136

“Amon told you about Zane?” Ava asked. Kiana nodded and Ava let her have a moment.
“After he found out I was pregnant he started talking about his son. How growing up with an overprotective mother had made him weak, how he should have trained him to be more of a man, things like that,” Kiana said, side eyeing Zane. Ava felt her temper rise to the surface. Who did he think he was? Zane was more of a man than his father ever would be. By some grace of God he had found a way to balance his life. He could be ruthless, cold hearted and a killer. He could also be gentle, loving and caring. In Avas world that was something that only real men could. But his father wouldn’t know that. Not even when he had been in love with Zane’s mother had he let love extend to other part of his life. If he had, maybe her loss wouldn’t have driven him to the kind of madness he now possessed. But there was no use in lingering on ‘what if’s’.
“I’m going to tell you a couple of things. But before I do, I want you to know that I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, or your baby, okay?” Ava asked. Kiana looked at her like she didn’t belive Ava, but in the end she nodded.
“Okay,” she agreed.
“Good. So, the things Amon told you, he wanted to make come true. For some reason he wanted a do-over. Did you know Amon once ran the biggest crime syndicate, mafia, in the country?” Ava asked.
“Yes, he would always tell me that. I just thought it was him bragging,” Kiana said. Ava gave her a smile.
“I would have thought the same. But he did. Some years ago he retired, handing it over to his only child, Zane. When Amon found out he was going to be a father again he tried to take it back by force. He didn’t succeed. He is in our basement at the moment. His life will end soon. Zane needs to keep the control of his organisation. If he didn’t the other families would swoop in and in the power vacuum there would be chaos. Untold human lives would end over who would take over. We can’t let that happen. That’s why Amon must die. But we have an issue; your child,” Ava told her and she saw the young woman look down on her stomach.
“My child is an issue?” she asked.
“Sort of. As the child is Zane’s brother or sister they have a claim to the organisation as well,” Ava explained.
“But they haven’t even been born yet,” Kiana objected.
“I know. And belive it or not, that actually makes it worse. As the baby isn’t old enough to act on their own, who ever controls it, would then be able to lay the claim over our organisation.”
“Oh.” Kiana had understood and Ava saw the fear in her eyes. “Everyone will come after us,” she said.
“That is a possibility. But we want to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Ava said and once again reached for her hand.
“But how? I’m too far along for an abortion,” Kiana sobbed. “I begged him to let me have one when I found out I was pregnant, but he wouldn’t let me. He got so angry, screaming I wanted to kill his child. And now I will have to suffer even more because of him.” Ava’s heart broke a little more for Kiana. She was so young and had been through so much.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what he did to you and that he forced you to keep this baby. But you are right, it’s too late to think about an abortion. But we can help in other ways. We can make the two of you disappear. Very few knew about the pregnancy, and most of them are dead. We can give you a new identity, a new place to live. No one will ever know,” Ava said.
“So I would be raising this child in a strange place without anyone to help? We would be all alone?”
“Yes. Or, we will keep you safe here until it’s time for you to give birth. We will find a good home for the baby that won’t know who they are and they will adopt them. You can get a new identity and go off to live your new life,” Ava told her.
“Adoption?”
“Yes, that is an option. Why don’t you take some time to think it over? The baby isn’t due anytime soon and it’s not something you make a decision about over breakfast. We will leave you alone to think about it. You need to stay in this room for now, but you will have as much food as you want. If you get a craving, just let the men outside know and they will get it for you. Tomorrow we will ask the doctor to do a checkup so we know everything is okay. If you want to talk, just let the men know and they will tell me. If it’s about this, or if you have any other questions or just feel lonely. I will be close by, so just let me know. Okay?”
“O-okay. Thank you,” Kiana said. Zane helped Ava out of the chair and even gave Kiana a smile before they left the room.
“I need to kill my father,” he told her as they headed for the stairs.
“You won’t hear me complaining. I have a good mind to do it myself,” she told him and let her anger bleed into her voice. Zane chuckled and kissed her cheek.
“My dark angel,” he whispered to her. “I’m letting you tag along to see my father because I don’t want to have a fight with you right now. But when I tell you to leave the room, you leave the room,” he told her.
“Okay,” she agreed. Despite what Ava had told him, she was happy to not be part of the actual killing. They walked to the basement. There were men standing outside most of the doors, Ava had never seen it so cramped before.
“He’s at the room at the end,” Jax told them as he came walking out of one of the other rooms.
“Have you got anything useful from the others?” Zane asked him. They paused in the corridor.
“The ones we got in the woods were hired mercenaries. They don’t know that much. The man we got from the secondary location, he is one of the men we stationed with your father. Your father managed to switch is loyalty and offered him a high ranking position when he took over again. He was a low level grunt so he hasn’t been able to leak any information. But he has looked the other way when your father has done some things,” Jax answered.
“Like human trafficking,” Zane said in a dark voice.
“Yes, alongside with contacting old contacts and establishing new,” Jax agreed.
“Fuck. Did he know about the end game?” Zane asked.
“No. From what I can tell, that information was only shared with the closest men. None of them are alive.”
“It will make it easier, at least,” Zane said. “Well, there is no point delaying any longer.”
“Let’s go then,” Jax said. Zane raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t think I would let you face the fucker without me? Fat chance,” Jax told him. Ava gave him a smile.
“Thank you,” she said and placed a hand on his arm. He smiled back at her and nodded. Ava felt relieved as that would mean Zane would have someone with him even when she left the room.
“After this we eat lunch, right?” she asked.
“Are you hungry?” Zane asked and looked worried.
“No, I was just wondering.”
“Yes, after this I think lunch would be perfect,” Jax agreed. Ava nodded. She wasn’t interested in the food. But lunch would give her a reason to get some alone time with Zane to make sure he was okay.
“You’re okay to do this?” Zane asked her.
“I’m fine,” she told him.
“She’s fine. she just wanted to make sure she could drag you off to your office once we are done,” Jax said. Ava smiled at him, she liked it when they tagged teamed Zane like this. Not even his stubbornness managed to get him through it. Zane shook his head, glared at Jax and kissed Ava.
“Then we do this,” he told them.
“I’m happy he got the order right, I don’t think I would have liked a kiss,” Jax said in a pretend whisper as he walked on Avas other side. Ava had to giggle and she even heard a silent chuckle from Zane. Their mood changed as they stood before the door at the end of the corridor.