Chapter Chapter Three

“Sam! Get the fuck out of bed!” Taylor shouts at me the next day as I’m curled up in my old bed.

I wake up smirking. This was familiar, we’d woken this way many times, his shouting at me to get up.

“I’m up!” I shout back with a chuckle.

“We need to go get ourselves a couple of outfits for the gala tomorrow night. It’s a masquerade party” He says as I sigh.

“That makes it a little more difficult”

“I know. We’ll manage” He nods as I get up, washed and ready to go out.

“Where do you think you’re going? What happened to our morning run?” He smirks as I get outside ready for shopping.

“You aren’t serious?” I laugh.

“We’re back home, of course I’m serious. I missed this place. Don’t you want to go on our trail? Don’t you miss it?” He smiles as I rush back in and get into a pair of leggings and sports bra.

“Let’s go slow coach” I say as I jog straight past him onto the woodland trail.

“You’re out of practice Sammy! Not enough training after Cody” He smirks racing past me as I push through the pain of my muscles burning.

It was true, I had lost sight of fitness as I focused on the school and Cody. I had to get back to my peak fitness. I would start training again when I got home.

“I…had…a…baby” I pant as we get back to the front door.

“That was over a year ago” Taylor laughs throwing me a bottle of water.

“Shut up” I growl as he just laughs.

“Go shower and then we’ll go find a dress for you and a smashing suit for me” He smiles as I head upstairs, knackered already.

“That is the one!” Taylor exclaims as he looks at me in the red and black corseted dress.

“Do you think?” I smile, I loved it and hoped it wouldn’t get ruined at the gala, it was too pretty, the dress went to my ankles, a few ruffles in the skirt giving it shape as the corset held in my stomach and made my cleavage look huge.

“I have to take a photo for Jayden, he’ll be wanking to that all year” Taylor laughed getting his phone out as I posed a few times, laughing.

He sent the message and as I was getting changed once more I heard him laughing hard outside.

“What?” I asked.

“Your man may have just exploded!” Taylor laughs as I hear my phone.

“Hey baby” I say seductively.

“You need to get that pretty little ass of yours home kitten” He growls lustfully.

“I will, when I’m done, maybe I’ll bring the dress home too”

“You look fucking sexy. I don’t like that people are going to be watching you in it” Jayden says.

“But there is one thing” I say.

“What?” He growls.

“I’m not theirs. I’m yours. They don’t get to touch, remember that.” I whisper to him.

“God damn it kitten” He moans.

“How’s my baby?” I ask changing the subject as he groans at me, I laugh.

“He’s fine, missing his mum, but we’ve got him distracted. Cody has Grandpa wrapped around his little finger. Harvey has been on Cody duty for a while. I almost never get him” Jayden answers.

“Good, I miss you guys too. But hopefully we’ll be done soon. The gala is tomorrow, we’ll get this done and come home” I say.

“Just be careful Kitten. I have to go our son wants to go to the park. Love you my sexy kitten” He says.

“I love you too, tell Cody mummy loves him” I say before we hang up.

“You ok in there?” Taylor peeks in.

“Fine…” I sniff, a tear falling from my cheek.

“We’ll be home soon, and you can get back to your boys” He smiles.

Taylor picks a smart suit that fits him perfectly as he chooses a tie which matches the red of my dress.

“Looking good buddy” I say looking at my best friend trying out the suit.

“I do tidy up nicely don’t I?” He smirks as I take a photo of him and send it to Damien as he calls Taylor as Jayden had me.

“I know you like it baby…I’ll be home soon enough…But I like it, you can’t tear it…But…Fine you can rip it off me” Taylor groans as I laugh hard.

“If you two are quite finished having fun…” A deep voice sounds behind me as Taylor says goodbye quickly and I turn to face Craig and Lizzy.

“What are you two doing here?” I ask.

“We need to dress up too. But we are taking this seriously, unlike some of us” Craig growls as I take a step forward to him.

“Enough, same team” Lizzy steps in the middle of us.

“Are we?” I raise a brow.

“Of course we are” She frowns.

“I hope so. Now do you mind, we are leaving, unless you have some new information?” I add.

“Nothing new. But here, we had com links made” She passes me what looked like an earring that also hung on the top of my ear too, hiding the piece inside.

“The rose on it is a nice touch don’t you think?” Craig smirks.

“My fist in your face will be a nice touch if you aren’t careful” I said, but hated to admit, the roses that were crawling around my ear were a nice touch.

“You don’t think it makes it obvious that she knows about the Midnight Rose?” Taylor eyes it carefully.

“By the looks of all the photos from previous galas she always had roses on her somewhere, it will look like she is reminiscing the good days” Lizzy said.

“She’s right” I nod.

“Good, now leave, if we get spotted together then we could be in trouble. Lizzy will be wearing an ear piece similar to yours and Taylor, I had a small ear piece made for you. Should be small enough that no one will see it” He hands it over and Taylor nods.

“We’ve sent some over to Beck too” Lizzy says.

“Great. You better be right about all this” I say as I pick up my bags with the dress.

“You don’t trust us?” Craig raises a brow.

“I’d never trust you. Lizzy is a different thing entirely” I growl.

“You still trust me?” Lizzy says faintly.

“I want to be able to” I sigh as we leave the store.

“Movie night like old times? Before the shit begins?” Taylor says with a knowing smile when we get to the car.

“Sounds perfect right now” I smile.

For the rest of the night we pigged out on snacks while watching films like we used to. It was so much fun as we messed around as we had before, I hadn’t laughed like that in such a long time.

Soon enough it was time to go to bed, but neither of us wanted to sleep alone. So we both slept in his bed as we used to, hugging each other.

“Are you ready to go Sammy?” Taylor asks as we finish up our breakfast.

Today was the day of the gala bur first Mr Henderson wanted us to see the school and come see him. He wanted to catch up with us before the gala. We would get ready at the school.

“As ready as I can be” I smile and grab my stuff while we head off towards the school.

“This feels so odd. I never thought we’d come back here” Taylor says as we head up the long winding road to the school, noticing its grandeur. It had gotten bigger since we had left but still looked so regal.

“This place haunts my nightmares” I shiver.

“I wonder what happened to the guys who used to beat on me before you turned up like an avalanche and flattened them?” Taylor said and I had to laugh.

“One became a teacher here and the other two became the waste of spaces I said they would. Fucked up, drugged up and half dead zombies” I said, I’d already checked, I was curious.

“You stalker!” Taylor laughed as we parked.

“I was curious!” I laughed as I shoved him playfully.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Mr Henderson coming out of the front door with a gigantic smile on his face.

“Here he comes” I say as Taylor turns and we put on our façade.

“Mr Henderson!” Taylor says with outstretched arms as they hug hello.

“Well look at you both! So grown up! I hope I won’t have to break up any fights with you Samantha?” He smirks at me as he gives me a short hug, looking me over.

“No worries there. I only punch if it’s deserved” I wink as he chuckles.

“Well! Come in! It’s great to have you both here at this time of year. It will look great that some of our previous students support us. I have some rather big investors coming tonight. I’d like you both to meet them” He says as I eye Taylor.

“Oh really? Why’s that?” I ask.

“They’ve heard that the grand-daughter of Jon Jones will be there. They are intrigued that you didn’t fall in his footsteps…You left home and never took over the business” He says.

“It wasn’t my thing. I watched his business destroy him, piece by piece until he died” I sigh, pretending to miss my grand-father.

“It is a shame he died of such a sudden heart attack. He was a man of…powerful will” He says as he eyes me.

He leads us to his office and gestures the chairs in front of his desk.

“I feel like a naughty school girl again” I laugh sitting at the desk.

“Have you been behaving Miss Jones? I don’t doubt that you have quite the will to cause havoc as you did for your grandfather” He says opening a draw and bringing out a folder as I eye it.

“What’s that?” Taylor asks as Mr Henderson puts a finger to his lips.

“Just your old files, I thought you could do with having a giggle at your old escapades.” He says as I open it.

Photos of me, Taylor, the boys, Grandpa, Lizzy…

Then more information on Hayden, Lizzy and Craig. They were all in a photo together outside of the prison Craig had been put in as I look at Mr Henderson wide eyed.

He begins writing on a note pad as he begins to chat playfully about our old ways at schools.

My eyes scour the page and then look to his face as he brings out another envelope. Inside are letters upon letters from my grandfather, Jon. I knew his hand writing, they were his alright. Taylor and Mr Henderson carried on talking as I read through them.

My grandfather and Mr Henderson argued in most, they argued about my future. Mr Henderson wanted a different life for me, my grandfather wanting me under his wing…My grandfather had won.

I nod as Taylor takes his turn reading the paperwork in front of me.

I was confused, why the hell would Lizzy go after Mr Henderson.

Could we trust him?

I get out my phone and open the app that Damien had made in order to find any bugs that could be in the room as I joked about beating the boys in the cafeteria.

The bookcase, a small recording device as I pointed to it, Taylor nodding as he looked it over. I continued to scour the room but there was no other device.

“Kill it” I mouthed as Taylor nodded and destroyed the bug.

“We won’t have long until they notice its gone. Why did you want to protect Sammy?” Taylor rounded to Mr Henderson.

“I did it for your mother. She and I were good friends, I promised I would protect you with my life” He answered.

“That didn’t work did it?” I snap.

“I did my best I’m running a school here too. There was only so much I could do! I went to every gala and persuaded people not to buy you. You have no idea how many people wanted to destroy you. It’s take years for me to become as powerful as I have! I don’t want to see you harmed but there was nothing I could do. Hayden knows my moves!” He argued.

“Why would Hayden want to go against me when he says he’s my greatest ally” I ask.

“He wanted your mother and lost to Gregory. So he set his eye on you. However, he wasn’t so lucky with that either. You escaped his clutches again and again. Without even realising it. Vern was one of his minions and soon Gregory became an ally to him along with your uncle. I don’t know what he’s playing at now, but I think he’s using his own daughter to get to you. He wants me dead because he knows I know the truth. He wants to destroy everything you’ve built. He’s not the man you think he is Samantha” He says.

“So, what do we do tonight?” Taylor ask, pacing the room.

“We carry on. We pretend we are still with them. We’ll find Hayden and take him down. I’ll tell Beck to prepare for it. But I will make sure he only tells essential people, just in case we have people in our ranks that aren’t with us truly.” I sigh.

A knock on the door booms in the room as I take the envelopes and stuff them in my rucksack as Mr Henderson brings out a new folder, our real files as I laugh at them.

“Come in” He calls out with a nod at us.

“Sir…we have a…situation” The man says looking at us before realisation reaches his face.

“Well, if it isn’t Tony. Still bullying kids?” I ask with a smirk as he frowns.

“No. I teach here. Some of us grow up Samantha” He growls.

“I can just imagine your lessons…You must be the PE teacher you were never smart so it can’t be anything else” I laugh.

“No, I’m the English teacher” He grumbles as I burst into laughter.

“English…seriously…You hired him for English…He failed five times!” I laugh as I see the anger in his face as he stomps forward but notice his eyes flicker to the bookcase.

Oh so this guy was part of it…Go figure…

“Now, now Samantha, do behave. You are here as a guest and I won’t have you fighting in my school” Mr Henderson says sternly.

“Sorry sir, I just hate when little sneaks, slither about like they own the place” I turn and flick my eyes over to the bookcase, hoping he’d understand.

“Well, it would seem that you two need some time together to…fix things. Taylor, mind joining me sort out whatever issue is going on with the children. You two however, do take a walk off the grounds, I don’t care what happens out there” He says giving me a knowing look.

He wants me to wipe the guy out…I’ve always wanted to do that to this guy…It made my heart race with excitement.

“I am not going with you” He growls.

“Scared” I said playfully as we walk out the door, he groans and follows me, his masculinity getting the better of him, wanting to over-power me.

We walk quickly to the edge of the school border as we get into the treeline surrounding it.

“That’s far enough” He says as I hear a click of a gun, turning around slowly.

“What…What are you doing?” I stammer, pretending like I was scared.

“You know…I know you do…” He says.

“Know what? I’m just here to come to the gala! We came home to visit. I came to visit my families graves and come support the school in their gala.” I say as he lowers the gun slightly.

“You’re telling me you have no idea what your grandfather did?” He says the gun now down by his side.

“He was in security if that’s what you mean. Seriously, put the gun away! I’m not a fucking terrorist!” I cry out.

“Shit…” He says putting the gun in his holster as I walk towards him.

“What’s going on?” I ask as if I haven’t got a clue, shaking my hand slightly, pretending to be scared.

“There’s a lot you don’t know. There are men after you. They want to…to possess you. Use your name as leverage” He says.

“Who? What? Why?” I ask.

“I could die for telling you this Samantha!” He growls out kicking a stone.

“Die?! Who’s going to kill you? Tony…I don’t understand!” I cry out, gripping his shoulder.

“Shit…There’s a guy called Hayden he’s paying me money to keep an eye on Henderson. He wants to take over your grandfathers gang. I don’t know details. But he wants to use you. I can’t stand you Samantha, but you don’t deserve it…Run, don’t come back, hide, something. Just leave!” Tony says.

“Shit Tony, I wish you weren’t a part of this” I sigh. He told me the truth…But I couldn’t trust him not to rat me out…

“What?” His eyes widen at the gun I pull on him.

“I know who I am. I’m the leader of The Midnight Rose. Hayden is coming after my family, huh? Wants to take over?” I growl out.

“You knew! Please Samantha! I won’t say a thing I swear! I just did it for the money. Please! Hayden wants you dead, he wants to take everything you have! I can help you!” He begs.

“I’m sorry Tony. But I can’t risk my family” I say before shooting him in the head, wincing at the sound of the shot before dragging him into the nearest bush for his body to be picked up and carted out of here. The bush was a rose bush…Now blood-soaked roses. What a great omen…