Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Chase Jacobs
POV
The diner looked like it had survived at least ten wars. The place looked way too rundown to still be serving customers. How the hell was it still open? How was this building not condemned?
Did they not have regular customers to help fix up the place? How did he even find this place?
The sign buzzed OPEN in uneven flickers, and the P and the N was missing. The building looked so run down like one big gust of wind and the entire building would collapse.
I sighed and pushed the door open and walked in. The place smelled like burnt coffee and grease that had soaked into the walls decades ago and would stay in my clothes after at least three washes. Enzo had a weird habit of always picked places like this no cameras, off the grid, places people wouldn’t come looking for you. But with that came places that looked like it survived the great depression. Or the damn world war. This wasn’t the first rundown place I was summoned to. It probably won’t be the last but it was the first that looked this run down.
He was already sitting when I walked in, I slid into the booth across from him. Shrugging off my brown leather jacket.
"You look tired." he says with a tired smile.
"So do you." I shoot back.
He smirked. "Occupational hazard."
I shake my head.
"How’s my niece?" he asks.
"Good, she’s on to her new obsession. She fell in love with a woman who saved her from those kidnappers you took care of. Now she can’t go five minutes without talking about her..."
He smiles. "How does it feel to not be her favourite anymore? He teases...
I shake my head refusing to answer him. I’ve always been Stella’s favourite person and the feeling of being replaced rubbed me the wrong way.
I reminded myself I was her father and Carly Lewis was her nanny for just a few months. Once the custody case is over she’ll be out of our lives and I’ll be my daughter’s sole guardian.
We ordered coffee without looking at the menu. Black. No sugar. Old habits die hard. It didn’t matter that I’ve been home for years. I still drank my coffee black...
I didn’t waste any time as soon as the waitress was gone I spoke again. "Your deployment orders came in Enzo."
His expression barely shifted, but I caught it, the brief tightening of his jaw, the flicker behind his eyes. I knew Enzo better than he wanted me to. He wanted to go. He’s been home for a month and was heading out already.
He gives a tight nod "Yeah." he said. "I heard."
"You’ll leave two weeks from now." I warned him. He barely even had an apartment anymore. He stayed at motels when he was in town, he didn’t have anything but a duffle bag he kept his clothes in.
That earned me a sharp laugh. "They’re generous." he says fingers digging into the crack into the table.
"Where to this time?" I ask. I knew the answer but asked anyway.
"Does it matter? It’s all the same Chase..." he shrugs like he didn’t care.
"Yes. It does to me..." I nod.
He stared into his mug for a long moment. "Eastern Europe."
The wind rattled the windows hard enough to make the silverware shake. I feared the building would come down with us in the place. I tried to ignore it and shifted my attention back to my friend.
I leaned back in my seat and it creaked. "That area’s been messy recently. Be careful out there." I nearly jumped up fearing the back of the seat would give in under my weight.
He rolls his eyes. "Messy is the job description Jacobs. Besides I won’t be alone. I’ll have the team with me." he reminds me.
I studied him. Enzo had always been good at deflecting , adding humour when he didn’t need to, give the illusion of control. But something felt.. off. I know my friend, we grew up together our parents served together and we were together most our lives, he wasn’t scared, no this wasn’t fear, not exactly. No this was almost restlessness.
It took me by surprise. Enzo was an upstanding guy. He was there for me when I was going through one of the worst times of my life. But I knew what was bothering him and at times I feel guilt over what happened to him, and why he didn’t want to put down any roots. Why he didn’t stay in one place for a long time.
"You coming back afterward?" I had to ask.
He looked up slowly. "Everyone always asks that, I have to return if I want to redeploy Jacobs."
I sigh looking at my friend. "I’m asking if you’re going to stay when you return."
His mouth twitched. "That depends."
"On what?" I ask.
"On whether there’s anything worth staying in one place for." he shrugs his shoulders like it didn’t bother him either way, but I knew better.
"You don’t mean that. You could always find someone who could help you lay roots..." I know why he doesn’t like being in one place for too long. I know why and it worries me.
He shrugged again. "I don’t think that’s in the cards for me Jacobs."
The silence stretched between us, its thick and uncomfortable. The waitress refilled our cups without comment, like she’d seen this kind of conversation a thousand times before. She didn’t seem the least bit interested in our conversation. I preferred it that way. She wasn’t trying to listen in or try to get either of our phone numbers. You’d be surprised how many times that’s happened.
"You ever think about staying put?" I asked leaning forward taking the cup in my hands.
He snorted. "You ever think about walking away from Stella?" he asks.
It wasn’t the same thing but I knew where he was coming from.
I thought of Stella. Of her small hand clutching mine like I was the only solid thing in her world.
"No, I’ve never thought of leaving my daughter. Her mother already left her, I’m all she has." I said. "And with all the shit with Amelia I just want my daughter happy and safe..."
Enzo’s gaze softened for a second before it glazed over. "Yeah. I figured as much. What’s going on with Amelia? Is she still acting like a fool trying to take you for all you’re worth?" he asks.
I shake my head. "No she’s fighting for custody now. She realized we were over and now she wants to take my daughter from me." Amelia was fighting for full custody to spit me, she wanted me to go on my knees and beg her to come back home. But I wasn’t going to do that. I wasn’t going to let her use my daughter as a pawn in her games.
"You know, sometimes listening to me would have saved you this mess..." He reminds me.
I nod taking a sip of my coffee. When I told him my father suggested marrying Amelia he told me it wouldn’t work out. There was no way Amelia was going to love Stella as her own.
I should have listened. All Amelia wanted was the fame and fortune attached to the Jacobs name.
"Just like how Stella is your whole world. This job is mine. I do this not because I’m running away, but because I was born to do this..." He says.
I nod. "It would be nice to see you more than just a month at a time."
He stands, tossing bills onto the table. "Two weeks." he said again, like he was reminding himself more than he was reminding me.
I stood too.
"Watch your six, Enzo. Come back home, Maybe you could go looking for her..." I suggest.
He clapped my shoulder. "Some things are meant to stay in the past Jacobs..." he nods.
As he walked out of the diner before I could say anything, something uneasy settled in my chest. Something about today’s meeting rubbed me the wrong way. Like he was being reckless. Enzo had always been reckless but this felt different. This felt like he was trying to get himself killed.
I don’t know if he’s running from something or running toward something, but the last thing I wanted was for my friend to get hurt.
Either way, I had the unsettling feeling deep within me that whatever he was tangled up in, whatever he was running from would come and bite him in the ass sooner rather than later.
My phone rang, I walked out of the diner and answered the call.
"Hey sweetheart." I smile.
"Daddy when are you coming home?" she asks.
"I’ll be home soon, I just left uncle Enzo. I’ll be home soon. Aren’t you having fun with uncle Michael?" I ask.
She sighs dramatically. "No. He doesn’t know any good stories. He thinks princes’ turn into dragons."
I nearly burst out laughing at her dramatics.
"Why don’t you tell uncle Michael a story, help him understand it better..." I suggest.
I open my car door and get in.
"Fine. I’ll help him. But he’ll owe me one!" she says before hanging up.
I smile I couldn’t help thinking about the day she was left at my brother’s company, the day my life changed forever.
===
Flashback
I tap on the steering wheel, listening to the radio. I was late. I was so late it’s not even funny... I was visiting my brother today. And I was late. We were supposed to meet for breakfast, but my meeting ran overtime. So now I was meeting him at the office.
I sigh deeply. I hated being late. I’ve been an actor since I was a baby. My parents needed the money, and I fell in love with it in my teens. I love being in front of the camera. It’s my first love. But when I turned eighteen my father got sick and had to retire from the Airforce. Following in my father’s footsteps. I gave up acting for following my father’s footsteps. I never regretted my decision. I’ve been doing it for the past ten years and I love my job.
When I pull up in front of the agency, the valet opens my door, I get out "Thanks Jim..."
He smiles. "Of Course, Mr. Jacobs." He gets in the car and drives off.
I walk into the building greeting all the staff in the lobby.
"Mr. Jacobs, President Jacobs is waiting in his office." Michael, my assistant, says. The guy has a nak for coming out of nowhere and just starts speaking. The first year he was my assistant he scared the shit out of me. One would think the man was a damn spy by how well he can blend into the background.
I nod.
My father hired Michael as my assistant. He wanted someone he could trust by my side, my father had a desk job in the in the Airforce now, so I sometimes wonder where he found Michael.
"Mr. Jacobs when I arrived someone dropped this off for you. I wasn’t sure what to do..." One of the assistants said.
I turn to see a baby in a basket. My eyes widen. She pushes the basket into my arms. I nearly dropped it. I saw a note on the baby.
I handed the baby to Michael and opened the note. My eyes widened on the DNA test.
It says the baby is mine.
I take the baby from Michael and give it a better look. My hands are shaking. The test said it was a girl, and her name was Stella Charlotte Jacobs.
"Michael have a test done to make sure this is really... Really my baby..." I instructed him. I make my way with the baby in my arms to my brother Carter’s office.
I was grateful for my brother not being in office. I needed a second to gather myself.
Once I’m alone, I gave her a better look. She’s got my dark blonde hair for sure.
When she opens her eyes, her dark green eyes take me by surprise. I’ve been looking at those eyes for twenty-nine years. There’s no doubt they’re identical to my own.
I pick her up. She’s in a cute little pink onesie. How the hell could she possibly be my daughter?
I call Sasha my other assistant. "Check all the security footage for the lobby of the agency. I want the footage of today, of anyone dropping off a baby." I order before hanging up.
I look at the baby blinking at me. She’s laying on my lap. She’s completely calm. Whereas I’m having a mental breakdown.
"Where’s your mother?" I ask, knowing there’s no way she would be able to answer me.
===
I remember the day like it was yesterday, I still remember how I had no idea what to do with myself. It was four years ago but but it felt like it was just yesterday, but I could see how much my daughter has grown in the last four years.
