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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

REED

“Let me get this straight. You left her?” Emi asks, staring at me with an open mouth. I throw the drink back, slam it on the table, then motion for Shaw to pour me another.

“She said Bryce was Jaxon’s son,” I grind out. “Not mine.”

“Hate to break it to you, but he is,” Tate grunts, earning a glare from Owen.

“If someone said Romeo belonged to that cunt, I’d slice the fucker up,” Owen states, and who can blame him? He took on his wife’s baby and adopted him when he was merely weeks old.

Emi shakes her head. “That’s different. Jaxon was nothing like Romeo’s sperm donor.” She’s not lying. On all accounts, Jaxon was a good man, and as much as I’m grateful Gia never suffered at his hands the way Laya did at her husband’s, it’s also impossible to live up to him.

“Why does she hate her father so much?” Mase asks as I swirl my glass while staring aimlessly at the amber liquid.

I clear my throat. “He didn’t like Jaxon.”

Mase scrunches up his nose. “Got to be more to it than that.”

“He’s trying to sell off the land and demolish the buildings Gia is working to keep open to spite her,” Shaw tacks on, and I’m grateful my friend listens to my moans of contempt.

“Why would he do that?” Mase asks.

“’Cause he’s a dick.” Owen shrugs. “Everyone is aware of what a dick he is. He speaks to people like shit, and his reputation precedes him.”

Mase winces at Owen’s words, then asks, “Did you research him?”

Owen lifts his shoulder and shakes his head. “People talk.” He drags his hand over his head and exhales. “Do you want me to look into him?”

“I think you should. There’s more to this,” Emi instructs, shocking the shit out of us all. “Besides the fact you know he’s an ass and can be difficult, he also has a vendetta against Gia. I mean, the girl fell in love with a good guy, refuses to spend Fanzio’s money, and wants to be left alone to raise her kids. She needs commending, not hurt. There’s more to this, Reed.”

A sliver of nausea runs through me, along with guilt I hadn’t asked more about her relationship with her father, too concerned with discussing anything remotely to do with Fanzio. It was easier to not discuss him at all.

“You need to make this right. That poor girl has nobody. She’s pregnant while raising her son who doesn’t even have a father, and now, he, alongside her, will think you’ve left them, Reed.” Her eyes implore mine, but it’s her words that lance through me like a bolt of sickening dread. She’s right. Bryce and Gia deserve better. They deserve a man to stand by them, not one who walks away when things get difficult.

“She won’t be alone; it sounds like she has help. Right, Reed?” Tate’s lip quirks, and I want to punch him in the throat so badly as he references Tyson, but my mind keeps replaying the fact that I left her, left them all. Pushing back in the armchair, I finish my drink.

“You need me to take you?” Mase asks.

I drag a hand over my head. “Yeah.” Then I sigh heavily, feeling the weight of the day on my shoulders. This has to have been the worst day in my entire life, even worse than the day I brought the little shitbag home, and I never want a repeat of it again. “Please.” I nod at him, and he gifts me with a smile.

“Everything will be okay, man.” He squeezes my shoulder, and I wish I could feel an ounce of his confidence right now. “Just show her you’re not going anywhere. That’s what I’d do.” He stares back at me with conviction, and I see the truth behind my friend’s eyes. He’d give anything to be in my position, a family of his own instead of the one crumbling around him. Something passes between us, and I straighten my shoulders while lifting my chin, promising him without saying it that I’ll do whatever it takes to help him too.

Starting first thing Monday.

His bitch of a wife is going down so he can finally start a new life and have a chance of the family he’s always dreamed of.

Now I need to win my family back, and more importantly, I need to keep them.