Page 105 of The Vampire and the Barista

“Plus, you know, kidnapping me,” Jamie put in.

“You were kidnapped? Jay!” Karl exclaimed.

“Hey, it wasn’t like it was my fault,” Jamie protested. “Anyway, he’s deader than dead, so all threats from him are gone.”

“What if the police come looking for dad?” Kitty asked him, biting her lip.

“You can both truthfully say you’ve not seen him since you left home. If they check phone records, they will see he called and spoke with me, but there is no video evidence of us meeting or him beating me up,” Jamie said.

“What do we tell mum?” Karl asked, dropping his arms.

“Nothing, she was in a drunken sleep when we portalled into the house. She might know Dad came looking for us, but who knows? If she tries to contact you, just ignore her call.”

“I can do that,” Karl said. “I doubt she will call, though. I mean, she hasn’t since we left.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Ivan called.

The door opened, and Olly and Owen stood there, holding a lot of boxes, some large and some small.

“Deliveries,” Owen said, holding them out.

“Thanks, guys. Can you dump them on the bed?”

“We can,” Owen said, as the two men walked to the bed and put everything down.

“Thanks, Olly, Owen.”

“Have fun,” Olly said as the two men left the room.

“What’s all this?” Jamie asked, looking at the boxes.

Ivan shrugged. “Well, I’ve never had anyone to spend my money on, so I bought you all some gifts.”

Kitty walked to his side and touched his arm, smiling. “Thank you, Ivan.”

“Yeah, thanks, Ivan, but you don’t need to buy us things,” Karl added.

Ivan grinned. “Too late because,” he waved his hand over the bed. “Look what I ordered. If you don’t like anything, it can be changed.”

“We’ll love whatever you got us,” Kitty assured him.

“Those two boxes are TVs,” Jamie pointed to the two large ones.

Ivan nodded. “They are. I’ve got you both the same ones, we can set them up in a bit. I will also add you both to my streaming services. I have them all. I also got you both gaming systems and some games. Plus, I bought all three of you the latest laptops. I thought you might need them for schoolwork. I got you one as well, Jay, I thought you might need it for your new job.”

“Thank you, Ivan,” Kitty said, hugging him.

Karl joined in the hug. “Yeah, thanks, Ivan.”

“I also bought the three of you new phones. I can help transfer everything over for you.”

They pulled back as Jamie touched Ivan’s arm. “This is too much, honey.”

Ivan wrapped an arm around him. “Not really. I honestly don’t really have anyone to spend my money on. It was nice ordering this for you all. I’ve also set up new bank accounts for you both. A monthly direct debit has already been set up, and your new accounts come with children’s credit cards.”

Kitty sniffed and hugged Ivan again, as Karl wiped his eyes and joined the hug.

“Thank you, Ivan,” Karl says softly.

Ivan patted their backs. “We have time before dinner to start setting everything up. What do you say?”

“Please,” Kitty says, stepping back and picking some boxes up.

Ivan effortlessly picked up both televisions and put one in Kitty’s room and the other in Karl’s. “Now, let’s get unpacking and setting everything up.”