Chapter Nineteen

Wrath

It"s been a week since Cam arrived, and he seems to be settling in really well. He"s coming out of his shell, talking to more brothers, and smiling more easily. I absolutely love getting to know my son; despite everything he"s been through in his short life, he"s not as jaded as you might expect. He"s an enthusiastic, incredibly amazing young man who wears his heart on his sleeve. I already feel the bond between us as father and son growing; he"s slowly opened up to me about everything his mother has done to him over the years. I"ve never wished for someone to die quite as much as I have, Claire. The things she"s done to my son are horrific and unforgivable. I promise she will fucking pay with her life for what she"s done.

I love seeing the way his relationship has developed with Flame, too. There"s a deeper understanding between them because of Flame"s own childhood trauma. He understands what Cam"s been through in a way I don"t. I don"t begrudge their bond; I think I"d be more worried if they weren"t bonding. They both mean far too much to me for there to be issues between them. I"m fucking lucky. I know that. I have an amazing son and an amazing partner. What more could I ask for out of life?

Cam"s currently hanging out with Tech again, learning more about computers; he"s really taken to them. He asked Tech to teach him, and Tech was overjoyed about the opportunity. He"s taken a real shine to Cam, he"s like the younger brother Tech never had. I"m currently sitting in my office waiting for a call from Blade, who"s gone to the address Tech found for Jasmine. He"s hoping that he can get her to come in and talk.

My phone rings, and it"s Blade. Let"s hope it"s good news. I could do with some; recently, all we"ve been hitting are dead ends where Claire"s concerned.

"Hey, did you manage to catch her at home?" I ask him eagerly.

"Yeah, she was here when I arrived; she seemed really wary of me at first, but when I mentioned Cam was with you, she seemed intrigued. She"s following me back to The Compound in her car and is willing to talk to you."

"That"s great. Bring her to my office when you get here. I want to talk to her alone before I bring Cam in."

"Sure thing, Prez. I don"t blame you for wanting to protect him and feel her out."

We hang up, and I sit and wait.

While I"m waiting, I quickly send a text to Flame, who"s gone to work out at The Gym, telling him Jasmine is on her way in and willing to talk. Hopefully, he"ll be finished soon. I don"t particularly like doing this meeting without him, but I know he can"t always be here.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on my door.

"Come in!"I shout.

Blade enters first, with a young woman behind him. She looks nothing like her sister. She"s tall and extremely slim, with shoulder-length black hair. She has green eyes that are filled with fear. She looks terrified. She gasps when she looks at me, and I can only guess it"s because of how much Cam looks like me. I"ve never met Jasmine before, so how much my son looks like me has clearly taken her by surprise.

"Oh my gosh. He looks so much like you."She exclaims.

"I find he"s very much my mini-me. Thank you for coming in to talk to me. I know you haven"t seen Cam since he was young, but I"m hopeful anything you have to tell me will be helpful in some way."I state.

"I don"t mind; I"m not sure how what I know could help you, but I"ll answer any questions you have on one condition. You protect me from my sister. She"s pure evil, and no doubt her minion she"s had watching me knows I"m here, and I now have a target on my back."She quickly speaks.

"We'll protect you no matter what you tell us, purely because I know you tried to protect my son,"I tell her honestly.

She lets out a breath and whispers, "Thank you. Now what do you want to know?"

"What can you tell us about Claire and her plans for us? I"m sure this isn"t a new plan she has; I"m sure she"s been planning it for a long time."I say.

"Yes, you"re right; it"s not new at all. She"s had dreams of revenge since you killed her good-for-nothing father. Fucking horrible, man. It certainly wasn"t a loss to anyone but her when he was killed. She sank as much time and money into her plans as she possibly could without it being obvious that she was up to something. She was afraid someone would find out what she was doing and tell you. She wants to kill Hunter and Alex in front of you, Jackson; she blames you personally for everything that happened. She"s fucking delusional if you ask me; she doesn't see how what they were planning and the results are their own fault."

She stops for a moment, shaking her head.

"Anyway, that"s her end goal. Grab all three of you and make you watch your best friend and your twin die before killing you. Originally, she was going to make Cam her weapon to do it, but the more he grew up looking like you, the more she hated him. When she first got violent with him in front of me, I tried to protect him. She threatened my life, but not before."She cuts off what she"s saying as she starts to cry.

"What happened, Jasmine?"I ask gently.

"She ordered one of her henchmen to rape me and then beat me."She whispers. "And he did; right there in front of her, and she enjoyed every second of it. She sat there, watching and laughing. When he was done, she told me to keep my mouth shut, or next time she"d have me killed too. She"s been watching me since to ensure I don"t do anything that could fuck up her plans."

"I'm so fucking sorry your sister had that done to you. She"ll get what"s coming to her; I promise you that. Now Blade"s going to go with you in your car to pack up some essentials, and then you"re going to come and stay here, where you"ll be protected. Do you have a day job?"I ask.

"No, not right now; I"ve just finished my tattoo artist apprenticeship, and I"m looking for a full-time position now."She tells us.

I can"t help but smile. Maybe we can help her even more than I thought.

"Well, you might just be in luck. When you grab your stuff, bring any pictures or sketches of your work you have, and we'll show them to our resident tattoo artist when he gets back and see what he thinks. See if he thinks you"ll be a fit at Devil"s Ink."I tell her while wondering how I can actually fulfill that promise with no clue when Wreck will even return from his search. Maybe I"ll have to let someone else at the shop judge her work if he's not home by the time we"ve dealt with Claire.

"Oh my gosh. Thank you so much."She says as she jumps up and runs around the desk to hug me, even though I"m still sitting down. I can"t help but laugh and hug her back.

"You"re very welcome. Now go on, go with Blade, and when you get back, I"ll grab Cam for you to see and talk to,"I tell her.

They leave, and I can"t believe how different she seems from her sister. Hopefully, she fits in around here. I really do hope she can hold her own against the bunnies, because I know for a fact that they"re going to try and start shit with her at some point. It"s just what they do when new women come around.

I can't believe Jasmine"s own fucking sister had her raped; it"s fucking disgusting and just another reason to add to why she needs wiping off the face of this earth. Who the fuck would ever want to put their own flesh and blood through what she did? I send another quick text to Flame updating him that Jasmine is going to be staying here, and I"ll tell him what she disclosed to me when I see him. Now to go order someone around to get her a room set up.

Leaving my office and locking it behind me, I walk into The Common Room, and see a couple of Prospects doing nothing. Pete is sitting there talking to Jake.

"Hey, can you two do me a favor?"I ask as I approach.

They both nod yes but stay silent, waiting for more instructions.

"Can you go set up a room with an en-suite for Jasmine? She's Cam"s aunt. She"s going to be staying with us for a while for protection."

"Sure thing, Prez, we"ll get on it now and text you which room we"ve gone with so you know where you"re sending her,"Pete says as they both stand.

They quickly leave the room, and I make my way behind the bar to check how the stock looks before I put the orders in. I trust my members, but it never does any harm to check things yourself sometimes, and I need to do something totally different from what I've been dealing with to just reset my mind. Everything seems in order, so I grab a bottle of water, and make my way back to my office.

Walking down the corridor, I see Tech and Cam heading towards me.

"Hey Dad!"Cam shouts happily.

"Hey, son. Where are you two going?".

"To grab a snack. I"m hungry."Cam replies with a cheeky grin.

I internally chuckle; I swear he"s always hungry. He"s definitely at that age where all he does is eat. Poor Flame"s having to get us twice as much food when he orders groceries just to keep up with how much Cam"s consuming. Neither of us are complaining; we"re happy to see him eating and putting on much needed weight.

"Okay, go grab your snack and then come to my office, please. I need to talk to you about something; don"t worry, it"s nothing bad."I tell him lightheartedly, hoping he won"t end up worried.

He nods his head and skips off ahead of Tech, who"s following behind, keeping an eye on him. I do find their relationship sweet. Tech's very protective of Cam. Letting myself into my office after they've left, I wait for Cam to come back. I know he won"t be long; he"ll be too intrigued by what I want to talk about.

Less than two minutes later, he"s in my office, sitting opposite me, shoveling a sandwich in his mouth. I wait for him to finish; there's no point in talking until he can reply.

"Do you remember your Aunt Jasmine?"I ask softly and pray that Jasmine doesn"t bring up bad memories for him.

He nods his head vigorously.

"Well, she"s going to be staying here for a while to keep her safe, and she"d like to see you; is that okay with you?"

I want to give him the choice. If he doesn"t want to see her, she"ll have to deal with it because I"d never force him to do something he isn"t comfortable with.

"Yeah, Dad, I remember her trying to protect me when I was little, and then she disappeared. Mom would never tell me where she went. I"d love to see her again."He tells me with a small smile.

I can"t help but smile at his willingness to see her.

"Okay, then, you can go back to Tech for a bit if you want; Jasmine"s just gone with Blade to pick up her stuff. I"ll come find you when she"s here."

"Thanks, Dad. Tech was teaching me more cool stuff about coding. I really do want to go back and carry on."He says as he gets up and leaves my office.

Honestly, that child of mine, who would"ve thought he"d only been here a week and been beaten by his mother for over half his life? He"s settled in beautifully; it"s like he"s always been here.

The meeting between Cam and Jasmine went as well as could be expected. Cam"s still very wary around women after everything his mother has done to him. I think he was even more cautious with Jasmine because of her being Claire"s sister. Jasmine seemed to realize all this and let Cam set the pace, which went over well with Cam. He only stayed and spoke with her for about ten minutes; that seemed like his limit before he got agitated. He asked if they could talk more another day, and she was fine with that. If she hadn"t been, we would"ve been having words; this is Cam"s safe space now, his home, and I won"t have him feeling uncomfortable. I"m just glad he knew his limits and didn"t try to force himself to do something that he wasn"t ready for just to keep others happy; that"s certainly something I don"t want for my son.

I know he"s adjusting to being here, but I"m starting to think he might need to talk to a professional about his wariness around women; he"s not going to be just surrounded by men forever. He"s got to go to school as soon as it"s safe for him to do so, and he won"t have a choice about being around women and girls then.