Ryder
The kid my father helped create is being raised by his stepdad, who gambles too much on what little money he makes. It makes me livid, but there isn't much I can do for the kid while the old man lives, other than train him and his friends so that none of them have to take a beating again.
Last night, Gerhardt called the kid to his house to see what Dominic wanted. When the kid wouldn't tell him anything, the old man threw his glass of scotch at Ransom's head. I had to stitch it up before we could begin training. The kid's ribs were bruised too. He screamed when he hit the mat. Gerhardt had beat the shit out of Ransom just as he once did me. Scare tactics. Gerhardt thinks they work, but he should know better since it never worked on me.
My phone rings. I answer with my last name.
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me who your mother was?!" Leo Wulf's tone was low and menacing. Old Gerhardt must be playing mind games with Leo for backing out of their contract to join me.
"Why does that matter, Leo?" I ask him in a bland tone.
"Because she was the only person in this world I truly cared about more than myself. She was pregnant with my son when Gerhardt forced her to marry him. What happened to the kid? What happened to her?" Leo questions in a growling voice.
"Gerhardt shot her in the head so she couldn't take me away from him," I reply succinctly in a bitter tone. I'm going to let him figure it out.
"Why would she take you away from him?" He questions, confused.
"He called me a bastard. Why do you think?" I prompt.
He is quiet. I only hear his breathing while I'm watching Dominic put Ransom through his paces and Etienne as he grapples with Carson. Arson is currently with Callum. Jase is shooting with Jaxson.
Minutes later I heard him whisper, "You're my son." Bingo Leo, I think. "I'm coming over," he declares and hangs up the phone before I can tell him not to.
I shake my head, hanging up. Etienne notices the change in my energy first. He lets Carson up, tossing him a water bottle and coming to me.
"What's wrong, you? Don't ya try tellin' me it ain't nothin'. Cause I know better." Etienne is adept at reading through my bullshit ice façade.
"Leo is coming over. He just figured out he is my biological father," I tell him. Tee has known since the first time I found out Gerhardt wasn't my sperm donor. He was the first person I called to talk me off a ledge. Imposter Syndrome had taken hold of my life.
Tee hugs me close to his body and strokes my hair. "It'll be fine, Chouchou. Just you watch and see." I breathe a sigh of relief. Tee's motor oil mixed scent and warm body instantly relax me. I got this. I can do this.
Leo Wulf, the leader of the Dire Wolves mercenary group, arrives an hour later when the kids are done with their training and are relaxing near the pool. My biological father.
"Pops? What are you doing here?" Carson asks him. The kid looks almost identical to Leo. Same medium brown hair and light blue eyes.
"I'm here to talk with Ryder in private," Leo says scuffling Carson's hair, mimicking affection.
I nod to Leo, leaving the kids with my family. Natalie is the only one who joins me. We will tell the others later about this conversation. We keep no secrets in our family.
Leo makes himself comfortable in a plush chair across from my desk in my home office. Natalie perches on the armrest of my chair opposite of him. "Your mother. Tell me everything," he says succinctly.
I do. I recount the abuse and how my mother was killed by Gerhardt Fuchs, trapping me under her body. My father's fixer later disposed of her body and made sure there was no DNA evidence on me.
"He broke your arm, over you wanting to show him a picture. How many times did he lay his hands on you?" Leo asks, emotionless, which is expected.
"It wasn't the first time he broke my arm, and it wasn't the last. Let us just leave it at that. Every time he drank, I got a beating, and whenever I failed him as well. It happened daily until I started fighting back when I was fourteen." I tell him, drawing comfort from Natalie's hand as she squeezes mine gently. Her heart rate remained calm along with her energy.
"I'll kill the bastard. He killed the one person I ever truly gave a damn about. He also abused MY SON," Leo says, stressing those last two words, which shocks me. Guess I was all wrong about the man. He feels emotions, after all. Though it sounded more like possession than love.
"Get in line. We all want to kill him for his treatment of our Fox King. He has tried to have us all killed at least once. I'm done playing with him," Natalie says, twisting up her cute, pert nose in disgust. I'm obsessed with this woman.
"Not just yet, my bloodthirsty angel. I have plans for the old wolf. Ways to slowly kill his spirit first," I tell her with a grin. My father will know what it's like to lose everything. His money and his power will be gone, then I'll kill him myself.
"There is another thing I wanted to talk to you about. I have this government contact who needs a group with specific skill sets. One that can go undercover, infiltrate, and then dispose of certain targets. Me and my team are looking towards retirement, seeing as we are all in our fifties."
"You're thinking the Cards Royalty could be this mercenary group your contact is looking for. Rebrand us for the government to get us out of the criminal underground side of things. We've already changed the way things are done with the Cards Royalty. Each King is supposed to have their crew, while we are all together. We might as well let the Cards reign end with us," I say.
"But then that leaves a vacuum..." Leo starts.
"One that won't last long. Someone else will rise to fill it. Another crew or another organization. Let it. This way we can all also live our lives the way we want to. You already have plans to start up other teams in different states and areas, so why not have government backing?" Ali finishes.
"Blood Angel has a point, kid. What do you say? The Dire Wolves retire and..." Leo begins.
"The Death Kings take over," I finish.
"We'll put to a vote. Call your men to come over and celebrate retirement. Dominic cooks enough to feed an army, anyway. Another thing Leo, before we adjourn, the Channing kid, why did he call you Pops?" I ask. I'm curious about the connection because it could mean the Channing kid and I are blood relatives.
"He is my grandson. When I was seventeen, I got this girl pregnant. Married her and raised our daughter, Amy. Her mother overdosed while I was overseas on a job. Amy was seven. My daughter was taken in by my parents, so I could still be in her life. Well, she married a good man named Derek, who dotes on her and their twins. The twins are Carson and Carley. One boy. One girl. I asked if they were having more kids and Amy laughed at me. Said one of each was plenty for them." I can almost hear the pride in his voice. I swore this man was incapable of emotions, but I was wrong. He feels them. The emotions are just dulled down.
"So I'm an uncle?" I question.
Leo nods. "You are if you want to be. I'll call Amy to let her know I've finally found you. She'll want to meet you," he says, and I nod back to him.
"Are you alright with us training Carson?" I ask him curiously.
"Yeah. Those other boys have rough lives, so for their sake, it would be good for Carson to learn how to be a mercenary. They going to be one of your teams?" Leo asks with a knowing grin.
"Yeah. Ransom is Gerhardt's kid that he is trying to groom. The kid hates him, which is no surprise. He is going to help me take Fuchs down and I am going to fund the kid and his friends after high school graduation. If we are going to put in all this time and training with these kids, then they will work for us. Our C.H.A.O.S. team."
"Dominic has another kid he wants to add to them. The kid's name is Weston. His father is in a local gang as a low-level drug runner and his mother works nights at a convenience store. They don't make enough to support their three kids. They are drug addicts and Dominic suspects some neglect is happening," Natalie says.
"Hope the votes go my way. The Death Kings are going to be a force to be reckoned with for generations to come." At that point, none of us knew how true that statement Leo uttered would become.