"Please help me."

Watching him look at me with a flat emotion just made the idea I was going to die here solid. Closing my eyes I expected him to end me, a bullet to the head, the chest, where ever it would kill me. So when I felt him grab me my eyes flew open. He helped me stand before he quickly looked over the visible wounds on my body. we walked quietly through the woods until we reached the edge of the darkest green grass I had ever seen. He took me inside his den and called for people to fix me.

- - - - - - - - -

Sitting up in bed almost a week later his words rang through my head.

You owe me, kid.

The words alone were enough to make anyone want to cry and try to hide but that wouldn't help, after all, I couldn't remember anything from that night except that I was bandaged given pain meds and at home. The scary part of the whole thing was he brought me home and made sure I was safe before telling my mother the list of injuries I had. My mother was now convinced I had something to do with the mafia, which was far from the truth. He had helped me and I owed him, nothing more. I had questions about exactly what I owed him but no way to ask him. He didn't leave me with any way to contact him.

"Sweetheart the cops found your bag in the woods, they brought it here for you."

Getting out of my bed carefully I made my way down the stairs. sure enough, there was my bag, But mom and I hadn't reported what had happened. The only other person was Maddox. But I highly doubted he would report what happened. It would only cause problems for him.

The cops handed my bag to me and nodded almost as if he knew Maddox had helped me, It was a feeling I didn't like.

"Mr. Bennett we would like to have a word with you at the de---- station, how does Monday at four pm sound."

It was more like and order then an option and Monday was five days away. I nodded my head, the cops left and the breath I didn't know I had been holding escaped me. My ribs ached to let me know they didn't enjoy the abuse. I was fucked.

"Emerson, You better tell me right now what kind of trouble you are in!"

"Mom im not in any trouble, Yet."

"Emerson, Mafia men do not just show up at my house dropping off my child who looks like he had the ever-loving fuck beat out of him. This is your last chance to tell me what the fuck you have done."

Taking a deep breath I replayed the events in my head telling her everything not leaving out a single detail, Accept that I now owed the Vincent family. She didn't need to know that little detail. My mother was angry, that made sense to me, the part that didn't was that she pulled out a card and dialled a number in anger. She was on the phone for a while.

"Who were you talking too?"

"None of your business Emerson."

"Mother, that's not fair."

"I don't care."

Two hours, that's was all the time that had passed since she made the call to whoever she had called. A black SUV pulled into the driveway and a very sharp dressed man stepped out. He didn't even have a chance to get up the driveway to the door before my mother had gone out to see him. They exchanged heated words in the yard before he clearly told her he would rather they fight inside. They both came inside and it was hard not to notice the sexual tension.

"Emerson, This is Cade. Cade Bennett your father."

The air that had been trying to go to my lungs got cut off when I started choking on my own spit in shock.

"Wow. The meds they gave me are kicking, I could have sworn you just said he was my father."

"That's because I did Emerson."

"This week is just been too much for me, Dude I'm out. I'm going to bed."

"Emerson Bennett, stop right the hell where you are!"

"I don't have to listen to this shit! I have enough fucking problems----"

"Cade is Maddox's third underboss."

I whipped my entire body around hurting my ribs in the process. Cade Bennett looked far from pleased with what my mother had said.

"Diane! I thought you agreed we wouldn't say anything, what the hell!"

"Well, it's the truth."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. I hated this fucking town and its secrets.

"Em. Emerson, Your mother and I agreed when she had you that it would be best to keep you both away from the violence of my profession. Im sorry, you had to find out like this, I've known all about you, but couldn't make myself known to you, to dangerous."

"If it's so fucking dangerous why are you here now?"

"Your mother told me what happened. She also mentioned Maddox brought you here."

"I wouldn't know. I can't fucking remember."

"Emerson, I want to hear in your words who did this to you."

"Why? So they can end up at the bottom of the lake, yeah no thanks."

"Emerson god damn it, Let me handle this I'm your father!"

"I don't know you and I don't trust you, I have enough mafia problems you really want to be helpful how about you find out what the fuck I owe Maddox Vincent for him saving my fucking life!"

"I will see that you don't owe him anything. You're my son, after all, your part of the family."

And my life just got way more complicated. Thanks, Cade Bennett.