Chapter 43
***Zander***
My brain revolted at what I was looking at, sending mixed signals to rage and run at the same time.
Playing across Knight’s computer screen was the security footage of our security team removing Aggie.
They’d been rough with her. I knew from our time together how much her body could take before it bruised and I knew that she probably had hand shaped bruises on her arms. I’d requested it.
I’d made the call that led to those bruises, bruises not left from desperation for her during sex, but during violence.
“Turn it off.” I jerkily turned away. “Just turn it the fuck off, Knight.”
“Jamie should’ve hit us.” Knight shut his laptop and swore. “I want those guys fired. I want Olivia reported to her company. Most of all, I want our asses kicked.”
“Did you find anything?” I already knew. Deep down, I knew he wouldn’t find evidence of Aggie’s betrayal.
“No.”
Kyrin laughed as he stood up and tossed his hat down on the table. “So, tell me, brothers. Did we get played by Aggie? Or did we get played by Monroe Blake?”
My headache was becoming a migraine. “I don’t know.”
“Someone tried to hack the system. Someone gave that information to Blake.” Knight rubbed the back of his neck and groaned.
“It was either Aggie or someone in our office, someone on the inside. There’s no way to get what Blake got without an inside connection.
Someone would’ve had to connect on the executive floor. ”
“Would Aggie have had the time to get that information while performing that test?” I swore as my phone vibrated in my pocket and pulled it out. “It’s security. Yeah?”
“It’s Jim, sir. I’m not sure if you’d want to know this, but I heard on the blotter that Miss Young was arrested.” He cleared his throat. “That’s all I know.”
“Which jail?” I typed the jail into my phone and then hung up on him. “Aggie was arrested.”
Knight stood up and looked upstairs. “Which one of us is going to stay with Gracie?”
Kyrin grunted. “You know none of us are. I’ll grab her.”
The fifty-minute drive to the jail was silent, as we were each lost in our own thoughts.
Gracie was asleep, thankfully, so her screaming had come to a stop for the time being.
Kyrin carried her in his arms when we reached the jail and stormed inside.
Unsure of what we’d find, we were all anxious to find out anything regarding Aggie.
The officer at the front desk took one look at us and shook his head. “You here for the smart-mouthed one with hate in her eyes?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Aggie Young. Where is she?”
“Yep. Just what I thought. Only a woman with money can look at a police office while wearing rags and tell him to get fucked with that much haughtiness.” He pushed a button and spoke into his phone. “Young’s fan club is here.”
“What’d she get arrested for?” Knight tapped his knuckles on the counter, his anxiety unwilling to make small talk.
“Destruction of property and assault. I don’t know what the DA will charge her with, but she’s going to be sitting in lockup for a while.” He looked at our rumpled suits and shrugged. “Maybe not, though.”
Kyrin was good friends with the DA after selling the woman a horse for her daughter. He was already pulling his phone out with his free hand. “Not.”
“Who’d she assault?” I looked up as another office pushed open a door to the back and held it for us. “Do you know?”
The second officer looked us over and chuckled. “This lady is surrounded by rich men, huh? The guy she beat the shit out of was some big wig, too.”
My stomach twisted. “Monroe Blake?”
“Yes, sir. She trashed his car and when he came out to stop her, she trashed him. When we got there, she had that grown man on the ground, pushing his face into dirt and screaming at him. You know the story there?” The officer led us through a maze of offices and down a set of stairs.
“She’s lucky she didn’t get tased. She calmed down as soon as she was in the car, but she’s got a mouth on her.
Tough, too. More than half the fights we break up usually have one or more titties just out there, man.
Women’s clothes aren’t made for fighting.
Not Miss Young, though. She was classy when she wasn’t trying to murder that man. ”
I looked back at Kyrin. “Make the call. She’s not staying the night here.”
Knight wiped his hands on his shirt, his nerves showing. “She was telling the truth, wasn’t she?”
I ground my teeth together so hard it felt like I'd break them all. "Which means we have a leak in our office. That's something we'll handle. Swiftly."
The officer opened a heavy metal door and looked back at us. “Normally, I’d keep you guys in the visiting area, but it’s a slow night. Plus, your lady’s been holding court since she got in the cell. I think the other women would riot if I took their new leader away.”
I heard her long before I saw her. Her raised voice was a far cry from the woman who’d left our office earlier in the day. She sounded fierce and ready for battle.
“I am done with men after this. Let me tell you, it took me three decades to find men who could make me orgasm like it was their job and they turned out to be the absolute worst. I’m just going to buy one of those really nice vibrators and a stuffed animal to cuddle.
It’s not like I need a man for anything else. ”
“I like my man because he’s so strong. I feel so safe with him.” Another woman called back.
“I just beat up a man twice my size. I’ll keep myself safe.” Aggie scoffed. “Try again.”
“Sometimes they open things for you. That’s nice.”
“I would literally rather smash a jar of pickles on the ground to open it every single time I want a pickle than have to listen to a man talk to me for one more second of my life.” Aggie’s voice rang out louder.
“Men suck. They just take and take and take and then call you a whore when you do the freaky shit they wanted to begin with.”
A few women cheered her on.
“I knew that men were terrible when I got into this situation. I’d just been dumped and fired by the same dumbass, at the same time, because I wouldn’t quit my job and give him two point five children to impress his country club parents.
I knew that these three were jerks. They didn’t care that I was smart, talented, and the top strategist in the state.
Do you know what kind of arrogance you have to have to dismiss talented employees?
So, really, I’m the idiot for falling in love with them.
“I knew better and I still walked right into it. How dumb do I have to be to have let myself be made into such a fool for three men? It’s impressive, really.” Aggie groaned. “I’m so angry that I cried in front of them. Stupid.”
“Honey, you’re getting sad. Focus on angry.”
Aggie swore loudly. “You’re right! It’s not the time to think about stupid emotions and feelings. It’s the time to think about how they offered me up to their conference room Connies! It’s time to think about how they had me dragged out of their house. In front of that sweet little girl. Assholes.”
Kyrin joined us and looked at our faces while putting his cellphone away. “What’s going on?”
“I mean, what even is love? It’s just another stupid feeling I can shove inside and lock up.
I freaked out for a minute there, because I’ve never loved anyone who wasn’t family.
It doesn’t have to mean anything, though.
It took me less than a month to fall in love, so what?
It’ll take around that to get over them?
You’re shaking your head. Why are you shaking your head? ”
I walked closer and gripped the bars that separated me from Aggie. Her back was to me, but as she turned and I saw her, I almost wished she’d kept her back to me so I wouldn’t have to see her red-rimmed eyes. The evidence of her crying staring right back at me was a deserved punch to the gut.
Aggie took a deep breath and then turned away from me. “Anyway, I think I’ll be fine. Who else wants to give me a reason they think they need a man so I can tell them why they don’t?”
The women were all staring at me and my brothers, their eyes wide. There were ten of them sitting on a bench on the back wall, watching Aggie pace in front of them like she was a lecturer at school.
Knight looked back at the officer. “Open the door.”
Aggie looked over her shoulder at the officer. “Don’t open the door.”
Kyrin swore and moved closer, juggling Gracie as he grabbed the bars. “Don’t do that, Aggie. You’re not staying. The order to release you will be coming down any second. You’re coming with us.”
“Gracie shouldn’t be here. You should all take her home and apologize to her that you suck so much.” Without even looking back at us, Aggie flipped her hair over her shoulders and kept talking like we weren’t there. “The only man I know who I don’t hate right now? My dad. Y’all would love him.”
“Aggie, I’m sorry.” I pushed through the awkwardness of having an audience. “I fucked up and I’m sorrier than I can even explain right now. You should hate me and trash whatever of mine you want to, but please don’t be stubborn about leaving. You can’t stay here.”
She went still. “I’ve always heard that love and hate are separated by such a fine line and I never got it until now.
Because as much as I care about each of you, I hate you even more right now.
I’m not leaving with you. I don’t want anything to do with you ever again.
I know that probably sounds dramatic, but as men who so easily made the big decision to throw me away, I assume you’ll understand. ”
"Just listen to me, Aggie. Blake got to us and made us think.
.. It doesn't matter. We were fucking stupid to ever listen to a thing he said.
This whole thing was just a terrible mistake.
Please, hear me when I tell you that I am sorrier than I can say.
I hate myself for hurting you and I just need you to look at me and give me a second to show you how sorry I am.
" I felt my sanity crumbling. "I'm begging you, Aggie. "
"No."
"You're so much better than us, Aggie. Be good for us one more time, baby, and just talk to us." I sucked in a harsh breath and felt pain travel up my arms as my grip on the metal bars tightened. "Please."
When she didn’t budge Knight shook the cell door. “Goddammit, Aggie, you’re not staying in a jail cell.”
“Let us do this one thing for you, at least, Aggie. Let us get you out of here. You don’t have to go home with us. We’ll have a car take you wherever you want to go, but please, just accept this.” Kyrin’s voice broke and he cursed. “Aggie, please.”
Her head dropped and her shoulders slumped, but she didn’t budge. “Officer, I’m not leaving with them. You shouldn’t waste your time by standing down here, waiting on a miracle.”
“Alright, guys. You heard her. I’m sorry, but you can’t stay.” The officer moved like he was going to touch Knight and held up his hands when Knight growled at him. “Don’t get yourselves in trouble. The men’s holding cell is full and on the other side of the jail.”
“Aggie, for the love of god, just-”
She cut me off by continuing her rant at her audience. As I dragged myself back up the stairs, though, I could hear the sadness in her voice. Sadness that I’d caused the woman who loved me.