CHAPTER 30
ADDY
“Thanks for speaking with me. I won’t keep you long,” The tall, slim FBI agent said as Asher allowed him into the hotel suite later that afternoon. I was sat on the sofa with Jordan at my side, and Adam, Kane and Eli were at the table behind us, watching and listening closely to whatever this guy had to say.
“No problem,” Asher said as they came closer. “This is my sister, Addy, and her boyfriend, Jordan,” he introduced as Jordan helped me get to my feet. I was panicking. I was still maintaining my calm, but I was nervous about what the agent had to tell us. I had been since the phone call Asher received around an hour before, requesting this meeting. I just hoped they actually had something that could help us bring an end to all of it, once and for all.
“Thanks for meeting with me. I’m agent Harbison,” the agent said as he shook Jordan’s hand, then reached for mine. I tentatively reached out too, but I wasn’t keen on him touching me when I’d never met him before. I pulled my hand back as fast as I could and pressed tighter to Jordan.
“Please take a seat,” Asher offered as he nodded to the free armchair opposite Jordan and I. I was grateful when Asher took the seat beside me, so I was surrounded and felt safer. “I believe you have some updates on the case?” Ash pushed.
Harbison looked to me and I didn’t like it. There was something in his eyes that unsettled me. He was a pretty plain looking guy – not unattractive, but not attractive either. He had short dark hair and he looked around Ash’s age, maybe a little older. It was his eyes though, there was just something dark about them, and I hated the way he looked at me. This was what I had tried to explain to my guys before – I was sat staring at this man, wondering why he made me feel uneasy. I was staring at him and fighting to remember if I had ever seen him in any of my memories, which was crazy because the man was an FBI agent, but what if he was? What if he’d touched me? Hurt me?
“Addy?” Jordan’s voice burst through my panic, and I was sure from the worry in the word, it wasn’t the first time he’d tried for my attention. “You okay, beautiful?” he asked when my eyes met his.
“I…yeah,” I nodded. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“I was just explaining that we spoke with the men we arrested last night. They were all interviewed during the night,” Harbison said, and I fought not to look up into his eyes, keeping my gaze on the side of his head instead.
“Okay,” I nodded.
“Do we know who they are?” Asher asked as Jordan pulled me closer so I was almost sitting in his lap, then held me tightly against him.
“The shooter is ex-military. He was dishonorably discharged after an incident overseas, and we have evidence of him working private jobs since. In questioning he gave us nothing. The other two are more familiar to local PD. They both have long records for theft, drugs, assault. The list goes on. They didn’t give anything away to begin with, but the younger of the two had a warrant out on him for felony rape. When we told him he was facing fifteen years, he became more cooperative.”
“R-rape? Did he…is he one of them….the traffickers?” I asked shakily.
“We don’t think so. He told us he was hired by a man who goes by the name ‘ Horrocks .’ He told us he’s worked for the guys before. Apparently Horrocks puts together teams to do private jobs, like the attack on your home. He recruited the shooter and the others too.”
“For whom? Who wants my sister dead, Harbison?” Asher barked, clearly annoyed.
“The suspect couldn’t answer that, but local PD are aware of this Horrocks. His real name is Neil Horrocks. He tried out for the police when he left school, but was removed from the training program almost immediately for his violent tendencies and fast temper. We were able to trace his financials and we found payments into accounts from Jeff Kline. Maxwell Kline’s son.”
“His son? I looked into him,” Kane spoke up. He’s an elementary school teacher. No record. As far as I could see he hasn’t even spoken with his father for almost a decade.”
“And you are?”
“Kane Chase. My head of security,” Asher answered, seeming frustrated with the time wasting. “So Kline instructed his son to get rid of Addy?”
“It seems that way. I have local PD at the jail now, investigating how Kline could have even gotten a message to his son, since his son hasn’t been to the jail to visit.”
“But why?” I demanded, annoyed more than upset. “You said they don’t even need my testimony in court to find Max guilty, right? So why go to so much trouble when he’ll probably be found guilty anyway?”
“We think his lawyer has something they’re holding back until the start of the trial next week, something that could get Kline off. They obviously want to make sure your testimony won’t change that.” Harbison explained, and I knew my face had paled. I could feel the blood drop from it as my heart raced.
“And could it? My testimony? Would it make a difference?” I asked as I finally made myself meet those dark eyes and stay strong.
“Your testimony allows evidence of the kidnapping to be brought into the trial, so yeah, I think it would make a big difference.”
“Why haven’t I been asked to testify? That fucker kidnapped me too. I can testify,” Eli demanded.
“You’re the brother who was taken too?” Harbison asked.
“Yeah. Eli Lyle,” Eli sighed.
“But you didn’t actually see Kline, did you? You were knocked out, I believe?” Harbison pushed, and Eli shook his head.
“No. I woke up when we were in that house. I didn’t actually get eyes on Kline, but we know he was behind it. He spoke to Addy, told her he had kidnapped us for money,” Eli explained.
“And that is why it needs to be Addy who testifies in court. No matter how good his lawyers are, there’s little they can do to discredit her sworn testimony.”
“And Jeff, the son. What happens with him? He hired men to kill Addy,” Jordan demanded, obviously angry, which was so unlike him.
“He’s been brought in for questioning and as soon as we have the evidence that he has had contact with his father, he will be charged, but that’s on local PD. We can only work what was linked to the sex trafficking case.”
“I want to testify,” I announced without much thought.
“No, Addy. You’re not up to that,” Eli argued, and Asher nodded his agreement.
“I can do it. There’s no way Max Kline get’s away with what he did. I can’t let that happen. I have to testify and make sure I, and all of the other innocent lives he ruined and likely ended, get some justice. Joseph got off too easy. I’m not letting Kline get off too,” I stated.
It was a terrifying prospect – standing up in court and facing Max again – but I had to do it. I had to make sure that monster was never allowed to hurt anyone else ever again. I had to make sure his disgusting people trafficking ring was shut down for good.
I couldn’t save everyone. I wasn’t na?ve enough to think there weren’t dozens of other operations just like the one I got dragged into. But I could still do something. If I could stop this trafficking ring, I could save some other innocents, just like me, from ever facing what I had been forced to.
My guys told me continuously that I was stronger than I realized. Now I was going to have to damn well prove it, and I would. I was determined that my cowardice would stop right there. I was done hiding and I was definitely done letting the monsters win. They were never taking anything else from me again. Never.
***
I’d never been so sweaty in my whole life as I was when I stepped down from the witness box just ten days later. I couldn’t even keep my hand on the small rail as I shakily moved down the steps, but I refused to show any of that weakness, knowing Kline still sat in the court room, in his immaculate designer suit, a smug smile on his face and not a hair out of place.
He had tried to maintain his relaxed posture as I was questioned on the stand, but the more I told the jury, and the more their faces filled with shock, the stiffer that monster became. I had told them about his words on the plane - that he told me he had initially had me taken as payback against Joseph, and he was the reason I had found myself trapped in two years of abuse and fear.
I couldn’t tell them about the warehouse, when I thought he had me dragged from that cage so he could hurt me, but the more I stood opposite him, I wished I could, because I was becoming surer and surer that Max Kline had really been there that day – and that he had been the first one to violate me and begin two long years of abuse and torture, that broke me so badly, that I knew I could never ever be whole again.
Instead I detailed the way Eli and I were hurt, the threats Max made to hurt my brother, and rape me. I recalled every single detail. When Max’s attorney stood to question me I had been terrified, but there was little he could throw back. He tried to make me sound unstable mentally, but this had been preempted and the other side referred to the report an independent psychiatrist had done just days earlier, after doing an assessment session with me. The report stated that I was suffering from severe PTSD, but that I was stable and of sound mind – so they couldn’t discount my evidence that way. Once that failed, they announced they had no more questions and my part was over.
Now I just had to get down the steps and out of the court room with our tripping over, or falling apart, and I would have done all I hoped to achieve when I left the hotel that morning.
“Take my hand, shortcake.” I looked up and sighed in relief when I found Eli stood at the foot of the steps holding his hand out to me. He looked so smart and handsome in his charcoal suit. His white shirt was neatly pressed, not a speck of paint on it, and he suited the open collar look he sported.
“It’s the shoes,” I whispered as I took his hand and made it down the last step unscathed. “I told Jen that I couldn’t walk in heels.”
Eli just smiled as he linked our arms and placed my hand over his forearm, leading me right past the table Max Kline sat behind, and through the courtroom to where the rest of my family was waiting for us.
Kane draped his arm over my shoulders and we all walked out together. We weren’t staying to see the rest of the trial. I’d done what I could to get justice for myself and so many others. Now we just wanted to be somewhere secure and comfortable until the verdict was announced.
Not that we were in danger any longer, or so we believed anyway. Jeff Kline had been blackmailed into helping his father. As soon as the FBI questioned him, he’d admitted everything. Max had threatened to have his family – a wife and two three year old twins – killed if Jeff didn’t do as Max told him to. Max had been able to have a cell phone brought into the prison for him somehow, and he’d used it to orchestrate everything through his terrified son.
Jeff and his family had been moved to a safe house by the FBI for now, and they were safe. I didn’t know what would happen to them next, but I didn’t blame Jeff for doing what he had to do in order to protect the ones he loved. I knew there was very little I wouldn’t be willing to do in the same position.
So we were safe-ish. We were still staying at the hotel though, until the trial was over and we knew what was next. I had my own security team now too. Simon was with us in the court house, waiting in the long hallway as we all stepped out of the courtroom. He served in the military as a SEAL for twelve years before he got out and started working private security. He was tall and built like a truck. I’d been terrified of him when I’d met him, but he was a teddy bear really, and I was already starting to find that I liked him a lot. He was good at his job, but he didn’t take things too seriously when he was able to relax and not on duty, and it was a good mix.
My other guard, Mal, was smaller and leaner. He didn’t talk much, but he was always watching everything around him, his mind fully on his role at all times he was on duty. He was ex-police and he knew like a million martial arts, or so Kane had told me. He was also Simon’s partner, which I was pretty sure was the reason Kane had assigned them as my detail. He was a possessive ass, but he was my possessive ass.
They were my shadow for the foreseeable future. Even when all of this was over – if it ever were – Asher was determined he wanted me to have security round the clock and after everything that had happened, I wasn’t inclined to argue.
“All good?” Simon asked as he looked to me.
“All good,” I agreed with a shaky smile.
“She was amazing. That fucker’s definitely going down!” Jordan cried from behind me, and I loved the happiness in his voice. It did what it always did and made me feel lighter instantly.
“You feeling okay, angel?” Kane asked me so only I could hear.
“I think so. A little shaky, but I got through it,” I shrugged.
“You did great, not that I expected anything less from you,” he kissed the side of my head and I sank into him even deeper, wanting his warmth around me. The neat navy pencil skirt and thin, but pretty cream silk blouse Jenny had picked for me to wear looked the part, but I wished I brought my jacket.
“Are we going to the car? My feet are killing in these stupid shoes,” I groaned as I glared daggers down at the navy, three inch pumps Jen had insisted I wear. She and I may have become close in the last week or so, but I was never taking her advice about shoes again. Yes they were only three inch heels, but they felt like they wanted to murder my feet!
“Not a fan of the heels, huh baby?” Adam laughed from behind me.
“No, certainly not. Sorry, but I’m definitely a comfort kind of girl,” I told him as I glanced over my shoulder to him.
“You look sexy in whatever you wear, pretty girl,” Kane told me, making me blush.
“How about we grab some pizzas and some beer and have a celebration?” Asher asked loudly as we started down the stairs of the courthouse.
“We don’t even know the verdict yet,” I laughed.
“It’s a foregone conclusion after that, little dot,” Ash grinned as he looked up from the stairs below to me. “We’re celebrating you, and how amazing you were in there. I was really fucking proud of you,” he told me, making me instantly tear up.
“We all were,” Jordan added.
“Okay, enough,” I laughed. “I said I was not going to cry at all today and I meant it.”
We piled into the two cars waiting outside. Simon was up front driving, and beside him sat Adam. Kane, Jordan, and I were in the back, and I was more than happy squished between them.
Ash and Eli followed in the other car with one of Eli’s new shadows driving – Webb. I didn’t even know what his first name was. He was British and I was pretty sure he used to be a spy or something, not that he’d tell me when I found the courage to ask him. He was quiet and reserved, not talking often and never giving away anything about himself. I liked his accent though, and when I’d asked him about British food, he’d offered to show me some recipes, so I liked him so far and I was relieved that he would protect my brothers, along with the other member of the team – Dan. I hadn’t met him much yet because he preferred to work the night shifts so far, but he seemed friendly enough. He was older than all of the other guards by at least ten years, but he was in incredible shape and I had no doubt that between him and Webb, my brothers were protected.
“Is Jen still working?” I asked as I looked to Kane. She had returned to her salon just a few days earlier, and while she was still a little nervous, Kane’s assurance that Dean would never bother her ever again, had made her feel safe enough to get the place reopened. I had even gone with her and been her first client back.
My hair was now cut neatly to just below my shoulders. I had given her free reign, my only stipulation that it not be too short, and she had worked a miracle. I had layers to my hair now and it looked bouncy and alive, The soft bangs around my face made me look younger and for the first time in so long I liked what I saw when I looked at my face in the mirror.
I had no idea what Kane had done to Dean, but I presumed since he hadn’t been arrested, he hadn’t killed him. All I knew was that Jen was safe and Kane wasn’t worrying about her constantly anymore and that was good enough for me.
“Yep. And she’s going to look at those new apartments after. She’ll be back late,” Kane explained. I was disappointed she’d miss our mini celebration, but I was pleased that she was getting back on her feet, with her business reopened and her search for a new apartment. It had been special to me, her friendship so far, and I hoped that it would just continue to grow from there. We seemed to click and I had to admit, it was nice to have another woman to talk to sometimes.
It was amazing how much things had changed in a week. I was still struggling, especially at night, but for the most part I had been better at keeping myself together, and managing my anxiety when it struck. I didn’t know if that was the tablets, or me, but something was working and I felt more positive, and definitely stronger. Best of all, my guys and my brothers seemed to have relaxed a lot, and they laughed and smiled the way they used to before. They still worried too, when I got upset or lost control as I had a few times, but at least now they weren’t living in a constant state of worry and stress because of me. It was a start, and that, I could work with.