Chapter 6: Kat

***

Kat

"The men seem kind of distracted to you?"

"When are they not distracted? If you ask me, it works perfectly with what we have to do."

"I'm not sure Ginger-Lee; it seems a bit risky right now, don't you think?"

"What's risky, Illyana? Look, now is the perfect time. Look, who's not pregnant among us has just given birth, what exactly are you afraid they'll do to us?"

"She's got a point, and besides, I told you, your dad is throwing his hat in the ring to run for president. If we don't do this now, it might be another four or eight years before you get the chance again. Do you really want to wait that long?" Illyana looked down at her baby girl and kissed her curly hair.

"No, I really don't, I'd like him to meet her. I didn't have him in my life; I'm not even sure he'd want me, want us, but…"

My heart was breaking for her. It seems every time we get close to a solution where her dad was concerned, something else cropped up. This latest pebble might be the biggest obstacle we've faced so far, though.

There's a good chance that with her dad, who doesn't even know she exists running for office, security around him will be tighter than it was when he was just a senator. It's hard enough trying to get to him now even by phone, but if he should run and win, it might be damn near impossible.

I feel kind of guilty since I'm the one more or less who has been keeping them back from going forward with their plans, but I know my husband and, by extension, his friends. If we don't do this right, there'd be hell to pay. Not to mention we stand the chance of screwing over the senator if things don't go as planned.

It's times like these I wish my husband were less… just less than he is. The man hasn't changed one bit in all the years we've been married. No, that's not quite accurate. He's changed, alright but for the worst. I've never seen anyone so set in his ways. He claims that the reason he dragged me, our kids, and both sets of parents here along with Cy is because of the pandemic, but we were all perfectly safe at home, so I'm not buying it.

Add the fact that he's been shut up behind closed doors with his pals since the minute we got here, and I'm doubly sure something else is going on. I can't ask Catalina to spy on them again because they're onto her tricks, and Colt threatened to tan my hide the next time I do it, so there's that.

"I don't think we have to worry about them for the next little while." We all looked at Cierra, who was feeding her baby daughter. She didn't look like someone who'd given birth not too long ago.

Her body was almost back to its original shape, her skin glowed with health, and her hair and nails looked like she'd just walked out of a salon. Colton wouldn't hear of me going to get anything done, not even when they loosened up and let some places open in our town.

"Why do you say that?" Illyana asked as she put her own daughter over her shoulder to burp.

"I gave Hank something to sink his teeth in just before you all arrived. I'm pretty sure he and the guys will be too busy to worry about us and what we're getting into. As long as we all keep our cool and not give anything away."

All eyes went to Dana-Sue, who squirmed in her seat. "I don't know why you guys are looking at me? It's best if you don't tell me anything because Law always finds a way to get it out of me." From the way her cheeks reddened, I'm thinking we all knew his modus operandi.

Poor thing, I can't help her there because Colt is pretty much the same. "But you should be safe; you just had the kid." Melissa, her sister in law, piped up as she rubbed her tummy.

"Yeah, but my six weeks ended yesterday,

and he's already been dropping hints."

"Oh sh*t !" That was Susie, Cord's wife's take on the situation.

The whole room erupted in laughter, and even Danielle, the most reserved of the bunch, was nodding her head in understanding. It's a shame that all these grown women, myself included, were victims of the same thing—asshole husbands with way too much testosterone.

***

Jason

"I'm gonna go check on Ash and the kids." My brother pulled his phone from his pocket and pulled up the screen where we could see my sister through the little device in her wedding ring. It wasn't a clear image, just the outline of her body heat, and I knew he could press another button to hear what was going on around her, but we were in a strange place surrounded by strangers.

"They're fine, stop worrying about them. She's been talking to these women on the phone and online for a while now, and we've vetted everyone here at least ten times. Besides, you think I'd lead my wife and kids into danger?" He had a point, but still, old habits are hard to break.

For the past ten years, my life has been one that I never could've imagined when I was living on the streets, not knowing where my next meal was going to come from. Enduring cold in the winter and fall and unbearable heat in the summer, there were days when I thought my life was going to end on a park bench somewhere. Life on the streets isn't easy for anyone, not even a boy who'd thought himself tough enough to face anything.

The man standing beside me had changed all that. Just because of my childhood friendship with his wife, and the fact that I'd ended up in my desolate condition because I'd been trying to help her, he'd gone way beyond what anyone else has ever done and made my life damn near princely.

In the first year after I came to them, he'd adopted me and given me his name, making me a legitimate member of his family. But I was always more brother than son, even with the trust fund he'd set up for me on my eighteenth birthday. I thought for sure after I killed my asshole sperm donor that he'd want to get me as far away from his wife as possible, now that I had blood on my hands, but nothing could be further from the truth.

He never held what my old man did against me in any way. Instead, he'd only drawn me in closer and never allowed me to feel a moment's unease, never made me feel less than or not part of them. I owe him my life, him and my 'sister,' his wife. Our family dynamic is all messed up, but it works for us. He'd adopted me, but I'm his little brother. I grew up with her, risked my life for her; she's my big sister.

Their kids are my nieces and nephews, though, on paper, they're my brothers and sisters. We're very clannish, very overprotective of each other. And the few who tried coming between us over the years, those uninformed few who tried claiming that because there was no blood shared between us that meant that we were not each other's kin, had been sent away wishing they'd never crossed paths with any of us.

I've watched him stand between me and danger too many times to count. Hear my sister go to bat for me at the worst times in my life, those times when my past caught up with me, and I wanted to pack it in. She still doesn't know the worst of it, that I'd ended my old man with my own hands because Gideon had kept that from her, and from the rest of the world.

Only his men knew the truth about what happened that night. Those same men who along with my brother, had taught me how to be a man. Not only how to protect myself and my loved ones physically, but how to be the kind of man they could be proud of. I live my life only to give back to him for everything he's done for me.

He brought me back from the edge of hell, from imminent despair, and gave me a life of luxury and what's more, unconditional love. So yeah, even though I'd vetted every man in this room and had seen firsthand the work they'd done so far in bringing home stolen children, something my brother and I care very deeply about, I'm still not willing to risk my little family.

Now, this Mancini guy wants me to hook up with some kid to find someone who's offing predators. I need more information on that before I give the okay, but since Gideon doesn't seem to find anything off about it, I'll keep my cool for now. Usually, I'd be the one taking out the assholes; it's what I do.

Gideon had wanted me to go into the family business. To keep my nose clean, rake in the dough and live the life of Riley. That just wasn't for me, though. I'd seen too much by the age of sixteen, both from my time living on the streets and from learning about the sh*t my old man was into at a very young age.

Part of what I do is to make amends to the world for the sh*t he'd done. The craven asshole should've got worse than I did to him when I gutted him that night ten years ago. If I'd had the time, I would've made him suffer a hell of a lot more for all the horror he and his cronies had inflicted on the innocent.

And since my sister Ashley is a daily reminder of that, there's no way that I can live my life in a cushy job behind a desk. I'd gone to school because that's what they both wanted, but there was never any chance of that happening. I've spent every day since Gideon forced me to move into his mansion, which Ashley, to this day, refuses to let me leave, honing my skills.

I've rescued or been part of the rescue team that brought home more than fifty young kids over the years. Each one is like saving Ashley all over again, as well as retribution for the ones I couldn't save from my dad back then. I can't stop, I won't ever stop, not as long as there's one kid missing and being exploited out there in the big f*cked up world.

I looked around the room again, at all the men gathered there. There was a lightness in the air as everyone teased the Lyon guy about his lineage. He didn't look like the type you should be teasing like that unless you were a lion tamer. Guy looked like he was the type to throw your ass out a high-rise window and not lose any sleep.

Then there were the SEALs. Even when they were across the room from each other, they moved together like a well-oiled machine. It was hard to miss and beautiful to see. Gideon had already thrown his hat in with these guys since the last time they worked together, so I know there's nothing for me to worry about. Still, I won't rest easy until I've got the lay of the land myself.

"I'll be right back; I don't see Dana and Jenna."

"They're with Lyon's kid." Just then, the door opened, and a man and woman walked in. One look is all it took to see what he is; stone-cold, and you can add whatever else you wanna add at the end of that statement. The guy oozed wealth and breeding, but there was an underlying element that might be hard to miss unless you were someone like me.

But it was the woman that drew the eye. She was tiny like most of the women here, including my sister, but there was an edge to her that you'd miss if you weren't looking. She'd cased the room in seconds and didn't relax until the man beside her did. "Everyone, you remember Shane and Arianna Flanagan." Mancini addressed the room.

"Oh sh*t , Gideon, is that?"

"Yep!" Things just got real f*cking interesting. The prince of the city had just joined the room. What the hell is he doing here? If these men are playing around in his sandbox, then they can't be as straitlaced as I first thought.