Chapter 63 Three weeks
Sage's POV
"He was going to call off your engagement to Diego. He said he'd found another way to keep you safe, a better way that didn't involve marrying you to Diego and Elena." Jaxon turned to look at me and his expression was haunted. "But I didn't stand to listen to him. I walked away."
"You think whoever sent these letters killed him?"
"I think dad figured out who was threatening him, who was using you against him and tormenting him for years. And when he tried to do something about it, when he tried to break free from whatever trap they set, they eliminated him before he could expose them."
I gripped the edge of the desk to steady myself as bile rose in my throat.
"Who would do this? Who hated him enough to torment him for three years then kill him when he tried to fight back?"
"I don't know, but the letters might give us clues." Jaxon gathered them all together carefully. "The handwriting, the paper, the way they're phrased, the specific threats they make. Someone with forensics training could analyze these and maybe trace them back to their source."
"Or someone in the club could recognize the writing."
"Maybe, but we'd have to show them to the brothers." Jaxon's expression was cautious. "And if the person who sent these is in the Steel Wolves, if it's someone Dad trusted—"
"We'd be tipping them off that we know."
Jaxon nodded grimly. "Exactly, and then we'd lose our only advantage."
The door opened and Ryder walked in with a concerned look on his face. When he saw my face he was across the room in three steps with concern written all over him before we could even ask him how he got into the house.
"What's wrong?"
I handed him one of the letters with hands that wouldn't stop trembling and watched his expression darken as he read the threatening words.
"Where did these come from?"
"I found them in Dad's belongings hidden in a box with other papers. There are more." I gestured at the pile on the desk. "Someone was sending them for years, using me against him, torturing him with the idea that I was his weakness and that they could hurt me to hurt him."
Ryder read through some of them and his jaw got tighter with each one, a muscle jumping in his cheek.
"This is fucking sick." He looked at Jaxon with barely controlled rage. "Do we know who sent them?"
"Not yet, but we're going to find out."
"And when we do?"
"Then we end them." Jaxon's voice was cold and flat. "Whoever killed our father is going to pay for it, along with everyone who helped, everyone who knew, everyone who stood by and let it happen."
Ryder put the letters down carefully like they might explode if handled wrong. "Have you shown these to anyone else?"
"Not yet. We were just discussing whether that's smart or if it would put a target on our backs."
"It's not smart, not until we know who to trust." Ryder looked at me with intensity. "Sage, did your dad ever mention anything about these? Did he ever say someone was threatening him or using you to manipulate him?"
"No, he never said anything about threats or letters or being in danger. But I wasn't here, I was in New York avoiding his calls half the time. Maybe if I'd picked up more, if I had paid any attention to what was happening in his life instead of being so wrapped up in my own—"
"Stop." Ryder pulled me into his arms and held me tight. "This isn't your fault and I won't let you take responsibility for some psycho's twisted game. The person who sent these is sick and they're the only one to blame for what they did."
"But the letters say—"
"I don't care what the letters say." Ryder's voice was fierce. "You had every right to leave and build your own life, to go to college and figure out who you were outside of the club. That doesn't make you responsible for some psycho targeting your father or for the choices he made under duress."
I wanted to believe him and wanted to let go of the guilt eating me alive from the inside out, but the words from those letters kept echoing in my head like a curse.
Jaxon's phone rang and he looked at the screen. "It's Elena."
"Don't answer it," I said quickly, not wanting to deal with her manipulations right now.
"I have to. Ignoring her will just make things worse and give her ammunition to use against us." He stepped into the hallway and answered with controlled politeness. "What do you want?"
His voice carried back into the office and I couldn't hear Elena's response but I could hear Jaxon's side of the conversation.
"No, we haven't made a final decision yet."
Pause.
"That's between Sage and Diego, not you or anyone else in the Blood Sisters."
Another pause that lasted longer this time and I watched Jaxon's back flex several times.
"Three weeks? That's not enough time for anyone to plan anything properly."
I suddenly became tensed up as dread filled my chest. Three weeks until what?
"Fine. I'll tell her, but Elena, if Diego keeps pushing like this, if he keeps trying to force her hand, it won't be pretty."
Jaxon hung up and came back into the office with his face grim.
"Diego's decided to be generous." The word dripped with sarcasm. "He's giving you three weeks to prepare for the wedding."
"Three weeks?" I repeated in disbelief. "That's not generous, that's barely enough time to—"
"To what? Plan a wedding you don't want to a man who threatened to torture people in front of you?" Jaxon's voice was bitter.
Ryder's arms tightened around me protectively. "She's not marrying him."
"And who are you to decide?" Jaxon's expression was dark. "I tolerate you because of the brotherhood we shared growing up, but you have no right in this matter."
I sensed a fight coming and I told Ryder to back down.
I looked at the letters scattered across Dad's desk, and realized I had three weeks to marry Diego or watch everyone I loved suffer for my defiance.
It wasn't enough time, not even close.