Undercover: Book 4 — Chapter 19

Caiden’s Point of View

I stood there looking at the man in front of me carefully. He was in the waiting room the whole time, his dark eyes trying to secretly look at us. His hands would have continued to shake if he didn’t shove them into his white coat that had his name perfectly printed in blue lettering above the pocket.

“I was wondering when you were going to say something,” I said, leaning against the wall. The hallway was almost empty besides the occasional nurse or doctor passing through. Not even one person questioned our presence as he pulled me into a room.

“Shut the fuck up,” he hissed, making my eyes narrow. This guy really wanted to get his ass kicked.

“I was wondering in the waiting room if you were the one that hit my girlfriend and the other guy with her. But since you’re in perfect condition, meaning you didn’t hit them, I’ll consider not fucking you up after our talk,” I responded.

He pushed me against a wall, his right hand around my throat.

Such a doctorly thing to do.

“Caiden, let’s not forget you are the one wanted by not one, but two gangs. They all want you dead, and it would only take three seconds tops to stab you in the heart now,” the man said.

A menacing smirk appeared on my face. This guy was bold, too bold.

“Do me a favor and let’s not throw around threats you couldn’t possibly ever accomplish,” I said.

He tightened his grip on my throat, cutting off most of my air supply, but I still didn’t move.

“If you want to talk, then let’s talk instead of fucking around,” I spat before grabbing his left arm and twisting it, causing him to automatically let go of my throat. I pushed the fucking idiot away before leaning against the wall again, my arms crossed over my chest. I was positioned in a way that showed I was cocky and I had every right to be. This guy was nothing to me.

“Caiden, you can continue to run from me and you can be pissed that I’ve helped keep track of you all these years, but I told you not to leave the gang. Leon warned you, Jesse warned you, I warned you. Everyone warned you.” He tried to reason with me, but I scoffed.

“You’re the one that got me into all that shit. You had me dealing, and you were the one getting me drunk every night. Instead of helping me out of a dark situation, you just sat there and handed me a new bottle of whiskey every night,” I said, dropping off my arms and not removing my narrowed eyes from him.

“If you just come back, Jesse will stop trying to kill you and Claire will be safe.”

“He wants to fuck her and have some nice eye candy hanging off his arm. He won’t stop going after my girlfriend either way.”

He only lifted his shoulders in response.

“So what if you lose the girl? It’s better than being dead and leaving her to clean up your gang messes.”

I stayed silent for a minute, thinking over the idea.

“I’d rather die while loving her than spend life without her,” I said.

“Truly romantic, Caiden. Let me guess, you got that from a book?” he said sarcastically. “Listen, I refuse to sit here and watch my brother die.”

“You’re not my brother.”

“You’re still denying it? Your father fucked my mother long before you even got kidnapped, so don’t pull that bullshit,” he said.

I felt my hands clench into fists.

“You seem to forget that he did that behind my so-called family’s back first. My mother didn’t want you in our lives, which is why we keep this quiet. Don’t you dare come in here and pull some brotherly shit. I won’t fall for it,” I told him before a smirk crawled on my face.

“Anyways my father never contacted you ever again after that quickie with your mother. All he did was pay child support after finding out. Let’s not act like he actually cared for your existence.”

A fist swing towards me but I easily blocked it.

“You’re a fucking dick. I was the only one who was there for you after you got home. I hooked you up, yet you still continued to treat me like shit.”

I let out a harsh laugh.

“You followed me everywhere so you could give Jesse updates! Hell, you even emptied the gas tank while I was at a party to help Jesse try to kill me. The only reason you didn’t go through with it is because Claire was with me. So please save the dramatics.”

“We went over this already. You were the dumbass who left a gang. You knew that came with a price.”

“It was clearly a smart thing too. Half of you got sent to jail anyway,” I told him before heading towards the door. I needed to get that nurse for Claire still.

He put his hand on my shoulder, stopping me from leaving.

“You already fucked up in this situation. If I wasn’t there to save Claire, she would have been stuck in the car and would have ended up burning to death. I saved her for you. That’s only attempt two to kill her. They have plenty more to come.”

“Keep trying and one of these days you may just find yourself six feet underground.” I shrugged off his hand and walked out of the room. Both gangs were trying to kill Claire to get to me. I can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen.

I stopped a nurse on her way to the nurse station, letting her know that Claire was up before heading to the cafeteria. I stepped into the elevator and stood in the back so more people could come in. I thought back to the day I first met my supposed half brother.

“Hey, your name's Caiden, right?” a kid asked, looking to be around my age, sixteen.

“Yeah, who the hell are you?” I asked coldly. I wasn’t up for chatting with people at the moment.

“Your half brother. Your dad and my mom hooked up years ago, didn’t they tell you?” he asked, looking confused. I stared at him curiously. I wasn’t surprised my dad was messing around with another woman. It seemed to be a habit of his when mom wasn’t home.

“Never directly, but I overheard a few arguments before coming here on this so-called vacation that something needed to be settled with a kid named Keith since some woman named Melissa died.”

“Yeah, I’m Keith. Melissa was my mom,” he said, but there was no sign of any sadness that his mother was dead.

“You don’t seem very sad.” I stated my thoughts and he shrugged.

“I’m so high right now I couldn’t care less, but rumor has it I’m moving in with you guys so I got to get with what I can,” Keith told me and I snorted.

“That’s smart. Buy some cheap, probably home-made drugs from kids at school,” I said.

He chuckled, shaking his head.

“Nah, man. I get good stuff from a kid our age and his older brother. They have a whole gang,” he said, glancing behind him at my parents who were talking furiously back and forth.

“Hey, we’re going out. We’ll be back later,” Keith yelled to my parents, and my dad only waved him off. “I’ll show you.”

We left his house, which was located in Los Angeles and took a twenty-minute walk to some old factory.”Where are we?” I questioned, not liking the feeling I got from the place.

“I overheard some things too. I know you got kidnapped for some years. I think this stuff they’ve got will make you feel better. It’s no price if you help them do some deals,” Keith told me.

“Keith, I don’t fuck with drugs.”

“It’s cool man. They got some high ass brands of alcohol. They get you drunk with one sip. Plus, you may like drugs if you try it and feel the high it gives you,” he told me.

I couldn’t help but think about how great it would feel to just be numb.

“Fine, set me up,” I said.

He smirked.

“Alright, that’s the spirit, man.” After that, he led me into a building that had tons of people. Some looked like they were packaging things and others looked like they were just smoking a joint or something. It was a strange scene, but something about the darkness to it made me like it.

“Jesse, this is my bro, Caiden. He needs a hook-up with some good bourbon or somethin’,” he told the kid around our age. He looked at me up and down at my dark attire and my freshly dyed blonde hair.

“What are you offering in return? My brother will kill me if I don’t start stepping up and showing how this gang is supposed to be run. I can’t do any free shit,” he said to me. I lifted my shoulders, putting my hands in my front pockets.

“He’ll join us and do some deals for you,” Keith offered, and the kid, Jesse, looked at me for confirmation.

“Is that so?” Keith asked and I agreed. I was unconsciously signing a deal with the Devil.

Back then I was stupid to get involved with a gang, and I was stupid to let Keith be my friend or even my brother. He only fucked me over in the end when my dad finally was taking us back to Seattle, bringing him with us. Keith only ran away, leaving us all behind. Ss far as I know, he never contacted my parents again after that. I remember my parents agreeing once to just let him be.

I walked up to the counter and paid for a few cups of vanilla yogurt and headed back up to Claire’s room. She should be pleased that I stopped for some yogurt for her.

Claire’s Point of View

“So are you almost done with being an intern yet?” I asked as West squeezed some cold gel stuff on my stomach that I’ve faced multiple times before.

“Yeah, just about. Only a few months, and as long as I pass my test in the end I’ll be okay to move on,” West said.

“That’s great!” I said feeling excited for him. “Hey, by any chance will you guys alert my obstetrician?” I asked.

He frowned.

“Your chart says you don’t have one?” he said before looking at me for confirmation.

“I recently changed over. I have Dr. Keith Mabry. He’s from the office about a block from here. I’ve only been there a few times so I can’t remember the name,” I said, and he nodded, writing the name down.

“I’ll look him up and see if I can get him here,” West told me and I smiled.

“Thanks, West,” I said, watching him leave just as Caiden came in. “There you are! I thought you died. In the time you took to get a nurse I’ve already had a visit from Nathan, Mia, and Jeff. A nurse already stopped by as well,” I said.

Caiden kissed the side of my forehead.

“I’m sorry. I ran into an old friend.”

“Who?” I asked with narrowed eyes.

“Tom. He was visiting his mother,” he said.

I stared at him for a moment, looking for any signs he was lying. When I found no signs I let myself relax.

“Look who finally decided to come back,” Nathan said entering the room.

“He ran into Tom who was visiting his mom,” I said as he took a seat next to me on the opposite side from Caiden.

“I thought Tom’s mom had been dead for years?” Nathan asked curiously.

Caiden sent him a glare.

“His stepmother is here,” he said correcting himself.

“Huh, what for? I just talked to Tom a while ago. I’m surprised he didn’t tell me,” Nathan said casually making me raise an eyebrow. I knew in college they became close, but even Caiden wasn’t that close with him.

“Heart attack. Just happened today. Anyways, I bought you a yogurt, Claire,” Caiden said, turning his attention to me. A wide smile appeared on my face.

“Awe!” I took the yogurt and spoon from his hand. I didn’t hesitate to open the container and took a huge bite, moaning at the wonderful taste that filled my mouth.

“So was that Wesley I saw?” Caiden asked.

I nodded, not even bothering to correct him.

“He an intern.”

“Claire, will you tell me what happened? Riley’s been keeping me updated so I am caught up with the whole stupid idea of going undercover. I didn’t know you would be that stupid to go and let yourself get taken, though,” Nathan said.

I paused, stopping myself from taking anther bite.

Swallowing the yogurt that was already in my mouth, I looked at my best friend. “I’m sure you want to know too?” I asked, glancing at Caiden. He nodded.

“Damn right.”

“It’s hard to explain because everything’s a little blurry still, but I just remember waking up in a humid room. There was water all around me filling up the room. I kept going in and out, but when I finally came to, Jackson started playing games. He almost killed Liam and tried to drown me,” I said, my mind flashing the scenes of Liam almost getting his throat slit and the water continuing to rise.

“I can’t remember how, but I eventually ended up in Jackson’s office. Just us two. After quickly beating the shit out of him, I found some weird door that led me to Liam. We escaped really easily actually. It was almost like they let us go,” I said, frowning as I thought back to the red car.

“A red car came out of nowhere trying to hit us. It missed because Liam swerved or something. The last thing I remember was looking at Liam after we stopped and seeing the car hit us,” I said.

Caiden’s fist clenched as he tried to stop himself from hitting something.

“It was those bastards,” he muttered.

“Did they survive? The one in the other car?” asked Nathan as he stared at me curiously.

“They died before we even got to the hospital,” I answered, remembering them call someone’s death. We all came in at the same time.

“Although there was someone on the road after. I remember someone walking towards the car. I was hoping it was you,” I said, looking at Caiden.

“But now that I’m not all out of it I know it wasn’t,” I said, thinking hard about the man. He was only in jeans and a t-shirt, but everything was so blurry I’d never know who it was.

“Excuse me,” a nurse said, walking in with a bouquet of flowers. “These were dropped off for you.” She handed me the gorgeous flowers and I smiled.

“Awe, how sweet. Jeff probably told my mom,” I said as I grabbed the fairly large card. Opening up the envelope, I felt my heart pause in my chest.

Dear Claire, you’re wasting time. Playing around in factories and hospitals is making the time run out. The sand is falling and no one can stop it. It will continue to slip through the fingers of friends and foes until it’s all gone and there’s nothing left to catch. Your fate is in your own hands.

Tick tock.

Daddy’s dying, mommy’s crying. Jeffrey’s missing. Caiden’s kissing. Jesse’s searching, Jackson’s lurking. Mia’s leaving, Nathan’s screaming. Riley’s turning, Clover’s mourning. The baby is kicking, but mommy went missing.

I’ll leave you with that.

Looking forward to our next touch,

Your one and only friend. Xx

The hairs on my arm stood up, and I felt my throat closing up. I needed to find the air in the room. I couldn’t breathe.

“What’d she say?” Nathan asked

I shook my head, not able to respond.

“Baby doll, breathe,” Caiden insisted before grabbing some water from a nearby table. She handed it to me, and I swallowed it in seconds. Caiden picked up the card I dropped on my lap and read it carefully. “Fucking hell,” he muttered.

“What’s wrong? Who’s it from?”

“Nathan, go find Riley. She should still be in the ICU,” Caiden ordered. Nathan gave me a confused look but did what he was told.

It only took two minutes for him to come back with a tired looking Riley. “What’s up?” she asked, standing at the end of the bed.

Caiden handed her the note.

“This is what’s up. Not only is Claire being threatened, but they know you’re here. Whoever it is knows everything,” Caiden said.

Nathan read the note from over her shoulder as well. Riley’s eyes hardened as she got to the end.

“What does she mean I’m turning?”

“Changing sides maybe?” Nathan suggested, causing us all to look at him.

“What? It’s the first thing that came to my head.”

“I need to call my parents. I have to make sure everything’s okay,” I said, leaning over and grabbing my phone from the side table. I silently winced at the pain it still brought to my head. I clicked on my mom’s contact and waited patiently as the phone rang.

“Hello?” my mom’s voiced said through the speaker.

“Hey, mom. How are you?” I asked curiously, pretending that everything was okay.

“I-I’m good, honey. Listen, can I call you later? I’m kind of in the middle of something right now,” she told me. My eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah, whenever’s fine,” I said, and she said okay before mumbling a goodbye. I dialed the number of my brother immediately after. There was no answer, which caused my skin crawl.

Daddy’s dying, mommy’s crying. Jeffrey’s missing. Caiden’s kissing. Jesse’s searching, Jackson’s lurking. Mia’s leaving, Nathan’s screaming, Riley’s turning, Clover’s mourning. The baby is kicking, but mommy went missing.

The words played over and over again in my head. “Why would you be screaming? And who would you be kissing?” I demanded.

Caiden grabbed ahold of my hand.

“You’re overthinking things. This person isn’t serious. I wouldn’t be kissing anyone but you,” he assured, but Nathan stayed silent.

“Nathan?” I asked, looking at him. He gave me a small smile, one that didn’t even come close to his eyes.

“Mia and I have been fighting a lot recently. I didn’t want to stress you out because of the baby and all that.”

My heart clenched at the thought.

“What’s going on? You can still tell me anything, Nate.”

“I know. It’s just that for quite some time, years even, we’ve been trying to get her pregnant. It’s not happening, and she’s blaming me for it. I went to the doctor so I know it’s definitely not my fault, but since you got pregnant she’s been losing hope. She comes home late and goes out drinking almost every night. I don’t know what to do Claire,” he said.

My eyes glassed over.

Mia’s leaving, Nathan’s screaming.

“It’ll be okay. It’s all going to be fine. I’ll talk to her,” I said, releasing my hand from Caiden’s and squeezing Nathan’s hand instead. I was still sensitive to using my left arm because of the injury.

“Claire, if things don’t work out, I promise you that neither of us will make you choose sides,” he said seriously.

I bit my lip thinking about everything’s he’d said so far.

“I didn’t think you would. Be optimistic, Nathan. We make it through everything. You and Mia are just going through a hard patch,” I said sincerely.

He kissed my forehead, obviously the side that wasn’t covered by a bandage.

“Love you Claire.”

“Love you too.”

“Back to the subject. Who would Clover be mourning?” Riley asked.

I shrugged as did everyone else.

“Chris?” I wondered out loud, but Caiden shook his head.

“Yes, she’s sad, but from what I can see, she’s not that sad to spend time mourning him.”

“So what? You’re telling me you think someone else is going to die?” I asked him.

He shrugged.

“I don’t care who dies as long as you stay safe because last time I checked you have a baby which makes you a mommy. I will sure as hell not let one person put their hands on you,” he said as his hands clenched into fists.

“I know.”

Riley cleared her throat to get our attention. “This was most likely Jesse. It has to be. He’s the only one who I can think is smart enough to do anything. Plus, they clearly said they were planning on taking you.”

“Clover suggested when we got the first one that it was her old friend Katy,” I said, but she only shook her head, waving that thought off.

“This person knows too much. They know about all of you and your family and your past. Don’t take anything they say lightly. Take it all as a threat,” Riley said seriously before handing the note back to me. “You get out later, correct?”

“Probably. They’re just going to give me one more check and decide then.”

“Go home for a while and visit your family. Make sure everything is okay with everyone,” she told me.

I nodded.

“I shall.”

“I’m gonna go back to Joey and Liam,” she said, turning to exit.

I gave her a sad smile.

“Hey, Riley, do us all a favor and watch your back as well,” Caiden said, causing her to pause and look back at him.

“Don’t worry, I always do,” she said before sending us a wink and leaving the room. I let out a long sigh. Things were definitely getting complicated once again.