Forbidden Blood (22 page)

Vaughn welcomed the distraction, hoping his father would forget about this conversation.

His father pointed his finger at Vaughn. “This isn’t over.”

So much for hoping.

Vance then turned to Uncle Gerald.
“You are twenty minutes late. I expect you had something important to do.”

Uncle Gerald
smiled, but it didn’t appear sincere. “I swear to
you, I was doing something very important.”

“
Would you care to share with the rest of the group?”

“
Oh no, I’m not ready yet. Don’t worry though. You’ll be surprised.”

His father eyed
his uncle suspiciously. “Okay. I’ll let it go—for now.”

He motioned with his head, and Uncle Gerald sat off to the side.

Vaughn could understand why his father had reservations about his younger cousin. When they were kids, Uncle Gerald had resented Vance for being the firstborn grandson. Uncle Gerald had explained it was part of being young, and he no longer felt that way, but there continued to be something off about him. Vaughn never understood how the two of them came from the same grandparents.

Vance
had tried to include his only cousin into the group by making him a business partner, but Vance still owned more of L & L Construction than Uncle Gerald. Despite the fact that Vance had gone out of his way to keep the family together, Uncle Gerald still seemed a little bitter at times. Lately, though, he seemed to be in a better mood. Maybe he’d finally gotten laid, and his surprise was going to be introducing some female to the family.

Uncle Gerald had a teenage son, but he had never been serious with his son
’s mother. Due to the lack of babies in his family, her pregnancy had come as a complete shock. However, no one had blamed him for avoiding the woman. The mother was…different. She had primary custody of Brent, their son. Her hands off approach to parenting resulted in a kid who was kind of brat. Although, Uncle Gerald didn’t exactly pick up the slack when it was his turn to have his son. Even though the kid was family, Vaughn hoped Brent stayed far away from the family business.

The meeting resumed, and the discussion turned to a big project coming up in Bloomington, but they were interrupted when Payton
rushed through the door.

“
Sorry I didn’t knock, Daddy, but it’s important.” She leaned over and rested her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. She must have run all the way upstairs.

“
What’s wrong, Kitten?”

She held up a finger
, and Vaughn smiled. It was just like his sister to burst in and make everyone wait instead of being ready before she walked in.

She stood and took a deep breath.
“Okay. Daddy, I was out shopping at the outlet mall up in Albertville, and I saw six Lowells there. They weren’t all together in one group though. Don’t you think that’s odd?”

The Lowells previously owned half of L & L Construction. The company
had been started by Vance’s father and Dwyer Lowell’s father. When they had first opened shop, they had run the business out of a shed until it had grown into a large business. The Llewelyns and Lowells had gotten along for years without any problems, but about ten years ago, something had started to go wrong. The main problem had been the shoddy work completed by the employees hired by Dwyer. They had begun to lose customers, jobs, and money due to the poor feedback. After several years, it had come down to family or them, and the Llewelyns had basically run the Lowells out of town.

The last
the Llewelyns had heard, the Lowells had scattered themselves all over rural Minnesota. Dwyer still owned shares in the company, allowing him to receive some money to live on. However, being forced to walk away from the business must have hurt Dwyer’s pride. Since Dwyer retained the shares, the name remained L & L Construction. Also, Vaughn’s dad hadn’t wanted anyone to think they were trying to trick customers into obtaining their business by changing the company name.

Now,
his father and he were forced to question what a bunch of Lowells were doing back in the city. Albertville lay toward the outskirts of Minneapolis suburbs, so the Lowells were barely in their territory. So, the Llewelyns had to wonder if the Lowells were just visiting and doing some shopping or if they were up to something else. If they were just visiting, why had they appeared to be hiding on the outskirts? And why were there so many of them? It was definitely suspicious.

“
Females or males?” Vance asked.

“
All males, Daddy. What would they be doing there? Shopping with no women?”

“
That, my daughter, is a great question. Thank you, Payton, for informing us. You’re excused now.”

Payton
’s excitement left her, and her face fell. He knew it upset her that their father wouldn’t let her be a part of the meeting, especially when she was the one who had brought them the news. But she submitted and left the room quietly.

Their father wasn
’t being mean on purpose. He was just old-fashioned. Yes, he had females working for him, but they weren’t his only daughter. And their mother was nothing like Payton. She didn’t want anything to do with the business or meetings. She would rather be quilting, knitting, or reading. But she was fierce in her own way. Vaughn had once seen her drag a kid off by his ear after he’d hit Payton when she was young. No one messed with Lilith Llewelyn’s family. Plus, she had to be strong to be married to Vance Llewelyn.

Vaughn wondered what he would do one day when he
took over. Would he be like his dad or have a more modern approach? Would Naya want to be included in the business? Or would she rather sit back and not be involved? She was a lady, but he believed she would want a say in things. Plus, she was smart with a college education. She would probably have some good ideas as his partner.

Shit. What the hell am I doing?

His thoughts had turned toward Naya again. No matter how many times he’d told himself that it was over and she would be married to someone else soon, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. An inner part of himself said they were supposed to be together, and it wasn’t ready to let her go.

He told himself to focus on the meeting. He didn
’t want his father to catch him tuned out again. Once had embarrassed him enough. He hoped when they were done here, his father would let the whole thing go.

“
So, it’s decided. We’ll send a couple of you out to see if anything is going on. Until they do something threatening, we’ll leave them alone. In fact, when you go there, try to remain hidden. Do not confront them. Understand?” Vance said.

Everyone nodded.

“Okay,” Vance said, “on to the next item on the list. I received a call from Carla Thompson. Has anyone heard anything about her boy?”

Carla
’s son, Max, was fifteen years old, and he’d gone missing in May, almost four months ago. He had stayed after school to talk with some friends. Then, he’d headed home after saying he was going to be late. It was the last anyone had seen of him. None of his friends had heard from him, and all his typical local hangouts had been checked. The local police had no leads either. There had been no sign of him. It was as if he no longer existed.

“
No, boss. We still ask around and make phone calls all the time, but no one has heard from him,” Phoenix said.

The group of them
were doing everything they could to help the family, but they hadn’t discovered anything new. The longer he was out there, the harder it would be to find him.

“
Have you checked all the shelters?” Vance asked.

“
Yes. We’ve checked every shelter and hospital we could find in the area. We have nothing,” Vaughn said. “I’m sorry, Dad. I wish we had more for Mrs. Thompson, but we’re stuck.”

“
Damn it.” His father ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t want to tell his mother that we don’t have any news. She’s heartbroken as it is.”

They all sat there and wished they had more to offer.
No one wanted to tell a mother that she has to eventually stop looking and accept that her son might never come home.

His father rubbed his temples.
“Well, don’t give up.”

There was a rounding chorus of
, “We won’t, boss.”

The meeting broke up soon after. Everyone filed out the door with Vaughn
following close behind, but then his father grabbed his arm.

“
Stay a minute, will you, son?”

Shit.
“Yeah, okay.”

“
Sit down.”

Vaughn obeyed and attempted to tamp down his irritation.

“About what Zane said—”

“
Dad, I already told you it’s over. Can we just—”

His father held up his hand.
“You will listen to me for a minute. Then, you may talk. If there is some girl, your mother and I would like to meet her. You don’t have to keep her away from us. She’s going to meet the family sooner or later. We’ll have to find out whether or not…we get along with each other.

“
I know we’ve never really talked about you and the women you’ve associated with before, but I think the reason is your mother and I already knew the girls you dated in the past. As far as the females we haven’t met are concerned, is it because you’re worried about introducing us to each other? Do you think we wouldn’t be accepting of others? I don’t want you to be worried about us meeting her, especially if you’re serious and really care about her.”

“
I do like her—a lot. But it really is over.” This time, Vaughn held up his hand. “And it’s not because of you and Mom or our family…or because she doesn’t like me. Some things in her personal life prevent her from dating me. She’s not happy about the situation either.” He shrugged. “But what can you do?”

“
Well, I’m sorry, son. Are you okay?”

“
I’ll be fine.” Vaughn met his father’s eyes. “Do you think you’d be open to someone from the outside?”

“
First, don’t feel like you have to wait for me to ask you about stuff. You can come to me anytime. Second, I would like to think your mother and I would give anyone a chance. Just because we usually stick with what we know doesn’t mean we have to. I’m not a monster. I want my only son to be happy.”

Vaughn smiled.
“Thanks, Dad. I appreciate it. I promise, if I need to talk, I won’t hesitate.”

His father returned his grin and patted his shoulder.
“Good. Now, go and find Zane.”

Vaughn smiled as he stood
. He walked to the door but then paused before exiting. “See ya, Dad.”

“
Bye, son.”

As
Vaughn walked down the stairs and out of the house, he felt good about his relationship with his father. However, it was also bittersweet to know his parents would have tried to accept Naya, but they would never get the chance. Maybe once he found Zane and kicked his ass, Vaughn would feel better. He smiled at the thought.

N
AYA SAT ON the couch, watching TV. Lately, she’d been feeling tired and unmotivated to do anything.