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He walked down the hallway, making the call to the others to send help. With Mardi Gras happening a few streets away, no one would pay attention to a moving truck emptying a storage unit. While they waited, the men pulled each of the items from the unit while Julia and Sage snapped photographs and logged the items into their phones.
When Fitz and Travis showed up, helping to load all the items, they stood back to see the full truck.
“All of this was stolen,” said Sage. “I have no idea where the diamonds came from, but all of this belongs to someone else, and I want to get it back to its rightful owners.”
“We will, baby. I promise.” Sage turned quickly, staring up at him.
“I come from them, Mike. Thieves. Liars. Cheats. I come from them,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“You are not them, Sage. You’re you. We don’t get to choose our parents. Some of us are damn lucky, and we know it. Others, not so much. But who you are is up to you. Not them.”
“You might hate me for this one day,” she said, shaking her head.
“If he does, I’ll kick his ass,” said Joseph. “That’s not who we are as a family, Sage. Trust me in this. You’re doing the right thing, which is what we would all do. You’re not your parents. Your granny left you a great burden, but she was old and unsure of how to handle it herself. We can help you. You’re not alone.”
“He’s right, sweetie,” said Julia. “We’re your family now. All of us.” She looked at the others around her. Noah, Fitz, Trevor. All nodded their heads at her. Looking back at the truck, she let out a long, slow breath.
“Alright, then. Let’s figure out who all of this belongs to.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Katrina looked out the window of her cottage, seeing Sage walking slowly, deep in thought. Her head was down, the wind at her back as she folded her arms around herself to block the cold. Turning to Nathan, she nodded for him to come and look.
“She’s hurting,” said Katrina. “Her parents betrayed her, and in many ways, so did her granny. That’s something that will be hard for her to reconcile. I don’t want her to think that she’s alone. Maybe I should go speak with her.”
“Let me,” he smiled, kissing his wife’s forehead. “Maybe I’ll have the magic juice of my famous father, Trak Redhawk.”
“You already have the magic juice,” smirked Katrina. “It’s why I love you so much.” Nathan grabbed his jacket, then, seeing Sage without one, grabbed a blanket from the back of the sofa as well. Before he walked out the door, he turned with a smile to Katrina.
“You love me so much because I’m outstanding in bed.” She could only laugh as he left her in the cottage, following the lost girl.
Sage was pacing up and down the long, tree-lined drive, not even looking where she was going. Of course, there were no vehicles that endangered her, and there was no way for her to get hurt, but still, she felt lost. Lost and betrayed by her own family.
“Hi,” said Nathan, walking beside her.
“Oh, Mr. Redhawk. Hi.”
“It’s just Nathan,” he smirked. “I don’t even think my father goes by Mr. Redhawk. You look like you have a lot on your mind.” She nodded, nibbling on her lower lip as he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders.
“Thank you for this,” she said, gripping the edges of the blanket. “Did your brother tell you what we found?”
“He did. It has nothing to do with you, Sage. You are not responsible for your parents’ actions.”
“But someone is. They’re gone, and I’m here. I have to take responsibility for this.”
“And you will, from the perspective of doing what’s right. You’ll return everything to its rightful owner and do what’s right, even though they did not. We’re going to help you with that. But their actions are not yours.”
“Easy for you to say. You have amazing parents,” she smirked.
“I do. But Katrina didn’t.” Sage stared at him, frowning. She’d met Miguel and thought he was charming and wonderful. “When Katrina was a child, Miguel was dealing in drugs. Heavily. He was the head of the largest drug cartel in Mexico and Central America.”
“I had no idea.”
“Yep,” nodded Nathan. “His brother got addicted to the very drugs he was selling and went completely off the rails. He kidnapped Ajei, Luke’s wife. She was just a child at the time, but they were all terrified of what he might do to her. My father, and the others on the original team, saved her. But that’s when Miguel knew he had a problem.”
“What did he do?” asked Sage, turning to stare up at the older man.
“He was trying to find his brother, but instead, his brother found him. His brother and his men killed his wife, tossing her from a second-floor balcony. Then, he kidnapped Katrina and left Miguel for dead. His intentions were to sell Katrina to a Russian child trafficker. It was several days before Miguel woke and contacted our team to help.”
