Scarred (Unlikely Heroes Book 5) (24 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“…In other news today, Sebastian Wolfe was arrested in Los Angeles Saturday night for his alleged involvement in underground fighting. It is rumored, though a spokesperson for Wolfe wouldn’t confirm, that the big-screen actor is the formerly undefeated fighter ‘the Raccoon.’ Saturday night’s fight ended the Raccoon’s reign, as he was taken down in a brutal bout by the Cockroach. Wolfe is rumored to have been seriously injured in the fight. An FBI spokesperson would say only that several individuals were arrested, but refused to comment on the status of Wolfe’s whereabouts or his current condition. Sebastian Wolfe is famous for his roles in several blockbuster hits and even received an Academy Award last year…”

Sebastian pushed the “mute” button on the television remote and dropped the remote in his lap. His head throbbed. His left ear shrilled, a loud ringing that had been screaming through his brain the moment he awoke. A ruptured eardrum, the doctor had told him earlier that day. It would take a good three to four weeks before it healed. Since his left hand was handcuffed to the rail on the hospital bed, he could only assume he was headed off to jail once he was recovered enough to leave the hospital.

A sharp knock sounded at his door. Then the door swung inward.

Craig entered, his shaggy hair mussed and standing out in disarray. His face was haggard, his eyes tired as he glanced at Sebastian. He noticed the muted television, his gaze darting to the screen, then back to Sebastian. 

Shit.

“So you’ve seen the news. They’re trashing you in the media. It’s not good, Sebastian. You’re in a shit load of trouble. Do you realize you could be facing another five years in prison? The D.A. wants to give you more than that to make an example out of you since you’re a celebrity. What the
fuck
were you thinking?”

Sebastian didn’t answer. How could he? How could he tell Craig his father was holding his son hostage and he had no choice in the matter?

“You think this is some kind of joke?” Craig dragged a folding chair up to the side of Sebastian’s bed, spinning it around backward. He slid onto it, leaning his arms over the back of the chair as he faced Sebastian. “I suggest you tell me what’s going on. I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

Sebastian’s head throbbed again, a merciless pounding. He’d suffered head trauma, including a broken nose, a ruptured eardrum, and a severe concussion. They’d kept him heavily sedated for the first day, then gradually let off the meds. Sebastian had woken that morning and learned the extent of his injuries. The doctor had informed him he’d been in the hospital for three days now. He’d warned Sebastian that since he’d suffered blunt head trauma, he might not recover his full memory. But Sebastian remembered.

He remembered everything.

Still, he didn’t speak.

Craig studied him. He let out a loud sigh. “Your silence tells me you remember what happened, Sebastian. So don’t pretend you lost your memory. I know better. If you lie to me, I’ll walk out that door and let you face this alone. Is that what you want?” He paused a moment, then gentled his voice. “I’m your friend, dammit. I want to help you.”

Sebastian swallowed hard. He met Craig’s gaze. “I didn’t have any choice.”

Craig leaned closer. “We all have choices. It’s a matter of whether or not we make the
right
choices.”

Sebastian jerked upright, then hissed out a breath as pain slammed through his skull. He leaned back against the pillow. “You wouldn’t understand. You’re law enforcement.”

Craig eyed him without blinking. “After the hell you and I went through at the Cobra compound six years ago, and all that I did to try to protect you in that place, you have the gall to even suggest I wouldn’t understand?”

Sebastian flinched. Okay. He deserved that. Craig wasn’t one to judge. He’d had to skirt the edges of the law in order to bring down a bad man six years ago. He’d gone out of his way to help Sebastian. If it weren’t for Craig, Sebastian would still be in prison right now.

“Have you been playing me all along?”

Sebastian pulled his gaze back to Craig’s. “What? No.”

Craig narrowed his eyes. “You know, when I met you six years ago, you put on a good show. I can see now how you won that Academy Award. You had everyone at that compound fooled into thinking you were weak, including me. I left that place not knowing who the true Sebastian was. But over the past six years, I thought I’d come to know you. Fuck, Sebastian, I
like
you. I consider you a good friend. But now I have to wonder if I even
know
you. So I’m going to ask you one more time, have you been playing me?”

Sebastian swallowed hard. “No.”

Craig stared at him. “Then why the fuck didn’t you tell me about this? I could have helped you. You know that.”

Sebastian groaned. He lowered his gaze.

“You don’t even
like
to fight, Sebastian. You know this.
I
know this.”

The Cockroach’s ugly face flashed through Sebastian’s mind, his lips curled back in a sneer as his giant fist slammed into Sebastian’s face, again and again.

Sebastian shuddered and pushed the nightmare away. It was true. He didn’t like to fight. And after this last one, he never wanted to fight again.

He jerked his gaze to Craig’s. “How did you find out about the fight?”

Indecision flickered in Craig’s eyes. “A concerned individual called me.”

A concerned individual? What the hell did that mean? Suspicion clouded Sebastian’s brain.

Then it hit him.

“Emily.”

Craig sighed. “Yes. She was worried about you, asked me to help.”

Sebastian’s heart went cold.

The traitor. I trusted her.

Not only had she betrayed him with his father, but also with Craig.

Though the pain meds dulled the physical pain from his beating, no amount of medication could block out the emotional pain that seared his heart at Emily’s betrayal. Why would she do this to him?

That’s what happens when you care about someone. You get hurt.

He shoved Emily from his mind. He was done caring. There was a reason he’d kept himself closed off from anyone for so many years. And this just proved he’d been right in doing so. No one could be trusted. Especially with his heart.

“Get that scowl off your face,” Craig ordered. “That girl cares about you and you know it. If it weren’t for her, you’d probably be dead right now.”

Sebastian stared down at the ugly gray hospital blanket that lay across his lap.

Then why do I feel so betrayed?

“So.” Craig cleared his throat. “You going to tell me what’s going on? The D.A. is anxious to lock you up, but I told him to give me a few minutes with you first. If you talk to him, Sebastian, tell him the truth, he might be more lenient with you.”

Sebastian remained silent.

Craig motioned to the handcuff securing Sebastian to the bed. “You know who cuffed you to the bed? Me. You’re not going anywhere until you start talking. I’m in charge of this investigation. You’re at my mercy now. So if you don’t cooperate, guess where you’re going?”

Sebastian slowly lifted his gaze and met Craig’s stare. “He has my son.”

A sandy-brown brow shot up. “He?”

Heat crept into Sebastian’s face. “My father.” Shame washed over him in waves, smothering him. He wanted crawl underneath the bed and hide. Instead, he stared down at his lap, unable to meet Craig’s gaze.

“Was that so hard to admit?” Craig asked softly.

Sebastian made a strangled sound. “Yeah.”

Craig sighed again. “I don’t know why you didn’t just trust me with this information from the start. I could have helped you, dammit.”

Sebastian shrugged. “I didn’t want to get anyone else involved. You don’t know my father like I do.”

“Your father,” Craig said slowly. “Travis Wade.”

Sebastian’s head throbbed anew. How did Craig know that? “How’d you know he was my father? I changed my name so no one would ever find out.”

Craig’s gaze was steady on his. The look in his eyes said,
I think you know
.

Emily.

“Shit! Emily told you?”

“Yes.”

Sebastian glared at the handcuff securing him to the bed. Damn her. She’d only been trying to help, but her betrayal still hurt.

“Why are you in charge of this case? It’s a state matter, not FBI.”

“Wrong.” Craig leaned closer. “Travis Wade came under our radar several years ago. But he’s sneaky. This is the closest we’ve ever gotten to him. The underground fighting is the least serious of his suspected crimes. He’s into a lot more illegal shit, but I suspect you know that, don’t you? If I’d known of your relationship to him before now, I would have used you to help take him down. So guess what, Sebastian? You have two options here: help me take him down…or spend five years behind bars. What’s it going to be?”

Sebastian shook his head. “I can’t. He’ll know. He’s too smart. He’ll hurt my son.”

Craig cleared his throat. “Did I tell you that thanks to Emily, we were able to locate your son?”

“What?” Sebastian jerked upright again. Pain slammed through his skull. He squeezed his eyes shut and fell back against the pillow. “Ahh! That hurts.” He took several deep breaths, then looked at Craig again. “When? How?”

“Yesterday afternoon near Mobile, Alabama. He was locked in an old storage shed out behind an abandoned trailer on the Tensaw River. The property records listed your father as the owner, but the place didn’t look like anyone had lived there for years.”

Sebastian’s gut twisted. Why hadn’t he thought to look for his son at the place he’d grown up?

Because I hate that place. I’ll never go back there.

Travis had abandoned the property years ago when he’d bought a house in Mobile. Sebastian didn’t want to know what illegal activities had enabled his father to purchase a nicer house in town. He hadn’t known Travis still owned the property along the river.

Craig’s gaze narrowed on Sebastian’s face, scrutinizing him. “When questioned, the boy said his mother died last month and that Travis Wade had approached him at the funeral and said he was his grandfather. He lured the boy home, let him move in, earned his trust, then said he had to go on a trip. He drove out to the property on the river and locked the kid in the storage shed. Cole said he’d been in the shed for four days.”

Sebastian’s heart twisted. That sounded just like his father. Travis pulled out the charm when he wanted, pretending to be nice, when in actuality he was evil.

“Did he hurt him?”

Please say no.

Craig’s gaze softened. “I don’t think so. Despite being hungry, dirty and dehydrated, the kid appeared to be okay. He hasn’t said much to anyone yet. I’m hoping, in time, he’ll tell us everything.”

Sebastian mulled that over. His father was probably getting ready to start prepping Cole for fighting. His stomach knotted. Thank God Craig’s men had found him before Travis returned. Sebastian couldn’t bear the thought of his son having to go through the same abuse he had.  

“If we lock you up, Wade might just go away and leave you alone. You could do your five years and be free of him for awhile. But something tells me as soon as you’re released, he’ll contact you again. As soon as you start living your normal life, he’ll be back. You know it and I know it. So instead of going to prison, instead of waiting five years for him to make another appearance, you’re going to help lure him out so I can take him down.”

Sebastian groaned. “He won’t fall for it. He’s too clever.” His head pounded again. “I’m pretty sure he killed Cole’s mother, made it look like a drug overdose. She wasn’t a drug addict. She was a good girl. A
nice
girl. He’s been biding his time, waiting for Cole to get old enough to fight before he snatched him. I was about Cole’s age when my father made me fight for the first time.”

Craig eyed him, sympathy in his gaze. “I’m sorry about that. We will place the boy in protective custody until Wade’s locked up. Arrangements are already being made.”

Relief swept through Sebastian. How could he be mad at Emily when she’d helped save his son?

“Thanks.”

Craig nodded. “Now I want you to tell me everything that happened, start from the beginning when Wade first contacted you, how you got involved in the fights…I want to hear it all. Then you’re going to tell it all to the D.A. I promise I will help you if you help me.”

Sebastian heaved out another sigh. “Okay. Fine. I got a letter from my father a few weeks after I was released from prison three years ago. It was most mostly derogatory, calling me a stupid shit, saying I would never be free of him, that changing my name couldn’t change where I came from, stuff like that. Then I got another letter, this one more threatening, saying he knew about my ‘secret’. I had no idea what he was talking about. He kept taunting me about this ‘secret’ for almost a year. Then he sent a photo of Cole…”

Craig quirked a brow. “You had no idea you had a son?”

Sebastian shook his head. “No. I ran away when I was seventeen and never looked back. I changed my name. Margie and I dated in high school. We slept together the night I left town. She didn’t know I changed my name. She didn’t know how to contact me. So when she found out she was pregnant, she went to my father, hoping he could help.” He sighed. “You can imagine how that played out. My father knew I had a son before I did. And he used that knowledge to get me to do what he wanted.”