Uncle Deke and Aunt Delaney lived in Port Lucia with their kids, which was an hour’s drive from Sands Cove, and where the RMM Investments & Securities main office was located. Uncle Ace and Aunt Ava also lived in Port Lucia with their kids, but because we were all so close, an hour’s drive wasn’t shit.
Twenty years ago, my father and uncles had gone into business together and RMM Investments & Securities was now one of the most prolific and successful financial firms in the world. Upon establishing themselves, my parents and Uncle Liam and Aunt Roselyn had decided to come back to Sands Cove to set up their homes and families, while Uncle Deke, Aunt Delaney, Uncle Ace, and Aunt Ava had chosen to stay in Port Lucia. Sands Cove held bad memories for my aunts, so my uncles had chosen to live closer to work. So, that meant their children went to Regal Academy in Port Lucia, and as much as I wish we could all be together, I was happy they had each other over there.
Uncle Deke and Aunt Delaney had Dash who was eighteen, Crew who was sixteen, Zane who was fourteen, and their only girl, Lennon, who was twelve. And, let me tell you, that little girl was protected better than the President of the United States.
Uncle Ace and Aunt Ave had only two kids, and that was Delaney Jr. who was sixteen and Maggie who was fourteen. Now, D.J. and Maggie having no blood brothers, it fell on the rest of us males in the family to look out for them, which was what we’d been doing Sunday night.
A lot of people thought I was a sociopathic psychopath because I didn’t give a fuck about much, but I wasn’t. I loved, and I cared. Now, those emotions were limited to my family and friends only, but they still existed. And if they existed, then that blew all those pop-psych theories out of the water.
Another reason I knew I wasn’t a complete sociopath?
Lake Warren.
I had a lot of feelings where that girl was concerned.
After I had blackmailed her into sending those semi-naked selfies of herself to me, I had let her go. There’d been no pictures of me beating Childress on her camera, and after checking her phone, too-because I wasn’t a fucking idiot-I had let her go.
With her camera.
Once I had gotten home, I had gone straight to Maddox’s room, and he had filled me in on how the guys had dropped him off at home, so he could tap into all the cameras that were within a three block radius of Sands Cove Medical, and manipulate the feed. While numbers were my thing and I could do complicated math in my head, Maddox was a genius with computers. He was a gifted hacker that could probably land him in federal prison one day, if not for our parents.
After he had manipulated the feeds, he had sent a text to Chance and Dash to let them know it was okay to dump Childress in a nearby alley. If he crawled his way to the hospital, great. If not, that was great, too. I also wasn’t too worried about him talking. Even if the others lived in Port Lucia, our reputations, and those of our parents, were legendary enough to put the fear of God into both towns, if not the entire state. Ashton Childress really hadn’t known who D.J. was when he had tried to take advantage of her. Had he known, he would have steered clear of her. However, that fact hadn’t excused him from what he’d had coming.
Once I’d been satisfied that Ashton Childress had been properly taken care of, I had asked Mad to get me everything he could on Lake Warren. I had given him the little bit that she had already told me to give him a starting point, but even with just a name, Maddox would have still been able to get all the goods on the girl.
I had also told him to dig up everything he could on the ex-boyfriend once he found out that name. It wasn’t that I was worried about the guy, but the more information, the better. It was something my dad has always instilled in us.
Hearing a car pulled up beside mine, I looked back and saw my brother smiling through the windshield. While I had a Range Rover, Maddox had a Lotus Evija that had cost a little over two million dollars. Now, why in the hell would my parents get him a car like that, you ask? Because, last year, Maddox had hacked into the prison system and had ‘accidentally’ transferred good, ol’ Grandpa Andrews into general population, instead of that cozy protective custody he’d been granted after going to prison for killing his wife. The poor man had found himself on the business end of a nasty fight that had led to his unfortunate demise. When Mom had gotten the notification, all Maddox had said was ‘Happy Birthday, Mom’, and the bastard had gotten that Lotus for his very next birthday.
When I had asked my dad why he had never taken care of that man, knowing how Mom felt about him, he had told me that Mom had told him that the man was so worthless, it wasn’t worth the risk of it ever being traced back to him. And we all knew nothing would ever get traced back to Maddox. He was just that good.
Getting out of his ridiculous car, his backpack slung over one shoulder, he was still smiling. Looking at his watch, he said, “They got this shit down to a science.”
I grinned. “It’s not like we’re going to get in trouble for being late, anyway.”
Maddox leaned against my car. “True,” he agreed. “But I’d rather be a smart rich fuck than a dumb rich fuck, and I can only do that if I get my education.”
I barked out a laugh. “I can see your logic, Mad. However, I still don’t think that’s enough to get Chance and Neo here any earlier.” Just then, our heads turned at the familiar sound of a white Lexus LFA Nurburgring pulled up on the other side of Maddox’s nonsense. Shaking my head, I realized I was probably the least pretentious asshole out of us all. My car didn’t cost nearly as much as Chance’s half a million-dollar Lexus, and of course, Maddox’s bat-mobile.
“We’re here,” Neo announced as he got out of the car, and I just loved the kid. Since Uncle Liam and Aunt Roselyn were both blonde with blue eyes, all their sons took after them in coloring. However, being all boys, they had all inherited Uncle Liam’s features, and that was something Aunt Roselyn absolutely loved about her kids. That’s how much she loved Uncle Liam.
Before any of us could remark on Neo’s announcement, the first warning bell for class rang throughout the school. I hopped off the hood of my car. “We better get going,” I told them.
Chanced glanced back at the school’s front entrance. “I’m so glad our parents hadn’t made us do the year abroad thing,” he said. “I can’t imagine being stuck in high school for one more year.” He shook his head. “Why the hell would anyone want that?”
Windsor had a requirement where all incoming freshman had to spend a year abroad to study in whatever country would benefit them most to follow in their family’s footsteps and businesses. Our parents had left the decision up to us, and when we had all decided against it, our parents had ended up having a little one-on-one with the school’s board, and we’d been exempt from having to fulfill that requirement. And I was with Chance on this one. Who in the hell wanted to add an extra year to their high school life if they didn’t have to?
We all headed towards the entrance, knowing that Neo would take a hard right as soon as we entered the building. Being only a sophomore, his locker was with all the other lower classmen at Windsor. Sure, we could have had him moved with us, but Neo had argued against it. When I had mentioned it, he had assured me that he wasn’t scared to walk to his locker alone.