𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 ━━ SARAH CAMERON

47

"SO THIS IS YOUR life now, huh?" Were the first words Michael spat out to Kaden the second the Camerons walked away to attend to other guests.

"Better than the one I had with you," Kaden scoffed. "If you can even call that a life, that is."

"You should not be here," Michael muttered, clenching his jaw slightly. The similarly between the two were uncanny. Kaden knew if he was seen too long with him, suspicion might arise.

"You should not be here," Kaden shot back. "I don't want either of you here. You're invading my life right now."

"Kaden. . ." Blaire frowned. "Don't say that. It's time for both you and Blake to come home. To New York. Watching Ward praise you for working for him is absolutely horrid. Maybe you should just hand him over to the authorities instead of pursuing with this plan of yours."

"No," Kaden said firmly at his mother's words. "I'm just looking for the opportunity."

His father scoffed. "Isn't it time yet? You have been going at this for years now." He took a step closer, invading Kaden's space. "You know what I think? I think that you are stalling."

"I'm not."

"You are," Michael let out a harsh chuckle. "You could have gotten rid of him a long time ago. Killing a man is not that hard, Kaden. Not for our family. But you? You don't want to kill Ward. Not really. At least, not yet."

"Michael—" Blaire squeezed her husband's arm. "Quiet. Someone might hear."

But Michael ignored her words as he kept his eyes fixed on Kaden. "You're definitely stalling."

He was not wrong. Kaden had found himself rethinking the whole thing for weeks now. Ever since he met Wheezie and then Sarah. He didn't want to do that to them. Sure, he did want Ward dead but he couldn't help but think what it would do to them. How his death would affect them. Especially Sarah. She was really close with her dad— even though he was a bad person, he was good to her.

Kaden was conflicted. He didn't know what to do. And the worse part of it all was that Ward had stopped sending people after him. He didn't know why, but he hadn't stopped thinking about it. Could it be that Ward didn't want him dead no more?

"The question is why?" Michael spoke again, "would you feel bad for his children for taking their father from them? It's not really about them, is it? It's about one in particular, no? Tell me."

Kaden's eyes snapped up to meet his father's, "that's my business, not yours."

"You like that girl," Michael concluded, leaning back. "His daughter, Sarah. Pretty, I must say. Nice choice. . . " He lowered his voice as he gritted out the next words. "Listen here, son. I don't care that you want to kill Ward. I don't care that you're into his daughter. And I sure as hell don't give a shit that your life is here now. All I care about is you. Do whatever you want but don't get yourself killed for the love of god."

Kaden's heart skipped a beat. Did I hear that wrong? He wondered. He didn't think that his father cared about him. Even his mother looked shocked, that couldn't have been her husband.

"I—" the rest of Kaden's words were interrupted by Michael. "If you die, all the money your grandfather gave you will go to some stupid charity. So yes, stay the hell alive."

And there it was. Of course. Kaden bit his lip and held back a scoff. He was stupid to think that Michael cared about him. He didn't. All he cared about was money.

"And I'm taking Blake back home." Michael added which made Kaden's blood boil immediately. He locked his jaw as his father continued, "whether he likes it or not. You aren't his legal guardian and I heard that he even had been admitted in the hospital. You aren't doing a good job taking care of him."