Haunting Me (A Completed Steamy, Romance)EDITING

Part 23

Hudson

"Make that son of a bitch come for you!  I'll call Hannah, and have her come for Jake."  He said.

"Hudson, no you can't, Serenity would never forgive us.  He has her so brainwashed into believing he is the father of the year.  If she loses him, then we lose her.  Don't you see there's no way out?"  She is almost hysterical.

"He's not her father!" I snapped at her. "Joey, I can't even begin to understand what its been like for you, but if those are my kids, they deserve to know.  Jake deserves to know, and Mason already knows."  I said.

"Why do you think he knows?" She asked.

"Just the way he talked to me, it was strange." I answered.

"I am so sorry." She cried again.

"Stop saying your sorry. I do have a lot to process, but right now, we need to go up there and be normal.  First, I have to call my dad."  I said.

I stood up.  "I'll meet you up there."

She walked away, and I paced as I called Dad from my cell.

"Is your line secure?"

"Yeah, what's up?" He asked.

"Are you alone?"

"Yes." He said suspiciously.

"Costello worked for Lattire," I said.

"I know, and he's been neutralized."

"You knew?" I asked.

"Rob found some pretty bad stuff that was going to put a hit on my whole damn family if Joey didn't marry Beaumont."  He said.

"She knew her mother was dead, she went because she was pregnant." I said, and he didn't respond for a minute. 

"Repeat that for me." He said.

"She made them all think the twins were Beaumont's children.  Lattire told her his plan to assassinate us, and she had just found out she was pregnant."  I said.

"What the??? Son, are those kids yours?"  He asked.

"Congratulations Grandpa, you have sixteen-year-old twins."  I wasn't amused.

"What the fuck, that man is dead!  Mother fucking, son of a fucking bitch.  He won't get a goddamn bullet between the.."

I held the phone away from my ear while he screamed.

"Are you done yet?  You probably just told Mom." I said.

"I'll slit that fuckers throat after I slice off his cock.  That cocksucking..."

I held out the phone again.

"Dad, chill out for one damn minute.  Jesus, calm down!"

"Calm down?  He's had my grandchildren for sixteen years.  He raped her while she was carrying your children!"  He is flipping out worse than I've ever seen.

"I know, and imagine how hard it is for me.  The kids are here, and I met them. I think the boy knows, and trying to hold it together for Joey is damn hard, so I can't lose my shit now in front of them.  I've known for maybe two minutes, and I can't wrap my brain around it."  I said

"I'll kill him," Dad repeats.

"I think that's my job.  Anyway, I'll get Joey to lure him here, but I want Jake back in Washington."  I said.

"Hell, no!  He's safer here with us."  He argued.

"Dad, Beaumont doesn't even know.  I don't want him here when it all goes down.  I thought about having Hannah come get him, but maybe it's a better idea to have Mom take him."  I said.

"Are you kidding?  Your mother has a death wish for Hannah."  He said.

"Then what do I do?"

"Take the kids and Joey to Washington." He said.

"Mason did say he wanted to visit the Capitol. I'll think about it." I said.

"Alright, update me on everything that happens."  He said.

I walked back up to the house, but I didn't see Joey.

"Amber, where's Joey?"  I asked.

She walked up to me.  "What did you say to her?  She is so upset, I sent her up to my bathroom to fix her face." She whispered.

"She's not upset with me.  Upstairs?"  I asked.

"Yeah, last door on your left."  She answered.

I walked up the steps and knocked on the door.  "Joey, let me in."

She opened the door, and she took my breath away.

I stepped in and shut the door behind me.  "Rob already told Dad, and Costello is no longer a problem."  I said.

She sat down on the bed.  I smirked.

"What?" She asked.

"You do realize Amber and Joel make babies there?"  I asked, to try to make her laugh.

She laughed a little.  "I miss that laugh," I said, as I sat down next to her.

"I'm suspended from the FBI."  I said.

She looked at me.  "Suspended?"

"Suspended, leave of absence, same thing.  My wife, well, my ex-wife was sleeping with my former partner.  She said it was my fault because I worked too much. 

Anyway, it was all too much for me.  They say its PTSD, but I don't know.  I got too aggressive with a suspect, and my partner almost paid the price.  That's why we came home. 

It wasn't the divorce, or the tours in the middle east, it was losing you on top of all that, Joey.  I wasn't working late, I was avoiding her because I didn't love her.  I jumped into marriage to punish you for leaving.  Everything I've done since you left has been self-destructive.

Holding you out there was like being home for the first time in years.  You could tell me anything, and I would never hate you." I took her hand.  "We may never be the way we were, but I want your freedom.  I need to know what you want, do you want to go back to him?"  I asked.

"Of course not, but the kids will suffer if I don't go back."  She said.

I took a deep breath.

"Joey, has Rob said anything about that man?"  I refuse to address him as her husband or by name.

"Yeah, he wants to hurt him."  She said.

"I found out over the last day or so, that he was involved in all of it.  His family was involved in your mother's death, he is part of an illegal arms operation, and he's the one with the blackmail.  Your father didn't have it."  I said.

"My husband?"  She askd.

"I prefer coward, but if that's what you want to call him.  None of you are safe in London, this goes well past the FBI.  The CIA is on it, and they will go to London, don't go back.  You're safe here."  I said.

"Okay, but what about the kids?"  She asked.

"Find out what Mason knows.  I want to know them, and I deserve to know them.  I need to get Jake back to D.C., and Mason said he wanted to visit someday.  Go with me to take Jake home to Hannah."  I said.