A Family Stolen

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 11 (Vicious Rumor Mill)

"Glad you're up and about, and you could join me with this." Jade followed Sam, still a bit shaken from her close call the day before. Sam wanted to try and talk to some of the exes that were mentioned by Ian; and then she needed to know if any of them had something happen to them thanks to the Vega parents.

If something occurred, there was potential motive. Jade knew as well what Sam was going to try and do, approaching them without accusation and just making question. Still, they had to be careful. Any slipups, if the exes were involved, they could wind up losing the Vegas.

"I'm not letting a scrape with death keep me away from my goal." Jade tugged on her jacket and lowered her gaze. "Um, I still think it would be beneficial to approach Sinjin. He's definitely a part of everything, and it sounds like he doesn't want to be. It might be a better, easier, bet than going to the exes."

"Probably." Sam crossed her arms and looked up to the home they were approaching. It was Stephen's house. Sam was aware this man would probably recognize her, so Jade was going to be the one talking to him. "I'll be here for backup if you need me, but I have to make a phone call."

"Oh yeah? To who?"

"Someone that might be able to help us; and that's a big maybe." Sam rolled her eyes and let out a sigh of disgust. "Trina's and Tori's exes aren't the only ones we'll be talking to today." Jade raised an eyebrow and waited for the blonde to explain. It looked as though Sam were trying to swallow her pride for whatever reason. "He's changed a lot, but as I dislike asking for help in general-I really don't want to ask his help…"

"Who? Don't leave me in suspense."

"Jonah Brown." Sam narrowed her eyes and slid them towards Jade. "I dated him when I was about thirteen. He tried to hook up with my best friend at the time. Freddie actually became friends with the guy a few years later, and he was apologetic." Sam raised her shoulders and chuckled. "But hey, I'm friends with Freddie's ex now, so yeah…"

"Who is his ex?"

"Valerie. She uh, she's married to Jonah nowadays." Sam moved her hand in the air and cleared her throat. "Long story and little time to explain, it's irrelevant to our cause. Both could potentially help us, however." Jade tilted her head and Sam started to smirk. "After all, Valerie's become a well-known chef and was an apprentice to Rachael Ray. Sinjin might find admiration in her, so if we got her to warm up to him…"

Jade was impressed, but she was more interested in how Jonah could possibly help. Seeing the question in her eyes, as though reading her mind, Sam let out a heavy sigh. "Jonah's twenty-four. Through networking and connections, he got picked up by the FBI. It was mostly because his father worked closely with the FBI. He has the connections, he knows people…if the local police won't help, and we can collect enough evidence that there's corruption up top, Jonah may be convinced to get his connections involved."

"Well what are you waiting for? Who cares about the past now, we need his help!"

"Yeah." Sam rolled her eyes and growled huskily "I'll talk to him, or at least left Freddie talk to him. Let's try and focus on evidence. Try and connect the dots." Sam pointed to Stephen's door and cleared her throat. "You can't be accusative here. Appeal to his better nature, try not to give him any reason to think he's involved."

"I'm a little nervous about something else going in here." Jade frowned and closed her eyes. "It seems like the people that took the family wanted to take us too and use us for whatever." At the very least, hearing the Sinjin's conversation with Jesse and what Hayley was implying gave her the hope that the Vegas were still alive out there. "Jesse even said if it wasn't for him, Sinjin would have been killed and thrown before the Vegas."

"Yeah, it sounds like the kidnappers are a bunch of sick fucks, but you're right. We've got to be really careful, and if Stephen gives you the impression that he might try something, get out of there." Sam motioned to the bushes in front of a window. "I'll be peering in through there, so you can find a way to signal if you need to. Or…you can guide him outside."

"Right." Jade heard a noise and looked towards a fence. Sam raised her eyebrows and took a step back when she saw the gate of the fence starting to open. They knew Stephen lived alone, so whoever was about to exit was unlikely to be anyone else. "Or maybe he's already out. Go somewhere."

"On it." Sam hurried around the corner of the house and hugged the wall, peering around the corner carefully. Jade took a deep breath and poked her thumbs through her belt loopholes. As the gate opened, Stephen stepped out with a pair of hedge trimmers in his hands.

He was tall, his once parted brown hair was now messy and shaggy, and he was sporting a beard that made him look like a lumberjack. His eyes fell to her and he tilted his head. "Jade West? What brings you here?"

"Oh I was in the neighborhood and stopped in. I was curious something." She put on a worried look and bowed her head. "I mean, I didn't come seeking you out or anything, wasn't even thinking about it till I passed your house."

"What's the matter?"

"Well." She bit her lip and looked off to the right. "I don't know if you know, but Tori's missing." Stephen's eyes dimmed and his voice faltered as his lips fell into a frown.

"Yeah, I heard. It's…it's sad, but you know I haven't really thought about in years."

"No? Oh, I guess maybe I had hoped." She tried to fake some tears, forcing a waver in her voice. "I don't know what I was thinking. It's stupid, I guess maybe I was just worrying too much about her."

"You need someone to talk to?" He pointed the trimmers to his bushes and sighed. "I'm doing some yard work, but you're welcome to help out if you like." Jade thanked him and started approaching, picking up a stray garden spade.

"I could dig up some weeds if you like."

"Sure." She'd have to ensure her back wasn't turned to him, because the trimers could be used as a weapon if she wasn't careful. "Are you trying to find her, or are you just worried?"

"Worried. I'm not the police." Stephen nodded and began clipping away at the top of the hedges. Jade's hand tightened around the handle of the spade, her eyes focused on the man and she felt a surge of rage and power coursing through her veins. He had his back to her, and what she truly wanted to do was drive the spade into his back and twist it as much as she could. "She was a good friend, a better friend than I deserved to have, you know."

"I remember how you were, she used to tell me how uncertain she was that the friendship would last. I didn't think you'd still be friends all these years later."

"Yeah, I guess we're both shocked."

"I remember her parents." Jade looked up at him, watching closely. He was chopping the hedges with a surprising amount of strength and urgency. "God were they insane."

"Insane? Insane how?"

"Well if it wasn't bad enough what Carly's friends did to me, what Holly did was a million times worse." Jade raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sam, who looked just as confused. The blonde was on the phone, clearly talking low enough that Stephen couldn't hear; or rather, if he heard he wasn't reacting. "The witch went psycho bitch crazy on me for cheating on her daughter."

Stephen looked over his shoulder and pointed up to his left ear. "First off, I can't hear a damn thing out of my left ear. The witch abducted me, put me under and operated on me, ripping out my eardrum…along with a couple other organs." Jade cupped her hand over her mouth, stifling a surprised yelp.

She didn't know whether to believe him or not; if it was true what he was saying, then it would certainly cast Holly in terrible light. "Fuck, you should see what she did to Daniel once Mr. Vega got done beating the shit out of him in some dark alley. Went and snipped off his nuts and half his dick. I hear she fed them to the alley dogs."

Jade gagged at the thought and raised a hand to her forehead, groaning as it started to throb. "Are you just saying this stuff? I mean, I've never even noticed that." Everyone knew Robbie was responsible for what happened to Trina, yet nothing happened to him. Nothing happened to Beck or Andre when they lied to David that night either. Even Jade had been found out through the hospital's security cameras, and she'd never once been threatened. "We've all done terrible things, and their parents didn't hurt us."

"Oh they wouldn't have." Stephen sneered, his eyes flashing with hatred and anger. "For as much as they would have wanted to, and believe me they would have wanted to, those two sisters kept them at bay. Both of them. It would have taken Trina to keep them from harming a hair on any of your heads."

Jade was horrified, her thoughts racing and searching the past for any sign that the Vega parents could possibly want to cause them physical harm. They never noticed the parents, though they were often there; but she saw it on their faces now as she looked back. Anytime Holly was in the room, there was a coldness in her eyes. Anytime David was around, he would be deathly quiet and the way he would stare at them, it was like he would stare right through them.

"Stephen, what you're saying is really weird. The biggest thing I heard was the rumor that Mr. Vega hired someone to beat someone up." Stephen chuckled darkly and turned back around, cutting through the hedges with a powerful slice.

"That's no rumor. He hired some prison thug to beat the shit out of the police chief's son for raping his daughter. More than that, he wanted the kid dead in prison, hopefully shanked in a way it wouldn't get back to him." Jade's eyes bulged from her head and her hands moved over her mouth, dropping the spade to the ground. "I heard there was a guy Trina dated that was abusive as hell to her. Marcus, I believe. David busted him so hard he can't see out of his right eye and lost the ability to speak."

"How can you even know about all those things?" Her knuckles were beginning to whiten and she was grinding her teeth to the point they may as well turn to sawdust. It angered her the lies the man was spewing. "Seriously, it sounds more like you're making shit up at this rate."

"You know how much Tori trusted me before I cheated on her?" Stephen chuckled sadly. "She told me she and Trina loved their parents but were afraid of them, that their parents were immensely overprotective of them. She wanted to get away from them."

"Think I'm lying to you?" Stephen turned to his left and pulled his ear forward, revealing a huge scar. Jade puffed up and shrugged, proclaiming that he could have gotten it from anywhere. "Maybe ask around. Some of the girls' other boyfriends." Jade scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Maybe. You have to understand why I have my doubts. I mean come on, you think they could have done all that without any one of those men calling the police?" Stephen raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder.

"What? Call the police on some asshole high in the ranks of the police force that was respected? Call the police on a respected nurse? Call the police on people we were afraid of, people who had manage to destroy us?"

She hated to admit he had a point, but in her heart she could understand how and where that fear would come from. She needed to check the others, just to believe them. "How could Marcus have lost his voice?"

"David crushed his throat when he strangled the guy. That's what Tori told me."

"And Tori, who doesn't trust easily, trusted you with this information?" Even if everything was true what he said, there was no way Tori would have confided all of that in him. If anything, it told her something else: The exes might be working together.

If it were true, then the parents would have been the true targets. "Maybe I'll take you up on that." Stephen chuckled and shook his head slowly. "Maybe I'll see if the other men are as you say…"

"Yeah well good luck with that."

"Yeah…" Eventually he retreated to his house and Jade rejoined Sam. Her head ached from all the accusations and stress. "Sam? Did you hear?" Sam gave her a pitied look and bowed her head.

"I heard. I don't believe it, I don't know if I can believe it or if I even should, but I heard. We have no proof he's even telling the truth; and we already know from the note that he was involved in the Vegas' abduction. He could just be lowballing the victims."

"That's true. I hope that's what it is." She took a deep breath and followed Sam to the car. "You make contact with Jonah?"

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"He said if we can find enough evidence that the police chief is involved, then he'll talk to his FBI contacts about looking into it. We already have the chief's order not to look into the disappearance, which is suspicious enough according to him, but it isn't enough to say he's involved."

"What about his son's prison term?"

"It could speak of a potential motive." Sam started up the car and glanced sideways at her. "There um, there is something." Jade raised her eyebrows as Sam glanced up at the house. "I looked into it before after what Ian mentioned, told Jonah and he looked into it…Samuel Ross was savagely beaten by another prisoner during the sentence. The inmate was about to kill him, but hesitated just long enough that the prison guards managed to pull the inmate off."

A chill swept across Jade and she shook her head, still not wanting to believe David had anything to do with it. She couldn't help but be reminded of the thug on the home footage talking about David's ordering him to kill someone during a prison sentence.

Sam drove to Marcus Grant's home and found the man sitting with on his front patio with a heavy jaw and stern expression. In his hand he gripped a bottle of heavy liquor, in his eyes was an antagonistic look that concerned Jade deeply.

As she approached him, she caught the cold stare and noticed his intense silence. "Sorry to intrude, it's um…" Jade waved briefly and let out a nervous chuckle. "You don't know me, but I heard a rumor that I couldn't believe." Marcus's grip on the bottle grew tighter and he raised the tip to his lips. "I know it's insensitive of me and I apologize. I was friends with the Vegas." Marcus lowered the bottle and raised an eyebrow.

Jade noticed for the first time that one of his eyes was pale, and it looked as though he may not have been able to see from it. She couldn't understand why he wasn't speaking either, but there were plenty of scars on his face and on his arms.

"I didn't want to believe their parents could be so cruel." Marcus started to sneer, his hand shaking violently as his sneer turned to a scowl. Jade took a small step back, aware just how violent Marcus was in the past; according to Jason. "You know, this was a bad idea, I think I'll go. I'm sorry, this was stupid of me."

She made her way to the car and urged Sam to drive, looking back just in time to see Marcus toss his liquor bottle at them, still without a sound. She moved her hand to her chest and Sam flattened her eyebrows. "Still want to check on the other exes? See if there's truth to the rumors

"I-I'm not sure. I'm a little afraid, especially if any of the exes are involved. Given the nature of the rumors, it sounds like Danny and Ross had it the worst, so I doubt bringing up rumors with them would be smart."

"I agree. Even still, we should check up on them." Sam turned the corner and sighed. "Still, Jonah warned me about something. I was telling him what Stephen was spewing as he was talking, and Jonah said if there's any truth to those rumors…we have to assume that a few of those exes-if not all-could potentially be involved. Going to all of them could be a dangerous, and it could tip our hand a little too much if we aren't careful."

"Because if they were all together, then they would talk?"

"Precisely. I doubt checking in on Stephen and then Marcus would be an issue, however we should probably stop here otherwise they will talk." Sam took a deep breath and slowed to a stop at a streetlight. "There's one more thing. I contacted Ian and Jason both and both confirmed they were confronted by Holly and David with one threat: Hurt their child, and it would be their last mistake."

Jade was gripped by a nauseous feeling, still not wanting to believe the words she heard. "I can't stand this, Sam. I can't stand this one bit."

"I don't blame you."

"I don't care if any of it is true, we still need to find the family. Save them."

"Yeah. That's the thing about crime, murder, motives and whatnot…" Sam tapped her thumb on the steering wheel and shook her head. "It's not always black and white. In fact, it seldom ever is. As an investigator you have to ask yourself, how important is it that you find justice for someone that may be morally bankrupt?"

"Morally bankrupt? I don't care. Mr. and Mrs. Vega, Tori and Trina, we have to save them." She closed her hands tight and shook her head. "We have to save them, I don't care what they've done; if it's true or if it's all a bunch of fucked up lies, I don't care. If there's a remote chance they're alive and can be saved, we have to do it."

"Good." Sam smiled and nodded. "I'm glad to hear you say that."

So a couple things happening here. We've got another potential ally, but clearly we also have a wider view of what may be up with the parents. More suspects with motives or are they all involved? What's the world coming to? Give your thoughts and speculations and whatnot, love to hear