Page 48 of My Turn

“Don’t forget our coffee date on Sunday,” he noted, sounding completely casual.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Chapter 19

Jayce

There was movement in the front window, but I couldn’t see anything substantial. A thin, sheer curtain covered the glass, which gave me only glimpses of silhouettes inside. A smaller one moved quickly through the room, followed by a larger one.

From my place across the street, I had a good view of the house. It was simple and not too big, but in pretty good shape. The neighborhood was older; it was one of those places where a lot of the people had lived for decades. Since I got here a couple of hours ago, I’d seen a lot of older couples. It seemed safe for the most part.

It was further out from the area I lived by about thirty miles. I was a little shocked when I found out it was this close, though. Jake’s kid had lived an hour from him and he wasn’t involved. That was what they’d agreed on but when Hailey died, that changed.

I’d never thought to thoroughly go through his things until after I spoke with the attorney. Since he wouldn’t give me information, I had to find it myself. My backup plan was to try sneaking in to steal a glimpse at his files, but that was risky. I didn’t want to end up in jail for breaking and entering because ofthis. It wasn’t worth it. Thankfully, my brother’s emails offered helpful insight.

After she died, a lot happened. I found a series of texts between Jake and an unlabeled contact. After reading through them, I could safely assume it was Hailey’s husband. At first, he was polite. He wanted Jake to continue paying child support, which he agreed to. When he found out that his late wife hadn’t left him anything in her will, his tone quickly shifted.

Some sleuthing revealed that he and Hailey were legally separated for almost a year before she died. They were in the process of getting a divorce. There was a custody battle, but it was unlikely that he was on the winning side of that. He told Jake that they’d agreed to a fifty-fifty split, but my brother had been in contact with Hailey and knew that wasn’t true. She didn’t want him involved at all and she’d never actually put him on the birth certificate.

At a certain point, Jake blew up and decided he was going to fight for custody of his daughter. There were emails between him and a family law attorney that discussed all of the details. He had control of Hailey’s house, her assets, and every other physical possession she owned. The only thing he didn’t have was Alicia and, apparently, he had a change of heart about the whole thing. He didn’t want her to remain with her stepdad. He paid a ten-thousand-dollar retainer to secure a good lawyer and he was ready to fight tooth and nail.

From what I could tell, he had a good chance, at least according to the attorney. Worst case scenario, he believed that he would get partial custody. Best case scenario, he’d be awarded full custody. There were issues raised by Hailey in the divorce documents, which tipped the scales in Jake’s favor, even though he hadn’t been involved in Alicia’s life. As long as he was her biological father, the court would at least hear him out.

That was where I’d fucked up, apparently. Jake was supposed to establish paternity since he wasn’t on the birth certificate. He never got the chance to do the DNA test, though. With his death, the custody battle ended and things might have settled completely if he hadn’t passed everything on to Alana and Alicia, leaving her stepdad high and dry once again.

Staring at the house, I felt furious. This man wanted that money. Maybe it was for noble purposes so that he could take care of the kid, but I didn’t believe that for a second. My parents said that he had financial issues. That didn’t mean he was a bad person but combined with Hailey wanting him out of the picture and my brother finally stepping up to be a father- full time, at that- I knew he was a bastard.

Let’s not forget that he was trying to weasel his way into the life of the one who could hold control of those assets.

Again, I was fucking furious. When I’d seen Alana having lunch in his classroom, I nearly punched him again. Worse, I wanted to fucking kill him. The way he’d looked at me when I wrapped my arm around her gave me only a hint of the joy I’d feel if I snapped his neck. Maybe I’d cut off his dick. How many layers of skin could I slice away before he passed out or threw up from the horror of it? I’d love to find out.

I didn’t want Alana to know. Not yet, at least. I could see how stressed she was about the entire situation. A certain amount of it had to do with Erebus as well but soon enough, he would become her light instead of a dark entity in her mind. The shadows would comfort her and give her the escape she craved.

Once all of the lights had been off for a couple of hours, I got out of the car. I put my mask on, keeping the switch off so that it was dark, and quickly glanced around to make sure nobody was watching. Reaching over the side gate, I undid the latch and swung it inward. They had a set of French doors at the back of the house, which weren’t too difficult to unlock.

Closing the door lightly behind me, I took in the space. It was compact with a square kitchen and a small island. There was a dining nook off to the side and past that was the living room. A short hallway had three doors, one of which I assumed was a bathroom.

There were two options. Either this place had one bathroom, which was probably connected to both the hall and the master or Mike’s bedroom had its own bathroom, in which case Alicia’s room should be on the side with two doors to accommodate for the smaller space. It was a gamble and my guess was incorrect.

When I cracked the door, I saw a large bed; definitely not one for a kid unless she was the most spoiled princess in existence. The person sleeping there was tall, so that wasn’t the case. I stared at him for a few minutes, letting my rage dance around at the forefront of my mind. It’d be so easy to kill him in his sleep, but I wasn’t about to get that kid put into foster care. Even if my parents could petition for her to be placed with them, the process wouldn’t be smooth and she still might have to live with some shitty people at first.

There was a way this thing needed to go down. I didn’t have to kill Mike unless he forced my hand. I was too close to this one, easily connected.

I closed the door and turned around. Inside the other room, there was a smaller bed. Target acquired.

After I stepped inside, I left the door cracked. I stood at the opposite end of the room and stared at the girl. She was splayed on her stomach with her face angled in this direction. Her mouth was slightly open and she was snoring.

I hadn’t expected to really give a shit but fuck, she looked like him. Like us, I guess. Her nose was the same shape and she had our naturally tanned skin, whereas Hailey was pale as fuck.

Dropping into a crouch, I covered my mouth with a hand. God damnit, Jake. Ihatedwhat he’d done. It made me feelmurderous when I found out he’d cheated on Alana. It was over ten years ago, but that didn’t matter. As far as I was concerned, it could’ve been yesterday.

Yet, right now, I found myself equally angry that he’d just… ignored it. Covered it up. Kept my niece a fucking secret. We all would have been angry. Maybe Alana would have left him. But this pissed me off. Jake went back and forth about wanting kids and Alana wasn’t all that interested, but I knew that he would have been a good father. Except he wasn’t because he chose not to be a father at all.

I didn’t care that Mike was her stepfather and the only parental figure she had. She should have a place in her family’s lives. If it came down to it, my parents would readily adopt Alicia. I’d be the dope uncle she could confide in and call when she got drunk at sixteen. Alana would tell her all about how fucked up teenage boys are and relay stories about all of our stupid adventures back in the day. There would be a certain amount of pain from knowing where Alicia came from but at a certain point, that would pass.

Yeah, fuck this English teacher and his sneaky plan to get into Alana’s pants. I’d make sure she stayed away from him and if that didn’t work, I would have a conversation with him myself.

Suddenly, Alicia’s eyes opened. I held my breath, hoping she would simply go back to sleep. I was wearing all black and if she didn’t focus too much, she shouldn’t be able to make me out in the darkness. She rubbed her eyes and released a heavy breath. It looked like she was about to close them, but then she sat up, locking eyes with me.