CHAPTER 8
ADAM
Asher was introducing me to the four guys who had just walked through the door of the apartment. He’d showered and changed and looked a lot more like himself than he had that morning, but I knew him well enough to see the stress that remained beneath the mask, which he had become way too good at wearing.
I nodded a greeting, but that was as far as my welcome went. I was too worried about Addy. She was stood with Jordan, and I had seen the way her grip around his waist had gotten tighter and tighter with every male that walked into the space and came closer and closer to her. She was terrified, and even Jordan holding her and whispering, what I assumed were reassurances to her, didn’t seem to be helping.
She had come a long way since the first day Ash and Eli brought her home with them. She was comfortable with her brothers, Jord, and I. I’d even seen her hugging Kane a few times and I knew she was comfortable with him too, but strangers obviously still scared her and had her anxiety rising. It was why none of us had pushed her to venture out more often than the few trips she’d taken.
The four strangers, who stood just feet from her now, seemed friendly, and the fact Asher knew and trusted them led me to believe they were good men, but they were also all pretty tall and built. To Addy, who had been through so much, it was a lot to handle.
“Did you get Evie and Zack to Chicago safely?” Asher asked.
“Yeah. They’re both staying with Evie’s parents. They’re good there for as long as you need us here,” The tallest and most intimidating of the four said. Harris, I think Asher had said when he introduced them, but I hadn’t been paying attention. He was almost as big as Asher with some gnarly scars on his neck.
“How is Zack?” Eli asked.
“He’s good. Evie started working a few days a week with Legal Aid, so he’s just started going to daycare in the mornings. He loves it,” another guy replied. The sullen look he’d had on his face since he walked in, dropped and his eyes lit up as he spoke about the kid.
“Thanks for coming. I might have over reacted but we need to make sure Addy stays safe, and Kane, my head of security, was injured yesterday,” Asher explained.
“Standing right here,” Kane grumbled as he looked to Ash with a glare. “And I already told you, I’m fine now.”
“The doctor said you need to take it easy until the dizzy spells and headaches pass. You already have a damned head injury Kane. We’re not making it worse!” Asher snapped. He and Kane had been having this same argument earlier on, and Kane had stood no chance of winning it that time either.
“He’s right, Kane. You need to rest,” Addy spoke up quietly, her voice trembling as hard as her hands were.
“Not happening. Someone is threatening this family and it’s my job to find out who,” Kane growled. I saw the way Addy flinched a little at his sharp tone, and I turned to glare at the dipshit in warning. She was scared enough. We didn’t need him making it worse for her.
“We’d appreciate your help with what we found already, if you’re up to it?” Harris said as he looked to Kane with question, diffusing some of the tension in the room.
“What did you find?” Eli asked.
“Maybe we should sit down,” Harris suggested.
“I need to plug my laptop in. It’s dead from the flight,” The shortest of the four spoke up, pushing his glasses up his nose as he spoke. He was the toughest looking geek I had ever seen. Quite the juxtaposition.
Asher led the way into the kitchen. The geeky guy – Alex, I thought his name was? – sat at the counter in the corner and set to work pulling two computers from his bag. The others took seats beside him as Eli set to work making a pot of coffee.
“You okay, baby?” I asked as I moved over to where Jordan and Addy still stood in the same spot.
“Just…I guess they make me nervous,” she whispered as her eyes darted behind me to the kitchen and then back to me.
“Of course they do. They’re fucking huge. They make me nervous too, princess,” Jordan tried to soothe her.
“Asher wouldn’t have them here if he didn’t trust them completely,” I reminded her, and she nodded.
“We should head in. I want to know what they found.” Addy nodded to the kitchen, but didn’t start moving until Jordan moved with her, keeping his arms tightly around her.
“She okay?” Kane asked from where he stood just inside the kitchen as I passed him, following after Jordan and Addy.
“No, but she’s trying to be, as always,” I sighed. I was just so sick and tired of seeing the woman I was falling for ridiculously fast, trying to push down her fears and anxieties in order to make the rest of us feel better. She wasn’t okay. It was obvious. None of us needed her to keep pretending she was.
“Go easy on her. Sometimes pretending to be okay is the only way you can keep going,” he told me quietly. Knowingly. Then he strode into the kitchen and stopped behind Alex to look over his shoulder at the laptop screen.
Eli was handing out cups of coffee to everyone as I walked into the kitchen. Asher was leant on the island opposite the guys he’d brought in, waiting to hear what they had to say, and Kane was over their shoulders looking at every screen and paper document they pulled out.
Jordan had taken Addy to the back corner of the kitchen, furthest from the strangers. He sat on the counter with Addy sat sideways in his lap. She had a handful of the bottom of his t-shirt in one hand, and was clutching his hand with the other. I wasn’t jealous of how she cuddled into him. I was more just relieved to see her looking slightly less petrified. Did I wish I were the one holding her? Hell yes, I did, but Jord had her and I was good with that.
The thoughts I’d been having all morning, about Jordan talking to her about poly relationships, flitted through my mind again. I had been questioning whether that was something Addy had raised, or something Jordan was trying to push.
I knew he had feelings for her, and so did I, but both of us dating her? Could that really work? I would love to think it could, since it seemed to be the perfect solution to the fact Jordan and I were falling for the same woman, but I had my doubts. And concerns. Like Asher. What would he think of the two of us trying to date his traumatized, innocent, little sister? I wanted Addy desperately, but I couldn’t go there if it would mean losing the bond Ash and I shared. He was more than my best friend. He was my brother and I owed him everything. I’d be completely lost without him in my life.
Addy would feel the same, I was sure. She had gotten so close to her brothers since they rescued her. I knew she would never choose Jord and I over them, nor should she have to. It was a messy situation I didn’t think any of us should really get into until things were resolved and Addy was safe again.
“Fuck!” Kane cursed. I turned my gaze from where I’d been staring at Addy and looked to where Kane was flicking through some printed pages.
“What? What did you find?” Asher asked.
Harris, who seemed to be the leader of their team, looked from Asher to Addy, who was behind Ash, across the kitchen. He looked worried and I instantly feared what they were about to tell the people I cared about to hurt the three of them next.
“It’s okay. Just tell us,” Addy said softly, but I could already see how tense she was, readying herself for whatever came next.
I looked to Eli, worried about him too. He, like Addy, had been trying to put on a brave face since the day Addy told them their father had been involved in those parties and had hurt her. But, also like Addy, he was a shitty actor. I knew how badly it had shattered him to know the man he always thought an asshole, was actually a true monster. I’d seen how red his eyes were every time he came out of his room and knew he had likely taken the guilt, of that poor girl in the basements death, on himself.
I knew him pretty well too, and I was sure he was tearing himself apart with guilt for not knowing what Joseph fucking Lyle was up to in the very house they all shared. Asher was doing the same but he was better at hiding his feelings. Eli wore every emotion on his face, and felt it so deeply it worried me often. I really wasn’t sure if he, Ash, or Addy were strong enough in that moment to face whatever bomb was dropped next.
“We…well, Aleks actually, started following the money to try and get names of other ‘guests’ at these parties. We looked into the accounts of Williams and Dartford first. We lined up the dates for the parties - which the FBI found evidence of - with some bank transactions and we found a pattern of payments from both accounts. Five thousand dollars a few days before each party, paid to a subsidiary,” Harris began. I stepped forward, opting to be closer to Ash and Eli for what I was sure was coming, knowing Jordan had Addy.
“My father’s accounts?” Asher asked.
“We checked those too, but there were no matching payments,” Harris replied.
“So he didn’t pay to go to the parties?” Eli asked as he looked to his brother. “What does that mean?”
“He was there!” Addy cried. “I swear he was there. That flashback…it was real.”
“We know that, sweetheart. We’re not doubting you,” Asher soothed as he turned to face her and reassured her. “Were you able to continue following the money?” Asher asked as he turned back to Harris. I heard the tension in his voice and knew he suspected what was coming too.
“Yes. Aleks followed the trail from the subsidiary company to an offshore account in the Caymen’s. That account led us to a company in Nevada called ‘LYFE corps” with an ‘L, Y’ instead of ‘L,I.’”
“The company has a mailbox somewhere in Navada and a business account that money moves in and out of on a regular basis, but other than that they don’t exist,” Alex, or maybe Aleks, since Harris seemed to pronounce it that way, spoke up.
“He couldn’t fucking help himself, could he?” Asher growled as he stood up and interlocked his fingers behind his neck. He looked up to the ceiling, his whole body rigid with rage. “Fucking sex trafficking and he still had to have his fucking name on it!” Asher grabbed his coffee cup from the counter and threw it across the room into the wall opposite where Addy and Jordan were. He roared with anger, and I completely understood, but I worried too.
Addy squeaked in fear as she cowered and grabbed onto Jordan, terrified. If Asher lost it anymore I feared we’d lose her to another panic attack.
I stalked straight over to Asher. Addy’s fear had stilled him in his rage but it was still coursing through him. His fists were clenched at his sides and he was breathing way too hard.
“Brother,” I said as I wrapped my hand firmly around the back of his neck and pulled him towards me, resting my forehead against his. “Breathe,” I told him in little more than a whisper. “Addy and Eli…they need you now. We can spar and get this out later, yeah?”
“That fucker, Adam,” he whispered, sounding more broken than I’d ever heard him.
“I know, bud. I know,” I agreed. I gripped the top of his arms and squeezed them tightly, hoping it would be enough to pull him around.
As I stood I looked from Addy, who was crying curled as small as she could into my brothers lap, to Eli, who was just slumped against the counter, his eyes closed and his head lowered.
“I’m sorry, man,” Harris offered.
“I should have expected it. I think a part of me did, to be honest, but I was hoping…fuck!” Asher stopped talking and wrapped his arm around Eli, pulling him closer into his side and whispering into his ear. Eli nodded, and finally opened his eyes as he looked to his brother.
“I’m good,” he whispered, and Asher nodded. They both turned to Addy but she wasn’t even looking up. Her face was pressed against Jordan’s shoulder and she was shaking with sobs. Jordan was holding her tightly, but he looked a little lost. We all were. How could we even begin to make this any less painful for all of them?
“Sweetheart,” Asher crooned as he dragged Eli across the kitchen to her.
She turned her head against Jordan’s shoulder just enough to see her brothers stood before her. Her eyes were bright red and her pale face blotchy.
“Was it him? Did…did he have me kidnapped on purpose?” she asked shakily through her tears.
Asher turned to look at the others, his face a mask of calm once again, even though I knew he was far from it. Eli was trying to stay strong too, but I could see how he shook as Asher clutched him to his side tightly.
“The company tracks back to another offshore account your father set up about ten years ago. Aleks had to go through a lot of hoops to get to that information though. Joseph Lyle was pretty good at covering his tracks,” Harris explained.
“Luckily, Aleks is better,” The blonde guy, who hadn’t spoken much until that point, added as he slapped Aleks on the back. I couldn’t remember his name, but he seemed lighter than the other three, more relaxed.
“So, he was the one setting these parties up?” Eli asked with confusion.
“We don’t know how far his involvement goes yet. There was millions of dollars in that offshore account though, so if it all came from his ill deeds, there was obviously a lot of them,” Harris answered.
“If I could get my hands on his laptop, I may be able to find more,” Aleks added, only glancing up momentarily from the laptop he’d been working away on.
“I think the FBI have it. Either that or it burned up in the fire at the house,” Asher explained.
“Okay. For now Aleks is trying to trace the payments from the account back to individuals, so hopefully we can come up with a list of the fuckers who were at those parties and anyone else who was involved in the operation,” Harris said.
“He was obviously the puppet master in this whole depraved fucking venture. The question is, did he know he’d gotten his own daughter caught up in it all, and how the fuck do we bring the whole thing down?”
I moved to Addy instantly as a loud sob burst from her. Asher and Eli were instantly back before her too and we all watched as she looked up at us with so much agony on her face. I actually rubbed my hand over my chest, feeling like someone had punched me. It fucking killed me to see her hurting so badly.
“I’m s-sorry. I can’t d-do this,” she whimpered as she looked between her brothers. She turned to Jordan, then buried her face against his chest again. “I can’t listen to an-anymore,” she cried, the words muffled and sounding so defeated and broken.
“I’ll take her to lie down and stay with her,” Jordan said as he looked between us all, his expression filled with all the pain I was feeling at having Addy seem so broken.
“You should go too, Eli. Stay with her. Adam can stay and hear the rest with me,” Asher added.
“I’m sorry I’m letting you down,” Eli said sadly as his gaze lowered to the floor.
“Hey, look at me!” Asher clipped as he turned Eli to face him. Eli looked up, but he looked pretty defeated himself too. “You have never ever let me down, Eli, do you hear me? I thank my lucky stars every day that I have you at my side. I’d be lost without you. Right now though I need you to look out for Addy, okay? I need to know she’s safe so I can handle all of this.”
Eli nodded but tears had filled his eyes as he looked up and met Asher’s gaze again. “I hated him. I hated him all my damned life, but he…he was still my dad, Ash. Our dad, How could he? What he did…it was so sick. How could he do that?”
“There are some seriously fucked up monsters in this world, Eli. That’s why I’m so insufferably over protective. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you and Addy safe. Jordan and Adam too. I’m just pissed I didn’t realize we were living and working every fucking day with the devil himself,” Asher growled. He pulled Eli into his arms and they hugged briefly, both of them completely wrecked by what they had discovered. I worried about how much worse this was all going to get. Would there be more horror to unravel?
“Go on now. You and Jord take care of Addy and we’ll handle all of this. We’ll fill you both in later,” I said as I looked between Eli and Jordan, both of whom felt like my kid brothers. Addy was still pressed hard against Jordan, her body vibrating violently against him.
“I’ll be close by if you need anything, okay baby?” I whispered as Jordan dropped to his feet beside me, Addy in his arms. I leaned in to kiss her cheek softly, hoping she’d heard me.
Asher kissed the top of her head and whispered that he loved her, then we both just stood and watched as Eli and Jordan headed down the hall towards the bedrooms.
“Jordan will look out for them,” I assured Asher.
“I know he will,” Ash nodded. “I just wish I could spare them both all of this,” he added with an exhausted sigh.
“We’ll get through this, Ash. We just need to stick together.”
He nodded again, then turned back to where the other guys had been busying themselves for the last few moments.
“What now then?” Asher asked.
“I have a lead,” Aleks spoke up. “There were payments from the LYFE Corp account to pay for a warehouse just outside of Vegas. Since Vegas seems to be the center of all of this, I think it’s worth checking out.”
“Addy said she was held in a warehouse, right?” I asked, looking to Asher.
“Yeah, just after she was taken. She spent a few days caged up with other women there. She said it had armed guards.”
“You want to check it out? We’re up for some action if you’ve got weapons?” Harris offered.
“I’m coming too. Don’t even try to argue,” Kane growled as he looked to Asher with a glare. I hadn’t taken much notice of him before, my focus on Addy. But now I looked at him I realized just how pissed off he seemed. His fists were balled and he was almost vibrating with rage.
“I should stay with Addy and Eli,” Asher said as he glanced towards the hall behind him.
“I’ll stay here with them. Jord too. We’ll be okay. You should go. I think you need this right now, Ash,” I said, knowing having a mission to focus on was exactly what he needed in that moment.
“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” he nodded.
“We can be there and back in two days if we can use your fancy jet,” the blonde guy spoke up.
“Okay,” Asher gave in. “But if you come you’re staying in the car, Kane. You’re not up to any action right now.”
“Just try it,” Kane growled menacingly. Asher just shook his head. I didn’t know what had Kane so riled up, but I was glad I wasn’t gonna be trapped in a plane with him and his gun, on a flight to Vegas.