CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT: AUSTIN

It took me days, but I finally tracked Dalton down. It wasn't easy, but with Snow's help, we were able to find exactly where he was hiding, which is in an old abandoned motel called Hill Park on the outskirts of town.

He chose a good hiding place because no one ever goes there, everyone in town believes it's haunted because someone died there a few years ago; he's smarter than I thought, but that can't help him now, his days of hiding and running are over; he must pay for what he did to my mother.

Immediately after Snow and I found him, I called Mr Miller's men yesterday evening, and they said they'd call me back by this morning, so I've been waiting for them to call.

I was getting bored from waiting and was about to head to the cafeteria for breakfast when my phone started to ring. I walked over to the bedside table to check my phone to see who was calling because Leo texted me that he would be coming over to help me catch up on schoolwork because I was slipping behind and they didn't want me to miss out on graduating with them.

Actually, Athena was supposed to come instead of Leo, but she had to help Shane with a school assignment due tomorrow, so Leo agreed to come help me in her place.

I checked the caller ID, and it wasn't Leo's number, but the one I used to call Mr Miller's men yesterday evening. When I picked it up, a familiar voice greeted me.

"Hello, kid, I heard you found Dalton?"

"Yes, I have," I replied.

I learned that the older one's name was Ford, and the younger one's name was Mist; these were definitely code names, but it wasn't my business to know what their real names were. We would never see each other again after today.

"Where is he?" Ford asked, his tone tinged with curiosity,

"He is hiding out in an old abandoned motel called Hill Park on the outskirts of town." I responded,

"Hmm, I see, I have a question, though?"

"What is it?" I asked

"What made you reconsider giving him up?"

"Even though I know he'll be killed by you guys after you take him back, giving him up is the only reasonable decision to make because doing otherwise will put my family in danger."

"Even if you still think it's a bad idea, you're making a good decision, kid."

"Don't humour me, Ford."

"Send me the address and meet us there by 8:00 p.m. tonight."

"Why do I have to come when I already gave you the location?"

"We don't want to take any chances because you might be trying to screw us over."

"Trust me, I wouldn't do that because I'm not that stupid, but if you insist, I'll meet you there by 8 p.m."

"Nice working with you kid, after today, you won't see us again, and you can go back to living your life,"

"Good," I said, and the phone ended.

"Who was that Austin? And who is Dalton? And why are you meeting them at an abandoned motel outside of town?" a familiar voice asked as I turned to see Leo standing at the door's threshold, fear and concern visible in his eyes.

"It's nothing, I thought you were going to call? Why did you sneak up on me?"

"I didn't sneak up on you; I knocked, but you were too preoccupied with that very suspicious call to hear me."

“Oh!”

"What's going on, Austin?" You've been acting weirder than usual over the past few days."

"It's nothing, Leo, just let it go."

"If it's nothing, why can't you tell me who you were talking to?" And what was the call about?"

"Why do you care? Leo It's my business, so mind your fucking business."

"Do you really think acting like an asshole will make me stop asking questions? Then you don't have any idea how stubborn I can be when it comes to people I care about."

"Leo, why don't you just let what you heard go and leave me to handle it?" I said as I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.

"Whatever it was, it sounded dangerous, and you might get hurt," Leo sighed, "and if you get hurt and I could have stopped you, I will definitely regret it later."

"If you guys get involved, you'll get hurt, and I don't want you to get hurt, which is why I didn't tell you guys in the first place; I'm trying to protect you all." I explained hoping he would understand, I just wanted to keep them safe.

"So you're trying to tell me that whatever that phone call was about is so dangerous that you believe keeping us in the dark is the only way to keep us safe," Leo said, his brow furrowed. "And you think I'm going to let you leave here after all this?"

"No, based on your angry expression."

"Why did you think keeping us in the dark was the best way to keep us safe?" I don't care how risky what you want to do is, man, family helps each other out in whatever situation."

"It was the right decision to make, it's not your fight, it's something I must take care of myself"

"Cut the bullshit Austin, tell me the real reason why you didn't want to tell us?" Leo asked, his tone angry.

"I don't deserve the two of you being by my side; it was my fault my mother got hurt, and if I told you guys about this you would eventually get hurt too and end up here like her,"

"I knew you were hurting, but I didn't realize it was to this extent; you could have talked to us if that's how you were feeling instead of pushing us away under the guise of wanting to protect us."

"I don't want you guys to get hurt; you're the only family I have left, and I can't let my bad luck take you away from me."

"You don't have bad luck, man, life isn't just fair, bad things happen to good people," Leo said, his voice concerned, "you know if you told us, we would have helped you with this no questions asked."

"I know, I know, I panicked! Just pretend you didn't hear anything. I can handle it on my own."

"I know you can handle whatever this is, but you're not doing it alone."

"Why do you care so much?" Leo,"

"Are you fucking asking me that? Austin, first and foremost because you're my family, and second because I had a friend like you a few years ago, he was like a brother to me but he died, I could've saved him but he said he didn't need my help so I let it go like you just told me to and he was killed," Leo said, the pain in his voice is palpable.

"I'm sorry, Leo, I thought I was doing all of this to keep you guys safe."

"That is why I care so much, Austin; I promised myself I would never let anyone I care about go through whatever shit they were going through alone, so please Austin, tell me what you are up to?" Leo said, and I knew he wasn't going to drop the issue since he was a stubborn son of a bitch, so I gave up hiding the truth and told him everything I'd been doing up to this point.

"And now you know."

"I'm not sure whether to praise you or beat your ass

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just didn't want you guys to get hurt because of my mother and my bad life choices."

"Austin, you're one of the smartest people I know, but you sometimes act as if you only have one brain cell."

“Hey!”

"You deserve it because only a moron would go alone to an abandoned motel to meet up with gangsters who want to get rid of the man who put their mother in the hospital because he is also a drug dealer."

"Okay, now that you say it out loud, it does sound really stupid."

"Are you sure you want to hand him over to those men and not the police? Because we both know what they're going to do to him."

"Yes, I know, but if I turn him over to the cops here, he'll be able to pay them off and come after me and everyone I care about for snitching on him; I won't let that happen; I'd rather walk on hot coal than let you guys get hurt as a result of my poor decision."

"I understand where you're coming from, but can you really trust these guys?"

"No, but there's no other option, Leo."

"I know, but everything still sounds shady," Leo sighed, "I guess we don't have a choice, when are you supposed to meet up with them?"

"8 p.m.," I responded.

"It's now 12 a.m., so we have about 9 hours to devise a good plan that won't get us killed."

"Are you coming with me?"

"You think I'm going to let you face three armed gangsters on your own?"

"No?"

"Of course not, I'm coming with you, but keep this from Athena and Shane; they won't let us forget it if they find out."

"That's fine with me, so what do you have in mind?" I asked, and for the next few hours, Leo and I tried to make a strategy to ensure that we  returned home safe and sound.