Three weeks later

It had become a habit for Maxi to check the newspapers in the mornings for news about her sons.

She would come down to the kitchen, make them breakfast, call them down, then browse through every tabloid and local paper with murder in her eyes. The press had been a nightmare since Sam and Christine had broken up, with one idiot or another picking on him or his brothers for some silly reason. What hurt most was the blame they were taking for Snitch Gravel's actions, as if it wasn't clear as day they were only trying to protect everyone.

They couldn't be everywhere at once. They couldn't predict what that madman was up to. They could only do so much.

And while, in the beginning, everyone seemed to understand, now they all sung a different tune. They'd raised enough in the eyes of the public. Now it was time for them to fall. And what a fall it was.

It broke Maxi's heart that she had her own part in this, because everything that could go wrong for her children seemed to have gone wrong. They'd all broken up with their girlfriends except for Kyle, their jobs and studies were draining them, the press hounded them, and now, to top it all off, she and Freider were divorcing.

Well, in theory at least. She couldn't divorce by herself, and Freider hadn't shown his face since punching hers and storming out. Not that she minded. She didn't need papers as long as he was out of her life. And he had been, well before she'd said the words.

If only there weren't times when she missed him. Nights when it felt much too cold without a body to curl up against. Even if they hadn't gotten along for some time, as much as she tried to block it out, most of their life together had worked. He'd dotted on her, doing his best to make her happy. It wasn't his fault that he never could. That was on her. But they'd been happy, he'd been a good father for a long time. Until Snitch Gravel decided to reenter their lives.

Her fists clenched around the paper and she crumpled it and threw it off the table. That bastard was the sum of all her misery, the reason her kids were in constant danger, the reason everything had fallen apart around her.

Focus on the good news. Because for the first time in what felt like forever, the papers were devoid of news about her sons. True, there had been no attacks over the past few weeks, and after Lisa published her piece on Sam, most of the bigger papers left him alone. Maxi was more likely following Christine lately. That bitch had broken her baby's heart, and Maxi wanted to make sure she wasn't getting away with it.

She glanced at her watch and noticed she'd called her kids down almost twenty minutes ago. The three plates of food awaited, the omelet getting cold. Her heart tightened as she glanced at Kyle's plate. Even if he and Kay were technically still together, Maxi wasn't blind. He slept home a lot, was there most of the time. Even if he claimed it was to keep Sam and Tom company, she knew better. His relationship was also falling apart and all because he couldn't decide to propose and fix everything.

The sound of a breaking window had Maxi jumping to her feet. Heart pounding, she ran out of the kitchen, through the narrow hall and into living room. The window overlooking the front yard was broken and there was something small and black in the middle of the rug. She tilted her head, squinting at the tiny object. What was that?

A pair of arms wrapped around her the moment the sound of the explosion filled her ears. A wave of heat engulfed her body and she shut her eyes as her body flew through the air, useless. A scream filled her head, but her throat felt burned to a crisp so she wasn't sure she actually let it out.

Her body slumped and landed, cushioned by the protective arms cradling her. She cracked and eyelid open. Everything was blurry and grey, but she could make out Kyle's form. When her sight finally cleared, she took in a sharp breath. His eyes were filled with fire, and she'd never seen him more focused as he scanned their surroundings. He then looked down at her and said something, but she couldn't hear so she just shook her head.

His hold on her tightened as he picked her up and headed back into the living room. That's when Maxi realized she'd been knocked back almost to the kitchen door. The furniture was in tatters, singed and flipped over, everything a blur as Kyle charged up the stairs, carrying her as if she were no heavier than a little girl.

Muffled sounds filled her ears, but she couldn't really make out what they meant, her eardrums still throbbing painfully from the blast. By the time they reached the door to Kyle's room, she realized what the sounds were. Gunshots.

Her hold on Kyle tightened and her mind finally recovered enough for her to realize what was really going on. The house had been attacked. That explosion was meant to kill her. Whoever it was still tried to kill all of them.

"Wha--?"

She didn't get to finish her question before Kyle kicked his door open and charged inside.

"Sam! Tom!" he called, already heading for the window.

"We got this!" Tom answered from somewhere outside.

Maxi let out a scream the moment Kyle climbed on the windowsill and stepped out on the roof. Sam and Tom were already out there, both of them holding two pistols each, pointing them around. Securing the house. Their wrists were blinking red, and as Kyle put her down gently next to the chimney, she realized his was as well. Not his wrist, but the dial of his watch.

"Stay here," he whispered to her before pressing the earpiece he had in. "Yeah, they went for the house. Lock it down."

The entire house seemed to tremble and the sound of grinding metal filled the air. Maxi wrapped her arms around the chimney, hugging it so hard her bones ached.

"Leave the backdoor unlocked," Tom said. "The girls are on their way."

Like a given, the sound of a motorcycle engine filled the air. Sam, Tom and Kyle all started shooting at once. Maxi tightened her hold and shut her eyes. The bricks dug painfully into her collar bone.

Shots were fired back, she could tell, and the house kept grinding, as if a giant metal monster was swallowing it up. She opened her eyes at the sound of footsteps on tiles. Kay and Angie had joined the party, both of them armed, their watches blinking red, and they headed for the other side of the house.

What was going on? Why wasn't the shooting stopping?

"Yes, Jerry, Mom's fine," Sam suddenly said, his voice a bit on edge. "Kyle got her out."

Maxi's face shot up. Jerry? No, of course he wasn't there. Sam was speaking to him maybe on the phone. She couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Yes, everything's closed up," Kyle said. "And I've put the call out. The police should be here in a few moments."

Right on cue, wailing sirens sounded in the distance. The shooting stopped and her boys backed up towards her.

"Are you okay, Mrs. Grant?" Kay knelt next to her, putting one hand on Maxi's shoulder. Her other hand tightened against the hilt of her pistol.

Maxi just nodded, though she had no idea if she was alright. Her pulse zoomed through her veins, her ears still hurt, all sounds muffled, and she had no idea what had just happened except that someone apparently tried to blow up her house and then shoot her kids.

Her children had guns and blinking watches and communicated using invisible earpieces. Her own son had shielded her from an explosion, taking the burnt of most of it, and yet there he was, standing tall as if nothing had happened.

"Let's go!" Sam suddenly said.

His voice shook for some reason, but his hand was firm when he threw a little round thing on the roof and threw himself off. Kyle and Tom joined him, disappearing over the edge, leaving her alone with Kay, Angie and the chimney.

"Should I go down?" Angie whispered. Her gun was no longer pointed and the resolve had fizzled out of her.

Kay frowned for some reason. "I think we should both stay here for now."

The answer drove the tension out of Angie's shoulders and she grabbed her pistol again before heading further up the roof.

"What...?" Maxi wasn't sure why she was asking Kay this, but she couldn't keep trembling like a little girl. "What happened?"

"You've been attacked," Kay stated the obvious.

"Yes, I know. Probably Snitch Gravel? Anyway, what happened to the house?"

"Oh. Jimmy locked it down. All doors and windows are barred now. And speaking of which..." Kay glanced over Maxi's shoulder. "Angie, we'll need to check the house."

"On it!" Angie popped back next to them for a moment than disappeared inside through the window which was apparently not barred.

"Hey, I said we." Kay sighed and shook her head. "Anyway, we should go down. The shooting's stopped."

Maxi hardly untangled herself from the chimney and it took them an embarrassing amount of time to reach the window since her knees wouldn't stop shaking. The moment they stepped in Kyle's room, Kay closed the window. Almost instantly, a steel sheet fell over the glass, cutting all light from the room. Only Kay's watch kept blinking.

"Why's this thing still blinking?" she muttered.

By the time they made their way to the door, the color of the watch changed from red to green. First Sam's name appeared, then Kyle's and then Tom's.

"What is that?" Maxi asked, stepping down the narrow steps carefully. The entire house was dunked in darkness.

"A way to know when we're in trouble." Kay turned on the hall light and it was much easier to move from there.

"How did Jimmy lock the house down if he's in Houston?"

"He can do it remote." Kay was obviously in no mood for conversation as she nudged Maxi along towards the front door.

The living room was a mess, but at least nothing had caught fire. She tried to asses the damage as Kay pushed her towards the front door which now stood open. Thinking she'd deal with refurbishing later, Maxi focused on the people in her front yard.

All the neighbors had come out, staring from the other side of the street. Maxi waved to indicate she was fine and focused on the paramedics loading people into three ambulances. There were also about five police cars and one one black Jaguar pulled into her drive.

Angie was there already, standing awkwardly next to Sam who appeared to be texting out of all things while also muttering. Tom stood next to Kyle, both of them facing a disgruntled policeman.

"You can't do things like this!" he was saying to Kyle. "You need special approval and--"

"Oh, give me a break," Kyle snapped. "Regular homes don't have people throwing grenades through the front window. It's a known target and we're not always here to protect it."

"But safety--"

Tom laughed, interrupting the man. "Safety? If you have a better security specialist than Jimmy, I'll eat him. Literally. Salt and pepper and everything."

This seemed to be good enough for the policeman, because he grumbled and stepped away.

"Are you okay, Mom?" Kyle asked.

She just nodded absently, taking in the footsteps destroying her lawn, the fact that her house was suddenly armored, that she hadn't known about any of this. Like she'd been for the past four years, she was still a naive idiot bathing in denial. 

Her sons had done everything to protect her and Freider. They set up security they'd had no idea about. And yet, despite the consideration, she wanted to cry because it was necessary. Her world was burning and she was still trying to pretend it wasn't.

"I just wanted to make you breakfast," she whispered.

No one paid her any mind and they continued to do damage control. Kyle seemed to have confirmed that everything was fine now because the house lurched again and all the steel barriers started lifting. Good. She needed peace and quiet to process everything.

Her sons continued talking to the police, to the medics, to other people. The neighbors kept staring, probably wondering if they should move. And yet...

Could he really do this? Knowingly attack her, try to kill her? And if not, if he was going for her kids, did he accept the possibility that she might be killed in the crossfire? She was obviously the most vulnerable person in that house, the only one without blinking watches, invisible communicators and magic grappling hooks.

He's trying to kill my kids. What's my life worth compared to that?

Tears filled her eyes and she made her way inside. For the first time in years, it wasn't sadness that caused the crying, it was anger. A rage she'd never felt before in her life. How dare he? Who did he think he was? If she could, she'd find him and give him what-for herself.

Her thoughts halted once she noticed she'd been staring at a piece of paper lying in the middle of what was left of her rug. She glanced towards the broken window, but no one was paying any attention to her. It could've come through there.

She picked up the note and opened it. Her heart skipped a beat and her stomach seemed to sink through the floor. The handwriting...

Meet me where it all began. It's time to settle this once and for all. You have two hours.

How thoughtful of him to give her enough time to get ready. She didn't need much. Just for everyone to leave. To change her shoes.

To grab Freider's gun.

It was time to end this. And who better to do it than the people who started it all?

♠️

Jessie's heart beat a marathon as she glanced at her watch. It rested on the desk, the names dancing on the dial in a deadly tango. Kyle, Sam, Tom.

She waited for other names to appear, to confirm her suspicions. Jerry. Kay and Angie. Jimmy.

No, please no, let him be safe. Let all of them be safe. What had happened?

"Jessica?"

How could she even dream that she could escape all that? Move to California and play little miss CEO. Make friends, become liked by her employees, raise the company and make more profit.

"Jessica?"

Money. More money. Who gave a fuck about money? She never had. Not when she was a kid and definitely not now.

"Don't be a bitch. Answer when someone is talking to you."

She raised her eyes from the watch to the man before her. Matthew was the CFO of her company and her closest friend in her new life. They were discussing dinner plans. He'd meant that last bit as a joke, but his annoyance was obvious.

Dinner plans. What the hell was she doing?

"I need to be alone for a while," she muttered, returning her attention to the watch.

It was a risk she'd taken, the only link to her former life she'd allowed, because she couldn't give up on them. As much as she'd tried to smother her thoughts and her feelings, she still loved them, she wanted to know they were safe, she wanted to be accessible if they needed her. They now did and she was thousands of miles away.

"Are you serious?" Matthew scoffed. "Look, I know it's hard, but we've talked about this." He leaned over in his chair and took her watch. "You need to let go of the past if you want to move on."

"Give that back!" She yanked it out of his hand, the rage inside her raising like a tidal wave. "Get out of my office!"

Her own tone scared her and the rage disappeared as quickly as it had come. The look in Matthew's eyes proved her outburst hadn't gone unnoticed, that it was uncalled for even in her current state of worry. But it was like something clawed at her from the inside, begging to come out.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "But please, just go. I need to be alone."

Her watch kept blinking. Why wasn't it stopping? Was anyone doing anything? They never let it blink longer than needed.

Matthew didn't listen. He walked over and took her hands, a look of honest concern in his eyes. They were brown, but nothing like Jimmy's. Too light and without the long, dark lashes. So unfamiliar and unattractive.

"Look, we've talked about this. You said you wanted to start over." He nodded towards the watch. "This is no way to do that."

He was right. At one point in the months she'd been here, she'd thought it was a good idea to move on. This was her home, the inheritance her parents had left her. What was she going back to anyway? But even if her mind knew this, her hands refused to stay still. They shook with an intensity that had her pulling them back. She couldn't hold hands with another man. It was impossible.

"Jessie, please," he said.

The word triggered a new wave of rage inside of her, and trying to hold it in gave he a splitting headache. Her vision blurred and blackened as the clawing sensation returned. Everything became hazy and her hands slipped out of Matthew's.

"Don't call me that," she said, her voice coming out like a growl.

"What's wrong with you?"

Good question. Just what the hell was wrong with her? Short spurts of anger were normal, especially in a stressful environment, but this? Blacking out? Irrational anger?

It all suddenly fell into place. The fear buried the anger again and her vision cleared. Matthew was somewhere between shocked and disappointed, but he was the least of her issues right now.

"I really need you to go." Even if her voice had sounded normal this time, he complied, eyeing her wearily as he closed the door behind him.

Jessie breathed out and turned her back to the door, her mind making frantic attempts to find another explanation for what was going on. First her robot like state, then the anger... She'd thought she was unwillingly copying Jimmy's behavior, maybe in an attempt to be like him, to be reminded of him. But what if it was more?

Her mind headed back to Paris, to that day after they'd narrowly escaped death. Sam was in a coma, they were all broken. She'd almost died. And in the heat of the moment, she'd decided to give Jimmy everything.

She'd never regretted it. He'd been so tender and yet so passionate, it had been one of the best experiences of her life. And at that moment, doing it without any sort of protection involved had been natural.

They'd of course come to their senses after that one time and had never repeated the experience. But still... What if there was more than disease that could be transmitted that way?

The serum.

Never for a moment had she considered that what they had done had deeper meaning, that it could involve the damn thing running through her veins now.

She glanced at her hands and moved her fingers, but deep inside she already knew it was true. As her mind turned over what happened after Paris, a lot more seemingly irrelevant details surfaced.

How her wound had healed pretty fast, with no complications. How, suddenly, Kay stopped giving her any trouble in training and overpowering her became almost boring. The tension she sometimes felt, the frustration and the anger she'd attributed to stress and now the numbness... Maybe it wasn't. Maybe it had always been something else entirely.

"Oh, just my fucking luck," she mumbled, staring at the still blinking watch.

As if reading her mood, the damn thing finally started blinking green. First it was Sam, then Kyle, then Tom. Whatever had happened was over and the three of them were fine.

Her hand hovered above her phone, wondering if she should call anyone, but it felt unnecessary now that she knew they were safe.

But the thing was, she'd joined a special club with the two people she loved the most. Her symptoms resembled Kyle's more than Jimmy's. It must've taken it so long to show any signs because the dosage had been very small, but now that it had, who knew what she'd be facing. Could she do it alone?

Do I want to?

She had no idea what she wanted, but it was definitely not dinner with Matthew Pendrick. That ship had sailed before anyone managed to get on board.

Jessie dropped back on her plush leather chair and sunk her face in her hands. Her old life and new life clashed in a deadly battle. Her parents versus the people who'd made her feel loved after such a long time in darkness.

She needed a sign.

Except she had no idea what it could be.

♠️♠️♠️

I'm so excited about this chapter. As you probably already noticed, some interesting things are going down. And Maxi took the bait. What awaits her on the other side? Will she finally fix everything?

A lot of information coming up in the next two parts.

Also, poor Jessie thinking she could be something else away from the life that became hers. Do you think she's right? Is the serum going to ruin her life?

Stay tuned for the next exciting part of this chapter which will give you SO much info on ancient history 😉

Don't forget to vote for support.