Page 3 of Gibb

“Hang on, Thad. They’re going to bring you something for pain.” He said that he couldn’t leave his sisters. Mr. Gibb smiled at him. “I won’t leave them. Nor you. You just let them give you something for the pain then you’ll be able to rest. They’re going to take you up to surgery in a few minutes to clean up that wound and make sure that the infection is taken care of. You’re going to be just fine. I promise you.”

He didn’t want to question him about how he was going to make that happen. But he was worried. As soon as the nurse came in, she said that she was going to start an IV on him and he’d get something for the pain. Almost as soon as she told him he was going to feel a pinch, it was all over his body, this feeling of being without pain. Then she told him that he was going to feel drowsy but not to fight it. Thad thought that it was the most amazing thing in the world when she told him to close his eyes.

When he woke up, he was in a different room. There were three beds in the room, his sisters were in them sleeping and a big chair. He looked around the room, not entirely sure how he’d gotten in here, when he saw Mr. Gibb sitting in the chair next to his bed.

“I can talk to you like this if you want. Belle told me that you guys can talk to each other through a link as well. This way, we won’t wake them. They’re just as exhausted as you are.”Thad asked him how he’d gotten in here.“Your surgery went fine. You’re on the mend now, and once the infection is out of your body, they’ll send us home. The doctor said you’d need to stay here for a couple of days before he was ready to release you because of the infection. But you’re going to be just fine.”

Again, the urge to cry rolled over him. Mr. Gibb sat up in the chair more and took his hand into his. He told him he was all right to be brave sometimes, but now he only needed to get well.

“Your mom is doing better, too. They removed the bullets, and she’s resting. In the morning, they’re going to put her into a room where you guys can go and see her. She might not be awake fully, but she’ll be here for a few more days longer than you will be.”He asked where they were going to be staying.“I have a big house on my family’s land that you and your sisters will be able to go to. My family lives on a mountain that has been in our family for generations. I do want to talk to you about something. Do you know what a shifter is?”

“Yes.”He looked at the big man.“You’re one, aren’t you? All of your family—that’s why Mr. Mark said you were all magical. You’re a shifter, too. That means that you’re super strong, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does. I’m a bear. A black bear. All of my brothers are. The reason that I’m asking you about this is that your mom is my mate. Do you know what that means?”He nodded, then shook his head.“She and I are like husband and wife. But I want you to know that I won’t ever harm her. Nor will I allow someone else to hurt her, either. My entire family will protect you all with their lives. And as far as I’m concerned, you three are my children, and I will die before I let anyone or anything hurt you.”

“Do you think that someone will—my uncle, Dave? He’ll come after us again, won’t he? He thinks that we should belong to him. He said that mom is really stupid and won’t raise us right. He just wants what we can do. He scares us, Mr. Gibb.”Mr. Gibb nodded.Then told him what his uncle had been thinking about for the last several weeks.“He won’t give up until he gets killed or he kills one of us. You think he’ll be like that with Mom, too? Killing her off even though she’s his little sister?”

“He nearly did it when he shot her today. But it’s all about money, Especially free money coming to him with you guys helping will make everyone greedy. Greedy men and women will go to great links, even killing someone who is related to them to get what they think they need or deserve. I want you to know that I’d never ask you to do that for me. No one else will, either. I know I keep saying this. But I do promise you.”Thad said that for helping them with keeping them safe, they’d do that for him. No problem.“I wouldn’t ask you. I have a great deal of money, Thad. And in saying that, you and your family do as well. If Dave won every horse race from now until he’s dead, he’d not have nearly as much money as I do. I’m a very wealthy man. As are all my brothers and their families. We don’t need to cheat to have more. We have plenty enough as it is.”

“Mom said we don’t have two pennies to rub together.” He smiled at him and told him that she wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.“You don’t know my mom. She worries about everything. Even before we started running, we had some money. But she’d worry about a rainy day coming around. Sheesh, women are strange, don’t you think?”

“I’m not going to answer that. If your mom were to hear us talking about her like this, she’d brain us both, I think.”Thad laughed. It felt good. Also like a weight as big as him had been taken off him.“All right, buddy. You need to get some rest. We’re all going to be staying here until you can go home with us. My sisters-in-law are taking care that your rooms are set up nicely, and you have clothing to wear for the next few days. After that, we’ll be playing it by ear until your mom is awake.”

Thad was asked if he wanted pain meds from the nurse when she came in. It was Belle who answered for him that he did. Then she and Maria climbed into the bed with him, and they snuggled up. Like they’d been doing since this nightmare began. Thad had never been so happy about having someone looking over them as he was right now. He thought they might be all right with Mr. Gibb and his brothers.

Chapter 2

Dave didn’t mind being in the jail cell. So far, he’d been able to get his wounds taken care of and a couple of nice meals. They weren’t anything that he would have ordered for himself, but they filled the void until he got out of there. And he would, too. It was just a matter of time. Also, it afforded him time to plot and plan the demise of Maddy.

What had gotten him arrested this time was while he’d been trying to find a way to kill his sister, he’d decided that he’d pull a fire alarm at the hospital where she’d been at. That was, in part, why he was currently sitting in a cell. But some stupid bitch calling herself a big witch or something had fucked that over for him. Every single time—no matter where it was either—that he touched the alarm, he’d be zapped across the room where he’d hit his head. He still had a headache, but at least the cops were making sure that he wasn’t in too much pain.

Dave laid back on his cot and thought about the money that he’d won by just having the brats for a few hours. The little shits were special, and he had planned on using them until they were used up. The race tracks were his, he’d thought. Every time he placed a bet, he’d win. Even on the other side bets that he’d do with other people. Like the time that the horses came in. Christ, he’d been rolling in the dough.

But it was all gone now. Every last penny was spent because he never dreamed that someone would come and take his meal ticket from him. Especially his sister. He thought for sure she’d not miss them at all. They were whiney little fuckers. However, she went and called the police on him. Damned fucking bitch. It didn’t even last him a week with all the things that he’d needed to buy and take care of.

Locking the kids in the basement with just enough food and water to keep them living, he’d gone out to dinner with a bunch of his buddies—him buying, of course. Only to come home to find that not only were they not in the basement anymore but that the police had been waiting on him. Christ, it had taken some fast talking and what was left of his cash to get out of that one.

Then he’d lost his sister, too. Maddy wasn’t all that smart. He’d never thought so. At least she’d been able to birth some special kids. But she was stupid as the day was long with them kids being around her all the time. She’d had a great money maker right there in her possession—three of them, as a matter of fact, and she never once used them. They could have been the richest people in the whole of the world, and she was washing dishes for a living. If that wasn’t bad enough, she had her kids looking in dumpsters for shit to eat, too. Christ, she really was about the dumbest person alive.

“Mr. Farley, you have a visitor. They want to have a meeting with you in a room here on the premises. Are you all right with that?” He asked who it was. “You want me to send them home, or do you want to talk to them? I’m to keep you informed, not wipe your nose when you need it.”

He didn’t know where this man’s hostility was coming from. Up until just now, they’d been nice to him. Telling the officer that he’d meet the person in a room, he was told to stand back from the bars while he opened the door. As it turned out, he was also waiting for four more officers to come down the hall, too. Something was off, and he wasn’t sure what was going on. But he knew that he’d find out.

Once he was in the little room, he was handcuffed, something that he’d not been before and also cuffed to the table and floor. The table, he noticed, was screwed down, and he’d bet anything that even if he had the strength of fifty men, he’d not be able to move it. Dave was still thinking about it when four men in suits came into the room with him.

“Mr. David Winslow Farley, I presume?” He said that was him. “Good. My name is Federal Officer Jacob Winchester. I’m here to make you aware of the things that are going on with your case. You are being recorded with a camera that is pointed directly at you. Also, each of us here has a camera on us that not only has visual but audio as well. You will sign this paperwork that states that you’ve been made aware of these things.” He signed his name just where he was told.

The man whipped the paperwork out from under his hand and looked it over. Like he’d not ever seen it before. When he seemed satisfied, he had one of the other men with him sign, too. Then he put it in a briefcase that he’d brought in with him. When he just sat there. Dave decided he had a few questions of his own to ask.

“What case is this about? If this is about my sister’s kids, I want you to know that I’m going to be taking them from her again. They have something that I want. And even if I have to kill her, I’ll do it to get them.” He’d forgotten that the big witch had told him that he wouldn’t be able to lie anymore to anyone, so he clamped his mouth tightly shut. The man, Winchester, just stared at him.

“You want to tell me what it is you think that they owe you? They’re only ten years old, Mr. Farley. I doubt that they would be owing you money.” Dave shook his head. Hard enough that it hurt. “Oh, why not? This could be fun for us. I mean…you know what, I’m going to ask you questions, and if I have to get Amelia here to make you talk, I will. What do you think the kids owe you? You’ll tell me now.”

He fought hard on not opening his mouth. His jaws were hurting; he had them clinched so badly. But once he started talking, because really, he’d not had a choice, he began telling him just what he thought the kids owed him.

“They have this freaky ability that I don’t understand. But I do know that I can use it to make myself rich as Midas. And I want that, too. To be the richest man in the world. They made me a wad of cash before, but I spent it stupidly. I know that now. Please? Please don’t ask me anything else. I beg of you. I can’t lie anymore.” Instead of letting him go back to his cell and forget about this, the officer asked him how that worked with the brats. Crying now, he answered him. “They can see which horse is going to win and by how much, even down to the second. I tried them on a little bit of lottery numbers, too, and they got them all, even the extra ones. I couldn’t get them to tell me the big lottery numbers. The little fuckers. I’ll get them to do that even if I have to kill one of them to make them. They’ll see things my way once I start hurting the others. You watch—don’t do this to me. This isn’t right at all. It’s not fair.”

“Like we care what you think is fair or not. Now. We’re getting somewhere now. Why did you kill your parents?” The Fed actually smiled at him. “You’re going to be able to solve a lot of open cases for us if I don’t miss my bet. I’m going to have to thank Agent Cross for her help on this.”

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