Grim

63

A/N: The bonus chapter I hinted at 🎀✨

There was an angry force exerted as I opened the door. Not a minute was spared before my gun could meet Richard's temple. My nostrils were flaring, and I could feel my heart racing in my chest.

"The fuck are you doing here?" I aggressively asked as I clocked the trigger back.

"Nice to see you too, son," he replied, and I immediately fisted his shirt collar as I brought him closer to me.

"You walked out on yours kids!" I growled at him. "Fuck all that cordial bullshit. I know I'm not your kid! How the fuck did you find me?!"

His eyes slightly parted as he questioned, "She told you?" I figured that his question pertained to the fact that I knew he wasn't my father. Ace, who had been hidden behind me stepped out to see if it was really Richard. "Ace, my son, how are you?"

"You don't get to speak to him," I said as I roughed Richard up. I then dragged him inside and threw him on the ground before angrily yelling, "How the fuck did you find us?!"

"I've been tracking you down," Richard nervously let out. "Ever since that day in the store a couple months ago."

He's been following me?!

I placed the mouth of the gun beneath his chin as even more anger consumed me.

I frowned, "Why did you pretend to not recognize me, and why have you been tracking me?!"

"A couple of months ago, I received a threat from someone," Richard answered. "The person promised that they would hurt my children. That they'd...take everything from me like I had done to them, or something like that. I tried calling the house phone, but the line didn't work. I even took a trip to the house, but y'all weren't there. I was told by Mr.Jones that you moved a while back."

Mr.Jones was our neighbor. He still lived in the neighborhood I grew up in and in the house besides the one I used to live in.

Richard continued, "Then we ran into each other at the store, and I pretended to not know you because I was afraid you wouldn't want anything to do with me."

"Damn right," I let him know.

"I started following you since then to keep an eye out and make sure you were okay," he answered. He then looked at Ace and lightly smiled, "That you both were okay. How's Ariela?"

"Why'd you leave?" Ace asked instead of answering Richard.

Marco had his gun aimed at Richard the whole time. I always appreciated his tenacity.

Richard held his head down in shame as he answered, "No answer will ever be good enough, son. I should've never walked out your lives. It's my biggest regret to this day! Finding out your mother cheated broke me. For a while, I was an alcoholic because of it. Then I met someone who helped me get sober, and starting a new life was just easier than facing the truth."

"You left for years and never looked back..." Ace said, and I could hear the pain in his voice. It made me want to shoot Richard a thousand times!

"I know. I'm sorry, Ace," Richard apologized as he connected eyes with Ace. He then connected eyes with me as he said, "You too. And if you finding out the truth ever made you feel less than my son, know that I'm sorry for that too and that it's not true. I may not be your blood father, but I still consider you my son, Azias."

I shook my head as I let him know, "You lost that right the day you walked out on us."

Sticking to the important details, Marco questioned, "Who sent you the threat?"

"I have no proof, but the only person I can think of is Devon," Richard answered. "I had threatened him when I found out he was the father to my first born. I didn't mean it of course, but I was angry and drunk, and I said things that I shouldn't have. It got him to leave, but reluctantly. Your mother doesn't know this, but uh, I had blackmailed Devon. He had stolen money from his job once, and I had proof. I met up with him that night and threatened to expose the truth to his boss. That's why he left."

That made much more sense. It also made sense that my mom was confused about why Devon left. She didn't know about them meeting up after the argument and Richard blackmailing Devon.

"Why do you think it's him then?" Ace frowned.

Richard sighed, "We had been best friends before your mother and I met, but he was always jealous of me and the things I had. What's worse is, he always felt like he was the second choice around me. I never understood why he felt that way."

Richard inhaled a deep breath as he shook his head. He then explained, "Him sleeping with Diana hurt so much because 1) he was my closest friend, 2) your mother was the only woman I had ever loved, and 3) I knew Devon did it to spite me. He bred your mother so that he'd have the last laugh, but when I threatened him, and when Diana tried to fix things with me instead of being with him, I guess all that jealousy turned to rage. He thinks I took everything from him, and now he's threatened to hurt y'all. I couldn't sit back and let that happen."

I frowned, "If you've been watching us all this time, why wait until now to approach us?"

I had asked that question because he never approached us all those times we were in need of help. The car chase by Ahmed, for example, was a time I could use the extra help. Where the fuck was he during that time? And where was he when I was fighting mad guards to get Ace and Sapphire got taken as hostage by Emily's fiancé? Where the fuck was he then too?!

"I heard stories about the person you've become when I went back to our old home," he let me know. "Reaper, is it? I knew you were capable of handling yourself. Besides, I've never been the violent type. I've only ever used my gun at the shooting range. Sometimes when you'd split from Ace, I'd follow you. Other times, I stayed and monitored Ace. I couldn't be both places at once. And I never approached, because I was afraid to."

"Huh," I huffed as I tucked my gun away. I then began to search him for any weapons or wires, but I found nothing. "And you're here now because?"

"My wife called and said a man matching Devon's profile stopped by the house a couple of minutes ago claiming to be a friend of mine. She invited him in, and he trashed the place and kidnapped our son," he said as his face grew with sadness.

Ace, without pity, asked, "I'm confused. The fuck that gotta do with us?"

"I'm asking for your help," Richard clarified.

Ace chuckled as he said, "Like I said, that don't got shit to do with us."

"He's your brother too, you know!" Richard frustratedly pleaded with Ace.

Ace disagreed, "That would be true if I were your son. But like my actual brother said, you lost the right to call us your kids when you left! Get the fuck out my face!"

Richard looked to me, ready to plead, but I didn't know what he was expecting. Sympathy? The amount of shit I had to endure because he fucking left us! He really thought I was gonna help him? I wouldn't have had to become Reaper if it weren't for him!

"Azias..." Richard pleaded, and I tucked my gun away.

I cocked my head towards the door before saying, "You heard Ace. Get out."

"I'll be in my car if you change your mind," Richard said in defeat before exiting the house and entering the car parked in front the safe house.

I mumbled under my breath, "Don't count on it."

A/N: Yikes...Well, see you Saturday 🤣