Risky Romance (Wolf Security #4)

32. Cody

CHAPTER 32

Cody

The splintered steps of Uncle John’s house dug into my bare feet as I sat with my hands cuffed behind my back, watching hell unfold on my property. Flashing lights from the three ambulances turned everything blood-red, then blue, adding more chaos to this nightmare.

Nine poor victims. Nine lives were destroyed right under my nose. The extent of their suffering crushed my sanity. Someone had locked them in that room and left them to die and I would bet my ass it was Bruce. I knew he was evil when he’d killed my dogs.

But killing little kids and defenseless women? That was fucked up.

Those terrified victims would have died horrible deaths if we hadn’t found them when we did. When did Bruce lock them in there? Was it the day I’d shot him? If so, then I was already on the run with Jewel. Wasn’t that proof enough that I was innocent?

As Jewel, Maya, and Lacey helped the paramedics guide those poor people into the waiting ambulances, Blade, Viper, and Ryder took turns glaring at me. Aria’s eyes cut into me like spears. That woman had it in for me.

Jewel couldn’t even glance my way. That broke something deep inside my chest.

How the hell had this happened on my land? The signs must have been there. How did they move nine people here without anyone noticing? And what about that massive drug den right under my plantation? How had I missed the signs of what was going on down there? They had to transport drugs and equipment in and out.

Am I really that blind to what’s going on around me?

I was in a fucking mess. And I had no idea how I was going to save my ass.

But this was Uncle John and Bruce’s doing. Not mine.

Acid swooped through my gut—they could get away while I rot for their crimes.

I clenched my fists, and the damn handcuffs bit into my wrists. But I welcomed the pain, I deserved it for my fucking stupidity.

Uncle John’s comments hammered in my skull like a rusty nail. “You’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass since the day you were dumped on me.”

The words took on a whole new meaning, and for a moment, something hopeful and stupid made me wonder if he’d kept me in the dark to protect me.

But the sting of his words and his angry punches killed that thought dead. John hadn’t been protecting me—he’d been silencing me. My last living relative would rather see me dead than risk me exposing his criminal operation bullshit.

I couldn’t believe he’d hated me this whole damn time.

The truth burned worse than the steel cuffs cutting into my wrists. He’d never seen me as family. I was a pain in his ass, a burden, a loose end to tie up.

Uncle John and that bastard Bruce were probably halfway to Sydney by now.

Well, fuck that, you bastards. If I’m going down, I’ll do anything to take them to hell with me.

The sun was long gone, but the November heat still pressed down like a branding iron, making the air thick enough to choke on. My mind spun through a thousand memories, each one now twisted by the truth of what had been happening right under my feet.

How did I miss this?

How?

Bruce had constantly sneered at me like I was dog shit stuck to the bottom of his boot, and I’d thought his hatred was because of the way I wanted to run my farm—organic. John, too, had arced up at that decision. Every encounter with them had been a battle.

Yet my years of backbreaking labor gave them the perfect smokescreen to cover their filth.

How long had this been going on? Was it ten years? Christ, was it before I even got here eighteen years ago?

Anger shot through me like molten lava.

All I could think about were those young faces covered in grime as they emerged from that dark room under Bruce’s place. The little girl with the blanket looked so lost, and the boy couldn’t stop shaking. How many times had I walked past the track to Bruce’s shack, cursing at him for being an antisocial asshole? Never did I think his demands for me to stay away from his place were related to criminal activity.

Two ambulances drove away, and like a trigger had been pulled, Aria, Blade, and that evil-looking bastard Viper marched toward me like they were a posse planning on stringing me up right here. They planted themselves in front of me. Blade and Viper radiated deadly calm, and I figured they’d been career soldiers at some point.

I looked for Jewel near the remaining ambulance. She stood with Tory, and her tearful expression gutted me like a knife. The mistrust in her eyes hurt worse than anything.

Aria hit me with questions I had no answer to.

“Where did those victims come from?”

“How long have they been here?”

“Where are John and Bruce?” she demanded with cutthroat calmness. I would rather she raged at me. That was more fitting than this utter bullshit.

“How the fuck should I know? I’ve been with Jewel for the last four days. Ask her. She’ll confirm.” I stared at Jewel again. I needed her to believe me. Just her. Just one person to see the truth.

But when our eyes met, she looked away, and my fucking heart shattered.

The questions stopped and everyone shifted away from me like I had a disease. I alternated between watching the bedlam and staring at my bare feet, desperately trying to piece this nightmare into something that made sense.

It seemed like hours before Jewel finally came toward me with Lacey at her side like Jewel couldn’t face me alone.

“Jewel. You know I had nothing to do with those people. Right?”

She tilted her head, and the dim porch light caught tears in her glossy dark eyes. “I don’t know what to believe.”

“Bullshit!” I snapped. “I’ve been with you since I saved you from Bruce. How could I have locked those poor people in his house?”

She hugged herself, rocking slightly like she was trying to hold herself together. A cop car screamed up to the warehouse, lights strobing across the darkness. Tyler marched toward it like he’d been expecting them.

“Think about it.” I drilled my gaze at Jewel. “When John hunted us in that chopper, if I was with them, why would I risk everything to save you?”

“I don’t know, Cody.” Her voice wobbled as she brushed away a tear.

“I saved you because I had no fucking idea about all this bullshit. When I found you tied up, I couldn’t believe what Bruce was doing!” I clenched my fists. “You know me, Jewel. You know I’m not a criminal.”

“I know, it’s just?—”

“Just what!” The cuffs bit into my wrists as I jerked forward. “What do I have to do to prove I’m just a corn farmer? They used me. Everyone fucking uses me. Goddammit!”

The rest of Jewel’s friends marched toward me, and Aria’s murderous gaze ripped me to shreds. “Calm down,” she said.

“No, I won’t fucking calm down. Bruce and John and that asshole Grant Hughes all used?—”

“Where is Hughes?” Blade barked.

“What do you know about him?” Aria snapped.

I squinted at them. “I already told Jewel he’s the farm accountant. He’s a goddammed asshole and he’s working with John and Bruce. They’re all in this together. I don’t know jack shit about this bullshit!”

“Okay.” Aria raised her hands and glared at the others until they stepped back. Behind her, the last ambulance wailed into the night. “When was the last time you saw Hughes?”

“In the chopper cockpit when he was hunting us down like animals. Remember that, Jewel?” I glared at her.

What’s her problem? Why isn’t she defending me?

Jewel nodded. “Yes, of course I do. He and Bruce chased us into the rainforest.”

“And Uncle John. The three of them were after both of us.”

She nodded again and something shifted in her eyes, like pieces were finally clicking into place. I fucking hoped so, because I wasn’t sure I could hold my shit together for much longer.

“When was the last time you saw him in person?” Lacey asked. “Can you describe him?”

“Yeah, he was in my face four days ago. We had a massive blow-up right over there.” I jerked my head toward the idle chopper. “It was the same day Jewel showed up.”

“What sparked your fight?” Aria asked.

“My damn crop. I wanted to burn it, and they didn’t.”

She cocked her head. “Burn it? Why?”

“‘Cause the whole damn lot is infested with fucking Fall Armyworm. I wanted to torch the paddocks to kill them off. They wanted to poison the crops, but my corn is organic, and . . . what the hell does any of this matter?”

Aria flashed a smile that was as fake as Hughes’ bleached hair. “Tell us about Hughes.”

I spat out a rough description.

“Do you know where he comes from?” she asked.

“Nope. But John was always bitching about that bastard spying on us. So, he must live close.”

My mind churned through all those times John ranted about that nosy fucker. I’d dismissed it as John’s paranoia, but he was being watched for reasons that made my skin crawl.

A current ran through the group. Aria and Blade traded sharp glances before backing away.

Jewel lingered, shifting her weight like a cornered animal. The dim porch light caught something in her eyes that yanked the air from my lungs, that same raw terror I’d seen when I’d found her bound and gagged in the barn and fighting against the restraints.

Son of a bitch! Is she scared of me?

Does she really believe I’m capable of such horrors?

She settled beside me with her shoulder inches from mine. “I’m sorry, Cody.” Her voice trembled like a child’s, nothing like the warrior who’d captured my interest in the jungle.

My traitorous heart hammered against my ribs at her closeness. I hated that she still held this power over me, even now, after she’d made her choice—and it wasn’t me.

“Yeah.” I forced out a bitter laugh. “Me too.”

Her quiet sniff carved another piece from my heart. I fixed my gaze on her friends instead—law enforcement and special forces, people who lived in a world of order and justice. My world was dirt and diesel.

Jewel and I weren’t just different—we existed in entirely separate universes.

I’d been a fool to think we could build something real after surviving the Daintree. Those few wild, desperate, beautiful days together were crazy, yet somehow perfect.

But we were never meant to be.

The sooner that truth sank into my thick skull, the better.

She wiped her cheek, catapulting me back into the jungle with her, where she’d wept for her brother, and I’d held her to my body. Her loyalty had never wavered—it had always been about finding Dane and bringing him home to her family.

A bitter wave of envy crashed through me, squeezing my throat. Nobody had ever shown that kind of devotion to me. Not John. Not anyone. I respected her for that, even though it stung like a bitch.

“I hope you find Dane and that he’s safe.”

She released a sob that hacked through me like a rusty knife. “Thank you.”

The defeat in her voice made me want to tear these handcuffs apart. Instead, I welcomed the bite of steel against my wrists. Without them, I would have pulled her close and held her until her trembling stopped.

Two white vans, preceded by another police cruiser, roared up the driveway with strobing lights carving into the darkness. They skidded to a halt by the canning shed, kicking up gravel and dust in their wake. Figures in white hazmat suits emerged from the vans and Jewel’s boss took charge as they spread out like ghosts heading down Bruce’s driveway and vanishing behind my corn rows.

A handler with broad shoulders that rivaled Viper’s controlled the lead of a black Alsatian. The dog’s muscled frame quivered with barely contained intensity as its dark eyes scanned the area with the same tactical precision as its master. When the handler held something toward the dog’s muzzle, the Alsatian’s head snapped up and it lunged toward the canning shed, nearly pulling the handler off his feet.

My stomach dropped.

Are there more nightmares in there?

“I can’t believe this is happening.” My words came out as a growl.

“Me neither.” Her whisper transported me back to the rainforest, to her laughing, confident voice drifting through the trees.

She wasn’t like that now.

As people swarmed across the property like an army of ants, the first pale fingers of dawn crept through the darkness, silhouetting Thornton Peak above Daintree.

Christ. Sunrise is on the way.

For the first time since those dark days after Dad robbed the bank, I dreaded what new horror daylight would bring.

I hung my head and memories swarmed through me like angry wasps. Every heated argument with John over my crops and every evil snarl from Bruce added another sting to how fucking na?ve I had been. Surely, I would have seen something, but it was like trying to catch smoke, giving me nothing solid to grasp.

I’d been a fool and those two were better liars than my parents ever were.

Heavy footsteps crunched toward me. Tyler. His face was twisted with that same contempt I’d seen nearly twenty years ago when the cops had pinned my mother’s face onto our living room carpet.

“Get up,” he ordered, his voice as hard as prison bars.

My legs trembled as I stood, and I couldn’t tell if it was exhaustion or dread turning my muscles to water. Tyler’s fingers bit into my arm as he steered me toward the cop car with the damn flashing lights that burned blue beams into my vision.

All around us, evidence bags were being brought up from Bruce’s shack and lined up on the triangular patch of bitumen that was usually the heart of my corn farm.

As we passed the rusted tractor, a memory hit me like a punch to the gut: Jewel and me hiding under that piece of junk as I’d aimed my rifle at Bruce. I searched for her over my shoulder and found her still standing by the steps. The emergency lights caught the tears streaming down her face and turned them into trails of red and blue.

“I saved you right here, Jewel.” The words tore from me, carrying all the hurt from a lifetime of people bullshitting to me. “And you still believe I’m capable of this horror.”

Her face crumpled like wet paper, but Tyler jerked me forward before I saw if she tried to answer. Maybe it was better that way. She’d cut me too deep, and no words would ever heal her backstabbing anyway.

Reality crashed over me as we reached the police car.

Christ! I really am going to jail!

Just like my mother had eighteen years ago.

I had lost everything else, and now I was going to lose my freedom.

“No!” Jewel’s scream tore through the night. She raced toward me, but Lacey held her back.

“Cody!” She broke free, stumbling toward me with tears streaming down her face and her eyes wild with panic. “I swear to God, I’ll help you. I promise!”

Her fingers latched onto my wrist, trembling.

“I don’t need your help.” The words came out cold and heavy with disappointment. “I needed you to believe me.”

I pulled away from her grip like it burned.

“I do. I do believe you!” She grabbed Tyler’s arm, her voice cracking. “He didn’t know about any of this! He’s innocent. Cody is innocent!”

Tyler shoved my head down, forcing me into the back of the cruiser. Jewel’s desperate cries tore through me like shrapnel, but it was too little—and too fucking late.

The bitter truth settled in my gut like lead. It didn’t matter what she said now.

I was the son of criminal parents.

Everything about my life had been built on goddammed lies.