Lawless

Chapter FortyNine

"Good job, boys" Serge congratulates Sage, Gunner, Gabe and Ryder as they stand around the room. I take up the space next to Sage, our arms brushing while Ivy and Penelope stand in the doorway, listening in.

"Walter dead?" he questions, the threat hanging on the end of his tongue.

"Yes sir" Ryder answers, the smile hidden in his voice.

"Jace?"

"Dead" Sage answers from beside me. Serge turns to look at Sage.

"You get him?" I look at Sage from the corner of my eye, wondering if he had seen Max shoot dead Jace.

Sage doesn't answer, not even with a shake of his head as he holds eye contact with Serge, his arms crossed in front of his chest. I can tell he's angry that he hadn't got the chance to be the one to shoot Jace.

"Max did it" I answer the silent room. Serge turns to look at me.

"Max Amor?" he questions. I nod my head yes.

He gives a grunt before saying "good man" under his breath.

"Bullshit" Gunner spits out "he shot Ivy" he points to Ivy in the doorway, her arm held to her chest by a sling.

I had yet to ask Ivy what happened that night. Max had clear instructions to shoot Ivy dead and he hadn't. Had he missed and not realised? Or did he miss on purpose?

"Alright, alright" Serge brushes off Gunner with a wave of his hand as he takes a seat behind his desk. His new desk? My eye brows pull together in confusion. Where had his old desk gone?

Everyone starts to clear out as Serge goes back to work.

"Don't pull that shit again, Rage" he says, voice deep with anger, Sage doesn't react.

I'm the last out the door as Serge calls me back

"Dove" I freeze before turning around, Sage stops in front of me and turns around as well. Serge chucks a folder of papers on his desk; they almost fall off the edge. He nods towards them before putting his glasses on and ignoring me.

I gather them, not stopping to look at what they are before walking fast out the door and closing it behind me.

Sage leads the way as I struggle to hold the papers without them fluttering to the floor. I see my name imprinted throughout them.

My injured leg locks unexpectedly, making my knee collapse for a second but it's enough time for my arms to splay out, sending the papers to the floor in front of me.

"Shit" Sage mutters before bending down in front of me "you alright?" he asks.

"What's all this?" I question when the papers reveal my family name as well as the names of people I don't know but share a last name with.

"They got my name wrong" I point out as I lift a paper to Sage's face.

He grabs it from my hand, along with all the other papers and offers me a hand up off the floor. I take it as he keeps hold of my hand as he pulls me along through the house. The closer we get to Sage's room the quieter it gets, people choosing to spend their time downstairs.

"What's going on?" I ask but he just ignores me.

"Stop ignoring me" I raise my voice slightly, becoming frustrated. He continues to say nothing but this time he looks back at me; his left eyebrow raised the titniest bit almost in a daringly. I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't so close.

Sage closes the door behind me, locking it in place. He scatters the papers on the end of the bed, the rumpled blankets from earlier makes my cheeks heat up.

I briefly see Sage eye my cheeks before he looks away, clearing his throat and scratching his head.

I take a step closer to the papers now scattered on the bed. I have no idea what most of it is, lots of terms and agreements along with signatures I recognise as Ma and Dads.

"How'd you get this?" I question as I flick through, one after another.

"Your Ma" he answers, I look at him over my shoulder.

"She told me she talked to you" I tell him as I turn back. I feel him stand closer behind me, his chest brushing my back as he looks over my shoulder at the papers.

"Oh yeah?" I don't have to look at him to hear the cocky tone in his voice "What'd she say?" he asks.

I do my best to not react when his hands land on my hips, pulling my ass back into his groin, the stubble on his chin catching on my hair.

"She said you're scary" I tell him. He says nothing verbally but his chest rumbles with satisfaction, reminding me of a cat purring from happiness.

I pull away from him as something on the papers catch my eyes.

"Who are these people?" I question. These papers say that I share their last name "John and Sylvee Stone?"

Sage steps back behind me, taking the spot he previously filled before. His hands on my hips again, pulling me close.

"Ex Lawless citizens" he answers his mouth to my ear in a low hum.

"Ex? Where'd they go?" I whisper back. Their photos are off to the right, a man and a woman, both look to be in their late twenties.

"Six feet under" he whispers directly into my ear causing shivers to vibrate down my spine and strangly between my legs.

I recognise the similarities between them and myself, especially the woman, Sylvee. As much as I know it's true, it's hard to wrap my head around. I had always suspected it but never found any proof. I feel no connection to these people and these papers are saying I'm half of each of them?

"Who killed them?" I run a finger gently over their smiling portraits.

"High Class" he answers. I breathe in a shuttering breath.

"And then they took me?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

Sage doesn't answer verbally but he kisses the back of my head roughly.

"How'd you know Dove Stone and I am the same person?" a photo of me, no older then three years old is on another piece of paper, all my information from the time on it, almost like a missing persons poster.

"Would see you walking through Main Street every now and then with your mother" he replies "Serge had suspicions too" he picks up a paper that had been buried underneath everything. The coronas report of both John and Sylvee Stone's death, I look away the instance I realise what the paper holds. "Then one morning they were found dead in their house and you were gone".

I swallow back the tears of all of the what-if's and how different my life would have been. Is this the reason my parents, especially Dad favoured Max more than me? Because Max is his biological child while High Class told them to raise me?

"Is that why you watched me? You knew who I was?" I ask a question I already know the answer to. Sage is smart, even if he was only a couple years older than me when High Class took me, he recognised me straight away.

He gives my waist a squeeze as we sit in silence. It's a couple minutes of gazing down at the papers before Sage grunts and begins to gather the papers.