Chapter Two (Part Three)

"I—I heard y—you were in town so I w—was h—hoping to t—talk to you." The weather had flushed Kaiden's face and caused his eyes to tear up, his nose running as his thighs burned from the nighttime chill. All liquids that left his face froze almost immediately. "It's r—really important."

Alexander opened the door and then scooched down to the next seat. "Get in. You'll freeze out there."

Kaiden was aware of the gazes of the other three people in the car as he settled into the family head's former seat, the leather mercifully warm. A man, a woman, and a girl around Kaiden's age. Judging by the brands of their jackets and the company they were keeping, this was no ordinary family. Were they an influential branch of the Collins line?

"Here," said the girl, whose straightened hair was honey-brown beneath a pair of fluffy white earmuffs. "You can have the pack."

Kaiden accepted the tissues that she proffered and quickly used a few, which he then placed in a garbage bin that his great uncle signaled to.

"Thank you," he said to the girl. "And you too, Uncle."

Alexander acknowledged him with a light nod and then hit a button on the armrest by his side. "Stanley, turn us back around and have another driver sent over in ten minutes. You'll be escorting the Levesque family to the event as planned."

An adjacent speaker sounded the response. "Yes, sir."

"What happened to you?" asked the girl, who examined his face with curious concern. "Did someone hit you?"

Her mother put a hand on her lap, a discreet signal to stop talking.

Mr. Levesque stared unabashedly at Kaiden, as if he were looking at an interesting species that he'd never seen before. "When you said that he was Michael's son, did you mean Mikey?"

"Yeah, this is his son."

"I don't mean to snoop, it's just that I didn't know that he had any kids. This is...wow." He leaned in and extended a leather-gloved hand toward Kaiden. "Me and your dad go way back. We were best friends when we were your age."

"You...your name wouldn't happen to be Will, would it?"

The family showed slight signs of surprise at his words, though there wasn't any change in Alexander's expression.

"I go by Bill now, but yes. Did your dad happen to mention me?"

Although Kaiden had only been nine when his dad had passed away, he still had plenty of memories with the man. His parents had taken him camping every summer throughout most of his childhood, a tradition that had died with his father. One thing that he always remembered was how his dad would often bring up an old friend whenever they were in the midst of one camping activity or another.

"He used to take me camping along the Great Lakes back when I was little. He'd always bring you up whenever we went into the creeks to catch frogs, or whenever we climbed up the dunes or kayaked or fished." Against all odds, the ghost of a smile found its way onto his face. "If I had a nickel for every time I heard how easily you could have caught a fish or netted a frog, or done this or done that, I'd be the richest person in this car."

Mr. Levesque looked oddly affected as he and his wife gave polite chuckles, which died down only to be replaced by the sound of salt crunching beneath the slowing tires. "I'm glad to know he still thought of me. We had a pretty bad argument the last time we saw each other. I never got the chance to apologize to him."

The car had been stopped for a few moments when Alexander checked his watch and then gave his hands a light clap. "I'm sorry to be the one to say this, but if you don't leave now then you'll be late. At least one of us has to be there to give the opening address, and as you can see, something's come up on my end. Stanley will bring you to the arena and I shouldn't be too far behind. I hope that you understand."

The Levesque couple assured him that there was no offense, their daughter looking at Kaiden in concern as he followed his uncle out of the vehicle.

"It was nice to meet you, young man."

"My name's Kaiden," he said, dipping his head back into the vehicle. "It was nice to meet you all." He looked at the girl and thanked her for the tissues, and then gave Mr. Levesque an earnest stare. "Oh, and knowing my dad, he probably forgave you a few days after your fight. He told me to call you Uncle Will if we ever met, and I don't think he'd have said that if he was mad at you."

He wished that he could have stayed in the car with the Levesque family, followed them to whatever event they were going to and then head back to their house with them after. In a better world, that would have been an option. His reality, however, was that of a prisoner in the midst of a daring escape, or at least that's how he saw it. He didn't want to risk angering the family head by saying something that the man wouldn't want people outside of the family to hear, and the Levesque's were still strangers. After being treated so terribly by his blood relatives, he wasn't about to roll the dice on receiving help from his dead father's estranged friend.

He followed Alexander up the steps to the entrance of the compound's main manor, where they were received by two modest maids.

"Get him some tea," said Alexander as he undid his jacket and handed it to the closest woman. "We're just waiting for another ride, so wheel it out on a trey."

His great uncle disappeared up one of the twin staircases that mirrored one another from either side of the entrance hall in a design similar to a Victorian mansion's grand vestibule.

One of the maids brought Kaiden a cup of hot tea, served from an aluminum trolley that carried a beautiful set of china.

His uncle took a while to return, but when he did it was with a thick manila envelope in hand, and also a spare jacket, a tuque, and some leather gloves lined with wool.

"Here," said Alexander, who handed him the winter gear before dismissing the maids. "Those bruises, was it your grandfather?"

"And one of my cousins."

"How many times since you've been here?"

"A few times a week, since day one. They say they'll have me arrested if I resist. You're the only one in the family who's been nice to me, and I didn't know who else I could turn to. When I heard you were here, I escaped from a window and came as quickly as I could."

"Escaped?" Alexander pinched his tear ducts out of frustration. "And here I thought my brother couldn't stoop any lower. Just despicable."

"I—I want to leave. I don't care if I have to go live in a homeless shelter or in a foster home or something, just please. Please...help me get out of here!"

Their ride arrived a few moments after his desperate plea, another limousine of the same model as the last one. Kaiden was allowed to bring his tea cup along with him, now wearing a heavy coat made of some high-end thermal material.

Once the vehicle started moving, Alexander checked his watch with a keen eye. "Your birthday is less than two hours away, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's—how did you know that?"

"I'm sure you know by now that your grandfather is far from being a good person. That being the case, you should have guessed that he had an ulterior motive in taking you in."

"He's after the money my father left me." Kaiden had no idea about the details of his apparent inheritance, but he spoke as if he did.

Alexander finally allowed a fraction of surprise to visit his face for a fleeting moment. "Yes, he is. Not only him, but I'm sure a lot of those vultures had their eyes on you." He slapped the manila folder down on the seat between them, for they sat facing the same direction. "You should know that they won't leave you alone even if you manage to leave the country, let alone this estate. Our family owns a lot of large corporations, of which your dad owned a decent amount of stock. Enough to give any number of people within the family the status of majority shareholders."

"I don't even care about all that. I just want to live a peaceful life. I just want things to be like they used to."

"Like it or not, you're a part of the Collins family, so you're destined to have to deal with our politics. The only reason nobody's made their move on you is because I've been in charge of your inheritance since your mother passed away. Nobody in the family would risk offending me over this, at least not directly, only I didn't think that my brother was so stupid as to think that he could sway you with fear. I'm truly sorry for that."

Kaiden wanted to tell him that it was fine, but his voice refused to work.

"Once you turn sixteen, you'll be in charge of your own affairs. When that happens, they'll track you down and force you to sign over your fortune under duress. Once they get what they're after, they'll probably kill you. I know that this is a lot to take in, but I'm just being honest."