Enjoy!


Toledo

Sam sat down and let out a breath as Colette sat down from across him. He hated that he kept staring at her but he couldn't help it, Mercedes would be her mirror twin if there wasn't the obvious age gap.

"So, this woman… you said she might be my niece?" Colette asked after a few moments of silence.

Sam nodded. "If Derek Jones is her father and he's your brother then yes, she is your niece."

She shook her head. "That doesn't make sense to me, Denise didn't say anything about being pregnant when he died…"

"I don't have those answers but you and her look a lot alike and if you are her aunt, she needs you… I know you don't know her but she's so brave and beautiful-" He stopped, frowning. "A little witch that I can't help unless I know more about her parents."

Colette shook her head angrily. "Why wasn't I contacted!" She expressed, tears slowly brimming. "I was always his point of contact and I know I was hers… she didn't… after he died, she just was gone."

Sam looked at her before nodding. "Grief causes people to hide inside themselves sometimes… you forget that life is still happening around you and to you. I don't know what happened but I do know that sometimes the only person you can feel is yourself."

"I want to see her, if she is my niece… I want to see her so I can tell her that if I had known. Shit… she has family." Colette said, still trying to gather her thoughts. "How do you know her?"

"She moved to Stowe about a year ago… she was a tenant. Well she still is but she's been living with me since her brother reappeared."

"Brother? She has a sibling?"

Sam let out a nervous breath. "Not exactly, the family that adopted her had a son and a daughter but she passed away."

Colette frowned. "Wait, wait… you've known her a year and are just now finding this out?"

"We didn't really converse until recently but that's not the point… I have a question about Marcus Jones, who was he?"

Colette flinched. "H-how… who told you that name?" She asked.

"Ahh… I had someone look into Mercedes after I found out about her past. He was mentioned… said he died pretty young?"

She let out a shaky breath. "That's what we were told, he was our cousin. He would come around then he just disappeared… After so long they declared him dead. We don't know for sure but we know he went to find his real father and then that's when he disappeared."

"Oh… so he's not a sibling of yours or anything?" He asked and she just shook her head.

"I haven't heard his name in so long… he was such a… sketchy person. Even when we were younger, I hated being around him." She admitted, letting out a shaky breath. "Is there any way after you go back that you can have her contact me?"

Sam nodded. "I can't promise she will… I didn't exactly tell her I was coming here but yes, I can give her your information but I need to ask you a few more things." He said and she nodded, preparing herself.


Mercedes blinked, hearing chattering and beeping around her. She turned her head seeing Sara then a large man standing at the foot of the bed.

"Ms. Jones? Can you hear me?"

She nodded, swallowing. "Where is he?"

Sara grabbed her hand, gently squeezing. "He's gone, he can't hurt you anymore."

She shook her head. "Where's Sam? Is he back?"

Sara glanced at the man before looking back at her. "I called and left him a message… he hasn't gotten back with me yet but as soon… Merceds what-"

Mercedes started to pull out her IV and tried to get up but was stopped when Sara gently pushed her back onto the bed. "He has to get out of there, now!"

"You have to trust that he knew what he was signing himself up to do and-"

Mercedes let out a loud scream. "LISTEN TO ME! Nathan was the buffer. They are coming and he needs to get out of Ohio before they come for me!"

A nurse came in after hearing the commotion, frowning when she saw Mercedes' IV dangling. "Okay, everyone who isn't family needs to leave." The nurse asserted and Mercedes shook her head in a panic.

"I don't-" She started as Sara stood and the man walked out of the room with her close behind.

"Tsk, tsk." The nurse said, walking over to Mercedes, grabbing her arm roughly before putting the IV back into her arm. "I thought this would have been harder but I guess putting on a uniform and pretending is that hard."

Mercedes looked at the woman in horror. "No, who… who are you?" She said, trying to snatch her arm away but the woman just held it tiger pulling out a syringe and quickly adding it to her IV.

"Sweet dreams." The woman said.

Mercedes tried to fight the woman but her body became heavy and her eyes felt like they were holding up two ton weights, she saw the woman leave before seeing two blurry figures appear right as everything went black again.


Several Hours Later…

"Wake her up."

"WAKE HER UP OR…"

"Stupid little bitch… causing all these problems."

SMACK!

Mercedes jerked when she felt the sting across her face, she opened her eyes and immediately felt her heart start to race as she laid eyes on them.

"No, no, no how… no!" She said attempting to get up but she was chained to some metal.

"Oh please we were nice by sending Nathan but you just kept fighting him… give us what we want and we will let you live… well here at least." David said moving closer to her.

"Just get her to sign the papers so we can go, I'm tired of these games!" Monica spat, earning a glare from David.

"No she's going to give me what she took! Those were mine! All of it was mine and she took it! She's gonna learn just like they all had to learn!" David shouted and Monica just rolled her eyes.

"I don't have anything, I don't know why you keep doing this!" Mercedes said, struggling against her chains.

David snarled, bringing his hand up and slapping her. "What have I told you about lying!"

Mercedes bit back her scream."I'm not lying! I don't have anything that belongs to you!" She defended, feeling tears brim her eyes.

Monica grabbed David and pulled him away. "Look, we just need you to sign these forms and we'll leave you alone forever." She said, shoving the forms into her hands.

Mercedes looked at Monica before looking down at forms. "If I sign these you promise to never come back?"

Monica nodded, handing her the pen. "Just sign them and we'll even let the police know where you are so you don't die here."

Mercedes took the pen, looking down at the forms. She started to sign before noticing something, "Who's Marcus Jones?"

She asked and Monica sighed. "Just sign the papers Mercedes…" she said through gritted teeth.

Mercedes kept read the forms before shaking her head. "This… this says this is from a trust in my name? I thought… nana already gave me access to this, why do you need me to sign this?"

Monica let out an annoyed breath, slapping Mercedes. "This is why we treated you the way we did! You don't fucking listen!" She spat, slapping her again and again and once more.

"I told you this wouldn't work, she's incompetent. She lacks the brain capacity to understand when she's in danger. She gets that from her father, her mother was smarter." David said, shaking his head as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Wh-what? My parents… you…"

David rolled his eyes before or ringing his fist up and punching her. "They only understand pain and violence!" He said eerily calm, as Monica stepped back and watched him attack her.

Mercedes screamed out in pain as David continued to punch and kick her until she felt herself go limp.


Sam made it to the airstrip just in time to get home before three am, his phone had been going off for hours but he couldn't stop what he was doing. Pulling out his phone he went through his messages.

SR- "you should have told her where you were going."

SJE- Bro! You need to get back here, she's pissed!

SAE- I can not believe you left these half assed letters! She trusted you!

SR- You need to get out of there!

Unknown- whatever you're doing, stop. You're putting her in danger.

AR- something's wrong, I have had a check in from Azimio or Dave.

Unknown- thanks for doing what I knew you'd do, she's mine now.

Sam had several more messages but the last one he read caused a chill to run down his body. He quickly dialed Anthony's number waiting for a response but it didn't happen.

He called Sara next and nothing. "Come on, come on!" He said, calling his brother.

"Sam! Where the hell are you? We've been calling you for HOURS!"

"I had to do something, what's going on? Is she still upset!?"

Sam heard his brother let off a sigh. "They got her…"

"What do you mean? Who got her?" He asked frantically.

"Whoever she kept trying to warn you about, she was in the hospital and then she was gone."

"Hospital? Why was she in the fucking hospital? Where the hell is the security I hired!"

"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT! She warned you this would happen and you still left! We can't find her, there is no video of her leaving. She's gone!"

Sam felt his heart fall into his stomach and felt bile rising. "No, no… we have to find her. There has to be something!"

Stevie sighed. "I hoped it was worth whatever you went and did because she's gone and Anthony still can't find Azimio or Dave. She told you this would happen."

"I had to do it, she has family and they want to meet her! She shouldn't have to live without family, real family!" He defended.

"What good will that do if she's dead? You know more than I know but I know hurt people when I see them and she's been hurt in the worst way. She felt safe with you and you left without even saying anything to her."

Sam sighed. "I know I left but I am coming back, I'm so close to being back and with this information I think I know why this is happening to her, why it happened to her…"

"Yeah, well I'm sure she would've appreciated that sentiment if she hadn't been right about them coming for her."

"JESUS STEVIE, I GET I FUCKED UP! I'M ALLOWED TO FUCK UP ONCE!" Sam spat, knowing his anger was misplaced but he already felt like shit.

"I was just saying… you should have known better."

Sam let out an annoyed breath. "If you're not going to help then there is no need for me to continue this conversation." Sam replied, hanging up before calling Anthony.

"Listen, boss, I'm sniffing out everything I can. Her brother is like a ghost… he set fire to her shop and managed to get into your place undetected. Her security never showed up and we haven't been able to locate them." Anthony said as soon as the call connected.

"Do you know where she is? Or who has her?"

"That's the problem, there is nothing. Not a single trace of her, I've had my team searching everywhere and she hasn't been seen since she entered the hospital."

"Then someone there helped them take her, I'll be landing in an hour or so, look for David Harrison. They couldn't have left without some paper trail. Is her brother taken care of?"

Anthony sighed. "She had someone helping her… Arthur Abrams. Her brother is no longer a threat to her or anyone."

"Who is that?"

"In your world, he's no one but in mine he's basically a legend but he went dark some years ago well before I got into this. I can only assume she's the reason why."

Sam shook his head. "If he's been helping her, why didn't he stop all of this?"

Anthony let out a heavy breath. "I don't know but I do know that whatever it was, it had to be binding. There's always a method to his work so if he's revealing himself now then you need to prepare yourself for whatever hell fire is coming."

"I don't care, just see that you have more information for me… please. She doesn't deserve any of this."

"I'll do everything in my power." Anthony said before hanging up.

Sam put his phone down and looked over at the file that he'd gotten from the hospital and started going over everything he found out from Colette. From what he learned, the Jones family was small and very wealthy, after Derek died it left Colette alone. Their parents were long past and so were their grandparents.

She said something that was sticking with him.

"Death follows the Jones family like a lost puppy."

He remembered the chill that went through his body seeing the grave look in her eyes.

"What do you mean?" He asked and Colette sighed.

"Our grandparents were in a bad accident when they died and same with our parents. When Derek died I kinda put myself in a bubble… It was just so freaky for him to die that horribly." She answered.

"You don't think it was an accident?"

Colette shook her head. "No… not based on the autopsy. There was too much force behind his supposed fall and none of his coworkers believed he would just jump like that… not with Denise expecting and him knowing her story,"

"What story?"

Colette looked at him hard for a moment. "You really don't know anything about Denise?" She asked and Sam shook his head. "Well… she didn't have any family, at all. Sure she had parents and grandparents but it was just her by the time we met her. Derek was already head over heels." She said, smiling fondly.

"I take she was beautiful?"

Colette's smile grew. "Very, she was stunning. I see why you'd think M-Mercedes looks like me but she's a dead ringer for Denise. She was shorter than Derek so whenever you saw them together she was always looking up and beaming at him."

"Do you have any pictures of them? That I can take to her?" He asked.

"Oh, yes. We have books." She said standing and walking over to a large China cabin and opening up several of the drawers before closing them and walking back to where he was sitting. "She can look through all of these, there's pictures of our family."

Sam started to say something but the timer he put on his phone went off, letting him know that it was time to leave. "Oh… is there anything else you'd like for me to tell her?"

Colette smiled. "Here, give her this…" She said, handing him a wrapped gift. "Derek was going to surprise Denise with it after she gave birth. He asked me to hide it, he was always surprising her with gifts… this one was for the both of them."

Sam looked down at the box. "You sure you don't want to wait to make sure that she's really your family?"

She shrugged. "How often does a cute white boy appear on your doorstep with a picture of a woman that looks like you? She's some form of family and she should know there's someone here wanting to meet her."

Sam smiled, "I'll bring her. I promise." He said and she nodded.

"You're in love with her, aren't you?" She asked, smirking.

Sam chuckled. "I don't think vampires are capable of falling in love…" He answered, earning a look from the woman. "When you meet her you'll understand. Thank you and I promise to bring her to meet you."

Colette led him to the door, offering him a small smile. "I approve… not that my approval is needed but Derek would've done the same thing for Denise. He would've moved the moon if it meant she was happy."

"I don't know if it'll mean anything to her but it does to me. Here," he said, grabbing one of his cards. "If you ever need anything, no matter what, call."

She nodded, "Take care and I'm holding you to that promise." She replied and he just nodded before heading to his car.


Sam blinked when he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking he saw the pilot standing there. "We've landed."

He nodded before grabbing the books and file. "Thanks, I appreciate you coming at the last minute." He said, quickly deboarding the plane.

He pulled out his phone, rushing over to his waiting truck and started to open the door but when his phone started to ring he stopped.

"I just landed." He said answering the phone.

"Where are you?" Anthony asked and Sam frowned.

"The airstrip, I just said I landed." He repeated.

"I'm not obtuse where? Are you in your truck?"

"No, I'm standing beside it."

"Y-u get out." He heard but the phone started to go out.

"What? I didn't understand that?"

"-OU -T NOW!"

Sam sighed. "Just test me, I guess I have poor signal." He replied moving away slightly to see if it improved the reception. Pulling his keys out he hit the unlock button on his truck, hearing the familiar sound followed by a loud noise and he felt himself being thrown back and heat rushing his body before hitting his head and his vision blurring to darkness.


"See, no one is coming for you."

Mercedes let out a loud sob seeing Sam laying there lifeless. "You can't do this!"

"David, this wasn't part of the plan." Monica scolded, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the side. "That man is connected and you think this is going to do what?"

"Shut the fuck up! This has nothing to do with you anymore, your job is done. You can run after that child of yours, this is family business." David spat, yanking his arm away from hers.

Monica looked at him in shock. "I'm your wife, I am family! More than she will be!" She yelled back.

David let out a sinister laugh. "You were a speck that I tolerated and now I don't have to because she's going to give me what I want or I will kill all of her new friends. Your services are no longer wanted nor needed. This is a Jones matter."

"You're not a Jones! Are you that convoluted that you really think you are this fake persona?!"

David rushed her, causing her back to hit the wall hard. "I am a Jones you stupid bitch! How else do you think we were able to take her? A blood relative had to take her!"

Mercedes looked at them in disbelief. "What?"

Monica rolled her eyes. "You didn't really think I was your mother did you? You look nothing like me or Nathan or my dear Carla."

Mercedes shook her head. "I-"

David sneered, "you look just like them." He mocked moving over to her and kneeling as he grabbed her face. "All that beauty was wasted on him."

"Sam has nothing-" She started but was forced to stop when he began squeezing her face.

"I don't mean him, no you don't hold a candle to her. Even if you are her flesh and blood you are just a die flicker compared to her." He said, scowling before pushing her face away. "You have her body too, short and soft like her."

Mercedes felt her skin begin to crawl and moved as far away from him as she could. "Who are you talking about?"

"Denise, your real mother." He answered. "She just had to choose him… I was right there and she chose my golden child cousin."

"David.. what are-"

"My name isn't David! My name is Marcus!" He shouted.


Whew... the next chapter is going to be EXPLOSIVE!