Close Range Christmas by Nicole Helm (best free ebook reader .txt) 📕

said about...protecting the children. The kid is part of me, even if I don’t take any role as father. Maybe I’m not as noble or righteous as my brothers, but I... I had a bad father. The worst kind. I know what that’s like, and I know how terrible the world can be, and no child deserves that.”

“Our son would never...” She stopped herself from finishing the sentence when he glared at her.

He was trying to say...something. She might not understand where he was going, but it was important. He was actually showing her some of his feelings and emotions and she wanted to encourage that. Always.

“As long as Anth is dealt with, I want...” He blew out a long, tortuous breath. “I want to be part of it. Not passively like I was planning. But a father. A real father. The kind who protects his kid and gives him or her the best life he can.”

Sarah couldn’t remember a time she’d ever been fully speechless, but she couldn’t think of a word to say. Not one word. All she could do was stand there, tears welling in her eyes and emotion clogging her throat.

His scowl deepened. “You said I could. You said you wanted me to.”

Sarah nodded, trying to control her emotions that wanted to overflow. “I mean it,” she managed to croak.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and scowled. “Well, good then. Anth has to be taken care of first, but... Once he is... Well. Yeah.”

Sarah forced herself to take a deep breath. He wanted to be a father to their baby. It was what she’d hoped for, what she’d been certain eventually she’d be able to convince him to want as well. But this wasn’t... As much as she’d believed he would, she hadn’t ever considered how he’d tell her, or when, or what she’d want to say in response.

She should thank him. Or hug him. Or say it was good and take her nap, but Sarah had never been any good at not trying for the mile when an inch was given. “And what about us?”

Dev blinked then, looking a bit like he’d been stricken. “What do you mean?”

She knew full well he understood what she meant, but if he needed to hear it, so be it. “If you’re going to be a dad, what does that make us?”

He took a step away from her, hands so deep in his pockets it was a wonder they didn’t break through the fabric. “W-what we’ve always been. Friends.”

“I don’t think—”

Jamison appeared in the doorway, which had the words drying up in her mouth. Jamison was supposed to be in Bonesteel. Not standing in Dev’s bedroom doorway, grave and imposing.

“Dev. Sarah. Sorry to interrupt, but we need you in the kitchen.”

DEV WAS GLAD for the interruption, or so he thought until he walked into the kitchen and all his brothers were there and worse, so much worse, Liza—tear-stained and not doing anything to cover that up.

Liza who never cried. Who was so strong and tough and thumbed her nose at danger and threats.

“What is it?” Sarah asked.

Jamison sighed and gestured to the table. “This was nailed to my door this morning. At home.”

Dev leaned forward with Sarah. A piece of paper lay on the table. It wasn’t like the handwritten It’s Not Over note. This had been typed and had a lot more text.

“It looks like a court document,” Dev muttered.

“Not exactly.”

Dev skimmed the writing on the paper, then went back to the beginning and read it word for word, his body getting colder and heart getting heavier.

Jamison Wyatt

Crimes:

The subject has been the perpetrator of a wide variety of crimes since childhood. A history of lying, stealing, and the repeated, malicious torture and killing of his own kin.

Sentencing:

For these acts of violence, treason and destruction, I do hereby sentence Jamison Wyatt to death. This will be meted out at the judge’s discretion through the method J. Wyatt deemed acceptable through his own actions against his own brethren, for personal gain.

—AW

“I don’t understand,” Sarah whispered. “I don’t understand.”

“Kin and brethren. He means the Sons.” Dev shook his head because he didn’t understand either. “We didn’t know he existed. How could Anth have anything to do with the Sons?”

“He was there, though, when Ace tried to kill you,” Brady pointed out. “So at some point after we were out of the fold, he was brought in.”

“I was in the fold,” Liza said, her voice scratchy. “There were only a few years between when Jamison and I escaped and I went back to try and save my sister. He was never mentioned. I never once heard about some secret son of Ace’s. I know they didn’t trust me or anything, but I’m pretty sure I would have known about that.”

“I take it no one else got one of these,” Jamison said flatly.

Dev exchanged looks with his brothers. They all were just as bewildered as he was.

“It says one of six,” Sarah said, her voice still little more than a whisper.

“What?” Jamison demanded.

Sarah leaned forward and pointed at the right-hand corner of the paper. In smaller text, there was a 1/6.

“I just figured it was the number of pages printed out,” Liza said, frowning down at the paper.

“Six is no coincidence. He’s not singling you out,” Dev muttered. “He’s taking us one by one.”

Liza buried her face in her hands. “This is supposed to be over.”

She was right. It was supposed to be over. For all of them. He should have told this secret last year—if he had, maybe it would be over.

But he couldn’t rewind and fix things then—so he had to fix them now. He looked back at the paper. “Look. He’s given us this document. It’s some kind of warning. He could have just taken us all out, one by one, last year. He’s had all this time. Instead he’s doing some elaborate Ace-like plan. Which means we’ve got the time to shore up our protections. Maybe there