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CHAPTER TWELVE

David

I paced the entryway as I waited for Mikey and Nate to get home from school. All Kassandra said in her text was that I needed to be here because something happened with Mikey after school and it was important he talked to me as soon as possible.

She didn't answer my text when I asked for details. The chances were good she was driving and didn't want to text at the same time but the suspense was killing me. The need to fix whatever the problem was, was getting higher by the minute.

When I finally heard Mikey's car pull into the driveway, I rushed outside to get eyes on them.

A sigh of relief escaped my body when I saw that both boys were in one piece.

"What the hell happened?" I met Mikey halfway up the sidewalk. He held out an envelope as his answer.

"Nate, let's get inside," he called to his brother, then walked into the house with him.

I stayed outside and opened the envelope. My blood instantly boiled. It took all my willpower not to crumble the note and slam my fist into the house. The only thing that kept me in check was the fact that Kassandra wanted me to talk to Mikey. I refused to disappoint any of them, so with a calming breath, I followed the boys inside.

I found them both in the kitchen rustling through the pantry for something to eat. "Mikey?" I waited until he faced me before asking. "Who gave you that note?"

He lifted one shoulder. "No idea and he didn't bother to give me a name. He shoved the envelope at me, told me to give it to my mother and said if she didn't want to lose any other family members, she would take it seriously. I called Mom right away."

"What's going on?" Nate had a bag of chips in one hand and a can of soda in the other when he asked.

I gave him the “one second” gesture. I had to get the information out of Mikey while it was still fresh in his mind. "What did he look like?"

"Shady, if you know what I mean. A gray zip-up but the hood was pulled down over his head. A few years older than me. Baggy pants. It all happened fast that I didn't get a good look at him. I was more worried about calling my mom and making sure she was okay."

"Your school has cameras, right?" I was already pulling my phone out to text John and have him pull the footage. I could ask Bree but she was working on other things and John was fully capable of pulling local footage.

"I think so."

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Nate tried again.

"Someone is looking for the money your father owed them. They figured they could get it by threatening to hurt the both of you."

Mikey cursed. "Of course Dad would leave Mom with his shit to clean up." I didn't bother to correct him since that was exactly what Michael did. Committing suicide didn't erase the debt owed. It just transferred it to those he left behind.

"Does Mom know?" Nate looked between the two of us.

It wasn't my job to tell Kassandra's secrets, so I kept my mouth shut. She was on her way home and it was up to her to decide how much she wanted to tell them.

"If she didn't, she will now. I got the feeling that guy wasn't kidding. I should've gone after him."

"And chance getting hurt?” I challenged. “No way. Your mother wouldn't have wanted that."

Mikey's chest puffed up. "I'm the enforcer for the team. I'm used to throwing down gloves. I’d usually reserve that side of me for the ice but I would've happily made an exception for my family."

"I'm sure you would, and I'm not saying you couldn't take the guy, but that's not what your mother would've wanted. You have a full-ride hockey scholarship. The last thing she would want is for you to mess that up because of your father's mistakes."

He deflated before my eyes and I felt bad. "Yeah, I don't need to add anything more to her already overflowing plate."

Screeching tires stopped all conversation as the three of us headed for the front door. We were greeted by the door slamming open and Kassandra racing through it. "Mikey? Nate?"

She yanked both boys to her as soon as she was close enough to get her hands on them. "Oh thank God. I nearly had a heart attack trying to get here."

"Ah, Mom? It usually takes you a lot longer to get home from the office. Just how fast were you driving?" Mikey scolded his mother. I was interested in her answer as well. There was no way she should've been able to get here this fast unless she broke several laws.

"That's not important right now. What is important is that the two of you are safe."

"We are, but you need to tell us what's going on. I know you’ve always tried to protect us from the messes Dad got into, but you can't keep doing that. We need to know."

Kassandra pulled away and looked at her oldest. I imagined she was seeing just how grown up he was. Mikey still had some boyish features, but his build was all man and I doubted he was done growing yet.

"You're right. How about we take this into the living room? There's a lot we need to discuss."

I didn't wait for an invitation to join them. I was likely interfering on family time, but I too needed all the information I could get. Kassandra told me some of it, but I had the feeling there was more she wasn't saying.

Kassandra sat on the couch with her boys on either side of her. I took a spot on the smaller couch and waited for her to start.

"I never lied to you about how your father died. I wanted you to hear it from me, rather than from some careless stranger. What I didn't tell you about was the note your father left me. Without going into too much detail, the gist of it was your father took money from someone and couldn't pay it back before they found out. He thought that taking his own life would solve the problem."

"So Dad just assumed these people would stop caring about their money just because he was dead?" Mikey asked in disbelief and Kassandra nodded her head. "What a joke," he hissed. "Dad killed himself because he was a coward who couldn't fix his mess, so instead, he left you to deal with it. I'm glad he's fucking dead." He jumped off the couch and stormed up the stairs.

I got up to go follow him but Kassandra stopped me with a wave of her hand. "Give him some time to cool down. He's entitled to be mad."

"He's also not wrong, Mom. That's a really crappy thing Dad did to you."

"I know it is. I'm not saying it isn't, but I can't change it. I can't bring your father back and force him to handle his own problems. All I can do is try to fix them so they don't affect you and Mikey."

"How can I help?" Nate asked.

"Right now I'm not sure, but can you give me a few minutes to talk to David alone? I promise I'm not shutting you boys out but I need to plan and I can't do that without a clear head."

Nate kissed his mother's cheek. I found both boys did that a lot. "Sure thing. I'll be upstairs when you're ready to talk some more."

I waited until I was sure Nate was in his room before I asked, "There's more, isn't there?"

Kassandra fell back into the cushions with a tired sigh. "Of course there is, but first show me the note."

I leaned back and dug the note out of my pocket where I’d shoved it before meeting the boys in the kitchen earlier. "It's pretty damn straightforward."

She took the note out of my outstretched hand and snorted after she read the simple sentence it contained. "They want me to give them the hundred and fifty thousand Michael owes and they won't hurt my boys. How generous of them to give me two weeks." Kassandra tossed the piece of paper onto the coffee table before going back to leaning into the couch cushions. "Do these people really think I have that kind of money just lying around?"

She closed her eyes and I watched the reality of the situation consume her. This morning she had looked relaxed when she came downstairs and now the weight of the world was sitting on her shoulders and causing her to curl into herself.

"I can't say for sure, since I don't know who Michael was spending his time with, but it's more likely they don't care. Michael stole that money; they’re going to do whatever is necessary to get it back."

Kassandra threw her hands in the air. "Well, that's just great! There's equity in the house and some in my business but I doubt scraping together a hundred and fifty K is going to be easy. Fuck you, Michael, for putting me in this position." The last sentence was merely a whisper but I didn't miss the defeat in her tone.

"I can pay the money back for you."

She glared at me. "I can't let you do that. This is my problem, not yours."

"Actually, it's Michael's problem, but like you said, we can't exactly resurrect him so he can solve it on his own."

Kassandra scoffed. "Like he would, even if we could bring him back."

My lips turned up at the corners. "You're right, he wouldn't, so it doesn't matter either way. You shouldn't have to deal with this, not alone anyway. Let me help. I have the means to make the problem go away."

I could only hope paying these people off would make them leave her alone, but my gut was saying it wouldn't be that easy. And I always trusted my instincts.

"I can't let you do that."

"And why not?"

"Because it's a lot of money, David!" Her exasperation with me wasn't warranted.

"I'm well aware of that, but I can easily get it to you before the deadline."

It was chump change really. If I wanted to, I could've had it ready for her the next day.

"I'm not taking your grandparents’ money."

I smiled at her. Sometimes I forgot she only knew the teenage me. I hadn't needed my grandparents’ money in a very long time. Not since it helped me start my very successful security business. People didn't realize how well the government paid to handle the problems they didn't want people to know about.

"Then I guess it's a good thing it wouldn't be their money."

"How are you so calm about this?" She flung herself back into the cushions once again. She had to be giving herself motion sickness with how much she was leaning forward and back throughout this discussion.

"Oh, I can promise you there's nothing calm about me right now. If Michael hadn't killed himself, I would've done the honor for the shit he's putting you through. And you haven't even told me all of it yet."

Kassandra sighed. "I knew Michael was having money troubles. When he lost his job five years ago, I insisted he let me take over the bills. He didn't want to at first. He only relented when I noticed we were past due on several things. I went that day and made sure everything was switched into my name. I changed all our online passwords. I cut up his cards. I treated him like a child but I didn't care. There was no way I was going to ruin my credit, or our family, because he liked to spend money on useless crap.

"A year ago he started talking about some new business venture. He had this friend who would help him start it up. Before you ask, I have no idea who the friend is. He never told me when I asked, and honestly, I thought he was lying. Nothing ever came of it. But the last couple of months he was getting cocky again. Asking me for more money, promising a big payday soon. I just ignored him. We were finally getting ahead on things and I didn't want him to ruin it, so I told him we didn't have it. We fought about it. He demanded to see our finances but I refused. I didn't trust him not to blow it."

She dropped her head into her hands. "God, maybe if I’d just listened to him a little better, I would know more about what was going on."

I couldn't take being so far away from her anymore. I left the smaller couch and sat down next to her. Taking one of her hands in my own, I set about comforting her. "This isn't your fault. No amount of listening was going to change the outcome. Michael was selfish and greedy. I know it's not nice to speak ill of the dead, but it's the truth. There was nothing you could've done to stop him from taking that money. If you don't have the money now, you wouldn't have had it then."

"That's true," she huffed.

"I know it is, so how about you stop dwelling on the past and start letting me help you with your future?"

"It's a lot of money," Kassandra whispered.

I rubbed my thumb along her palm. "I’m aware, but I have it, so please let me help you."

I could see the indecision written all over her face. I could also see when she finally decided to take me up on my offer. It wasn't an easy decision for her to make, so I didn't gloat when she answered. "Okay, I'll let you help me."

"Excellent." I lifted her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles. "You won't regret it."