House of Paine - A Full Length Bad Boy Novel (20 page)

He paced back and forth in front of the door until he finally heard her slipping her key in. He pulled it open, ready to ask her what the hell she was thinking. As soon as he saw her face, any anger he felt towards her for being so careless evaporated. He grabbed her and closed the door and then he let her collapse sobbing, into his arms. He held her there for a long time. He could hear her trying to calm herself down. He had a million things running through his head as he did. They had to get her out of here…tonight. Hopefully he could get her out of the city before Lucas Kramer ever even knew she’d been there.

Finally, Paige pulled back and looked up at his face. “I’m sorry,” was all she said.

Damien shook his head. “You’re not sorry he’s dead, are you?”

“Hell no,” she said. “I’ve never met anyone that I thought I could actually kill…until I met Caine.” Damien took her hands and led her over to the sofa.

“Sit,” he told her. She sat and he went out into the kitchen. When he came back he had a bottle of water which he handed to her. Paige took a few long gulps from it and then he sat down next to her and said, “You need to tell me everything.”

Paige started with meeting Jules and ended with cleaning up the room she’d left Caine’s body in. Damien didn’t interrupt even when she looked like she might break down. She struggled through it and when she finished he said, “Lucas probably has cameras at least leading into those back rooms.”

“Shit! Shit! I didn’t think about that! Why the fuck didn’t I think about that?” She was hanging by a thread and Damien knew it. In a calm voice he said,

“Listen to me Paige…what we have to do now…before we go any further, is get you out of the city.”

“Home?”

“No, absolutely not. If Lucas does have a tape, he won’t stop until he figures out it’s you. You won’t be safe at home. I have an idea though.” Damien reached over to the end table and got his phone. He pressed his Uncle Kevin’s number and waited.

“Damien! How are you?”

“Uncle Kevin I need help. Now.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Damien hung up and looked at Paige. In a rare, tender moment, he brushed a piece of long brown hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. “It’s going to be okay. We need to pack, okay? Just take what you absolutely need for a few days.”

Paige nodded. Damien stood up and pulled her to her feet. “Damien…Thank you.”

He only nodded. He went to his room and she went to hers. As he packed he tried to convince himself that what he told Paige was the truth and that everything was going to be okay…but he didn’t believe it. When the doorbell rang he nearly jumped out of his skin. He grabbed his gun and headed down the hall. Paige was coming out of her room. “Stay there until I make sure it’s Kevin,” he told her. She didn’t say anything; she just stepped back into the room. Damien sidled up to the door, gun in hand and looked out. It was Kevin and he was alone. Damien pulled open the door and ushered Kevin inside. Kevin looked at the gun and then behind Damien at Paige.

“What’s going on?”

“Caine is dead,” Damien told him. Kevin’s eyes widened and he looked at Paige.

“I killed him,” she said in a quiet, flat tone.

“Holy shit,” Kevin said. “Where is he?”

“At the club,” Damien told him. “She made it look like an overdose, but if Lucas had video in those back rooms and he saw her go in and come out with Caine dead in there…”

“Yeah,” Kevin said. “Shit.” He ran his hand through his silver-tipped hair. Damien remained quiet. He could tell his uncle was thinking. “No one has called me yet…so they probably don’t know he’s dead yet. He sleeps there most of the time, so I doubt they’re going to find him before morning.” He looked at Paige again and said, “My brother seems to think you have some evidence against him and Lucas Kramer that could do some serious damage to the family. Is that true?”

Paige started to open her mouth. Damien was sure she was going to deny it. She didn’t know his uncle the way that he did. Kevin would probably be as happy about this whole operation blowing up as Damien would be. “I have it now,” Damien told him. Paige looked at him like he was a traitor. He didn’t care. She’d figure out later that he knew what he was doing. “Have a seat in the living room. I’ll get it.” Damien went towards his room and Paige followed him. When they got there, she closed the door behind her and said,

“What the hell are you doing? If you give that to him…we have nothing.”

“You brought this to me, Paige…now you have to trust me. Uncle Kevin won’t do anything to hurt me. He needs to know everything, or we put him in a bad place.” Paige didn’t say anything else. Damien pulled a small fire-proof box out from underneath a hole in the floor that was underneath the edge of the carpet. He opened it with a combination and pulled out the contents. “This shit is going to get real now baby. I hope you’re ready.”

They took the files and the USB and audio drives out to the living room. Damien got his laptop and sat down next to Kevin with it. He opened a file folder he had first and handed it to his uncle. Kevin raised his eyebrows as he looked through it. About halfway through he looked at his nephew and said, “How long have you been saving these?” They were copies of shipping invoices that dated back nine years. These weren’t the invoices on file at the docks. These listed the exact contents of each crate…drugs, money, guns…As well as the names of the senders and receivers. Some of the men were dead now and some in prison…but some, like Jackson and Lucas were still walking around free.

“Since the night he stabbed me,” Damien said.

Kevin took out a manila folder and opened it. He reached in and pulled out copies of cell phone photos. Damien didn’t just list out what was in those shipments. He had photos of everything as well as random photos of the men involved. He also had photos of dead men…cops and “associates” of the family that Kevin recognized at once. “Shit. Damien do you know what he would have done to you if he caught you taking these?”

Damien nodded. “That Go-Pro was a good investment,” he said. “These are the hard copies, but I have all the same information backed up on my laptop as well in a zip file.” He glanced at Paige. She was looking at him with something different in her eyes. A new respect, maybe?

“What do you plan to do with this?”

“I haven’t formulated one yet,” Damien said. “But maybe we can use what I have combined with what Paige’s brother left her to at least get her out of this mess.”

“And you,” Paige said. “You need out of this too. Besides, when they realize that I’m gone, they’ll know you helped me. I don’t think that will sit well with your father and brother.”

“She’s right. You’re going with her and you’re going to stay gone.” Damien opened his mouth and Kevin silenced him with his palm up. “You’re not going to be around when this all falls apart, Damien. What’s on the drives?”

Damien put in the USB that he took from Paige. He hadn’t even listened to it yet. As soon as the audio began, Kevin and Damien’s eyes widened. “What?” Paige said. “You guys recognize those voices?”

Kevin nodded slowly, still listening. When it ended he looked at Damien and Paige and said, “It looks like Lucas has his own plans to take my brother down. Here’s what the two of you are going to do. You’re going to take all of this with you. You’ll leave your car here and take the one I came in. It’s a throw-away and they won’t even know what they’re looking for. Drive to Rhode Island to my daughter Roxi’s place. I’ll tell her to expect you. Leave your cell phones here so they can’t be traced. I will call Roxi if I need to reach you. We’ll get you set up with new phones soon.”

Damien hadn’t seen Roxi in years. He wasn’t even aware that Kevin was still in contact with her. She’d sworn off anything to do with the family not long after college. She’d escaped because she was a woman…at least that was what Damien had always thought. “Roxi didn’t want anything to do with this family, Kevin. What makes you think she’ll help us?”

“Roxi didn’t want anything to do with the extended family “business.” She and I have always been in touch. She knows how much you mean to me, she’ll help. Her boyfriend is an attorney…a big wig one out of New York. He comes from a very influential family. I want you to show him this evidence and get his advice on where to go from here.”

“Okay,” Damien agreed. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to do what I have to in order to protect my family.”

“What is this all about?” Jackson said, looking annoyed. “I have things that need my attention this morning. I don’t have time for bagels and tea.” Kevin had called a family meeting, notifying everyone that it was urgent and mandatory that they attend.

“Have a seat Jackson. You’ll want to hear this.”

Jackson narrowed his eyes at his brother. Kevin knew that he didn’t like being told what to do. He also knew that his brother trusted him and once he was finished pissing on his territory, he’d sit down and listen. Alex was glaring at him as well. It never ceased to amaze Kevin how different Damien was from his brother. They’d grown up together and they’d both been in this together for ten years. He didn’t know Alex prior to that. He wondered if he’d just been born hard…like Jackson.

Once the family was assembled around the table Kevin stood up and without preamble he said, “Caine Kramer is dead.” He waited for the collective mumbling to die down and then he said, “Paige killed him.” That was met with a lot more chatter until Jackson said,

“Quiet!” You could have heard the drop of a pin. “Paige killed him? When?”

“Last night; at the club.”

“Why hasn’t Kramer come flying in here yet to sling accusations?”

“Because it’s likely they haven’t found him yet. It’s also likely that when they do, they’ll have a video of Paige going in and out of the room. She set it up to look like an O.D. Lucas is not going to buy that.”

“Fuck!” Jackson slammed his fist down on the table. “I told her to stay out of this.”

“She needed revenge for her brother Jackson. Right or wrong, she got it.”

“And now I have a fucking war on my hands with Lucas.” Before Kevin could say anything Jackson looked at Alex and said, “Go get Paige and your brother.”

Alex stood up and Kevin said, “They’re not there. I sent them someplace safe.”

Jackson pushed to his feet then and said, “Who the fuck do you think you are? Decisions like that go through me. You do not have that kind of authority.”

Kevin stood up as well. His brother could spit fire all he wanted to, he wasn’t going to let Damien’s life be put at risk. “I was the one he called. I made the best decision for him that I could at the time. But…as far as Paige causing a war, let me tell you, one was already on the horizon.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Paige let me see and hear that evidence that she has. There’s an audio of Lucas talking to one of the Columbians…I want to say it’s Raul Zapata the leader of the cartel…but I can’t be 100% sure. I am certain the other man is Lucas Kramer.”

“And what are they discussing?” Kevin could tell that he’d finally gotten his brother’s undivided attention.

“They were making a deal. The plan as I understood it was to run the ship carrying the July shipment aground. Vickers, the captain has apparently been paid off somehow and he will do a disappearing act and be assumed dead. The product will be unloaded by the cartel’s men. Then it will be sold. That’s how the cartel benefits.”

“How does Lucas benefit?” Jackson asked. Kevin knew that Jackson had to already know the answer to that question. He answered it anyways by saying,

“You lose face…You lose respect…Your very life might be in danger because of it. Lucas steps in and before the dust settles he has insinuated himself into your position. You become subordinate to him…or dead.”

“That mother-fucker! Where is this tape?”

“Damien and Paige still have it.”

“Where the fuck are they?”

“Safe.”

“Fuck that Kevin! I want to know where they are!”

“I’m not going to tell you until I know for sure that they’re safe…” The brothers were both silenced then by the sound of the door. Lucas Kramer and his brothers as well as five large, armed men busted in.

“Where the fuck are they?”

“Good morning Lucas.” Jackson dropped the angry demeanor and he was back in business mode.

“Fuck you! Where are your worthless kid and that woman he’s been shacking up with?”

Jackson raised an eyebrow and said, “I’d advise you to take care how you speak about my son. What is this all about?”

“You know what it’s about!” Lucas was as close to out of control as Kevin had ever seen him. “My son is dead! That bitch killed him! I want to know why…and then I’m going to kill her!”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Jackson said. “But I still don’t know what this has to do with my son.”

“Kelsey said he was dropping off and picking up this bitch that was working for her. Who the fuck is she, Jackson? I know that she was not shacking up with your son without your knowledge.”

“She’s some girl that Damien has the hots for. What can I say? You remember how we were at that age…”

“She killed my son! Why?”

“Lucas, I understand that you’re grieving. But you need to stay calm here. Tell me why you think this girl killed Caine.”