Chapter 3
Newton
No one tells me to sit my ass down when I follow them out of the clubhouse.
Victoria, the director at the shelter, called Emmalyn before Cerberus personnel could make it there.
As we suspected, Nathan Adair knew Brielle was at the shelter.
Victoria didn”t hear the entire conversation, and Brielle took off from the house before she could be asked, but what Brielle doesn’t know is that for legal purposes, the phone calls on the landline at the house are always recorded. There has been more than one occasion when someone”s abusive spouse has managed to track down the house or the phone number and has made threats. These, of course, are used in court cases. This is why all the women are urged to use that phone number when applying for jobs rather than their personal cell phone numbers. For an extra layer of added safety, they use a different address, one that would take an abuser to a storage facility on the other side of town if they somehow managed to get that information out of an employer.
”We have to move them,” Em says as she follows us out onto the porch.
”We will,” Jinx promises. ”I”m going to have some of the guys stay on the house. The rest of us are going to the park.”
It”s quite possible that Nathan will have planned more than one attack at the same time, but more than half of Cerberus is still in New Mexico. Other than the team that went to Santa Fe, everyone else is here.
”Newton,” Jinx says when I follow him to the SUV. His eyes dart down to my arm encased in the sling. ”Don”t get in the way.”
I don”t argue. He could”ve easily told me to keep my ass here.
I feel out of place in the middle of a group of Cerberus members who are all geared up to take on the world, while I sit in the back seat of the SUV in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I didn”t even bother to grab my jacket before leaving the clubhouse. A little cold wind and a sprained wrist aren”t going to keep me from supporting my team in any way they might need me.
Brielle is discussed as we drive off the property. Cerberus would never consider using her as bait, even if she hadn”t bolted.
I can”t blame the woman for taking off. Fear is a very strong motivator, and there are few people willing to face them and the danger a man like Nathan Adair is capable of. That woman knows firsthand just how vicious the Adair men are, and, honestly, she was lucky to have escaped them the way she did.
The three SUVs split up as we near the park. We”re hoping to be able to catch Nathan, but we know better than to think that he”ll just show up at the park with Beth for an easy trade.
The conversation we listened to in the conference room that took place between Nathan Adair and Brielle made it very clear that Beth was as good as dead. It was up to Brielle and what she chose as to whether or not it was going to be an easy death or not.
My heart clenches for Oracle and the possibility that he may lose his wife today.
I realize as we take position on the far side of the park, watching Boomer, one of the smaller Cerberus guys and, honestly, the only one who wouldn”t stand out, as he walks a small dog along the track that circles the small park.
”Whose dog is that?” I ask, still a little awed at times, with how fast plans can come together for the club.
”Tug’s,” Jinx answers, lifting his binoculars to his eyes.
The tint on the SUV isn”t legal, but it isn”t one of the things Cerberus has to worry about where Farmington police are concerned. It helps that Sophia, Kincaid”s niece, is married to one of the homicide detectives, but the club has been supported by the police department for decades. They can see the value Cerberus brings to the town even when there are groups of citizens, mostly ones who have criminal records, that wish Cerberus would pack their shit and move to a different town.
”Tug got a tiny dog?” I ask, disbelief in my tone.
”Jasmine wanted a puppy,” Jinx clarifies.
Those four words tell me everything I need to know.
Jasmine is Sophia”s older sister. Their dad, Dominic, is Kincaid”s older brother. Jasmine is also in a triad relationship with Tug and Max, and those two men worship her. Whatever she wants, she gets without argument, and, honestly, it”s that way with every couple in Cerberus.
”I’ll be damned,” Jinx mutters. ”Either she”s crazy or she”s the bravest woman I”ve ever met.”
I look out the window and see Brielle walking toward the center of the park.
”Why wouldn”t she run?” I mutter, seeing the set of her jaw.
The woman is trying to be brave, but there”s also a level of fear wrapped around her as well. I recognize the facade she”s hoping no one else can see. I”ve used the very same one for years. Facing your fears doesn”t always mean you”re brave. Sometimes, it means you have no other choice. But Brielle did have a choice. She could”ve hitched a ride out of town when she left the shelter. There was nothing keeping her here unless her connection to Beth was greater than any of us actually realized.
She sits on a bench, her eyes directed to the far side of the park, but it doesn”t look like she”s expecting someone to approach her from that direction. She looks lost, as if she”s just staring off into the distance because she has no other choice.
”Xan,” Jinx says just as a man in a long, dark coat approaches at her back.
”What are we going to do?” I ask, my heart kicking up when the man speaks and Brielle doesn”t jolt in surprise.
”He came alone,” Boomer says, bending down to pet the dog as if he”s speaking to the animal.
His voice comes through the radio Jinx has sitting on the center console of the SUV.
”We”ll follow them from the park,” Jinx says into the radio.
I want to run to her, to tell her she”s making a mistake, when she stands to face the man.
Her arms are locked down at her sides when Xan Adair pulls her to his chest, his arms around her for a hug.
I”m disgusted by the way he lowers his mouth to hers as if they”re long-lost lovers and not stepsiblings.
We know from the dossier that she was abused by the two men, but even Brielle has never gone on the record to discuss the things she suffered at their hands. She honestly hasn”t given the police much of anything in order to prepare a case against her stepfamily, but I understand the reluctance. When you”re in a her-word-against-theirs situation with no physical evidence, then any case built against them would be thrown out with the help of any attorney worth their weight. Nathan Adair has an amazing legal team. They”ve managed to get every case brought before the courts thrown out, and there are suspicions that the crime lord has judges in his pockets as well. Brielle is smart to not open her mouth against Xan and Nathan.
The woman doesn”t look around as she walks toward the parking lot, but that doesn”t stop Xan from darting his eyes in every direction.
I don”t know enough about the man to know if he has a sixth sense of being watched or if he”s always a little paranoid.
For some reason, I want to jump out of the SUV and rip her from his grip, but I know I can”t do that. Brielle has put herself in the middle of this situation, and although we”d never formulate a plan to use the woman as bait, we also have an obligation to Beth and Oracle.
I feel helpless as I watch Xan open the passenger side of the car for Brielle, curious as to what he tells her to make her nod.
I hate the fake smile on her pretty face, but it”s another thing I recognize as a defense tactic. The woman is playing along. She”s being exactly who this man wants her to be. I know it”s so she can help Beth, but I also see the defeat tugging at the corner of her eyes when Xan walks around the back of the car to climb behind the wheel. For the briefest of seconds, she lets her eyes dart around as if she”s hoping someone will pop up and help her.
I”ve witnessed tragedy more times than I can count. We don”t always get there on time. We don”t always save the day. Statistics and probability don”t allow for us to be a hundred percent at all times. The world doesn”t work that way.
There are instances where we raid a compound days too late. Sometimes, it”s minutes. Sometimes, our entry into a situation is what makes a bad guy pull the trigger. These are all things we have to live with. We fight for the greater good, even knowing that there will be times we”re the catalyst for devastation. That sometimes, we”re the reason someone doesn”t make it back home.
We can”t let it stop us from doing our job, but even now, as we pull away from the parking lot, leaving a respectable distance between our SUV and the shitty car Xan is driving, I pray that there”s an intervention from some sort of greater power, even though our jobs have proven that there”s no such thing as a loving god. We”ve seen too much. I”ve experienced too much individually to get lost in hopes and prayers, but it still doesn”t stop me from whispering Bible verses my adoptive mother said so very often once I was in her care.