that Jackson kept on his “sons.” “Walk with me, I’ll try and make this as quick as possible.” Damien walked towards the sandy beach and Alex followed him. Damien loved the ocean. He missed the California beaches that he and Alex had grown up on. He missed the days of surfing with his brother and hanging out around a bonfire at night without a care in the world. He thought about the long days during summer that he and Alex had spent swimming in the ocean, floating in the void, free of gravity or anything else holding them back. He respected the ocean. He understood both the beauty and the dangers of it.
Jackson Paine reminded him a lot of the ocean. The way he loved his family could be such a beautiful thing...if it wasn’t always tinged in fear and danger. His brother was proof of that now, looking around the beach like someone on crack, paranoid that he’d been followed here and that Jackson would find out that he’d met with his brother. Maybe Paige and Roxi were both right and he was making a mistake.
“So what? Are you going to give me what father wants?”
“No.”
“Jesus fuck, Damien. He’ll never let you fucking walk away! What part of that has not penetrated your thick skull over the past ten years?”
“It penetrated. I just can’t do it anymore Alex.”
“Because of Paige?”
“No. Because of my own good conscience. I want a life. This is not living.”
Alex looked down at his three thousand dollar suit that looked out of place on the sandy beach. Damien knew what he was thinking without him saying it. “This was living.” Alex loved the money and all of the perks. Damien would gladly give them all up, forever for a chance at a real life.
“Alex, have you ever wondered why he treats me so differently than he does you?”
“That’s easy, I’m more likeable.” Damien looked at his brother. Amusement danced in his eyes. “Come on, what does this have to do with anything. Yes, he’s harder on you and he always has been. I really don’t know why. I thought maybe it was because you’re more like Mom and you remind him of her.”
“Do you ever think about Mom, and the promises we made to her?”
“Shit Damien! Where is this walk down memory lane going to get us?”
“Do you, Alex? Do you feel any guilt about that at all?”
“What do you want me to fucking say? No. I don’t feel guilty. You know why? Because Mom’s not here any longer. She has no idea what we chose to do with our lives. If Dad hadn’t of taken us in, we’d be working in some fucking nine to five piece of shit job we hate, married to some overweight chick and supporting four or five kids. How is this life not better than that one?”
“That one would be honest.”
“You’re such a fucking boy scout. I don’t have time for this, Damien. What is it that you want?”
“I want you to help me set him up.”
Alex stopped walking and looked at his brother. He laughed heartily then and said, “Good one.”
“I’m not kidding,” he said.
“You’re fucking suicidal and you’re trying to take me with you. Fuck that, Damien. You can just count yourself lucky that I don’t go back and tell him.”
“Just think about it for a second Alex. Who is going to take the reins when he is gone?”
“Brad or Kevin.”
“Kevin doesn’t want them and if Jackson goes down, so does Brad.”
“So you thought you’d manipulate me into doing this because I’m so power hungry I can’t see straight?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” Alex laughed again and shook
his head.
“What about my loyalty to my father?”
“If you stood between him and what he wanted, do you think he’d hesitate to take you out of the way? I’m not asking you to kill him. Just get me something we can use against him without taking down the entire family. I don’t want Kevin touched...or you. If I turn over what Paige and I have to the F.B.I., you all go down.”
“And why is Kevin any better than our father?”
“Because you and I both know that Kevin does the things he does out of loyalty to his family...he doesn’t enjoy any of it. Jackson does.”
“Why do you keep calling him Jackson? What happened to Dad?”
Damien looked at his brother and said, “Because he’s not my father.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Alex was looking at his brother like he’d grown another head.
“Roxi had a letter that our mother sent to her before she died. Kevin is my father.”
“Bullshit!”
“Ask him.”
“Mom had an affair with Kevin?”
“That’s what the letter says. It explains a lot. But DNA aside, would it really break your heart to be out from underneath his thumb? Hell, if he was locked up you could even take the business legit if you wanted to.”
“I have no idea what you expect me to do here...”
“Get a copy of his books. He launders the shit out of money through that restaurant...I need a copy of those books. I need one that implicates Lucas as well...”
“You are fucking insane. Just give him what you have and he’ll leave you alone and make sure Kramer leaves your girlfriend alone too.”
Damien laughed. “If you believe that you’re the one who is insane. As long as they’re both in control, Paige and I don’t have a chance.”
Alex looked like he was considering it, which was a good sign. “There are no guarantees that I’d end up in control. If the old man and Kramer end up in prison, there are still all of Kramer’s brother’s and both of Dad’s to contend with.”
“Okay then help me think of another way. Please Alex. I’ve never asked you for anything...please.”
“Shit! I have to get back to New York.”
“Alex...” He started to walk away. When Damien called out to him he stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“I’ll be in touch,” he said. Damien let him go. That was more of an answer than he expected.
Chapter 14
“I just bailed my daughter out of jail. My son is dead! Meanwhile that Bitch who put them both where they are is running around free being protected by your son and your niece!”
Jackson was sitting in the restaurant. Lucas was pacing back and forth. All five of Lucas’s brothers were sitting at the bar. Alex was half an hour late and Jackson was pissed. He had a huge shipment arriving today and because of Damien and Paige’s shit he was weeks behind on other work that needed to be done. He was in the restaurant alone with no one to back him up other than a waiter who probably didn’t have his pubic hair yet and a female bartender. Normally he wouldn’t be worried. Lucas was not only his old friend, he was smart enough to know that killing Jackson would be the equivalent of declaring war. But with all that had been going on with his kids lately...he wasn’t in his normal frame of mind. His wife was putting pressure on him to do something...and Lucas had spent the last thirty years making her happy.
“I told you I will take care of it. I just need some time. The police are very interested in all of this right now and you want to know why?” Jackson said. Lucas needed to hear this.
“Don’t you fucking tell me this is Kelsey’s fault! She was heartbroken over the death of her brother. Imagine her trauma walking in and finding him dead!”
“This goes all the way back to Caine killing Greg,” Jackson told him. “Your children can’t seem to stay out of trouble and they keep pulling all of us into it with them.”
“My children? My fucking children? Let’s start with your step-children, shall we?”
“Okay...both of our kids need to be put in check...”
“I only have one left. My son is dead!”
“As is my step-son,” Jackson said, looking at the door again. Where the fuck is Alex?
Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked like he was right on the edge and Jackson couldn’t be sure what the man might do if he snapped. Damien and Paige better hope Roxi’s security is damned good because Lucas looked ready to launch and all-out attack. The door to the restaurant pushed open just then and Kevin came in. “I’ll give you forty-eight hours to tell me what you plan on doing about this mess before I act myself. I don’t care what you do to me...my child did not die for nothing and my daughter will not rot in jail on a kidnapping and assault charge!” Lucas jerked his head at his brothers. They got up and followed Lucas out the door, all of them brushing past Kevin as if he didn’t exist. When they were gone Kevin sat down next to Jackson. Jackson drained the glass of amber liquid in front of him and said,
“I need Paige and Damien.”
“You need them?” Kevin said.
“Don’t fuck with me, Kevin. I know you think you’re making up for twenty-nine years of being a lousy father....”
Kevin slammed his fist into the table and stood up. “Fuck you! You stole twenty-nine years from me. You can damn sure bet I’m going to make sure that you don’t steal the rest of his life from him. I don’t give a fuck what you do to me any longer. I’m sick of this! I’m sick of you!” The door opened again and Alex walked in just in time to hear the end of that. He stopped in his tracks and watched as his uncle pulled out his gun and leveled it at his father.
Jackson didn’t flinch. He and Kevin had more than one violent disagreement over the years. If Kevin didn’t shoot him over what happened when Maryann turned up pregnant with Kevin’s baby...he wasn’t going to shoot him now. Jackson let his eyes flit to his son who stood about three feet away from his uncle. Alex didn’t have his gun out and he seemed torn. Jackson did wonder what the fuck that was about. He gave his son a look that he knew Alex would understand. Kevin still had his gun aimed at Jackson. Jackson put his eyes back on his brother and said, “What are you going to do, Kevin...kill me? Then what? Tell Damien the truth and have a family reunion? This doesn’t end well for you no matter what you choose here.”
“Kevin put the gun down.” Finally! Alex had his gun trained on his uncle now. Kevin still didn’t flinch.
“No Alex. I want him to tell me that he’ll let Damien and Paige go. I want him to say he’ll protect them and make sure Kramer won’t touch them. Then I put the gun down.”
Alex’s eyes shifted to his father. Jackson’s were still on his brother as he said, “Shoot him.”
Alex looked confused. All the times his father and Kevin had fought. All of the times he’d seen Jackson put Kevin back into his place whenever he stepped out of it...Jackson had never ordered any real harm to come to him. He could see his son struggling with it. To his credit, his brother still had not so much as twitched. His hands were steady and the gun was still trained on Jackson’s head.
“Kevin...put it down,” Alex said again.
“I gave you an order Alex...do it!”
“Dad...”
“Shit! What the fuck is going on with everyone?” The sound of a silencer was all anyone heard almost simultaneously with Kevin being thrown back into the table behind him. Alex’s eyes were wide as he watched his uncle clutch at the blood bubbling out of his abdomen. Jackson was disgusted with all of them. They all seem to have forgotten who the fuck is in charge here.
He pulled his gun out from underneath the table and laid it on top. His eyes went to his son’s shocked face and he said, “Clean it up. Finish him off and get rid of the body. I’m calling a meeting at my house tonight for what is left of this fucking family. Be there at seven o’clock.” Jackson stood up and buttoned his jacket. He looked like a Wall Street tycoon...not at all like a cold-blooded killer as he sauntered towards Alex.
He looked down at his brother and said, “It’s been thirty years in the making. He wasn’t going to stop pushing this time.” Then he looked up at his son and said, “Make damned sure you’re at that meeting on time tonight.” Then, he strolled out of the restaurant and headed for his home.
*****
Alex waited for Jackson to leave and then he put his gun away and knelt down next to his uncle. He looked at the traumatized waiter and said, “Lock the front door!” The kid ran to do what he was told while Alex pressed his fingers to the pulse in his uncle’s neck. It was there, but it was weak. He was bleeding a lot. “Get me some towels from the kitchen!” Alex barked.
“I’ll get them,” the bartender said.
“Hurry!”
Alex had a hundred and one things running through his mind. First and foremost he knew that his father would kill him if he found out that he let Kevin live. Secondly, his brother would never speak to him again if he let him die. If he did save him, what to do about the waiter and the bartender? Too many fucking questions, but for the first time in the past ten years of working for his father, he couldn’t bring himself to go through with the killing. Kevin’s his blood...Fuck! What a fucking mess this all is! He fished in his uncle’s pocket and pulled out his phone. He skimmed through the contacts until he found Roxi’s number and he pressed send.
“Hey Daddy. What’s up?” Roxi answered on the first ring.
“Roxi it’s Alex.”
“What do you want?”
“Your father’s been shot.”
“What? By whom? Where is he?”
“He’s at my father’s restaurant. I need to get him out of here. I don’t know if he’ll make a three hour drive to Rhode Island but...you know I can’t call an ambulance.”
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Alex waited. A few seconds passed and she said, “Take him to 485 Madison Avenue to Whitemore Realty. There’s an alleyway that runs behind the building. Pull up to the front door there.”
“Okay.”
“Alex!”
“Yeah?”
“Do not fucking let him die. I don’t care who shot him. If he dies, I will kill you.”
House of Paine - (A Romantic Suspense - Book 2) Page 7
