Chapter 83

HARPER

W e pulled away from The Whitlock mansion, it was bittersweet. Knowing we would be back to stay, eventually, was the best part. As we were loading the car Aster called to tell me Max was a genius and was able to get his hands on that video making it disappear. The two of them had spent the weekend together working on it. I'm sure I'll get all the details when we get home if they aren't offered, I'll defiantly force them from one of the two. Max is really good at what he does. I had no doubt he could do it.

I stared out the window memorizing the beauty of our surroundings, storing it for later. I've felt so calm on this trip. Being in the city that I was kidnapped from should have stirred up some feelings, but knowing they were never able to hurt me again, calmed them more than anything.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Jasper asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

"I was just thinking about my kidnapping. Being back here should have stirred some anxiety, but it didn't." I said, as more of a question.

Jasper reached over, and put his hand on my thigh, messaging it with his thumb.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" he questioned.

"Yes defiantly." I looked down at my feet out of habit, when I felt bad thoughts coming to the surface.

"I sometimes wonder though…" I stopped debating on whether I should say this out loud.

"What is it, Doll?"

"I wonder what happened to my parents. did they ever regret letting those men take me? I know it's silly but…" my voice trailed off.

Jasper stilled at the mention of my parents. Suddenly the car was filled with tension that I couldn't explain. I opened my mouth to question it when Jasper's phone rang loudly over the car stereo. Max's name showed on the screen.

"Max," Jasper answered.

"Hey, I uh…I called to let you, and Harper know that Aster's video was recovered, and destroyed, and uh… I found some other information, as well. It's interesting maybe you should take me off Bluetooth." Max seemed nervous.

"No, Max. Whatever it is, you can speak freely." Jasper looked at me as if seeking confirmation that I was okay with the decision. I nodded once and stirred in my seat nervously, unsure of what I was nervous about, but Max seemed anxious about what he found.

"Okay, if you are sure," Max started.

"Well, I was doing some digging on the Petrov brothers, like you asked." He paused as if waiting to see if Jasper had changed his mind.

"Okay, so the Petrov brothers inherited their empire from their father, just as you'd expect. I did some digging on the father, Demitri Petrov. In 1994 Demitri was admitted to the hospital for a gunshot wound to the head. He was in the ICU for several weeks, after surgery.

After being in a medically induced coma to facilitate healing, they found out that he had sustained permanent brain damage, affecting his ability to care for himself and lead a normal life. Rather than receiving care at home, he was transferred to a center that focuses on treating his kind of injuries, and that is where he is staying now," Max stopped speaking.

"What's so important that you had to call me about it now instead of waiting until I got home, or was back in the office?" Jasper said sharply.

"Well, that's just the first part. I did a little more digging to see if I could find out who shot him, assuming I wouldn't find anything, because we both know that is not the type of information that is recorded on police records in our world." He stopped again.

Jasper's patience was wearing thin. His knuckles whitening from his tight grip on the steering wheel gave it away.

"Turns out Demitri Petrov was shot in the head by your father." Jasper's eyes widened but then quickly recovered.

"That doesn't mean anything, my father was a son of a bitch." Jasper snapped.

I thought the same thing, but I got in touch with Zander Hernandez, he was Mr. Petrov's bodyguard at the time, and he had some very intriguing information." He paused again and I thought Jasper was going to lose his mind.

"Just get to it Max or I'll kick your fucking ass the second we land," he demanded.

"Jasper, so impatient," I cooed to calm him.

"Thank you, Harper, now Zander said that Mr. Whitlock shot him because he was having an affair with his wife." Jasper's face paled.

The car started to slow down and pulled to the side.

"What are you saying, Max?" Jasper yelled, startling me.

"Hey, I'm just telling you what I was told." Max retorted not fazed by Jasper's rage at all.

"Max, I know you well enough that you did your homework, or else you wouldn't have mentioned it. so, this information is accurate, correct?" Jasper spoke in a calm tone that gave me goosebumps.

Max sighed loudly. "Yes Jas, I'm sorry."

Jasper shook his head in disbelief.

"Okay, Max thanks for calling…"

"Uh, that's not all of it." Max hesitated a moment.

"Go on."

"Well, I did some more digging, and it turned out that Mr. Petrov had been having an affair since 1984 a year before you were born." My heart stopped as I listened carefully to the next words out of his mouth, praying it wasn't what I was assuming.

"Mr. Whitlock found out that you were not his biological son, and had Helena followed. Learning she was seeing Mr. Petrov behind his back, Mr. Whitlock had someone retrieve hair from Mr. Petrov's head and tested it against your DNA…"

"Damn Max!" Jasper screamed so loud I plugged my ears.

"It was a match. Which means your father wasn't Micheal Whitlock it is Demitri Petrov, making Malice and Havoc, your half-biological brothers." Max finished softly.

"I'm sorry Harper, I know they are a touchy subject for you," Max said before adding one more blow to the already traumatizing news.

"Malice and Havoc knew this bit of information and threatened to leak it to all the crime families if Mr. Whitlock didn't comply with the request of running the trafficking through his casinos. That's why My Whitlock was willing to sign over his property before you obtained it. He didn't want to be exposed. He would have been the only crime family to have never produced an heir."

Jasper reached up, ending the call without saying a word. He hit the gas hard throwing one of the boxes from the seat, to the floorboard with a loud crash. I turned to see what it was, realizing it was the photo of Jasper's mother. I picked it up trying to hold the pieces together enough, so as not to disturb the photo.

I accidentally let the frame fall, and the glass broke into even more pieces. I glanced down and noticed another picture hidden behind the first one. I pulled the second photo free.

My heart stopped when I saw who was in the photo.

I pointed to a dark-haired man at the end.

"That's my dad." My hands shook uncontrollably.

Why would Jasper's mother have a photo of my father? Jasper looked at the photo, and his face went blank. He pointed to a blonde man in the middle.

"That's my father." I took a good look at the third guy. I was blown away.

"That's Aster's dad. I didn't recognize him with hair, but that's him." I glanced back down at the photo, feeling like I had lost all sense of reality.

"How do they know each other?" Jasper asked, more to himself than to me,

"Looks like Max has more work to do."

To be continued…