The "oh shit" expression on Justin's face after telling him he'd be taking me to see his father was exactly what I'd expected. The raised eyebrows, the widened eyes, and the look of guilt and shame told me everything I've suspected—he knows exactly where his father lives.

Justin slowly swallowed, then hesitated as he asked, "My father's? You want me to bring you to my father's place? Today?"

"That's right," I said, crossing my arms against my chest while leaning back in my chair. "Today."

"But—"

"But nothing," I interrupted, unfolding my arms. I didn't want to scare my brother-in-law, but to ensure that he knew I wasn't here to play games with him; my eyes shaped into a dead-serious look as I said, "I'm pretty sure you know where he lives, so when you're finished eating, you're taking me to see him."

Justin's eyes quickly lowered to his near-empty plate. "Does Aria know what you're having me do?"

"No," I sternly admitted, shaking my head. "She knows nothing. Not yet, anyway. I didn't want to say anything about this to her in case I was wrong about what I felt you knew."

Justin let out a long, exasperated breath. Not that he's irritated with me for basically calling him out about what he's known, but more as if he's annoyed with himself. His eyes found mine. "Thanks for not saying anything to Aria. I'd hate to see what she'd do to me if she found out I've known where he's been living."

I chuckled. "Keep worrying about what Aria would do to you. Because eventually, you'll have to tell her you've known where he's been living for however long you've known. Which, by the way, how long have you known his whereabouts, anyway?"

Justin threw his napkin over the plate, then twisted his lips as he looked away from me. "Longer than I'd like to have known," he painfully admitted, then sighed while turning back to look at me. "And before you ask why I hid what I knew from Aria, I'll tell you. It wasn't that I didn't want her knowing; I wanted to protect her—to abstain Aria from having to deal with any more heartache. More than what she had felt since my father left."

I didn't know why I wanted to see their father without Aria coming along, as I didn't know him from Adam, but the longer I sat listening to Justin talking about his father, how it came about on finding where he lived, and the pain in Justin's eyes and voice as he told me everything he knew, the more it came to me as to why I wanted to have words with the man who caused the two closest people in my life so much pain all these years.

And because of Justin opening up to me, I now understand more about why Aria was adamant about becoming who she is today—a boxer. Instead of talking to everyone who loves her about her broken heart, she'd rather use those bottled-up feelings against her challenger inside the ring. I'm also sure that's also the reasoning behind why I've been finding her torturing the heavy bags in the middle of the night these last few weeks.

Knowing what I do now, I'm more than anxious to see Vince—to see if I can get him to fill me in on why he abandoned his children, treating them like they were never born. However, I'm afraid that once I'm face to face with him, I'll have difficulty refraining from showing his face with my fist. But not upset Aria and Justin. I'll do my best to maintain my composure and remain calm.

"Do you realize how pissed Aria will be with the both of us if she found out we visited my father without her?"

I looked away from the window and over at Justin. "I do. But this is something that I feel the need to do. Your father needs to hear from me about what he's done to her and you."

"I can fend for myself, Gunner. Thanks, anyway."

"I know you could. This is just the protective side of me coming out. I also don't care much for people who hurt my family. Once someone hurts the people I care deeply about, it becomes my problem," I informed, repeatedly pointing my finger at my chest. "Although, I still have no idea what I'm going to say to him once I see him," I muttered, looking away from him.

"Whatever you do. Please don't use your fist to say anything to my father. That won't solve anything."

I chuckled, "Don't worry. I told myself not to do anything of the sort."

Justin finally pulled into Vince's neighborhood and parked behind a car while pointing to the house kiddy corner from where we parked. "The last time I was here, I got chased away by my father. And he threatened to call the police on me if I didn't leave and if I were ever to come back. So, if you still wish to talk to my father, we need to hurry and get this over and done with before the police come to remove us from his property—physically."

I didn't want that to happen, so as I reached for the door handle, I ensured him, "Again, I didn't ask that you bring me here for me to cause any trouble; all I wish to do is to get some answers—answers Aria's been seeking to know."

I stepped out, looked at the house, and stretched my arms above my head, trying to calm my nerves that suddenly decided to act up and give my heart a workout. Justin stepped out, looked at the house, and then me, sighing, "We'll I guess we better get this over with."

I looked around us as we slowly walked towards Vince's home. To see all the large stunning homes with golf course-style yards and how they had a neighborhood watch show they haven't been living rough and that they're making damn good money. And now, after seeing where their father lived and knowing where June has been living all these years, I'm even more pissed off.

Asshole.

Justin's breathing picked up speed the closer we neared Vince's front door. "Are you okay?" I asked, nudging his shoulder.

"I haven't spoken to the asshole in years, so I'm a little nervous about how this will go. I'm also afraid to hear my father's words about why he ditched Aria and me."

I figured he'd be nervous to see him. So I stopped walking, stepped in front of him, rested my hands on his shoulders, and looked him in the eye. "I want you to inhale and exhale while telling yourself to relax slowly. I know it's easier said than done, but in order to keep your mind and nerves relaxed, it's something you'll need to do."

Justin's face scrunched together. "Easy for you to say. You don't know the asshole as I do."

"I know enough about him to know what a piece of shit your father is. And to see the kind of neighborhood he's living in tells me how much of an asshole he truly is. But this needs to be done. And he needs to be confronted about what he's done to you and Aria."

Justin slowly nodded in agreement while letting out a long, slow breath of air. "You're right."

I always am...

Justin and I stood outside the door, patiently waiting for the door to open. After seeing a couple of vehicles in their driveway, I felt someone was home and knocked again while Justin repeatedly hit the doorbell.

After five minutes of waiting, Justin stepped away from the door, saying, "Maybe nobody is home."

"There are cars in the driveway. Someone's gotta be home."

"Maybe they're out of town?"

"It's a possibility," I acknowledged, ringing the doorbell multiple times.

Finally, I stepped back and extended my neck towards their front window, looking to see if I could see any movement inside, but the curtains were closed. So I walked to the other side of the house, looking for an open window until a neighbor, or their neighborhood watch police, stepped in front of me, stopping me from walking any further. "Is there something I can help you with?"

I knew to be polite, so I extended my hand toward him, hoping to get some information from him. "Hi. My name is Gunner, and this guy standing beside me is Justin. We're here to see Vince. You wouldn't happen to know where we could find him, do you?"

He studied us briefly and then shoved his hands in his pockets. "My understanding is they're out of town." The man cocked a brow. "What do you need with Vince, anyway?"

I turned my head towards Justin and sighed. He will probably hate me for what I'm about to say. But someone needs to know we were here looking for him. "This is Vince's son, Justin. And I'm Vince's daughter's husband, Gunner," I explained, looking back at the nosy son of a bitch.

"Huh... I didn't know Vince had five kids."

"Yeah. I'm sure you didn't," Justin barked, his eyes narrowing to slits.

The man looked away from Justin and at me with a confused look on his face. "Excuse me for asking. But which one of Vince's daughters are you married to?"

"Her name is Aria."

His brows lowered, pondering for a bit. "I'm confused. Vince has never mentioned anything about having two other kids. However, not too long ago, one of his girls mentioned something to me about a girl named Aria. I don't exactly remember what she said about her, but if I remember right, I believe she said something along the lines about Aria being a fighter. Are we talking about the same girl, and is she a fighter?"

"Yes, we are. Aria's my wife..." Curious to know more about what he knew and if there was anything rotten that she had said about Aria or Justin, I asked, "Can you tell me what else she said about her? Or if there was anything said about Justin?"

He shook his head. "No. There was nothing said about him. All I remember her saying was that there was this girl named Aria who would pay dearly the next time they met inside the ring. That's all I know."

"Excuse me?" Justin asked, furrowing his brows. He stepped in front of the man. "Next time? What's that supposed to mean? This girl is a boxer, also?"

I knew what was exactly meant by it. And I can still hear those words clear as the day when Aria and I left the arena that night. 'Until we meet again.' "Tell me, Mr. neighborhood policeman. The girl that talked to you about my wife. She wouldn't happen to be Felicia? Aka, Hell's baby, would it?"

The man gripped his hips. "Yeah. That's her. Why?"

"What?" Justin squealed. "My sister, Felicia. She's a fighter also?"

"Yeah, that's right. Felicia's been fighting since she was a little girl." He chuckled. "That girl used to kick all the neighborhood kids' asses when they were little."

Great...

Now I know she purposely let Aria win. Felicia's waiting for Aria to find out who she is, hoping she'll be able to show the world one hell of a fight. I can hear the announcers now. They'll be talking about two sisters going at it, sorting out their differences inside the ring, and looking to see who's the better fighter.

Felicia has a better advantage over Aria if she's been fighting for as long as this watchdog claimed she has. But then again, Aria has too many pent-up emotions built up inside her, waiting to come out on the right person. And Felicia is one of them, with her father being the other.

Aria, however, is also quick and enjoys challenges. She also has me to help prepare her for the fight this Felicia bitch is seeking to have.

My wife will not lose this battle.

I'll make damn sure of that.

"Thank you for your time," I said, extending my hand around Justin and shaking the man's hand. "When you see Vince, please tell him that we stopped by. And if you could relay a message to him. That would be great."

"Sure. I can do that. What's the message you would like me to give Vince?"

"You tell him I said that the games he's been playing with his kids are over. I also want you to tell him that we know the truth and that he better be ready to answer our questions without hesitation. No bullshit. No lies. No, nothing."

I felt Justin's eyes on me and knew he was curious about what I meant. Hell. I didn't even know what I was saying; it just came out.

Hopefully, whatever was suggested by my message, Vince would figure it out and come looking for the two kids he left behind like a bag of trash and admit why he did what he did.

***

Two weeks have passed since Justin and I went to see Vince. And to this day, neither of us has heard from him. So either Vince never got the message, or he got the message, and being a pussy that he is, Vince chose to ignore it.

Fucking prick...

After weeks of talking with Walter, Justin, and Aria about the situation, I'm starting to suspect Vince's reasoning for giving up on his two firstborn children was because of Stella. And I firmly believe he and his wife, Stacey, are behind Stella's disappearance. They did what they could to have June sign over her rights and take that baby in as their own. They were out to destroy her. And if that's the case. They did a good fucking job.

Heartless people.

Just fucking heartless.

Aria was with Neron at the gym, preparing for her upcoming fight. As I entered the room, my phone rang. Not recognizing the number, I silenced the call and continued walking closer to the ring, clapping after seeing Aria knock Neron down with one of her fast combo punches. "You look ready for tomorrow's fight," I praised, my face planted with a huge smile.

"She's got her work cut out for her," Neron groaned, pushing himself up.

I looked from Neron to Aria and then back to him, grinning. "What do you mean? I just witnessed what she did to you. And if she can do that to you, she'll handle tomorrow's fight just fine."

"You do know who she's fighting, do you not?"

I leaned over the ropes. "Yeah. She's nothing. Aria will be able to handle her with no problem."

Neron didn't seem to think so and shook his head. "We just got done watching some of her recent fights. And she's got a few new moves that Aria hasn't quite figured out how to block. We also noticed that her challenger has been using some of Aria's trademark moves. The ones that you and I taught her."

"I, too, watched all of those tapes, and in every fight I watched, there's one move she can't handle, which gets her every time."

Neron furrowed his brows. "Which one? For weeks, I've been studying her moves and noticed how nothing rattles her."

I laughed, then tsked him. "Neron. Neron. Neron... Are you that fucking worried about this fight that you missed the one combo that gets her every time?"

Neron's face fell, and then he walked to the ropes with a growly look, pointing his finger at me. "Instead of knocking my ability to find every possible mistake her challenger can't handle, I suggest you spill the beans about what I've missed."

I stood straight, crossing my arms against my chest. "Fine. Since this fight has to do with my wife and how I'd like to see her win. I'll inform you," I grinned, arching a brow as I looked at my beautiful sweaty bride. "Maybe you saw this, Aria, or maybe you, too, missed it. But your upcoming opponent fails at blocking the one, two, five, two-hit combo. You know, the jab cross, left uppercut cross. And with the speed of your left-handed uppercut, I believe you'll do just fine."

Aria looked confused or as if she was thinking hard. And then there was Neron, looking just as confused as Aria. "How the fuck would I have missed that? I studied every one of her tapes over and over. Not once did I ever see her struggle with that combo."

"Watch it again, old man. You'll see that she likes to hide behind her high guard and her head lowered. She never sees that combo coming. So, if Aria were to do what I'm saying, then all she'll have to do is do her left-handed uppercut. The bitch's head will pop back, and she'll be able to chop it off with a right-hand finish. Trust me. If Aria gets her in that position, she'll knock the bitch out cold."

My phone rang, and when I lifted it to silence the call, I paused after seeing it was the same number as when I entered the gym. My beating heart paused. Shit. Is this Aria's father finally calling?

I quickly looked over at Aria. "Ah. Excuse me a moment while I take this call."

"Gunner speaking," I answered, quickly exiting the gym.

I heard a man on the other end nervously clearing his throat and immediately assumed it was Aria's father. And when he still didn't respond, I answered louder, "Hello? Vince?"

The man on the other end cleared his throat again. "Ah, yeah, is this Gunner?" he asked, static piercing my ear.

"Vince?"

"Hold on a second. Let me see if I can move to a better area." He said as I held the phone away from my ear. The static was loud, echoing through my eardrum. Then, when I didn't hear any more static, I placed the phone back to my ear. "Can you hear me now?" he asked.

"Yes. I can hear you much better," I answered, turning around to ensure Aria and Neron were still inside the gym and not listening in on my conversation. The last thing I needed right now was Aria knowing who I was on the phone with.

"I got your message."

"Obviously," I groaned, "how else would you have gotten my number?"

What a fucking douchebag.

"How are they doing?"

Seriously? Is this guy for real?

Instead of calling the two people who have wished for the last twenty years to hear from him, he's going to call my damn phone and act as if he cares by asking how Aria and Justin are doing?

"They're both doing very well," I snapped, "but you need to drop the act and get real here. You haven't spoken to Aria or Justin in twenty years. You cut two very wonderful souls out of your life, and now you're going to ask how they're doing? What the fuck kind of person are you?"

I couldn't believe the audacity of the fucking prick asking how his two oldest kids, whom he once showed loved for, were doing.

To calm me down, I closed my eyes and inhaled and exhaled slowly, telling myself to relax before I snapped, causing Aria to come running out to see what was going on or see why I excused myself to take the call outside the gym.

"Look. Gunner. I understand you're frustrated with me."

"Frustrated?" I interrupted. "Is that what you call it? I'm fucking furious!" I angrily groaned, closing my fist while turning to the wall. I was just about to punch the wall until I saw Aria standing in the doorway, staring at me from the corner of my eye.

Fuck.

"Excuse me a moment," I calmly said, covering my phone's speaker.

"Is everything okay?" Aria asked.

I walked over to her, cupped the back of her head, and lowered my lips to her sweaty forehead, kissing it. "Yes, hun. Everything is fine. Why don't you go back to the gym and finish what you and Neron were doing? I'll just take this call outside, and then I'll wait for you to finish out there, okay?"

Her brows drew to one. "Are you sure everything is okay?" she asked, studying me.

I gave her an assuring smile, then chastely kissed her. "Yes, hun... Everything is fine. I promise. I'm going to finish with this call while you get that combo mastered. Okay? Make sure you knock Neron hard to the ground, too," I smirked.

"Alright, I'm back," I said as I headed towards the exit doors. "I'd apologize for that, but I'm not. I have no reason to apologize to you. If anyone owes anyone an apology, it's you. You owe my wife and brother-in-law a fucking apology for what you've put them through over the years," I groaned. "But before you have to chance to do that. I'd like to meet with you first. That is if you're willing to meet with me."

"Was that her? Was that Aria?" Vince asked, ignoring everything I had just said to him.

Fuck you.

Ignoring his question, I asked, "Are you willing to meet? Or are you going to run off and hide from your responsibilities again?"

After a long pause, he finally said, "I'll meet with you, but I'll only do that if you bring my kids along."

No. Fucking. Way...

"I'm not bringing them along."

"Then it's not worth talking to you. I don't owe you anything. Whereas I owe Aria and Justin everything."

I sighed.

Vince is right. He doesn't owe me an explanation; he owes them. "Fine. Pick a time and place, and we'll be there."

I can hear it now. The second I fill Aria in about who we'll be meeting, it'll go over like a fart in church.

Hope the chapter was okay. I'm having a little writer's block.