Chapter 36

Holden

       I was honestly a bit surprised when Calvin said he would be more than happy to help us take down Roman. I didn't even have to explain why. All I had to say was, "We need help exposing Cassidy's brother."

       Then again, he already knew everything that Roman was doing. Everyone was right to call Calvin the eye of Spruceworth. I had no idea how he was able to figure out all these things but right now, it didn't matter. All that mattered was Roman being exposed and arrested.

       We still didn't know exactly how to do it, but we were all trying to think of something. Except me. I wasn't that great of thinking.

       Shaw and I were sitting at the table near the kitchen, eating the breakfast he made when his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller id before answering it. "Hey, Dad... No. Absolutely not. We said that Calvin is going to be the last person to help us out. I don't want to drag anyone else through this mess."

       Shaw did have a point. As much as it might make things easier to have more people trying to expose Roman, it was also better having less people so Roman wouldn't figure anything out.

       "No, Dad, I don't care if whoever wants to help are master schemers," Shaw said. "We're not bringing anyone else into this... Do you ever take no for an answer? Alright, fine, who are they?" Shaw's eyes immediately widened at the response. "Are you kidding?! They're seventeen! We're not bringing the twins in it!"

       I looked at Shaw with furrowed eyebrows, hoping that Jaime wasn't talking about bringing my brothers into it. Shaw looked at me and must have known what I was thinking, so he shook his head. Okay, good.

       There was a knock on the doorbell and since Shaw was on the phone, I got up to answer it. I opened the door, never expecting to see Kendra standing there with the kids standing by her.

       "Holden!" Mercy said before she and her brothers rushed over to give me a hug, and I couldn't help but smiled. I hadn't seen them since the wedding and I missed them so much.

       "What are they doing here?" I asked Kendra.

       "I have to head into work and my dad is working so he can't watch them," Kendra said. "Normally I wouldn't bring them here, but I don't have any other choice."

       And here I was thinking Kendra had a change of heart and was willing to let the kids see Shaw regularly now.

       "You know he hasn't done... that in a while now, right?" I asked. 

       "And how long is that?" Kendra asked. "Two days?"

       "Ten," I replied. 

       "Well, let's hope it stays that way," Kendra said before leaving, so I closed the door with a sigh.

       "Dad!" Lucian and Castiel said in unison before all three kids rushed over to Shaw.

       Shaw's face immediately brightened when he saw his kids, and I honestly didn't think I had seen him so happy in a long time. "Alright, Dad, fine," he said in his cell phone. "You're not going to take no for an answer anyway. I have to go." Shaw hung up his phone before giving all of his kids a hug. "Oh, I've missed you three so much."

       "We missed you too," Castiel said. "Why won't Mommy let us see you?"

       Shaw sighed. "Because, as much as I want to, I'm just going through a rough time right now. But I promise it will be all better soon and you'll be able to spend the night here again. Now why don't you three watch TV while Holden and I finish our breakfast? Then we'll take you out somewhere."

       "Okay!" they all said before going to the living room. 

       I turned on the TV for them and put on their favourite channel before heading back to the table and sitting down. "Who exactly did your dad want joining?" I asked in a voice quiet enough for only Shaw to hear. "I thought he was talking about Julian and Noah because they're the only seventeen year old twins I know."

       "My cousins," Shaw said. "My dad's sister and her husband just moved to Spruceworth yesterday with six of their children. The two twins, Letizia and Ender, would honestly be a great help but I don't want anyone else to be dragged into it."

       "Yeah, I get what you mean," I said. "I just hope we could get this done and over with so we don't drag anyone else down, and so Roman could actually be arrested for what he did."

       "Speaking of, I might get arrested for killing my sister for going on a date with him," Shaw said. "How could she believe him over her own brother?"

        I shrugged. "Roman's good at manipulating people."

       Shaw and I finished eating our breakfast, and the kids said they wanted to go to the park so that was where he headed. One of the things I hated about going outside was the possibility of running into Roman since he lived in the village. I got used to it but I really didn't want Mercy to see him.

       As soon as we got to the park, Shaw and I sat down on one of the benches while Mercy and Lucian headed to the swings and Castiel went to the slide. Castiel ended up tripping on his way up, but then he laughed and continued on with his day.

       "Did Kendra say anything about me seeing the kids more regularly?" Shaw asked. "And why did she drop them off in the first place?"

       "She has to go into work and her dad couldn't babysit," I said. "I told her that you've been sober for ten days, and all she said was she hoped it stayed that way. I do think she'll let you start seeing them more, though. You haven't really had any cravings in a while."

       "Oh, trust me, I have," Shaw said. "I've just been trying really hard to fight it. It helps that I've been occupied with this Roman drama. I really hope we can expose him soon because I don't know how much longer I can take of him."

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peep at the new characters 👀👀

lol

AND EVEN MORE CHARACTERS SOON TO COME WOOT. CAN'T WAIT TO SHOVEL ROMAN PERSONALLY 

i mean what