AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter and who are reading this story. Hope you enjoy, and feedback is always appreciated.

Chapter 3

"How much money is this going to take to track down this, Kyle Bennett?" the stocky ex-prisoner questioned.

He was in conversation with an old mate from Melbourne, who worked with underground deals, and well to say this guy could get a job done was an understatement.

He could track someone's where-abouts, or make someone just disappear, but his work always came at a price.

"I'd be saying at least forty grand; you said he was a hard one to find after-all," the man on the other end of the line said in a deep husky voice.

"Forty grand seems like a lot of money; you sure you're not just cashing in on my savings from outside prison deals?"

"You want this done or not? For an extra twenty grand I can get rid of him for good," the deep throated man suggested.

"No, I just need his location. The getting rid of part is all up to me and my partner in crime: I want Kyle Bennett to suffer before his time ends," the balding man snickered.

"Fine, I will see what I can track down. Send me through a photo of what this guy looks like and bring the forty thousand cash to Lordstone's Place at two o'clock Friday night."

"I'll be there and you better have some information for me," the ex-prisoner threatened.

A muffled scoff was heard through the phone line, by the dark suited man, sporting a black moustache.

"Since when have I ever let you down Big D?"

"You're yet to do so; so don't make this your first time."

The stocky ex-prisoner hung up his phone and searched through his phone for a copy of the prison records, to locate the profile picture of Kyle.

Selecting the image, he pressed send and Kyle's photo would soon be the talk of the underground gangs, as the search for the newest Braxton would be on.

Phoebe stood beside Kyle at Angelo's restaurant, wearing a pout on her face.

"I still don't see why you have to work tonight? Can't Brax cover the shift; or get someone else to cover? It's just I really wanted us to go to this concert in the city," Phoebe moaned.

Kyle shifted his hand inside one of the glasses with a tea towel to dry it, before placing it on the stand for re-use.

"Pheebs, you know I'd love to spend time with you, but Brax is busy with Ricky tonight and this being more of a family business, I have to help out," Kyle replied.

"Why does Brax always get to slack off and have fun; just because he thinks he's the boss here doesn't make it fair for him to get away with," Phoebe commented.

"Brax, doesn't get to slack off and have fun; despite his position in the family," a voice behind Phoebe stated.

Phoebe spun around to be faced with none other than the eldest Braxton.

"Brax: fancy seeing you here," Phoebe said in her usual cheery tone.

Brax scoffed, "Yeah: fancy?"

Kyle gave Brax a small humorous smile, as Brax slammed the books down onto the counter.

"It all adds up in this month's totals," Brax told Kyle, and gazed back at Phoebe.

"What I meant was: you deserve to be slacking off to have fun," Phoebe said; trying to cover her tracks.

Brax raised his eyebrow; not buying Phoebe's attempt to save herself one bit.

"Right; I will see you both at home later," Brax ended.

Once Brax had left the restaurant, Phoebe flopped down over the bar; resting her head on her arm and letting out a groan.

"I can, not believe, I just said that."

Kyle smirked at his girlfriend.

"Don't worry; Brax won't hold it against you," Kyle assured.

"You always know the right thing to say," Phoebe doted; giving Kyle a wide smile.

Kyle returned the smile, feeling his cheeks blush slightly over Phoebe's comment.

Kyle leaned under the cupboard to pull out the garbage and after tying up the bag, walked out the back of the restaurant to the skip.

A dark silver car was parked across the street from the restaurant.

"You sure that's him?" one guy wearing a baseball cap asked.

"Looks like the picture that boss man sent us," the one in the passenger side commented.

The guys in the car snapped a few pictures of Kyle as the Braxton was putting out the garbage and walking back inside the restaurant.

"Let's get on back then."

The dark silver car sped off leaving Kyle unaware he was being watched.

It was dark in the alley, with barely any street lights where the man with the thick black hair and moustache waited for any signs of his forty grand.

He lit up a cigar and puffed out the smoke; allowing it to disperse into the open air.

After about ten minutes of waiting, a small car pulled up. The stocky and balding, ex prisoner, stepped out dressed in black attire.

"Just about to think you weren't gonna show, Big D," the man with the moustache implied.

"Just had to get the rest of my owing money; you know how it is."

The slick gangster snickered and puffed on his cigar.

"That I do. You have the forty grand?" he demanded.

"It's all here in this bag," Big D replied and held up a hessian-like bag.

A hand was held out towards the man to grab the bag, but it remained out of reach.

"Have you got the information?" he enquired.

The slick moustache man smiled.

"The man you describe as Kyle was spotted in a town called Summer Bay; it's on the coast of New South Wales," the man informed.

The ex-prisoner gave a twisted smiled and tossed the bag of money towards the other gangster.

"Pleasure doing business with you again, Big D," were the final words of the dark gangster, before he quickly took off; leaving the man known as Big D to contact his partner in crime.

"We're making a trip to Summer Bay," he stated on the phone.

The other man snickered on the line, "I hope Kyle Bennett knows what is gonna be coming to him."

"Oh, he'll know soon enough," Big D said with an evil edge to his tone.

"Okay, I'll grab some milk and snags on the way home; are you still bringing the beer?!" Kyle yelled out to his brothers in Angelo's restaurant.

Brax gave a nod in return, followed by a 'thumbs up' gesture.

Brax was inside wiping down the bar, as Kyle and Phoebe were on their way out of the restaurant.

The clan were organising a get together for Heath and Bianca to celebrate their ongoing success of Bianca's pregnancy.

Casey was sitting at the bar, enjoying a drink as he was conversing with Brax over the plans for the gathering.

"You think this is going to be worth it for them?" Casey asked.

Brax shrugged, "Since when hasn't a barbecue gathering in the Braxton family ever not made a big impact?"

Casey smirked, remembering some past times of the family barbecues; some even when Cheryl and Danny were still in the picture.

"Hey: is Heath working a shift at the gym this s'arvo?" Brax asked.

Casey gave a nod as he sipped his drink.

"Yeah; I can keep him there until tonight when you want to set up. Is Ricky all set to bring Bianca?"

"Yeah; she's got that underway."

Phoebe skipped along; her hand pressed firmly in Kyle's as the young couple walked away from Angelo's.

"I can tell this party is just going to be awesome!" Phoebe shrieked.

"It's not a party, Pheebs; it's just a family gathering," Kyle replied.

"Yes, but still it's going to be fun to organise!" Phoebe and Kyle gently kissed and continued on their way to the local store.

The two men sat in their vehicle, closely watching Kyle and Phoebe.

"That's certainly him," the muscular of the two stated.

"Who's the bird he's got with him?" the other queried.

Big D turned to glance at his mate.

"Don't you remember Kyle having a picture up in his cell of a young reddish-brown haired girl; I think that's her."

"This could get very interesting," the second man snickered.

They slowly followed behind Phoebe and Kyle until they reached the Braxton house.

"So this is where you have been hiding from us; well not for long," the driver of the vehicle said in raspy whisper.

As soon as the car had slowed to a stop, the criminal's sped off; already devising their plan to teach Kyle over his grave mistake in messing with them.

"Is everything ready?" Brax called out.

"Yep; I've got all the snags and steaks ready and Phoebe has set up the table out the back," Kyle answered.

"Good, well Heath should be here any minute and Ricky said her and Bianca are just finishing with their shopping in town now," Brax announced.

Casey walked through the side fence and greeted his brothers.

"Heath doesn't suspect a thing," Casey said.

Brax nodded and finalised the last of the organising when the back fence swung open again, with the familiar sound of the second oldest Braxton.

"What the hell is going on here? You all having a party without me?" Heath called.

Before Heath got his answer Bianca and Ricky walked into the yard.

"What is all this?" Heath asked Brax, as he took sight of the table display for the barbecue.

"This is a congratulations party for you and Bianca," Ricky announced.

Bianca was speechless as she moved beside her husband.

"It's to celebrate your success for your little one growing," Phoebe cheered.

"We're all real proud of you that you've past the first trimester," Ricky stated.

"We knew how hard it was for you and Bianca to have a kid, so this is a big deal, so we all pitched in and wanted to do something nice for you both," Brax explained.

Heath nodded, "So that's why you kept pushing me to stay at the gym so late when I wanted to be home with me missus?" Heath questioned Casey.

"I had to," the youngest replied.

"You little rat," Heath teased and ruffled Casey's hair.

"We all had to keep it secret, even though it was hard for some," Brax implied.

"Hey; I'm good at secret keeping, thank you," Phoebe responded in a semi-insulted tone.

The group laughed and Heath gazed around.

"Well, what are we all standing around here for, looking like a lost goose when we got a good barbecue tucker waiting. I'm bloody starving; having a pregnant wife makes ya hungry!" Heath stated.

Bianca playfully slapped Heath on the chest, then left to gather around the table with Ricky and Phoebe, leaving the Braxton brothers to man the barbecue.

"Sounds like their getting on over there," Ricky noted.

"It's unusual that they are not arguing over who cooks the best," Bianca laughed.

The four brothers stood around the barbecue grill talking.

"Couldn't get any better than this, huh boys?" Brax implied, as he turned over the sausages.

"You can say that again. Things are going great for me and Bee, you have Ricky, and Kyle you seem happy with Phoebe. We just need to get little Casey a girl," Heath snickered.

"Get off! I don't need a girl to be happy. I'm fine manning the gym," Casey defended.

"Half-manning and inside you know you want a little girlfriend," Heath teased.

Casey and Heath flicked their arms around at each other, as Casey protested against Heath's statement and Heath continued to tease.

"Oi; knock it off, children. If Casey doesn't want a girl yet he doesn't have to have one," Brax stated; waving the tongs at his brothers.

Brax turned to Kyle beside him, "I don't know how many times I have to say this, but it seems you and I, are the only two in this family that show some maturity."

Kyle smiled and handed Brax the plates to put the food on.

"Thanks mate. Alright everyone: tuckers up!" Brax yelled.

The girls shifted on the table to allow room for their partners. After spending the evening cheering and celebrating, Bianca and Heath headed back to Irene's, while the remaining five had a quiet night in together at the Braxton Manor.

"So what do we plan to do first?" the scruffy ex-prisoner asked.

"I think we can play on Kyle's mind; exactly like he played on ours when he was in prison, then we can make him pay; maybe even involving that pretty little girlfriend of his," Big D snickered, shifting his arms out in front of him, allowing his array of tattoos on his arm display.

"I think we start off small; make him sweat and keep him guessing," the scruffy ex-criminal suggested.

The two criminals snickered and agreed on their plan of attack.

"Tomorrow, we go back to that house and start this game," Big D threatened.