Page 137 of Jake's Angel

“What?”

“You’re starting to sound like one of us now and I, for one, love it. You’re finally home, Aves.” I smile back because she’s right. I am home. I’ve found the place where I belong. The piece I was missing all this time.

My family.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

JAKE

I waketo someone banging on the door.

“Angel? Wake up, baby. Sounds like we have company.” Reaching over and finding the other side of the bed empty and cold has me up and rushing for the door. I’m pulling my jeans on when I get to the door and get it open. On the other side is a frantic Sadie.

“What happened?”

Sadie is sobbing so much she can’t speak.I grab her by the arm and pull her into my room. I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial Gabe. He answers on the first ring.

“You’ll want to get down here. Now!” I hang up the phone and walk her to the couch when I finally get a good look at her disheveled state.

Sadie is a sobbing mess, wearing Hawk’s T-shirt and a pair of butt-cut boy shorts. She crashes into my body, holding on for dear life as she continues to cry.

“What the hell happened?” I stalk to the mini fridge with her clinging to me like a fucking spider monkey and grab her a waterbottle. That’s when I see it. The note in Avery’s handwriting laying on the table.

Jake,

I’m sorry. I’m not running from you or what we have, but please understand, I have to know the truth about my mother.

Yours Always,

Avery

Mine always.

I snatch the note from the counter, pushing Sadie off me.

“I don’t understand. She said she wouldn’t run from me again. What the hell changed?” I wave the note in Sadie’s face. “What does this mean, Sadie?” Sadie’s sobs get worse, and another banging knock comes at the door.

I answer it to find Hawk, Declan, and a very pissed off Gabe, who all come stalking into the room.

“Show me.” Hawk shoves his laptop in her lap, then takes a seat beside her on the couch. His head is in his hands, and it’s then I notice he’s still wearing his clothes from yesterday minus his shirt, which Sadie now has on, and a pair of half-opened handcuffs are dangling from his wrist. Any other time I would be all over their asses about this, but I can’t see past the rage and betrayal I’m feeling right now.

Sadie slides forward, looking sheepishly up at him. She takes the laptop and begins typing. Seconds later, she hands it back to him. There’s a red blinking light moving on a map. “I gave her a charm bracelet,” she says, lifting her eyes to look at Hawk, who hasn’t stopped glaring at her yet. “I wanted to have a way to find her in case she needed me to come get her. She doesn’t know it’s a tracker.”

“My men will help you with whatever you need,” Vincenzo says, walking through the door, not flinching at the three guns now trained on him. Matteo comes striding in right behind him, his own gun aimed at Gabe.

“How did you know?” Gabe asks. My rage is vibrating my body, and I am trying like hell not to let it loose on Sadie because Iknowshe did this.

“My security team has been trying to figure out who the hooded person was they saw lurking in the stairwells. When the cleaning staff notified them someone had exited through the kitchen, they ran the keycard and found it was Nora’s. We put two and two together.” He raises one eyebrow at Sadie, who has finally stopped sobbing. She drops her eyes to the floor.

“You really should talk to your guys about upgrading. I know someone who can help you,” she states flatly. All eyes turn to her and glare. Vincenzo smirks and nods.

“Noted.”

Gabe is eerily restrained. I watch as he paces the floor, deeply taking in each breath, slow and steady. His shoulders are tense, and his jaw clenched, as he opens and closes each fist, but he doesn’t say anything, and he doesn’t explode.It’s the calm before the storm.

Declan is on the phone with Pop asking if Wyatt can get into the street cameras. Caleb and Ethan have come down and joined us, with Jameson right behind.

Apparently, he’s reached his limit of calm, because Gabe turns and lets loose on Sadie. “What the fuck were you thinking sending her to Thomas? That lowlife son of a bitchkilled my wife.And you sent my daughter to be slaughtered.”

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