House of Paine - A Full Length Bad Boy Novel Read Online Free Page A

he’d already had detective skills that he must have been born with. He told her that Jackson Paine might not make people buy and use the drugs, but he encouraged it, strongly. He had his large distribution groups at the top that worked all the way down to putting people on the streets near schools and parks and had them give the stuff away to kids…the younger the better. Once the kid was hooked, they would sell their grandmother to get a taste. He also told her that their stepfather had no qualms about killing anyone who got in his way and that included their families. Over time, with each new thing Greg told her about Jackson, she grew to hate him as much as Greg did. They both grew to resent their mother who for whatever reason refused to believe Jackson was the bad guy.
    “Tommy, before you take off, I need you to do me a favor.”
    “Sure, if I can.”
    “I need you to get me a new I.D.”
    Tommy looked suspicious and said, “Why would you need new I.D Paige?”
    “I’m going to New York. I’m going to find out who killed my brother and make sure the son of a bitch pays for what he has done.”
    “No Paige. No fucking way.”
    “I’m going to do it with or without your help.”
    “I don’t think you have any idea what you’re getting into here.”
    “Look at where we are, Tommy! I’m at my brother’s fucking funeral! These people killed my brother and they are not going to get away with it.” Her voice was pressured and she felt on the verge of tears again…this time from frustration. She took a deep breath and said, “Now, you can help me or not, it’s up to you. If I don’t hear from you by tomorrow, I’ll start figuring out how to do this myself. I think you know I’m capable of that.” Paige took another shaky breath and turned to head towards the car her mother was waiting in.
    “Paige.”
    She turned back towards Tommy and he said, “Don’t do anything stupid. I’m in town for a couple more days. I’ll come by tomorrow around noon.”
    “Thank you, Tommy.”
    “Yeah…sure, if you turn up dead we’ll see if you’re still thanking me.

Chapter 5
 
    Damien Paine stood towards the back of the crowd of mourners with his father and his brother and let his mind wonder about things as the service progressed. He hadn’t seen Crystal yet. He often looked at the one photo his father still had of her in his office and tried to see similarities between her and his mother. They were polar opposites in the looks department. Where Crystal was petite with dark hair, Damien’s mother had been tall with light brown hair. Her eyes were blue where Crystals were hazel…but Damien knew his father well enough by now to know that as attractive as both women were, his father hadn’t picked either of them for their looks. He had been looking for a wife, not a lover. Jackson Paine had different standards for the women in his life. Damien had come to figure out that his father was of the mind that there were two types of women…those you marry and those you pay for sex. He so firmly believed that he was unable to understand why Crystal objected to him satisfying his needs with another woman. He definitely wasn’t going to apologize for it. Damien got the impression that his father actually thought that someday Crystal would realize her mistake and come crawling back. She never did.
    Damien and Alex’s mother hadn’t left him because of infidelity, or at least she never mentioned it. She’d left him because at the age of twenty-nine when his father died, Jackson took the helm of the family business. Damien’s mother told him she refused to live that life and raise her son’s that way. The boys were both toddlers at the time. She told her sons when they were much older that Jackson told her she could leave and leave his sons with him. Instead, she pretended that she would stay in New York…setting herself and the boys up in an apartment near Jackson’s home. She waited patiently for the divorce