Fourteen
1674 Words
Waking up the next morning, he was greeted by an elderly maid crying next to his bedside. Confused, he tapped her arm until she looked up. Her deep brown eyes stared back at him, and he felt that she was familiar.
“It’s so good to have you home again. We all missed you dearly, Master Callum,” the woman sobbed. “Master Ross sent me to get you out of bed, but I couldn’t help breaking down when I saw you. My God, you look so much like your darling mother.”
Taking a book from the bag on her shoulder, she handed it to him. “Here, sweetheart. It’s your baby book, so that you can remember everything I saved this for you.”
Blinking, Callum searched his memories for her until he finally remembered who she was. He took the leather-bound baby book from her hands, opening it to the first page as her name finally came to him. “Miss Vanessa?”
“Yes, baby, it’s me. I took care of you after your dear mother passed on while you were living with the Victors.” She explained with a happy smile on her face.
His face darkened, “Tell me something, Miss Vanessa. Is my grandfather dead?”
Vanessa’s smirk said it all as she nodded. “Your cousin Erik was always hurting because of that bastard, so your Daddy let Erik pull the trigger that ended Garwin’s life. That b***h, Martha, and Garwin’s sister, Jewel, were handed over to your father without an argument out of Lady Tasha. He ended up selling them to the worst bikers in the province.”
“Good riddance,” he muttered as he threw off the covers of his king-sized bed. Getting up, he made his way to the shower as Vanessa started tidying the room.
Taking a shower to wake himself completely up, he wondered what Ambrosia was doing at that moment. Was she happy or hurting as much as he was? Did she go back to school like he did? Was she still doing online courses to make up for the credits she needed to get through her MD-PhD bookwork like she wanted?
“Master Callum, I’ve set out the clothes you require for training. I’ll be on my way, now,” Vanessa called out as she cracked open the door to the ensuite bathroom.
He didn’t reply as he turned off the water and grabbed a towel off the rack. Listening to the bedroom door closing behind her, he smiled. He’d gone from only having Ambrosia around to having an army of people willing to kill and die for him on a moments notice. Wrapping the towel around his hips, he walked back into the bedroom, blinking at the man sitting on the bed.
“I thought you were staying behind?” He asked with a smirk.
Erik Drake raised his eyes to the teen, “I was, but your Aunt Niki wanted to see you, so we dropped up for a family reunion. It’s nice to see you back on your feet, Kid.”
“Why do you look someone caught you with your pants down?” Callum asked, dropping the towel to get dressed.
Shrugging, Erik breathed a laugh. The boy obviously took after his father for modesty, meaning he had none to speak of as long as there was no women in the room. “I still feel guilty for losing you that day.”
“Yeesh, do you or Ross ever lay off the pity party trips? I mean, you were one person against I don’t know how many, and you fought like the freaking Devil to keep me safe until they got you down for the count. I never blamed you, Erik. Why would I?” Callum replied as he pulled his T-shirt over his head.
“Holy s**t, you’re more like your mother than we realized,” Erik laughed. “She would rip my ass a new hole, too. Be gentle with her name around Rossy, though. He was really close to Emily.”
Hearing the comparison tore through Callum’s defenses, and he felt the burn of tears. “What about Dad? Did he ever move on?”
Erik shook his head slowly. “Emily is the Queen of the Icelandic Mafia, and that’s never changed in the fifteen years she’s been gone. Move on? Heh. Dream on, Kid. You were the only thing that held your father together when he lost his mind back then. Do you remember her? Did you remember you had a sister?”
“I what?”
“So, you did forget a few things.” Paling, Erik turned to the door where Hans was standing. Shaking his head, Hans motioned for him to calm down. “Callum, your mother was expecting a baby girl when she died. Do you remember the statue I had made for her?”
Callum nodded, “Barely, but yeah. Wait… wasn’t there a baby in the arms of the angel?”
“Yes,” Hans replied. “I had it commissioned to commemorate your mother and sister. The one responsible is dead now. Tortured to death by the same bikers that did in the bitches who wanted you gone. I knew I had to wait a while before I could remind you because of how easily you would have damaged what already healed inside you. I’ll take you to the Donna’s Gardens after training.”
Nodding, the teen smiled sadly at his father. “You tried, Dad. That’s all that matters. I ain’t even mad.”
Hans breathed a laugh, happy that his boy was home and that his mentality was still intact after the hell he lived through. His phone rang, and he somehow knew it was Ross calling. Normally, the man would never call for something he could damn-well take care of on his own. “Yes? Why? Really? Let me confirm that with my son before we beat his ass for not listening. Callum, did you tell David to meet you for training, and that you wanted him on your personal team?”
Staring blankly at his father, Callum tilted his head to the side and smirked. “So what if I did? You’re going to tell me I can’t pick my team now?”
Knowing that his son had him cornered, Hans laughed. Turning back to the call, he said, “Ross, he’s under Callum’s rule now. He f***s up and it’s game over, but only if my brat don’t get in the way. Yeah, no. Get that German kid I snagged from Everett Holdings, Tracy Roberts, and that young black man that just joined – Thomas Slade, I believe. Yes, those three are well suited to Callum’s needs.”
Glaring at his son, Hans slowly shook his head. “You should have run it past me before you picked David as your right hand.”
“Why?” Callum asked, shoving his sneakers on and lacing them up. “Is it because he screwed up? He wouldn’t have known f**k all, because my hair isn’t as light as it was when I was a kid and my CPS file wasn’t right, either. He showed me the pics he took, Dad. He tried, so please lay off until he really f***s up. At that point, I’ll hand him over to you with a giant-ass red bow.”
Glancing between them, Erik started laughing. “Hans, give up while you can. It’s like arguing with Emma the way he words shit.”
“I know, asshole. Your wife wants to take the kids for ice cream, so get gone,” Hans replied as he rolled his eyes.
“Ice cream?” Callum blinked, excitement dancing in his brown orbs. He hadn’t been out for the sweet treat with his family in a very long time, and the idea appealed to him. Not that “Can I go, too?”
Erik nodded, “I’ll ask Niki to hold off until after you and Robbie finish training. Hans?”
“Go, but I want hourly updates and pictures, understand?” The Kingpin snapped as he walked away from the door with Erik close on his heels.
Groaning, Callum fell to his bed. Suddenly frustrated, he stomped out of the room and to the elevator. Punching in the code his father made him memorize, he hit the button for the basement. Closing his eyes when he got to the hall, he recalled which of the three doors he was faced with led to the training grounds. The phone in his pocket buzzed, and he pulled it out. Answering the call, he was surprised that it was David. “What’s up?”
“You’re on the way, right?”
“Yeah,” he breathed. “Um…”
“Blue door is for the cool-down room. Red is for the torture room, and the one in between them will get you to the Underground,” David explained quietly.
Callum shook his head, “It’s going to take some getting used to before I can get back into it all, but I appreciate all of your help. Ross gave you a hard time, huh?”
David laughed, “Yeah. Thanks for having my back.”
“You got mine, right?”
Cackling with quiet laughter, David asked, “You were dropped on your head at some point, weren’t you?”
Laughing at the childish antics the man was getting on with, Callum let the attitude slide. He wanted his team to be like his father’s childhood friends: bluntly brazen and fierce. “Okay, then as long as you’re loyal to me, I got you, man.”
“See you soon, Sir.”
“Ross nearby?”
“Yup.”
“He ain’t gonna like me in a minute. My team calls me by name. I need the normalcy, so don’t make me beg,” Callum said before hanging up and walking through the middle door.
- Writer
