Cupid's Soldier

Chapter 24

TW: SUICIDE, DEATH, DRUG ABUSE.

"I know you don't like to beat around the bush and everything, but, can't we just take a quick breather?"

Uncle Xavier glares at me, nostrils flaring, and he rubs the top of his shaved head.

"You're kidding right?" He asks. "We don't have time to sit, relax, and sip some tea, kid. Your dad could call me in to help him any minute now." I sigh and nod my head. Rubbing my sore back, I wince.

"We could let Austen and his family stay here. It's big enough right?"

"Well, I guess. There are two bedrooms up here and I could try and sneak two beds downstairs."

I smile and run my hands through my messy hair.

"Now getting my dad out of the equation is the hard part."

Just the thought of hurting my dad makes me cringe. I bite my lip and pull at my hair in frustration as I try to figure out how to do this without hurting my dad.

"How hard would it be to return all of the money back to the gangs without Dad noticing?" I ask, small ideas beginning to bubble up in the back of my mind. If Dad doesn't notice the money is missing then we can set up a trap. We could tell the gangs that Dad was the one who stole from him. As soon as the thought runs through my head, shut it down. It isn't an option. Although, the plan might work. The gang would kill him for it.

"Impossible, he'll know that the money is gone the moment he tries to spend it." He scoffs. "And even if he doesn't figure it out, it wouldn't matter, he would just steal the money back again."

"If we set up a trap for him then he wouldn't be able to." I bite my nails. "But they would kill him, wouldn't they?"

"Yes." He says without even blinking and I groan in desperation. "But then what exactly could we do?" I'm starting to worry, what will happen when he realizes that I can't help him? Will he refuse to help protect Austen?

"Have you seen a ring with the initials CS, engraved onto it?" I ask, remembering the ring that Austen told me about in his story. I still don't understand why exactly someone would rob a place like that but only want to take a ring. Apparently, they still have the ring too so I'm worried it could have something to do with the Mists. My intuition could be wrong and all but if it does then that means that someone in my family could be responsible for all of Austen's trauma.

Uncle Xavier scowls at me and leans forward on his seat. His harsh glare reminds me that I shouldn't be sitting so comfortably in this room. He punched me in my back and forced me into his car a couple of minutes ago.

"Yes, I have. It has nothing to do with our situation right now but why do you know about that? One of our lackeys got caught looking for it and they're still in jail right now."

"Someone tried to rob Austen's house when they were younger and apparently all they were after was a ring. But if it's really important to my dad then maybe we can use it to bribe him. We could take it and-"

"We're not touching that damned ring!" He shouts, his fists balling up at his sides and his jaw clenching up. "That ring isn't going anywhere. Leave it with your boyfriend's family. It has no meaning for the gang."

"Oh." I whisper. "Can I ask you why you're so angry about it then? I just don't understand what's so special about that ring." I say quietly.

His face softens a little bit and he takes a long deep breath.

"Fine," he says. "It belonged to my dad's best friend, Chad Stanfield, who got the ring on his wedding day. The ring was stolen by a man named Max Jacobs. My dad trusted Max, he saw a lot of himself in him, but Uncle Chad hated Max. Chad thought he was unreliable, stupid, arrogant, and dishonest. But since Dad trusted Max, Chad had to deal with it. No one, except Dad, was surprised when Max was arrested for working with an opposing gang, apparently he went down for attempted murder on some woman named Lia Hamilton. Chad didn't tell anyone that Max stole his ring. But a couple of people in the gang started getting suspicious because he kept going to the prison to visit Max, and because he kept going back to the place where Max was arrested. Chad's wife died of cancer that year and Chad broke down. He didn't talk to anyone and he was always out looking for his ring. Whenever he was with the gang in the mansion, he locked himself in his room and sobbed. He killed himself a year later. My dad took me to come and get him, but instead of finding him passed out on the bed like we usually did, we found Chad's suicide note and his dead body lying on his bed next to an empty pill bottle. That was the first time I ever saw my dad cry. My dad spent his entire life looking for that ring. He swore up and down that he would avenge his best friend, my uncle. My dad even died before he could fulfill that promise. It was around the time that he sent someone to try and get the ring back from Aiden and Lia Hendrikson's house that Sean put a bullet in dad's head. Dad had been too preoccupied with that stupid ring that people began questioning whether or not he could actually be a good leader. He had to go. "

He clears his throat and looks me dead in the eyes. I feel sympathy for grandpa but at the same time I feel guilty for feeling like that. Grandpa wasn't exactly a good person either... I sigh, picking at my nails as I try to figure out what exactly I'm supposed to be feeling.

"Don't ask your boyfriend for that stupid ring, okay?" I raise an eyebrow at him. Really?

"It has no use, your dad won't give a shit about it and the people who were related to it are either dead or gone or in prison."

"He isn't my boyfriend. I just thought that you should know that." I say with a laugh. "Seriously, don't call him that."

Uncle Xavier smirks at me, leaning back into his chair.

"But you knew who I was talking about, right? If he isn't your boyfriend then you want him to be."

I blush in embarrassment. Even my uncle can tell how much I like Austen. Why do I have to be so transparent? I cough and try to change the conversation.

"So, if we can't use the ring, what can we do? How do we get Dad to step away from his position?" I groan and try to think of what my dad loves more than power. At first I thought it was his family. But that isn't true at all; he ditched his family to become the boss of the Mists and he's enjoying himself in that position. He said he couldn't have given that title to Uncle Xavier, but he seems more qualified for the job than my dad.

"I have an idea." He says. His frustrating smirk grew wider on his face. "Listen up, because this is going to get complicated."