𝗕laine threw open the door to Emmet's office.
A shitty move on his part – disrespecting his boss like that, but he was the furthest thing from his mind.
As soon as everyone got back from their personal vacations after the Spain vacation trip, Maverick had pulled everyone together to tell them the truth about that day at the Docks — so here they were, confronting it.
If he was being completely honest, he was not surprised in the least. He should have known that the enemy would accumulate people that they were close with to take them down. And he also should have known that one of his own members would take pity on them because of something as stupid as feelings. He was also mad that Maverick waited a fucking week to tell them, but he thought Mason would have taken care of it by now; he'd scold him for that later.
"You!" he screamed, pointing at Kaedyn.
Emmet and Kaedyn's eyes widened as he entered the room in a hurry, his team trailing behind him. What made him even more upset about this entire situation was the interaction in front of him. It looked as if the two of them were just having a casual conversation; Kaedyn looked relaxed, and there was a hint of a smile on his face. Emmet didn't look the least bit bothered.
Blaine ignored all of that and flung at that purple-haired asshole, leading with his fist. Of course, now knowing their backgrounds and past image, he was not shocked to see him dodge the move with ease. He knew that he shouldn't attack someone with a history as strong as his so sloppily, but he couldn't help it. He was only seeing red – he wanted them to pay.
Unfortunately, a fight was not what he was going to get.
"Blaine! Relax!" Jase yelled, hooking his hands under his arms, and pulling him back.
"Get off me!"
"No, man! You said you just wanted to talk!"
"Let him go," Franki interrupted him.
Jase listened and stepped back. He wanted to lunge at Kaedyn again, but Franki gave him a stern look and backed him up with her hands on his chest. He wanted to scream at her to leave him be, but it would be unfair to displace his anger on her of all people.
He took a breather as the others confronted the problem.
"Is it true?" Jase asked both of them.
"It is," Kaedyn said quietly.
"Why the hell would you—"
"Enough!" Emmet boomed through the noise, "They've been pardoned; that's the end of it."
That just made his blood boil even more. They came here, demanding answers, only to receive none and to be slapped in the face with a pardon from the Capo for what? How the hell did they walk into his house and receive a punishment that was softer than death itself?
He made a move to attack that answer, but Franki was four steps ahead of him.
"And why is that?" she growled.
"Back up, Francesca," Emmet answered, "I am still your boss."
"Yeah, well last I checked, you're not the one who hired me, and right now – you're not even the one I fucking respect. How dare you tell us to drop the subject while full well knowing we suffered the most because of these Jolly Rancher twins?" she gestured in Kaedyn's direction.
"Franki, it's not what you think—" he started to speak to her.
But there was so much rage in her eyes, that even Barney backed down from her. Blaine let a smirk crawl on his face at how badass his sister was; there was no one who was going to get in her way.
"I'll deal with you later," she glared at him, turning back to Emmet.
"I suggest you calm down," was all he said.
"Gladly," she sarcastically smiled, "After you give my team an explanation."
"Do I have to reiterate how unprofessional you're being?"
"Yeah, maybe—"
Blaine stepped up and cut her off, pushing her back with his arms this time. She shot him a look but he just shook his head and told her to knock it off with his expression. He wanted answers as much as she did, but disrespecting the head of the mafia was going to get them nowhere but on grunt-work duty for months, despite their abilities.
"I apologize for her, but please – can we have some answers?"
Emmet looked at him with an eyebrow raised to his forehead. His eyes slid over to Kaedyn, to see if he had something to say himself, but he just had his hands folded behind his back, his head bowed, and eyes aimed at the floor. For a moment, he almost believed his words.
'It's not what you think.'
But then again, in this world, that wasn't an unfamiliar phrase.
"Kaedyn and Kai were forced to attack you as they were roped into the bad side of things."
"Why didn't they just come to you for help?"
"Are you seriously asking that question?"
Blaine bit his tongue and did his best to keep his sass from appearing in his voice. Okay, yes – that type of question was usually reserved for an idiot but it was something that he wanted confirmation on. If they really were these infamous assassins, then they should have had other options lined up instead of the one they chose to pick.
"I am, sir," he nodded his head.
Emmet sighed, "They had personal things hanging over their heads if they were to talk to us at all. Even so, Kaedyn was just informing me that they believe they're still not out of the clear with these people. You should know what that is like – the enemies are like leeches; they will suck everything out of these boys until they're used up and too far gone to be accepted to the good side again. I've given them another chance because I have a history with them that exceeds even your life, Blaine."
"I get that, but sir, how can you trust them?"
"They know what'll happen if this repeats."
"But—"
"But nothing, Blaine!" Emmet suddenly raised his voice, slamming his hand down on his desk, "I appreciate how much you care about your team, but if you continue to undermine my decisions, I'm going to show you how angry it's making me, do you understand me?"
He blinked and swallowed a heavy breath, not used to seeing his green eyes ablaze with fire. If there was one thing he liked about him, it was how level-headed he always seemed to be, regardless of most problems sent in his direction.
So, if he was really mad, then this was bad.
"Yes, sir."
"Out of my office," he waved them off, "All of you."
Blaine hid the smile on his face as he realized he was motioning to Kaedyn as well. Him, as well as himself and his own team, turned on their heels and left the room, closing the previously flung-open oak door that led to his cave. As soon as they were out, it was like his team read his mind – they caged Kaedyn in with the walls that made up the hallway a few feet from the door.
He instantly raised his hands up, "I'm sorry."
"Not enough," Blaine answered, stepping up to him.
"You don't get it – we had no choice."
"That's bullshit and you know it."
"We never wanted to hurt you."
It was Jase's turn to get pissed off.
He slammed his hand into the wall next to Kaedyn's head, "You locked us in a fucking shipping container with a flashlight, injuries that needed medical care, and a bomb with a three-minute time limit. How dare you cowardly stand before us now and say you didn't want to hurt us?!"
"I created that bomb without the correct properties."
Blaine narrowed his eyes, "What?"
Kaedyn lowered his hands slowly, but made no moves to get out from their grasp.
"If you know about Kai and I, then you know that we both have specialties. Mine is bomb-making. I purposely did not add any explosive fluid or reactants into the bomb to make sure that it wouldn't have gone off. It was added purely as a scare factor because we needed the people we worked for to believe that we weren't double-crossing them."
"Why didn't you tell us beforehand?" Maverick asked, piping up for the first time.
Kaedyn's eyes slid in his direction; a disgusted look flashed across his features, but it didn't stay long, so he decided against commenting on it. It would just distract the conversation.
"—yeah," Franki backpacked off him, "We could have worked together."
"No," he shook his head, "For two reasons – the first was because we didn't know you lot were our targets until the morning it happened, so there was no time to warn you. And secondly, we didn't want to run the risk of letting the other side in on it. If any of you had seemed even the least bit off, we would have been killed on the spot and so would our—" he paused, "Personal reasons."
Blaine looked at him curiously, folding his arms into each other as he took in his words. Part of him believed his speech more than he thought would, and more than he even wanted to. There were a few reasons for that; he couldn't see a lack of genuineness on his face, but also because of one little comment that happened during the end of the fight.
Lo siento.
Sorry, in Spanish.
Ever since it happened, he'd always wondered if he was truly hearing things that day, or if they were words that the man actually meant.
For the first time, he knew he could get that answer.
"What is Kai's specialty?"
"What?"
"His specialty – tell me."
"Knives," Kaedyn answered slowly.
From that word alone, he knew that Kai was the one that dealt with him. He flexed his hand, still feeling less tension than he'd had his entire life because of him; the knife wound had been minor and was fixed with stitches, but it still happened and it still affected him.
The least he wanted to do was punch him for it.
"Where is he?—is he still here?"
"Yeah, he is, but he's busy at the moment."
"Doing what?" Jase inquired.
"Saving his relationship."
Maverick snorted and shook his head behind them, but didn't make any comments to the group. That same deep scowl reappeared on Kaedyn's face; he couldn't tell if he resented him because he was the one who figured them out and caused all of this drama, or if it was because of his obnoxiously unhidden feelings for his brother's boyfriend.
"I don't care," he finally turned around, "I need a word with him."
"Can't it wait?"
"No – it can't, and if you don't tell me, then I'll find him myself."
Kaedyn's eyes lit with humor, "Then good luck; my lips are sealed."
Blaine's eyebrows twitched, but he didn't say anything more, he just peeled himself out of the group and began his journey across the second floor. It was clear that all of the bedrooms were up here, so if they were in one, it was only a matter of time before he figured out which.
"Let's go—"
He turned around at the sound of a body slamming into the wall. He was expecting to see a couple of the boys rough-housing or something, but it was nothing of the sort. Instead, his lips parted in surprise as he watched his sister pin Kaedyn against it with fury burning her skin.
"It was you?—hm? The one who dealt with me."
"Does it matter—"
She pulled him off and slammed him again, "Yes, it does!"
Kaedyn winced only slightly, but answered, nevertheless, "It was."
Franki let go of his shirt and backed up. She looked at the ceiling as she laughed gently and rubbed her mouth in mock surprise at his answer. As he adjusted himself, she finished with her display of false emotions and did what they all wanted to do.
She raised her fist and punched him right in the center of his nose.
"Ow!" he yelled, bending over to catch the blood spilling from it.
"I don't know who you think you are," she leveled herself to his height, "—but just because we pity-fucked – it doesn't give you the right to look at me like I'm some helpless care package. One day, if you ever even look at my team like you don't belong, we'll have a proper rematch. I'll gladly hand your pathetic ass on a platter for the world to see, since you're clearly so fucking threatened by me that you couldn't even give me a chance to show you how much I can take," she grabbed onto his shoulders and slammed her knee into his stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs, "Piece of shit," she spit at him as he slid down the wall, onto his knees.
Jase and Maverick snorted as she sauntered past them, but he couldn't help the smile that grew on his face. In the past, she would have voluntarily forced him into a one-on-one spar in the middle of the Estate, but she has grown much more than she ever talked about.
He watched Eden – who had been hanging back the whole time as she was still sick from her withdrawal symptoms – run up to her and grab her hand, attempting to calm her down. As much as Franki claims she hates everyone, she sorely lacked in proving such. She gripped her hand back and reacted to her.
Blaine watched them for a second more before be snapped out of his thoughts and jogged after them.
One twin down, one to go.