CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jamie was distancing himself from Phoebe and she hated it. She knew something was going on but he wasn't going to tell her about it. Neither would Kieran nor Hailey. It was unlike him to leave the house before she woke up and get back when she has gone to sleep.
If it had happened in the past, she would have been quick to say that he was cheating but five years down the line with an engagement ring on her finger, a wedding that is been planned, and all of their past struggles and experiences, she just knew that it wasn't that. It was much bigger.
Her father had not been seen or heard from since he disappeared two years ago. Maybe that was what bothered him. Her mother was most enthusiastic about the wedding, it was almost as if she was the one getting married. It had made it to the news that she was getting married to the one and only Jamie Watson and the media had been agog with the news. And yet, her father hadn't even reached out to her.
Was he still angry about what happened all those years ago?
Phoebe shook her head and went to meet her mother at the car, they had last-minute purchases to make. She had also noticed that her mother wasn't even bothered about the sudden disappearance of her husband which was all the proof she needed that there was more to this than meets the eye.
Phoebe took a deep breath and let it out. She wasn't going to bother herself about these things' days to her wedding. One of the most important days of her life.
***
Jamie on the other hand was restless. There had been several sightings of Phoebe's father in the country, too close to home. He knew that he hadn't contacted Phoebe and that was not a very good sign. If he meant well, he would have contacted his daughter. He had also been seen with some of Jamie's rivals.
He had Kieran investigating him and his whereabouts and report to him on every one of his actions. Lately, he had been in his city but now he can't touch him because he wouldn't want to hurt Phoebe. She had made it clear to him that though he had broken her trust by insisting that she married Michael, he was still her father and she wanted him very much alive. But trouble was brewing…he could feel it. He was broken out of his thoughts by the ringing of his phone. He grumbled and picked it up, placing the offending device to his ear.
"Boss, I have news…"
"What is it?"
"Mr. Whitman is at his family house right now."
"What?!"
"Yes sir. He arrived there some two minutes ago, and he doesn't look like he is leaving anytime soon."
"You make sure he doesn't leave. I am on my way right now."
Jamie rushed out of the house, grateful that Phoebe had gone out with her mother to see her fiancé running out of the house like a mad man. He jumped into the car and raced to face his soon-to-be father-in-law. When he got there, he saw Kieran leaning against his car, parked some blocks down, he pulled over behind him and got out. Kieran stood up straight as his friend and boss approached him.
Jamie didn't fail to notice the bags under Kieran's eyes and immediately felt guilty for overworking him and keeping him away from Hailey. Kieran wasn't just his underboss, he was a friend too, he was more like family. He made a mental note that once he and Phoebe were back from their honeymoon, he was sending him and Hailey on an all-expense-paid vacation. They deserved it.
"Kieran, what is the situation like?"
"He is still in there; he hasn't made any move to leave. Even if he tried, I have men stationed all around. They would restrain him if it became necessary." Jamie nodded and began to walk towards the house but Kieran held him by the elbow and stood in front of him. Kieran rubbed his chin before dropping his hands to his sides.
"You don't need to be the one to do this, Jamie. It's just five days to your big day, you could let me handle things here just in case…"
Kieran didn't complete the sentence but Jamie already knew what he was going to say. Just in case the need arises and Phoebe's father has to die, so the blame wouldn't be on him. But Jamie wanted to do this, he just felt like this was something that was supposed to be done by him and him alone.
"It's okay, Kieran. I got this." Kieran stiffly nodded and moved out of the way. Jamie took a few steps forward but stopped and turned around.
"And Kieran?"
"Yes."
"Thank you. I mean it." Jamie turned and walked away, thereby missing the bright smile that spread across Kieran's thin lips.
Jamie pulled out his gun from the back of his trousers when he opened the door and entered the house as quietly as he could. Cautious of every shadow and every movement. He found his target sitting at the head of his dining nursing a glass with his left hand. Jamie didn't need anyone telling him that the sly old man was holding a gun in his right hand hidden under the table.
That knowledge didn't sit well with Jamie at all. It meant this discussion wasn't going to go well at all. It was going to be a one-man-standing kind of thing.
"Ah, I see you finally found me."
"You're hard and to find."
"Or maybe you're just losing your touch."
"Oh, I haven't lost my touch, just ask Phoebe, she'll tell you just how my touch feels."
It took the old man a few seconds to understand what Jamie said and when he did, he went red in the face with anger. He quickly drained his glass and refilled it, drinking half of it before he finally calmed down.
"About Phoebe, I heard she's marrying you."
"You heard right, and that brings me to what I'm doing here. I'm sure you're wondering." Jamie moved to the dining to sit, he passed behind Johnny and confirmed that he indeed had a gun that was poorly held and sat down on his left side.
"Oh? What did you want to talk about? Or do you want to ask for my blessing because let me save you time now? You will never get it!"
"I have the blessing of the only person I need. Phoebe. And the woman who carried her in her womb for nine months and gave birth to her."
"Then what the fuck are you and your men doing here?"
"We are here to find out what exactly your plan is. What you're doing back in the states, why you've been meeting the kind of people you've been meeting. And you might want to start answering my questions right now."
Johnny Whitman looked at Jamie and began laughing. That baffled Jamie and didn't sit well with him, he knew that whatever was going to follow that kind of laughter was not good.
"Else what, boy?"
"Well, you won't be alive much longer."
"Oh?"
"Yes."
"Then how are you going to explain to my precious daughter that her father is dead. No less by your hands?"
Jamie kept silent. That was the one question he didn't have an answer to, and he was avoiding any situation where he would have to kill the man. He knew that besides everything that has happened, they still loved each other. Phoebe and her father.
"I'm sure you'll think of something."
"Of course, you will. You aren't Jamie Watson for nothing. But I know for a fact that you cannot lie to Phoebe. I've been watching you all these years." That caught Jamie's attention.
"You've been watching us, huh?" Johnny Whitman nodded his head slowly, holding Jamie's gaze.
"I have. I might not have been in the country but my minions have."
"I will need to fix that." Johnny hummed in agreement and continued sipping his drink.
"What I don't understand is if you love your daughter so much, why would you have let her marry that Michael boy?"
"What is wrong with Michael?"
"He has a history of mistreating women. And murder."
"Don't we all?"
"I might be a mobster but I have never raised my hand against a woman. Well…except in pleasure."
"Good for Phoebe, then. but even if he did hit her, that doesn't mean he doesn't love her."
"Oh, like Phoebe's mother?"
Jamie watched Johnny's face ashen and he detected some softness in his eyes. He did love his wife, then why in heaven's name did he have to hit her so?
"Where…where is she now? Is she doing okay?"
"Yes, she's with me. Has been with me since that incident, and she's planning our wedding with Phoebe." The old man just nodded his head and began downing his drink like it was water, Jamie waited till he had recovered from whatever shock that he had gotten before dropping the next bomb.
"I will let you come to our wedding, get back together with your wife, and even protect you if you will just answer all my questions and truthfully too."
All too soon, the sober and sorrowful father and loving husband disappeared, replaced by the maniac that Jamie has always known.
'Here we go…"
"YOU will protect me? YOU will let me get back together with my wife? Just who do you think you are?!"
"You listen to me, egotistical prick. You do not have much of a choice. The second I leave here; my men are coming in to take you away. You do not have a choice, old man."
"Oh?"
Johnny Whitman stood from his seat with his gun in his hand and so did Jamie. He knew it was going to come to this, he just wished he had been able to see reason with Johnny. He wanted him in Phoebe's life and yet, he might just be the one to escort him out of it.
"I do have a choice, by the time my men descend on your city, you would be the one begging me to let you live! Or maybe I could even spare them the trouble of having to deal with you…"
Johnny raised his gun but Jamie saw it coming and moved faster, he raised his hand and fired two shots. One went into the arm that held Johnny's gun and the other hit him in the chest. He fell back down into his chair as blood began seeping out from his mouth.
Jamie sat down and watched life slowly leave the old man. He wondered how Phoebe would react to the news, and most importantly how she would react when she hears that he was the one who did the honors.
She didn't need to know that he was the one who killed Johnny Whitman. His men were fiercely loyal to him, they wouldn't breathe a word if he told them not to, but he didn't want to begin his marriage with such secrets. He didn't want to end up like his parents.
They had kept one too many secrets from each other, it began to eat at their marriage, the constant arguments and fights, he was raised by his grandparents when the heat became too much for a child. Granddad had been the one to teach him all he knew about the business. And until they were killed, they were never happy, even though their love was there for all to see.
"You better take care of my princess, boy." Johnny's voice was so low, if there hadn't been pin-drop silence, Jamie would have missed what he said.
"I will love and cherish her with my life. You can count on that."
Johnny Whitman lifted his head and rested it on the chair, a ghost of a smile on his lips, the only indication that he approved. And Jamie watched as his eyes became ice cold, watched as life finally deserted the love of his life's father.
And it was his fault.