Chapter 30
Jackson
James drove like the devil was chasing us on a motorbike. Furious didn’t come close to how the two of us were feeling. Not only had Alec somehow bypassed James’ security, but he’d attacked Kiera and threatened Willow.
Alec had better hope he was dead; if we arrived at the house and discovered there was even the slightest beat of his pulse, we would have done what we could to bring the fucker back to life, just so that we could take our sweet time in killing him again.
Kiera had only given the highlights to James; Willow was distraught, and Kiera hung up on him so she could calm Willow down. Of course, that meant with only half the story of what had happened, James and I were left to fill in the blanks, which ultimately led to the two of us fearing the worst.
James didn’t bother stopping at the security gate as he turned into the entrance to his house. He hadn’t said it aloud, but I suspected he thought the same as me; at least one of his men had betrayed him by allowing Alec access to the house.
They wouldn’t live long enough to regret it.
Squealing to a halt, James and I leaped out of the car and rushed inside. Kiera and Willow were in the living room, sitting on the couch as Kiera hugged Willow to her side. Hearing us enter, Kiera’s head whipped up, relief filling her teary eyes.
“Fuck, Mouse, what the hell happened?” James growled, pulling his wife to her feet and cupping her face so he could examine her for injuries.
I crossed to Kiera, needing to reassure myself that she wasn’t hurt, but the second I caught the bruises forming across her throat, a murderous streak slammed into me.
“I’m…sssorry, James,” Willow sobbed, falling against his chest. “It’s my fault we won’t find Billie.”
James wasn’t known for being soft. I’d known him all my life, and I couldn’t remember a time when he’d shown any kind of tenderness toward anyone but Kiera and Billie. Until that moment.
He lifted Willow into his arms, her legs wrapping around him as he sank down on the couch. She straddled him as he held her against his chest, rocking her gently as he placed little kisses along her jawline, and whispering so that only she could hear what he was saying.
I nodded to Kiera, indicating for her to follow me. Leaving James to console Willow, Kiera trailed behind me as I made my way to the kitchen. My gaze instantly dropped to the body on the floor.
Alec was definitely dead, if the dent in his face was anything to go by, and that was without mentioning the hole in his skull that leaked a shit load of blood.
“Christ. Who knew Willow had it in her?” I said, kicking Alec’s body.
“She saved me. If she hadn’t done…that, he would have killed me,” Kiera replied, her voice breaking.
I spun to her, a grimace twisting on my lips as I stared at the marks on her neck. Like James had done to Willow, I pulled her into my arms, tilting her head back so I could get a proper look at the damage Alec had caused.
“I wish there was a way I could bring him back to life so I could take my time in murdering him for what he’s done to you.”
Kiera placed her hands against my chest, her palm resting against my heart as her eyes fell closed. “Please tell me you found something that will help find Billie.”
Her tone was thick with anguish, her despair visible on her face. I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear before placing a chaste kiss on her delectable mouth. “Not yet. But we will, Kiki.”
When her eyes opened again, a tear slid down her cheek. “I just want her back. My heart hurts so much not knowing where she is, and now,” she broke off, glancing down at Alec’s body. “I don’t know if we’ll ever find her.”
“Kiki, look at me.” Pressing two fingers under her chin, I lifted her head. “We will find her. I promise you, I won’t stop until your daughter is back where she belongs.”
The dam broke, emotions overpowering Kiera as she fell against my chest. Fucking hell. She’d been through so much these past few days, and still, we were no closer to finding Billie. At least I could give her some news that might comfort her.
“My father is dead.”
“What?” She pulled back, gaping up at me without blinking.
“He’s dead. He needed dealing with before we could concentrate on finding Billie. You’ll never need to worry about him again.”
Her shoulders slumped as relief washed over her face. “Did you do it? Did you kill him?”
I pressed my mouth to hers again, unable to resist the pull of feeling her lips on mine.
“I’ll tell you what happened later,” I whispered against her mouth.
I had no intention of lying to Kiera; from now on, there’d be no more secrets between us.
“But let’s focus on finding Billie. Tell me what happened. From the start.”
Kiera relayed what happened, right up to the point Willow bashed him over the head several times with the saucepan. Kudos to Willow; she’d always seemed so meek and timid, but when it mattered, she’d stepped up.
I’d have to thank her when she stopped crying.
“Do you know how he arrived here? Or how he got in?” I asked when Kiera fell quiet.
She shook her head. “No, I asked how he got in, but he didn’t answer.”
Releasing Kiera from my grasp, I crouched down next to Alec’s body, feeling his sides, and careful to avoid splatters of blood. Our cleaning crew were going to be earning a fortune from James and me today.
“What are you doing?” Kiera asked, her beautiful face contorted into disgust as I felt up her dead fiancé.
“Looking for-” I paused at finding a small lump in Alec’s pants pocket. Reaching inside, my hands curled around the object, and a satisfied grin pulled across my face. “Bingo.”
Standing, Kiera’s brows furrowed at the phone in my hand. I tapped at the screen, a message flashing up requesting a password.
“Great, another dead end,” Kiera muttered.
“You have little faith,” I replied, smirking. “This isn’t a Smarttech phone, this is a crappy, old phone. Give me five minutes, and I’ll have bypassed the password.”
She followed me as I headed to James’ office. He might not have been the tech guru I was, but he had some of the equipment I needed to break into the phone. Kiera watched in silence as I connected the phone to a small device, tapped a few buttons, and waited.
It took less than a minute for the phone to unlock. “And we’re in.”
Kiera rounded the desk to where I sat, peering over my shoulder as I clicked through the phone.
No messages.
No incoming or outgoing calls.
No IP data I could trace back to a location.
Fuck.
Not wanting to disappoint Kiera, I clicked into the gallery app on the off chance there would be something there, my brows lifting at finding a single picture. The image was blurry, but not enough that you couldn’t make out a dark room with a scared little girl sitting in the middle.
“Billie!” Kiera shrieked, snatching the phone from me. “Oh, my baby. She looks terrified. Where is this, Jackson? Please tell me you can find out where this picture was taken?”
“I can try if I have the phone, Kiki.” I held out my hand to her, and sheepishly, she placed it in my open palm.
With the phone still connected to the hacking device, I navigated through different options until I found the one I needed. Clicking on it, I held my breath as the software scanned the photo, hoping like hell it would be able to find the coordinates of the location where the photo was taken.
No data found.
The message flashed up on the device screen, and my shoulders slumped.
“That can’t be it, can it?” Kiera asked, her bottom lip wobbling as she battled to hold back her tears.
“No,” I replied, standing with the phone in my hand. “I’ve got other kit at my place that is better and more intrusive. Let’s go.”
I grabbed Kiera’s hand, pulling her out of James’ office and stopping to peer into the living room. Willow and James were still on the couch, only now, Willow was sitting across James’ lap, her head resting against his chest, and her tears had stopped.
“She doing okay?” I asked, nodding my head to Willow.
“Yeah,” James replied. “She’s shaken up; it’s been a rough few days after what happened with Elijah and the board.”
“What happened?” Kiera said, looking between James and me.
“Another time,” I whispered before turning back to James. “I found a phone on Alec’s body, there’s a picture of Billie on it, but I need different software to get a trace on it, so we need to head back to my place.”
“A picture?”
“Yeah.”
“Show me,” he ordered.
Cursing internally, I crossed to him, holding the phone out. Why he needed to see it was beyond me; we were wasting time.
He glared at the image, a muscle twitching in his jaw when Willow’s entire body stiffened, and she released a faint gasp.
“What is it, Mouse?” James asked, a frown settling between his brows.
Willow leaned forward, taking the phone from James’ hand, her eyes fixed on the picture. “I know that place,” she whispered so softly that it was almost inaudible.
“What? Where is it?” James barked.
Willow lifted her sorrowful eyes to James’, her words causing a ten-ton anchor to land in my gut. “That’s the holding room for the new girls when they arrive at Peartree House.”