Chapter 149 149

Chapter 149 149
ROBYN

“Isn’t he still on sick leave?” I muttered.
Spade put the speaker on and placed the phone on the counter with his fists turned white in anger. 
“Yes, honey. He is,” Lex replied.
Spade went on in a full accusatory tone. “Did you give him money?” 
“He said he would attend the meeting and was strong enough to drive and walk. I believed him,” Lex said calmly.
“Fuck. I know this would happen.” He breathed through his nose, his jaw clenching. “Then he might just walk to a liquor store instead.”
“I did not give him money, son, and before you judge him, where would he go? The car is still parked down the building. Nothing’s missing and disturbed in his apartment.” Lex explained. Frustration was thick in his voice.
Spade groaned, scratching his beard. “I told you, Dad. You can’t trust him. He may look like he has changed, but he didn’t. It was all for a show to get what he wanted. Now you’re worried about the man who doesn’t want your help. Let him go. You’re wasting your time.”
“You’re not listening, son.”
He drew a deep breath. “I am listening. I’m worried about you for caring so much for someone who’d rather waste his life than change. If you wanna find him, maybe you should start looking for drug dealers, or maybe he was lying in his own vomit in the alley as we speak, because he can’t walk back home in a stupor. I know I can’t stop you from helping people. So, maybe next time you find him, hire a companion care and make sure he follows him everywhere.”
I stared at him. “What if he didn’t lapse?”
“What are you talking about?” His eyes narrowed at me as if I was telling him he was wrong. “Then where is he? He has no one to go to.”
“I don’t know. I can’t shake the feeling that something happened to him.” I shrugged.
“What do you mean, Robyn?” Lex asked urgently.
“You mean he’s abducted? Who the fuck would abduct an alcoholic?”
“He’s a recovered alcoholic,” I pointed out. “These people— The Abraham. You guys know that they’ve been collecting your secrets, anything they can use to blackmail you. What if Sean is kidnapped?”
“Moses and I have already sent a message to the other party for a meeting. We haven’t heard back from their courier. But why would they kidnap Sean?”
“I don’t know, Lex. Or maybe he just lapsed.” I shrugged since I couldn’t back up my opinion/
“Jesus,” Spade grunted. Sighing, he said, “Dad, get some rest. Let me handle this. I’ll go check his apartment in the morning. If he’s still not there, I’ll talk to Max for help. Maybe he went to the cemetery and fell asleep. He doesn’t have relatives or friends to visit, and honestly, I don’t know him anymore. So I have no clue where to look for him.”
“Okay, son.” Lex yawned. “You two should rest. I’ll call the detective in the morning if he has bad news and his probation officer.” I knew what it meant.
“The cops arrested two suspects who stabbed him, but still one is on the loose, right?” I stole a glance at Spade. I saw a sliver of dread flash in his eyes. 
What he had for Sean wasn’t hate. Or maybe he did hate him for so long, but he also cared. Maybe he longed for a father’s care, a role model, a father figure that Sean couldn’t provide. When he met Lex, those missing pieces fell into place like a jigsaw puzzle.
“Yeah.”
The call ended, but Spade wasn’t slowing down. The frown between his eyebrows deepened in concentration as he began typing. “You can go to bed, princess. This may take a while.”
“I’m not feeling like going to bed right now. I’ll wait for you.” I sat on the stool. “Sorry that it didn’t go as you and Lex planned.”
He snorted. “I know it wouldn’t last. It just took a while before he snapped.”
“What if you’re wrong? What if something went wrong?” I had this intuition that Sean didn’t fall off the wagon. I felt it in my gut.
“Like what?”
“Maybe his old buddies found him, or the last guy who stabbed him found out he’s still alive and tracked him down.”
He paused for a moment before continuing to type. 
“What if—”
“Not my problem, Robyn,” he said dryly as he groaned and exhaled loudly. 
“I don’t buy it.”
Glaring, he shook his head. His jaw ticked as he put his phone down. “Lex did everything he could. Sean is the one who doesn’t need our help.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Then what is it, Robyn?” he asked harshly.
“You can’t be pissed at me for voicing my concern.”
He took a deep breath and smiled. “Sorry, baby. I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at Lex for having so much faith in a lost cause.”
“Babe, I don’t think he would go back to his old life. When I saw him in bed, that wasn’t the man who could beat a kid. I think he was really trying hard to put his life back together. He made an effort to tell you the truth that almost cost him his life. What I saw in that hospital bed and in the apartment upon seeing us was a man who wanted to live and start a new life. He was grateful. I understand if you couldn’t see it. You’re hurt and traumatized. But Lex and I can.”
His phone rang again. So I let him do whatever he wanted, or he would just twist and turn in bed and have a nightmare after. He answered it and put on the speaker.
“It’s fucking three in the morning, asshole.” Max’s groggy voice blasted through the speaker. “Don’t you sleep?”
“Sean is missing,” he greeted Max with a straight-to-the-point statement.
“How is it your business? Why do you even care?” I wasn’t surprised Max knew about Sean’s release because he knew a lot about Spade’s life than I did.
“I don’t, but Lex does.”
“You and your dad caring for lost causes is mind-boggling. Next time, tell your dad to buy all the zoos and release all the animals to their natural habitat. So what do you want me to do?” I could see him shaking his head in irritation and amusement.
“Can you drop by his apartment?”
He sighed loudly through the mouthpiece. “Horse shit. Let him crawl to his grave.”
“Max—”
“Fuck you. I need a raise.”
“You don’t take my money, asshole. Why do you suddenly complain?”
Max laughed. “I’ll take it this time. There’s a cabin for sale. I think it’s a good place to go off the grid on weekends, without you breathing down my neck.”
“I don’t do that.” Spade scoffed. “Breathed down your neck, dickhead.”
“Really?” Max snorted. “So everyone around Osmium suddenly sees me and cares about me?”
Spade cursed under his breath. 
“I know something’s going on, brother, but I’ll stay out of your way. Just be careful, okay?”
“I am being careful. Check the deeds, or better, if you send me the link.”
“And you will buy for me the same thing you did for my house. No fucking way. I’ll buy it without your money.”
“Don’t be a dick. I have plenty. If you just take the money I offered you and invest it in something profitable, we don’t have to talk about it right now.”
I smiled. I’d be surprised if Spade didn’t offer his help to Max.
“Just shut up.”
Spade smiled. “Or you’re buying a cabin to take your lady friend over there. I wanna meet her.”
“I said shut up. I’ll go check on that asshole in the morning. Now let me get some sleep.”
“Good night, brother.”
“Night, Max.”
“Oh, hey, Rob. Good night.”
I finally yawned. “Let’s go to bed, Spade. Now.”
As we walked in the hallway, the lights flickered. We stilled and stared at each other. 
“Is that normal?” My hands tightened around his grip as a chill ran through me.
“I think so.” He looked around warily. He frowned as he checked his phone. “It’s weird my phone doesn’t have service.”
It should not bother me, but knowing what we were up against, I couldn’t help but think that maybe threats were looming around us. 
My heart hammered in my chest as instinct screamed at me to run. A shadow figure moved fast from the window that caught my eye.
“What is it?” he asked, gaze pinned at his phone screen.
“Not sure.” I blinked. It was probably nothing. I was just scared, and my vision was playing tricks with me. “It‘s nothing.” 
I dragged him towards the bedroom and inhaled deeply as he pushed the door. I instantly felt Spade’s body go rigid and jolted in terror, and his death grip tightened around my hand to almost cracking my bones.
I knew something just went horribly wrong.
Before I could react and before I could scream, I sucked in air as something cold and sharp stabbed me in the neck.