Chapter Four

Jack

June 2013

"You need to stop obsessing over your brother. There are so many things to worry about, including the fucking governor." My blood pressure flies through the roof with those words, and I have him pinned to the wall with my hand on his collar, staring the old man down.

"Are you serious right now? Did you just tell me to forget about looking for your son—my little brother?" I snarl, teeth gnashing like a damn wild animal. The man has a serious lack of self-preservation. Luckily for him, his men are there, and I won't pull the trigger with too many itchy trigger fingers around. Not to mention, I don't have the proof I need to say he was involved. If I get any inkling he was involved with my brother's kidnapping, he'll be dead. It's been two months, and we haven't heard a word or found his nanny yet.

"The kidnappers haven't contacted us, and the nanny hasn't surfaced in her usual spots."

"It's been two fucking months, and you're just going to give up?"

"No, but I can't keep thinking about it or I'll go insane, and every damn enemy we have will strike. You can't be a damn leader if you let everything get to you. You look weak, Jack."

"Family is everything, Father, or have you forgotten?"

"I haven't. I just know when to act. I still have people searching for clues every day, but that doesn't mean I don't go about my day."

"He's five, and he needs us."

"Yes, and if he's still alive, they're taking care to keep him that way, so be cautious and keep yourself alive so that you can take care of him when you do find him." He has a point. If my enemies notice that I'm so damn distracted, they'll put a bullet in my head, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up my search. My biggest search is still his nanny. I have to find her before it's too late.

"Fine. I will. Now get the fuck out of here. I have things to do that don't require your presence." I escort my father out and as I do, my phone rings. It's my brother Connor. "What's going on?"

"I got a lead on the nanny."

My heart pounds in my ears with that news. "What?"

"Yeah, we found her. She's holed up in an apartment on the West Side." So, she's in Chicago? That's a fucking miracle. She's either got to be stupid or up to something.

"Is John with her?"

"No. There's no sign of him anywhere, but we'll get the answers from her one way or another," he says, the darkness in his tone reminding me of myself, and I know that he'll string her up. Ordinarily we don't harm women, but for her, we'd make an exception.

"No, I want to get them."

Connor understands the chain of command, but it's more than that. I love John the most, and it's my fault he was taken. "Of course, Brother. I'll be waiting for you."

"Good. Bring her to the cell, and I'll deal with her."

"If that's what you want. We'll have her there shortly."

I'm out of the house in a matter of minutes, forgetting all of my plans for the day because the contact I was going to see had been about her anyway. I take the drive to the cell on the Northwest side of the city where we can privately interrogate people under the train tracks, and no one is any wiser. The sounds of my victims' cries are muffled from the outside noises. It also helps that I jam all electronics in the area so no recording devices can capture my dirty work in the building as well.

Although, this torture I look forward to administering.

My driver pulls into the warehouse, and I see her tied to a chair with Connor standing to the side with his arms folded and waiting for me. "You got here just in time, Brother. I've been running out of patience for this bitch to talk. She stole our little brother."

"We don't know that. All we know is that she was taken with those thugs, but if she was involved, she'll pay." I storm up to the older woman with venom in my heart, ready for the torture to begin. She attempts to move backward in the chair, but it's futile since she's tied down. "What happened to my little brother? Where is John?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I escaped those crazy men."

"So you abandoned my brother."

"No. They separated us."

"Don't fucking lie to me," I roar. My hand is in her hair, slamming her head back. "He's been gone for two months. I want him safe and home where he belongs. You better pray that he's alive, or I'll make your torture last for the next five years."

"What do you want him for?" she asks, staring into my eyes with such intent, like she's reading me.

"He's my little brother and everything to me, so you better tell me where he is," I warn her through clenched teeth.

"You didn't seem to care this entire time. He's better off away from this terrible family," she spat out.

I wipe my face. "How dare you? He needs his family. Who gave you the right to rip him from the people who loved him?"

She scoffs. "You're not going to see him ever again."

I shake my head, and my heart sinks deep into my gut. "Tell me he's alive," I roar, tears filling my eyes because that can't be true.

Her face softens as if she understands the pain her words are truly causing me. "You do love him, don't you?" she asks.

"Of course I do." Her head turns, and her eyes scan the room as if she's gauging the men around the room, but it's almost empty.

"He's better off without your father," she whispers.

I bend down, moving in closer because I don't want anyone else to hear what I'm going to ask. "I know. Is he alive?"

She gives the faintest nod. Before I can ask her, a shot is fired, and she's hit in the head. "Fuck," I shout, jumping back. My men and brother spin around to see my father with his gun aimed at the nanny.

"What the fuck did you do that for?" I roar, ready to tear his fucking head off.

"She killed your brother."

"No, she didn't. He's alive."

"What? Where is he?"

"We don't know. You are a fucking stupid bastard," I say, rushing toward him. "She was about to say."

"Sorry. She was involved in his abduction and the death of our men in the first place. I just couldn't stand to see her face."

"You're sorry? You killed our only lead to our brother and your son. How could you be so reckless?"

"You don't want him to be found," Connor accuses him.

"Of course I want him found. He's the last bit of your mother I have. I want him found more than you know." He stares at the dead body of John's former nanny with watery eyes. The devastation is written in his gaze, but I refuse to give him another moment.

"Clean this up," I say, waving my hand toward her dead body. As I leave, my head ponders one thing. John is alive. My mission will be to find everything on her, where she was staying and all those she got to know. It takes my driver a few minutes to get her address since the men who have her information are in the building and without a signal, but finally we get it and head that way. Apparently, there is already a team dispatched there.

As my men reach her apartment, it explodes, sending debris everywhere.

"Son of a bitch." I stay in the back of my SUV and watch from across the street as plumes of smoke and embers fill the air. I tell my driver, "Just drive."

"Where to, Boss?"

"Home. I need to be there when the police arrive for questioning." I lost any chance to find clues in her apartment, and the assholes who went in without checking for explosives better hope they're dead because they've just cost me the last bit of hope I had to find my brother.

If any of those fuckers survive, I'll end their lives for their failure. How dare they not check for traps before entering? They're about to pay the price if they haven't died already. I storm into my home and up to my bedroom, rattling my door so hard that I nearly splinter the fucker in two. My brother is lost forever, and for a brief moment, I feel sympathy for Joanne. She didn't want my brother anywhere near my father, and that I understood. He claimed the cut my brother got before he was abducted was an accident because John got a hold of a kitchen knife, but I wasn't sure that was true.

I doubt my father was involved in my brother's kidnapping, but I'm positive he's not as upset as he pretends to be. More digging needs to be done into the men who kidnapped my brother. There have been no leads on the white vans. There are so many of them littered throughout the city that my men are searching every single one for any trace, dent, or scratch that matches the ones in the video. My bet is they've been torched, painted, or sent to another state by now.

Long motherfucking gone.

Stressed and frustrated, I strip out of my suit and head to the bathroom to get clean. After I shower off the nanny's blood and change my clothes, I find six missed calls from Connor.

I call his annoyed ass back as I walk downstairs. "What's going on?"

"I'm just making sure you weren't in that fucking building," he says, chuckling with relief.

"Of course fucking not. I wasn't stupid enough to enter without checking."

"Good. I didn't think you would have underestimated her or who she's working with, but the emergency crews have surrounded the place. So many of our vehicles are there. It's going to be a shit storm when the governor gets word of this. We need to cover it up."

"Damn it. Whoever lives needs to go away."

"Already way ahead of you, Brother. They'll all be buried by tomorrow."

"I'm not giving up on John. I know he's alive. She told me he was better off without our family."

"That doesn't mean he's alive."

"Trust me. She made it clear that he was still alive, and she was about to tell me. He ruined it. Don't let him talk you out of believing it."

"I won't, but I want you to stay strong and remember that it may not result in a positive end." Connor's definitely being more levelheaded about it because he's not the one who feels guilt. He loves John, but he also doesn't want children, or the burden that comes with caring for them.

"Trust me. I want to find him. Dead or alive. I won't have him alone without his family."

There's a long sigh, and then Connor adds, "Jack, Dad's worried that they might have sold him to a trafficker."

"I doubt his nanny would do a thing like that." She didn't have it in her. That's what upsets me about her death. Above all, she loved John.

"No, she wouldn't have, but maybe the person she gave him to might have."

"They'll die for it." I can't believe it. I refuse to, but I might not have a choice.

For all around, he'd better be alive, or hell will be unleashed. Vengeance will be had. Every day that he's gone will be paid in spades. The longer he's gone, the more vile I'll become.

I crack my knuckles and then walk over to the mini bar in my living room. Pouring myself two fingers of whiskey, I toss it back and think about where to begin. Her work history is going to be my first search, but unfortunately, the cops are going to be all over the area given the explosion at her place.

I don't waste any time and head to work, pushing open the doors to my study. My contacts need to be swift and cunning while continuing to search. Sliding into the chair behind my desk, I dial my brother Ian. "What's going on, Jack?"

"We found the nanny, and your asshole father killed her before she fucking told us where John was."

"I hate that bastard. He's never been a father to me." Ian and my father have always had tension between them. Ian didn't act like Connor or myself, so my father took it out on him. Ian didn't give a shit, though. "Do you think he's involved?"

"I don't know. I've looked for any evidence, but nothing points directly to him, although I have nothing that says he isn't involved either. Where are you?"

"I'm in Vegas, enjoying myself for the weekend."

"Well, have a good time. I'm going to head to bed before the police show up here in the morning. I have a feeling they'll be looking for me with questions about vehicles and dead bodies."

"Let me know if you need me for anything. Anything at all."

"I will." I end the call, staring at the screen on my computer. It's a picture of John and me. He's not facing the camera, but it's the best picture I have because I'm happy. I remember that day because it was the first time he hugged me for no reason. If only he'd learn to speak, it would be wonderful.