House of Paine - A Full Length Bad Boy Novel (34 page)

Jackson’s driver let them out of the car two blocks from the docks. There was a large semi-truck without trailers on it waiting. Two of Jackson’s men were inside. Damien and Jackson got in the truck with them and Jackson said,

“Any sign of Brad and Alex?”

“Not yet,” one of the men named Nico told him. Jackson took out his phone and sent another text. A few seconds later it beeped. Damien was watching his face and he saw that his “uncle” was instantly pissed.

“What the fuck?” He pushed in a number and Damien heard it ring. Then he heard a man’s voice answer but he couldn’t hear it clearly enough to know who it was. “Where’s Brad?” Jackson said. He waited a beat while the man said something and then said, “That wasn’t the fucking plan.” The man said something again and Jackson’s face looked a little less angry as he said, “I guess that makes sense. We don’t want the fucking lawyer or his cry-baby daughter finding him too soon. Okay. Get your ass down here.” Jackson clicked the phone off and Damien knew they had been talking about getting rid of Kevin’s body.

Another fresh wave of nausea rolled through him. He sat while Jackson and his meatheads had a conversation about something he didn’t give a shit about and prayed that he wouldn’t start heaving in front of them.

It was almost a half an hour later when Jackson’s phone rang again. He put it to his ear and said, “Okay, we’re on our way.” He clicked it off and told the driver, “They’re in position.”

The driver started the big diesel and they drove towards the docks. Damien was watching through the big window in front. He hadn’t been let in on the “plan.” When they got nearer to the docks, Jackson took out a gun and handed it to Damien. Damien was surprised he’d gotten one at all.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. Jackson shook his head at him and said,

“If you use it on me, these guys will kill you…after they kill Paige.”

“I know,” was all Damien said. He tucked the gun into his waistband. The truck pulled up in front of a set of trailers and then backed up to them.

“Come,” Jackson told him. Damien followed him out of the truck. They went around to where the trailers were. Jackson unlocked the big railroad container and told Damien and the other two men,

“Wait here.” Damien was reluctant, but he didn’t have a choice so he did what Jackson said. When Jackson was gone, Nico…the talker said,

“So you and your Dad had a falling out?” Damien gave him a look that should have set him on fire. Nico had a brain after all. He dropped it.

Jackson came back about five minutes later with Alex and two others in tow. Alex wouldn’t make eye contact with his brother and Damien couldn’t help but think that he was a coward. Yes, he was following orders to stay alive and keep Paige alive…but at the very least he could look him in the eye after he’d killed his father.

“Here’s how it is going down,” Jackson said. He had everyone’s rapt attention, as usual. He shone when all eyes were on him. He really should have been a politician. He would have been great at it and he could have been just as dirty and made just as much money, Damien thought. “Lucas will be here to meet with Damien at six-thirty. Damien’s going to go in, but he’s going to tell Lucas Paige has to be released before he gets what he wants. Once she is out of the way, Damien is going to call Alex to bring it in…we will all go in. I’m taking down Lucas. I’ll need the rest of you to have your guns on the brothers and whoever else he has with him. Everyone got it?”

There were nods and sounds of assent. Jackson looked at Damien and said, “Give me the envelope.” Damien handed it to him and watched as Jackson opened it. He looked inside and when he was apparently satisfied, he tucked it into his jacket pocket. He looked at his watch then and at Damien. “Don’t screw this up,” he said. Damien wanted to take out the gun and shoot him in the face…but he refrained. The entire time he could feel his brother’s eyes on him.

When Jackson was finished with his insults Damien looked at his brother. This time, Alex didn’t look away. His face was impassive, but there was something in his eyes…he was trying to tell Damien something, but he didn’t know what it was. He tore his eyes away from the pair of eyes that looked eerily like his own and took a deep breath before heading out.

He walked slowly along the docks towards the warehouse. There were a lot of buildings in between it and where Jackson had them all hidden it didn’t come into view until he’d walked halfway down. When it did, he could see two of Lucas’s men out front. They were talking and laughing until he got close enough for them to see him and then they stopped and were all business. Damien stopped about two feet away from them.

“Gun?” One of them asked. Damien took out the gun Jackson gave him and handed it over. There was no use in trying to keep it…they were going to pat him down. As soon as the gun was out of his hand, the other brother pushed him from behind into the wall. His big hands roughly searched him and then he said,

“He’s clean. Text Lucas.” The first brother sent a text while the other one stood glaring at Damien. A few seconds later a response came through and the brother with the phone said,

“He said for you to take him in. He wants me to stay out here.” The pushy brother slid the big door open and pushed Damien inside. It took his eyes several seconds to adjust to the lack of light in the warehouse. When they did, they fell immediately on Paige. She was hog-tied to a chair. There was a piece of duct tape across her mouth and Damien smiled inwardly at that.

He was pretty sure she hadn’t been easy on them. The smile died before it hit his lips when he saw the blood crusted in her hairline and the trickle that came from her bottom lip and ran down her chin. The rage he’d felt towards Jackson was intensified by a hundred thousand times. He was using all of the energy in his body to keep from killing someone with his bare hands and he wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough.

Paige had her pretty eyes trained on his face. He tried to draw strength from her. If he had one wish it would be that he could go back to this morning and have the guts to tell her that he loves her…and convince her to run away with him. But, he couldn’t go back so now he needed to man up and get her the hell out of here. Then, he would find a way to tell her…and to be with her. He was sick and tired of living his life according to someone else’s design. If he lived through this day, from this day forward, no one would keep him from her and no one would tell them how to live their lives.

“Welcome Damien, thank you for coming.” The sound of Lucas’s voice was like nails on a chalkboard to him. He shook that off too and turned to face him. Lucas was as well-dressed and confident looking as ever. He looked and sounded like Damien was just there for a social call. That was until he realized Damien wasn’t carrying anything. “Where is it?”

“Alex has it. He’s waiting to hear from me that Paige is out of here unharmed. Although I see that will be stretching the word.” He looked back over at her. His heart ached.

“That wasn’t the way this was supposed to go down.”

“Right, because I was supposed to trust you…not fucking going to happen.”

“Then maybe I should kill you both right now. Alex has as much to lose as I do if those files go public.”

“Nah…not as much. Alex’s name is not on any of them and he’s not the one heard in the video planning to cheat my father either. I think you’re pretty much screwed if any of that comes out. Alex is my father’s golden child. Either way, he’ll be okay.”

“I will kill you…if not today, someday, you can count on that.”

“Bring it. But as far as today goes if you want what I have, you have your goons untie Paige and she walks out of here first. Then you’ve got me…Alex will bring you what you want and if you choose to kill Jackson Paine’s sons…then God help you.”

Lucas looked like he was seriously considering shooting Damien in the face, probably just because it would make him feel so much better. What Damien said was sinking in however. Lucas had no idea that Jackson already knew about the audio file…It was likely that Lucas didn’t even know it existed. He also didn’t know about Damien and Kevin. He was willing to kill Kevin to get at Paige…but killing Jackson’s sons would be signing his own death warrant and he knew it.

“Call him.”

“Let Paige go.” Lucas jerked his head at the two goons standing on either side of her. They untied her, roughly. Once again Damien had to check his temper. They dragged her to her feet but she looked like she wasn’t going to be able to stand on her own. “Take her out front. Alex will be there with a car as soon as I call him. She goes in the car before he steps out. Once she drives away…you get what you want.” Paige was trying to shake her head at him, but Damien turned away. His heart was breaking. The goons looked to Lucas for confirmation.

He nodded. He was pissed. Paige’s eyes looked frantic. Damien was actually glad he couldn’t hear her voice because he wasn’t sure that he could take it. He swallowed the lump in his throat and turned back towards Lucas. He couldn’t watch her being taken away from him without being able to tell her that he loved her…and he would find her, someway, somehow.

As soon as Paige was outside the door Damien text Alex. Then, they waited. Five guns were still trained on his head as Lucas continued to stare him down. Damien breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the sound of the car driving in out front. He heard a car door slam twice…and he thought he heard Paige’s voice…but he had to block that out. Seconds later he heard the car driving away and his brother was being brought into the warehouse with a package in his hands.

“Welcome Alex,” Lucas said. “I must say that I was surprised you were willing to help your brother. Since he’s fallen out of favor with your father, that can’t be good for your relationship with him, can it?”

“I’ll worry about my father,” Alex told Lucas as he tossed him the envelope. “After you see what’s in there, I suggest you do the same.”

Lucas pulled out what was inside the envelope. He held the USB’s in his hands and called for one of his men to bring him the laptop. The first one he stuck in was the audio of him and the Columbian arranging Jackson’s business demise. Damien watched his face for any signs that he knew his life was over…but he was as good as Jackson, it was blank. He did stop it before it was over and stick in the next one. This was the one that listed out deliveries and cargo. After he glanced at that one, he fanned through the papers in his hand and then looked back up at the brothers and said, “It looks as if I’m in deep shit with your father…I suppose that I can’t make it much worse.” He looked at the two men holding guns on them and said, “Kill them.”

He took a step back and before he could take another, the two men with the guns were thrown backwards as bullets ripped through the chest of each of them. Lucas’s brothers were looking up and a few shots were fired off before they were all dropped like flies in a matter of seconds. One of the men standing in the loft above them tossed Alex a gun which he trained on Lucas. All of that took place in a matter of seconds. When all of the men with Lucas were dead and the dust settled, Jackson stepped into the warehouse. Now Lucas’s face was no longer impassive he looked like he was about to shit his pants.

“Hello Lucas. I’m not sure I heard you correctly as I was coming in…what with all the gunfire. Did you just order your men to kill my boys?” Lucas was looking around the room at the bodies of his brothers. Damien couldn’t tell if what he saw in the older man’s eyes was grief over the loss of his family or the fear of losing his own life. Either way, it was clear that he knew he’d pushed his on again, off-again friendship with Jackson too far.

“I’m not myself Jackson…you know that. Your stepdaughter killed my boy. How am I supposed to think clearly?”

“You’re not. I’d feel the same way…the difference is I would have killed you first before I went after your kids. That was your mistake.”

“They’re all alive…I didn’t kill any of them…maybe we can back up and….” Jackson pulled the trigger and Lucas’s head exploded. That bile that Damien had been choking down all day rose back up to the back of his throat. It wasn’t even that Lucas’s death bothered him…it was that photo he’d seen of Kevin earlier. Jackson brushed off his jacket and put his gun away before looking at Damien and Alex and saying,

“Are you two ready to get out of here?”

Damien looked up; Jackson’s men had replaced the dead Kramer men in the loft. He didn’t have a choice…if he refused to go with Jackson now, he was dead. He glanced at his brother who still looked as calm as if he’d taken a valium right before this all started. They both followed Jackson to the door, stepping carefully around the bodies on the floor. Just as they were going out the door Damien saw Alex check the clip on the gun he was still holding. Jackson got into the car first and then Alex. Damien slid in next to his brother.

“Take us to the restaurant,” Jackson told the driver. In that brief second that he was distracted, Damien felt his brother nudge his hand with a piece of cold metal. He looked down and closed his hand over the Glock 9mm that Alex had laid inside of it. Damien looked at his brother…Alex had just given him permission to kill his father.

Damien wondered what kind of relationship two men who had killed each other’s fathers could possibly have. Unfortunately, he couldn’t worry about that right now. He let his finger hover over the trigger of the Glock. He used his thumb to slide off the safety. “Call Brad and tell him to get over there,” Jackson said to Alex, “We need to have a family meeting.” Alex took out his phone and pressed in a number. In a few seconds he said,