What was Lost and Found in the Fire

Ch. 4 Casino's, Wallets and Sparkly Things

~~~

Gabriel's POV

Location: NYSDOC, Queensboro Correctional Facility, New York

Date: 3 years after The Kidnappings

~~~

In the end, I ended up going with Luke to the Jailhouse.

How he convinced me, I'll never tell but here I am: sitting in a room full of the people, who I once considered my brothers, sweating buckets while we wait for Victor.

It's just fucking wonderful, let me tell you.

I would never have expected Blackbourne to be here, let alone Kota and Nathan.

Even more surprising is North and Silas's presence. I guess they finally got bored of their boat.

Fuckers.

Victor's parents are in the hallway outside of the waiting room, along with a lawyer. When we first got here, they wanted to have a full-on argument about why Victor should go on home with them. They even threatened to have us kicked out.

Blackbourne had headed them off though, by handing them a file of some sort.

As they went through it, Victor's dad had first turned beet red, and his mom had started to scream at him about being a cheating bastard.

Mrs. Morgan had kept pilfering through the pages, enraged and wanting to see more of what her husband has been up to. Near the end of the paperwork, she started to go pale. I'm guessing her little side business made an appearance.

Money laundering sure is an ugly word, when written into the society columns.

We'd all gotten a good collection of crazy illegal things his parents have been doing, back when we were younger. I'm almost glad Blackbourne kept it all, though I feel like maybe we should have done this sooner.

Either way, I think it goes without saying that Victor isn't going home with those piece of shit assholes.

~~~

Now, Nathan and Kota sit across from Luke and me, while Blackbourne and Sean have the seats to the right of us.

North and Silas stand apart from us all, holding up the wall next to the door that leads out of this god-forsaken room.

Most surprisingly of all, the whole Toma team is here; they'd just walked in and quietly sat down in one of the rows of seats in the middle of the room. All together, without a single word to any of us.

It's kind of fucking awkward, all of us just sitting here in fucking silence. I'm almost grateful when Nathan decides to open his goddamn mouth.

Almost.

"So Gabe, Luke, how have you been?" His tone hold a challenge, and I want to punch him for starting shit when this situation is already fucked up and filled with tension.

I look up at him and smirk as I assess him.

He's bulked up with muscle and looks like a pro weightlifter. His hair is lighter too, more red and gold than red and brown. He's got this deep tan that speaks of the hours he must spend outside.

I roll my eyes as I dismiss him, and look to the only team-member and friend he's got left.

Kota next to him has the same hairstyle, same glasses, and the same habit of counting under his breath apparently. He's counting out the divisions of 3, as he looks over at Nathan and then at me. He's assessing the situation, deciding the best way to calm us down.