With Love

Chapter Twenty-Two

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you lovely people, I couldn't do any of this without you! Sending all my love to you and your loved ones! xx Sammipott

This chapter has one of my favourite moments in it...for obvious reasons ;)

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I opened my brother's bedroom door and strode in without waiting. Jasper was on the floor, shirtless, and in the middle of a pushup. His head nonchalantly glanced up to look in my direction, a chain dangling from his neck with a small pendant on it. He said nothing.

I held up the files he left on my desk yesterday morning before the attack. "This is the federal bureau squad they sent after us?" I demanded, holding up pictures of the people in question.

Jasper resumed his workout. "That's what Owen gave me so it must be accurate." If Owen's information was as accurate as I know it is, then we've dealt with this certain group of federal agents before.

"You know that they're in Manhattan stalking us and the Xiao family? They've already frozen their assets." Hopefully, ours weren't next, luckily we had contingencies when assets came into question.

"I'm aware. Elijah has a big mouth." Jasper lowered his body to the ground, back muscles flexing. Scars littered his body, one reason he never worked out in the gym with everyone else. I was careful to avert my eyes before he caught me looking.

The urge to tap my foot on the ground impatiently grew with every pushup he did. Eventually, I broke. "Does Father know yet?" I asked expectantly.

He paused, pushing to his feet and narrowing his eyes at me. "How would I know?" he asked.

What? Rather than argue about how I knew he was the one telling our father everything behind my back, I switched subjects. "I'm curious," I started as I made my way over to his desk and leaned my hip against it. "What made you trust Finn with me the other night?"

"He showed his true colors," he said vaguely, running a hand through his hair, gripping at the strands.

Unconvinced, I pressed, "You didn't trust him three days before that, what changed your mind?"

Jasper's shoulders slumped slightly, showing just how much I annoyed him. He fiddled with the drawstring on his workout shorts. "When he shot that man that was trying to kill you."

My brain emptied itself of thought. "You saw that?"

His head dipped in admission. "Not many people would do something like that even for their family." A faraway look glazed over his eyes. "Yet he did it without a second thought just to save you. And him being a doctor only adds to that because his first instinct is to save not injure."

I wanted to smile. My brother, finally learning how to trust someone not related to him. "So you trust him now?"

"I see his loyalty to you and that's good enough for me." Jasper grabbed a small towel and wiped away the sweat on his chest. Tattoos littered random spots over the front of his body, the cursive LF that matched mine just over his hip standing out to me. "Just remember to be cautious, we still know nothing about him."

Unwilling to break the trust Finn had only just placed in me, I nodded my head silently. "Fair enough." I pushed off his desk, my eyes glancing over the neat desk for anything out of place. "I'm going to Manhattan for the day."

"Who are you taking with you?"

"Harvey and Lorenzo will be with me," I informed him.

The doors to his closet creaked open. "You should take a few more people to be safe."