What the hell? “Jesus fucking Christ, you've been listening to Sarah.” I laugh, someone’s taken his damn balls.
“Shut up!” he growls. “The men have seen the footage, they know he is responsible. There's no hiding from this. Before there was a slight doubt, that maybe he too was being set up like Barney had been. Now we all know that Martin set Barney up, and Barney paid the price. No one is setting Martin up, he's doing this on his own for his own benefit. He's well and truly fucked there's no coming back from this…”
“No, there was no coming back when he stole my woman, there was no coming back when he raped her. There is no coming back full stop,” I say through clenched teeth, pissed off at his choice of wording.
“Boss, I didn't mean it like that…”
“I don’t care how you meant it. I'm telling you now there was no way he was coming back at all. No matter who he’s killed. The acts he’s committed have proved that. The things he did to Mia, he took the lives of Lacey and Barney. That’s too much, I don't forgive and I certainly won't be forgiving him.” Jagger needs to shut the hell up, the man is making my anger rise.
“I'm going to be quiet now because I just keep putting my foot in my mouth. You know that I love Mia and I will do anything for her, I’d give my life to protect her. I would have done the same for Lacey. But she paid the ultimate price. I have so much guilt at not being able to get to her in time. So much guilt for not seeing what Martin was. That eats away at me every single day. I was one of the closest to him and I didn’t see the truth behind that facade. I’m grateful, it’s selfish but I am grateful that Sarah wasn't there, because no doubt if they had been in California, she would have been at that house with Lacey and Mia, then she too would have been taken.” His voice cracks at just the thought of it.
“It's not selfish. I still need to find out how he knew where Mia would be that day. The only thing I can think of is that he's had her phone tapped, traced, or some techy shit like that. He got lucky in the sense that Lacy was there too, and yes if Sarah had been there he probably would have taken her as well. You and I both know that our women mean everything, without them we are nothing, and with them we are stronger. If you take them away from us, you make an enemy for life, hurt them and you die. It's the way of life, it's the way things have to be and not only did Martin take her, he hurt her in ways that she will never be able to recover from. And for that he’ll pay the ultimate price.”
A jagged breath escapes him. “Boss, I know. But I also know that we have to be smart about this because as much as we like to think we know Martin and what he's going to do, we don't.”
It’s something I’ve known for a while, something I’ve been thinking about and I finally know how to do it. “I know Jag, I know. That’s why we are going to have to take a step back. We’re going to find out everything there is to know about Martin, search for every single detail of his life and find out what he could have planned next. Right now we are sitting ducks, waiting for him to take out one of us. We are in limbo and it’s got to stop.”
“We’ll call a meeting, have every man on it,” he tells me, but it won’t work.
“No, I have someone on it already.” My dad, I’ve told him to give me every detail of Martin’s life. As much as he’s an asshole, he actually gives a shit about Mia and I and that’s why he’ll always have our backs.
“Hudson…” he begins, and I know that he’s going to ask something, he always says my name if he wants to talk to me frankly. “Do you think you can trust him?”
“Do I trust that he’s turned his back on Martin?” I ask trying to clarify what he means.
“Yes, Martin is his son too,” he tells me something I already know.
“No, I don’t, but I do think he’ll do what’s right and as I'm the boss, his loyalty is with me.” That I can say with absolute faith.
“Good, we don’t need him having help from anyone else.”
r /> “Dad wouldn’t do that,” I reiterate.
“Hudson, are you certain?”
Fuck. “If he turns his back on me, then I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in his head.”
“Me either. You know what they say, keep your friends close…”
“Your enemies closer. Yeah I know and believe me Jag, I’ve got him closer than I’ve ever had him before.”
He makes a tutting noise. “Yeah, I know that, Boss, but he’s also got you closer than ever.”
I can’t believe this shit. This is my dad, the man’s meant to have loyalty to me. “I’m going to go, I’ll swing by the hospital once I have Mia home.”
“Okay, Boss, call me if you need me.”
“Will do, talk to you later, need to rescue my girl before mom frightens her off.”
He laughs. “No chance boss. Mia loves you.”
“She was made for me, Jag.” She really was, I never expected to find a woman who would be so fucking strong.
“Definitely was, just as Sarah was for me.”
“Okay, enough of this shit. I’ve gotta go.” I end the call and sigh, fucking Martin. He’s the bane of my existence.
I know that Mia still has trouble sleeping if I’m not in bed beside her. If I have to work late or even leave the house during the middle of the night, whenever I come back, she’ll be in the living room watching telly. Even if I am in bed with her, she still has to have the light on.