Chapter 13 

Mateo listened patiently whilst Jedidiah explained about how things with the Serenity Wilkins situation were being dealt with, but honestly, it didn’t sound positive. Mateo didn’t have a massive amount of faith that James would even be able to track the woman down; she seemed as slippery as an electric eel and just as deadly too.

“Why are people even still out to…get you, if your family is no longer involved in underworld affairs then?” Mateo asked, finishing the rest of his mug of tea. Jedidiah brushed a few hairs from his eyes, glancing over at Mateo.

“To be honest, I think- I don’t think that my father was the best of people. I was never super involved in his dealings, because whilst I was his oldest son, it was still expected that Edward would take over after dad, rather than me. But what I do know, is that my father had a lot of enemies, and I expect that a good chunk of them came from Vincent Hargrave attacking those families first. He was very powerful, and that power came at a cost,” Jedidiah admitted, hoping that this new knowledge didn’t change Mateo’s opinions of him.

Jedidiah had done some illegal things in his time, but he wasn’t his father by a long shot. Right after Vincent died, Jedidiah had thought that this was a bad thing, but Alice had always told him otherwise. She said that as much as she loved Vincent, he would have gone to any length for more power, and at some point, it would have consumed him beyond return.

So, she was glad that her beloved son was nothing like that too.

Mateo nodded slowly, letting it sink in. “Ok, so your dad did some bad stuff, supposedly unprovoked, so as to gain more power. Cool, that makes sense. What I still don’t get is what people have against you - you said that your brother was going to be the one to take over, right? Why is that, if you’re older- unless you didn’t want to? But isn’t he pretty young? And why would they target you instead of him?” Mateo bit his lip in an effort to stop himself from asking more questions; he had a lot.

Jedidiah chewed on his lip for a moment, before looking up and locking eyes with Mateo. “I’m adopted: that’s why my brother was expected to take over. I know that neither Alice nor Vincent would’ve had a problem with me taking over rather than Edward; you’re right, he’s only 15, but…it was about our people. A lot of people who worked under us wanted a Hargrave in control; one by blood, not name. Also some of them were just racist, even if they claimed that that’s not the reason they were so against me.”

Mateo blinked a few times; he hadn’t realised that Jedidiah was adopted. He knew that Alice was British, but he assumed that Vincent was Thai. Apparently not, it seemed. “Thank you, for…telling me that, and I’m sorry that you had to go through that,” he said quietly, feeling a bit awkward. He hadn’t expected the reason to be anything like that at all. 

The other man just shrugged, tracing lines across the design printed on the front of his mug. “It’s alright. I try to be as honest with those close to me as much as possible.”

Physically cringing away, Mateo was reminded once again that he would eventually have to tell Jedidiah that he was trans; he would hate for Jedidiah to feel like Mateo had kept it from him or deceived him or some other bullshit. It should only ever have been Mateo’s choice whether he told Jedidiah or not, but he wasn’t sure if Jedidiah would also view it that way.

“The main family which has it out for us, the Lincolns, just want us all dead, I think. They already killed my dad, and whilst they could go after Edward or Alice, that sort of…wouldn’t be smart. Edward is a kid, and whilst they’ve proved before that they have no qualms hurting children, it sort of just…wouldn’t be wise, at this stage. They think that I’m their biggest threat, the most likely to hit them back, rather than my brother who is a child or my mother, who is still grieving my father’s death.”

Mateo nodded again; it was all beginning to make a little more sense. “Are they always going to be after you then? Is there no way to…get them to leave you alone?” 

Jedidiah sighed slightly, resting his cheek on his palm. “Honestly? I really don’t know. If they just want to kill us, then they probably won’t ever stop. But, if there’s some other reason they’re still attacking us…maybe. I just don’t know, and my mother doesn’t know; Vincent never told her much about a lot of his dealings. I’ll ask around, see if there’s anything I can dig up. I do know however that Vincent was involved in Mr Lincoln’s death, quite some time ago.”

Mateo nodded, getting up to make himself another mug of tea. “Want another?” He asked, turning to Jedidiah. The man smiled, handing his mug to Mateo. “Thank you, that’s very kind of you.”

Mateo just smiled, although he turned around before Jedidiah got to see how genuine it actually was. Mateo fiddled with the handle for his mug for a moment whilst waiting for the kettle to boil again, still having a lot of questions. It didn’t help that all of Jedidiah’s answers had given Mateo more questions.

Sitting back down at the table, the handed Jedidiah his mug. “Can I ask you a…personal question?” He asked hesitantly, his curiosity overriding any caution he might otherwise posses. Jedidiah cocked his head to one side, smiling slightly and nodding.

He was actually rather happy that Mateo was taking an interest in him personally, rather than just the things impacting his job. 

Mateo was silent for a moment, thinking over his words before sighing and just asking the question. “What happened to your biological parents? I just- I didn’t think that people in the mafia or whatever it was your family used to do- I didn’t think that they’d be the type to take someone in.”

Jedidiah blinked for a few times before smiling again. “I honestly don’t know; I was adopted by the Hargraves when I was around two years old I think? I don’t remember my other parents’ faces, and I don’t know if they died, if I was abandoned…I don’t even know if I was actually born here, or in Thailand, or somewhere else entirely. I’ve taken DNA tests before, but none are specific enough to pinpoint a country, so Thailand is actually just a guess, based on other Thai people my dad came in to contact with and as specific as the tests could get,” he explained relaxedly, sitting back in his seat.

Nodding, Mateo took a gulp of his tea. “Your dad may have done some…not great things, but at least he seems to have cared about you?” Mateo guessed, not really convinced on how great Vincent Hargrave had been as a person in general.

Jedidiah nodded, leaning forward and meeting Mateo’s gaze. “He was very much a family man, and he always treated me like his biological son; just like Alice has always done too. They were both wonderful parents, so no matter what trouble my father’s dealing gets me into, I can never actually be annoyed at him. I mean, he’s dead, it’s not like being angry at a poor dead man will do anything anyway.”

Unfortunately for Jedidiah, Alice and Edward Hargrave, they did not know the extent of Vincent’s dealings, or none of them would have ever respected him the way they did. No, instead they would have hated him.