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“Yeah, we all moved on because we had to. Life doesn’t exist in a vacuum, Ash. Hey, did you find her yet?” I ask Jonas as I enter the courtyard.
“Nope. I’m starting to get worried,” he murmurs before looking behind me and freezing. Shit! I didn’t even think about what seeing Ash again would do to Jonas.
“Hey,” Ash whispers, and I watch as Jonas’ eyes fill with tears. He’s opening and closing his mouth. I step closer to him and place my hand on his shoulder, bringing him back to the here and now.
My wife is still missing, and I don’t like that it happened right when Ash reappears.
“Did you try calling her?” I ask and he nods. I glance up as someone laughs, and I spot the other asshole in this courtyard. I stomp over to Jacob.
He looks up at me and notices Ash. His smile leaves his face and he stands. “Shit,” he grumbles. “Is it time?” he asks, and my eyebrows raise. I go to ask him what the fuck he’s talking about when Ash steps around me and over to Romeo.
“Is… is he mine?” he chokes out, his hands shaking, and Tempest’s eyes get huge.
“Wow, after all this time, you return and can’t even recognize your own son,” Bast says with a scowl as he holds Elijah in his arms, bouncing him. He has a pacifier in his mouth, but he doesn’t seem happy.
Tempest stands and takes Romeo from Otto, holding her son close. “I’m sure there’s a good reason for why you’re back, but we don’t have time for a reunion. I don’t even know that you deserve it right now. We need to find Chastity,” she says, then starts walking back toward the Academy. Jonas glares at Ash one more time, and he and Bast follow.
“I am so confused,” Ash mumbles, and I want to punch him in his selfish face. Otto takes mercy on him.
“Romeo is Tempest’s son. Elijah, the baby in Bastian’s arms, is your son. Chastity found out she was pregnant a few weeks after you disappeared,” Otto says, then crosses his arms and glares at his husband, as if he has something to do with this.
Jacob clears his throat and glances around with a sigh. “Let’s not do this here,” he says, walking over to the hidden door in the wall that will lead us to his office. I follow him, as does Ash.
We don’t talk, and the sound of our footsteps smacking on the cobblestone ground is the only noise. It’s eerie. When we reach the door to his office, he walks inside and leans against his desk, holding his hands up to pacify me.
I am visibly shaking, and I don’t care that he’s the leader of The Locked Souls. He’s also my brother-in-law, and he’s been blatantly lying to me and his sister for over a year.
He was there as she broke down and had to almost be hospitalized for not eating or sleeping. I turn to face Ash. Chastity was a fucking mess. We all were.
She loved him, even though he was an asshole. She loved him completely, and his disappearance broke her. Not to mention Jonas. God, he spent months searching for Ash. The pregnancy is what saved them both from going insane.
When Elijah was born, and looked like a spitting image of Ash, I was worried the hysteria would start all over again, but all Chastity said was that she was glad a piece of him still remained in our little family.
But now seeing him standing here, knowing that The Society is the reason that my family was ripped apart, I need blood.
“Start talking, right the fuck now!” I growl, and Jacob groans.
“Ash owed a boon to The Society. He was chosen to go deep undercover. I don’t know all the details, but the fact that he’s standing here right now is not good, Levi. It means we’re on the brink of war.”
A phone rings, interrupting Jacob’s poor excuse of an explanation.
“Yeah,” Ash grunts, answering it, and I watch him as he starts to panic. “No, what the fuck? You can’t just take her!” he shouts, before turning and running from the room.
Leaving Jacob and I confused, I decide to deal with him later, and turn back to the Judas staring me in the eyes, begging me to understand.
“Chastity and I trusted you, and you saw what it did to her. Our lives were blown apart after the initiation. We had a few hours of perfection before it all went to shit,” I roar. “The only thing that saved us were the kids. Heaven help me, maybe it would have been better if he never came back. Ash could have slunk back like the coward he is, and then disappeared again. Where’s my goddamn wife, Jacob?!”
“You don’t understand. I don’t know where she is. All I know is that Ash was to find out information about the criminal activities happening under The Society’s noses. We had a mole, so he was tasked with finding the bastards. But… he was only supposed to come back if something went wrong,” Jacob whispers, looking pale.
Gone is the man who commands the most powerful men in the world, and in his place is a broken one. He is facing down bad decisions, and the disappearance of his sister.
“Where is Chastity?” I growl. “There are few things in my life that matter to me, and she is one of them. I’ll paint the world in blood if I don’t get some goddamn answers.”
I grab the blade from the corner of Jacob’s desk and hold it against his throat.
“You betrayed us all. Give me one good reason not to slit your throat from ear to ear,” I growl, and his eyes widen.
The door slams open and I glance up, making sure to keep pressure on his neck, but not cut him. My dad storms in and his eyes are wild.
“Levi, what the fuck are you doing?” he roars and I just smile, pressing harder onto Jacob’s neck.
“He needs to tell me where the fuck my wife is, right now!” I snap, and my dad takes a few hesitant steps toward us.
“Son, stop,” he shouts in a shaky tone. “Get off him! He’s your brother.”
The End…?
