Book Two: Chapter Thirteen


    Ss fled the board room practically hysterical at how long it had taken for them to reach their


    consensus about thepany’s projected profits for the next quarter. None of it mattered when Ava


    and Alexis were in trouble. Thomas met him as he exited and quickly fell into step.


    “What’s the situation? Where are they?” Ss demanded.


    Thomas had sent him a short text warning him, Carlisle knows. While they had always been business


    rivals there was only one reason for such a message. Emerson had discovered Ava and the children.


    As soon as he received it Ss had been ready to storm out of the meeting and straight to Emerson’s


    office to demand them back. Nothing could stop him from iming his family.


    Only Thomas could sessfully hold him back with a timely update that only Ava and Alexis had been


    summoned meaning the old man didn’t know or care about the boys. Ss wasn’t certain which but had


    been convinced to wait for more information.


    “She and the girl arrived a few minutes ago and the brothers are on their way.”


    Ss sucked in a relieved breath. Thomas had been sending him updates as the meeting dragged on


    keeping him abreast of the situation though it felt like torture. What did he care about quarterly reports


    and projected earnings when Ava was in trouble?


    “Are they all right?”


    “Well, Lexi seems fine but I think her mother had quite a scare. Mike and Don said she hasn’t spoken a


    word since calling the school. She may be in shock.”


    Ss gritted his teeth. He supposed her reaction was to be expected. After ten years her father


    suddenly retrieved her and Alexis without warning. He wasn’t certain what happened inside the Carlisle


    office but Emerson was known to be a harsh taskmaster and had thrown out his own daughter without


    a trace of remorse.


    After experiencing that Ava now unexpectedly found herself swept up by her father’s greatest rival and


    the father of her children. A man viewed even more ruthless than her father. Ss couldn’t me her


    for being apprehensive but he didn’t want her to be afraid of him. That was why he hesitated to


    approach her in the first ce. He wanted her to know she was safe and he wouldn’t let anyone hurt


    her.


    Reaching his office he hesitated before entering. Mike and Don stood near the door nodding to him as


    he stepped inside. Alexis sat on the couch contentedly munching on a muffin. The coffee table was


    lookedpletely undisturbed.


    Ss’s gaze scanned the room before finally finding Ava. She stood at the window overlooking the city


    with a pensive look on her face. Still wearing her jacket and waitress uniform she hugged herself


    rubbing her arms as if fending off a chill. Ss frowned. Was she cold? He did keep the office at a


    steady sixty-two degrees. Perhaps that was too cold for her. Should he offer to turn up the heat or just


    order it to be done?


    He tried to shake the second guesses intruding into his thoughts. His hesitation nearly cost him


    everything. If he had approached sooner he could have safely absconded them to one of his properties


    well out of Emerson’s reach. Ss took a deep breath before crossing the room. His heart hammered in


    his head as he drew near the woman who upied his mind for so long. She wasn’t a dream. She was


    really here.


    “Ava.”


    She flinched at his voice and turned. Her green eyes were wide with fear and uncertainty. She didn’t


    know what he wanted or how she would escape his wrath. What could she even say to him?


    But the look that met hers was not what she expected. His gaze was steady but concern lined his face


    with a deep frown. There was no anger that she could detect. In fact he almost seemed afraid of her.


    But why? He held all the power. She had nothing that couldpare and no way to stop him if he


    insisted on taking the kids away from her just as her father had.


    “Ava, are you all right? Did he hurt you?” Ss asked stirring her from her thoughts.


    “…N-no. He didn’t.” She shook her head.


    “Lucky for him then. If he had…” Ss let his words and thoughts fall silent not wanting to continue less


    he scare her. “I’m sorry.”


    “W-what?” Ava asked startled by his sudden confession. “W-why would you…”


    “I should have been there. I should never have allowed him to get that close to you. I won’t let it happen


    again.”


    Ava opened her mouth only to snap it shut without a word. That was not something she expected. She


    studied him more closely. Why did he look like a child begging for forgiveness?


    “Ava I…”


    “Lexi!”


    They turned as Sean and Theo suddenly barged in fresh from school. Theo was still lugging her


    backpack which he tossed into a chair along with his own before he and his brother leapt on the couch


    to embrace their sister.


    “Jeez, you dorks,” Alexisughed. “You act like I’ve been gone for a week. It’s only been like an hour.”


    “Yeah an hour since you were held hostage by a total perv!” Theo dered. “That old man is going to


    pay big time.”


    “Yeah, today was only step one,” Sean agreed. “Next time we’ll be better prepared. We’ll shut the


    whole ce down.”


    “It’s not going to be easy now that we yed our hand though.”


    “Don’t worry about it. I got so many backdoors into that ce. It’s practically Swiss cheese,” Sean


    shrugged grabbing a soda off the table. “Today was just for fun beside most of it was done by other


    hackers. They’ll never pin it on us.”


    Alexis nodded. Leave it to Sean to n ahead. Her knowledge ofputer hacking was limited though


    she trusted his abilities. Employing other hackers to create a distraction was a smart move and it was


    unlikely anyone would notice their activity though the smokescreen.


    “So how long do you think it will take to repair the damage?”


    “They’ll probably have to shut down and restart the entirework to clear out all the garbage from


    today.” Sean thought about it. “But the shutdown is damage enough. Every minute they are down is


    millions down the drain.”


    “Well it’s a start, I guess.” Theo sighed.


    “We’ll let them getfortable for now,” Alexis announced, “and consider our next step.”


    Thomas sent Ss a shocked look. Though the kids looked and acted normal enough their


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    conversation was anything but what one would expect from kids their age. Even so their excitement at


    being reunited was palpable.


    “What are you three talking about?” Ava demanded breaking the tension.


    “Mom!” Theo eximed bouncing to his feet and running toward her.


    He threw his arms around her hugging her close like a child starved for attention. Ava’s arms


    immediately encircled him and she leaned forward to kiss the top of his head. She let out a relieved


    sigh. All her babies were ounted for and safe but now she couldn’t hold back her desire for


    answers.


    “I think you three better exin yourselves.”


    ncing at his siblings still seated on the couch Theo took their mother’s hand and led her to the


    sitting area. Sitting her down beside Alexis Theo sat next to her while Sean moved to the coffee table


    allowing them all to hold her hands. It filled Ss with a sense of pride to see how his children treated


    their mother with such esteem and care.


    “Okay mom,” Alexis leaned her head on Ava’s shoulder. “The truth is…we know. We know your name


    isn’t the one you were born with and you changed it from Avalynn Carlisle to Carter. We know Emerson


    Carlisle is your father, our grandfather, and Ss Prescott is our biological father. We also know it was


    your sister who set you up ten years ago resulting in us even being born in the first ce.”


    Ava sucked in a breath trembling at their confession. All of them gripped her hands giving herfort


    and waited for her to calm down. After a long moment she finally asked, “H-how long?”


    “Since we were, like, five.”


    “…That long? How? I never told you…”


    “We overheard you and Aunt Tracy talkingte at night when you thought we were asleep,” Theo


    admitted. “And we’ve been nning our revenge on all the people who hurt you.”


    “Your revenge?”


    “You’re the best mom in the world,” Alexis said. “We’ll never forgive anyone who hurt you or let them


    get away with it.”


    Ava stifled a sob as tears blurred her vision. The love of her children surrounded her like a warm


    embrace. So she wasn’t a failure. She had done something right after all.


    “Which brings us to what happens next,” Alexis said, “right Mister Prescott?”


    Ss grimaced at the title. He didn’t like them treating him with such indifference but he hadn’t earned


    the title he most wanted. It would take time for him to grow closer to them and gain their trust. First he


    had to keep them safe.


    “I guess it does,” Ss nodded.


    Ava hesitantly looked up at him. Her eyes ssy with tears but also shining with fear at what he would


    say or do next.


    “First, I need to get you four somewhere safe,” Ss said taking a seat across from them. “Then we


    need to make sure Emerson can’t touch you.”


    “How do we do that? He’ll figure out where we live soon enough since he already knows where we go


    to school and where mom works,” Theo demanded.


    “And he’ll also figure out there is actually three of us now,” Alexis said. They got lucky this time


    because he only knew about her and never bothered digging deeper.


    “For now you’ll stay at my vi,” Ss said.


    “Vi?”


    “My family owns several. There is one on the Upper West Side. It might actually be under my mother’s


    name. It’s small enough that a minimal security force can keep it secure and there is plenty of room for


    all of you. Thomas can pick up your things from your apartment and you can stay there.”


    “But…” Ava wanted to protest.


    “Does it have a pool?” Theo asked.


    Ss nodded, “It’s inside and heated but it does haverge windows so it almost feels like it is outside.


    There’s a hot tub as well.”


    “Cool. It’ll be like staying in a hotel.”


    Sean rolled his eyes.


    “What about school?” Ava asked.


    “It’s almost fall break,” Alexis reminded. “We can tell them we’re taking a long vacation. It’s not like we


    need to be there and we can always take online courses to make up for it.”


    Ava chewed her lip.


    “Ava.”


    Hesitantly she met Ss’s pleading gaze.


    “I promise I’ll keep all of you safe.”


    Ava sucked in a breath. She wanted to scream why? But it was stuck in her throat. Did he really care


    about her? Did she dare trust him? But she also couldn’t face her father alone again. She simply wasn’t


    strong enough. Mutely she nodded in submission.


    “You know what that means, boys,” Alexis announced.


    “Right.” Sean reached into his back pocket and removed a phone.


    “Hey! That’s mine!” Jake eximed.


    “Yeah, I know,” Sean nodded. “I needed a way to ess the building security somehow.”


    “You too, Theo,” Alexis said.


    “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Theo stood removing not one but three wallets from his various pockets.


    “That’s mine!”


    “And mine!”


    He rolled his eyes removing a set of keys next and adding it to the growing pile on the table before


    sitting back down.


    “Are you some kind of master pick-pocket?” Thomas asked reiming his wallet from the pile.


    “A magician never reveals their secrets,” Theo said with a grin. “If this meeting went south we were


    going to need wheels and travel funds.”


    He winked as he snagged some of the junk food on the table. Thomas raised an eyebrow and looked


    as Ss rubbed a temple. They were definitely out of their league when it came to these children.