Chapter 33
Newton
Despite whatever arrangements Nathan made to make sure we couldn”t track where Brielle was taken earlier today, he made no effort to hide his location. He knows we followed him to the house. He also knows that unless we break the law, we can”t go in and get her. We have no proof that she isn”t there of her own free will.
There”s only one window with a set of bars, and I know it has to be where she”s being kept. All she has to do is open the fucking curtains and mouth the word help and a dozen fucking commandos will enter the fucking place.
”The warrant?” I ask Kincaid. The prosecutor threatened to get one for her, and that would really be beneficial right now.
”The judge refused to sign it,” he says.
We”ve moved from the apartment near the government building to a house a block and a half down from where Nathan and Brielle are with what we can tell is at least four guards inside.
He isn”t even trying to hide the fact that they”re there, and if anything it”s a slap in the face.
”Hemlock said he heard the two of you arguing, that she claimed to have been lying to you all along,” Kincaid says as we both stare at the live feed.
One of Deacon”s guys is in a car right across the street from the house. There”s no sense in trying to be covert right now.
They aren”t even trying to hide. The curtains in the living room have been pulled all the way back, allowing us to see right into the house.
We”ve been posted up here for eighteen hours, and there hasn”t been so much as a flutter of the curtains in the room we”re presuming is hers. The bars on the window aren”t reason enough for us to make entry into the house, and after the judge released Nathan, apologizing to him, we aren”t getting much help from the local police department either. I really think they blame Brielle for Detective Greene”s disappearance, but they also have probably been given orders to stay clear of Nathan Adair.
The prosecutors assured us that they weren”t giving up, but it”ll take time to build a case that will hold up in court. We don”t have the luxury of time right now.
”Newton,” Kincaid snaps, pulling my eyes from watching Brielle sit at a fucking table eating breakfast with a man that has spent most of her life hurting her.
He looks sad when I meet his eyes, and I can see his faith in her wavering.
”Are you sure she wasn”t telling the truth?”
I swallow when my eyes go back to the monitor.
”She didn”t tell the truth the other night,” I say, wishing I didn”t have to share her secrets. ”Her body is covered in scars. He doesn”t even smoke yet she had cigarette burns etched into her skin.”
The more I talk the higher my heart rate climbs.
”She tried to kill herself once with the glass from a bathroom mirror. Xan cut her arms even deeper to show her how to really get it done.” At this point I”m like a caged animal, spittle flying out of my mouth as I pace back and forth.
”Okay, okay,” Kincaid says, stepping in front of me and stopping me in my tracks. ”We have to wait. The second she shows any sign of distress we”ll go inside.”
”We have protocol to follow,” says the only detective from the police station who bothered to show up here.
Kincaid turns to glare at Detective Alice Calloway. The woman doesn’t back down, which says she”s either incredibly brave or stupid.
”You”ll have to shoot us in the back,” Kincaid snaps. ”If we move on that house, you”re either with us or against us.”
She stands a little taller, straightening the firearm on her hip the way the cops do to remind the people they”re talking to that they hold all the power.
”Don”t make me get a supervisor out here,” she says, the warning clear in her voice.
”If any supervisors wanted to be here, they would already be here,” Kincaid argues, and the man is telling the truth.
It”s not only orders keeping the others away. Fear is a very real motivator. Either she wants to be here because she thinks she can be the one to finally work a good case against Adair, or she”s trying not to act scared because she”s been forced to be here.
She licks her lips, telling me that she”s not only annoyed, but she”s also feeling as if she”s being backed into a corner.
She doesn”t open her mouth to argue another point.
Kincaid turns back to the monitor and I do the very same, feeling completely helpless.
We don”t have a good enough shot to tell if her hands are trembling, but I know she”s been taught how to not look afraid. She did it when she walked into that house when Beth was being held captive knowing that there was a very good chance she wouldn”t make it out of there alive.
She”s brave, but she”s also working with the knowledge of exactly how evil Nathan is. The rest of us can only guess and speculate. She”s borne witness to his abuse for years.
They”re situated at the dining table perfectly, so we can”t read lips, although Wren has included software into the feedback we”re getting right now to do just that if they face forward at some point. There are jammers in the house, so we get nothing but a screeching sound when we try to pull audio from inside.
”I need a breath of fresh air,” I mutter, but I”m met with Kincaid”s hand on my chest before I can walk out of the room.
”That”s not a good idea.”
I won”t argue the point about fresh air. The man has never been accused of being a fool, and I sure as hell won”t be the man to call him one today.
”I can”t just sit here and do nothing,” I tell him, and I can tell by the look in his eyes that he knows it to be true. ”I love her.”
Kincaid has never been the type of man who tries to prevent people from forming bonds and connections. As far as I”ve heard, he”s been more likely to push people together than trying to gatekeep relationships from forming. He didn”t push me before when he really needed information from Brielle in order to ensure Nathan stayed locked up. He didn”t doubt me when I told him that there was no way Brielle was there of her own free will despite what we”ve all witnessed happening in the house since one of the guards pulled back the curtains.
”You”re a valuable member of my team, Beck Keller.”
I swallow as I nod in understanding, but I still step past him when he drops his hand.
”Where the fuck is he going?” Detective Calloway snaps. ”He”s going to get us all killed.
And the truth about how the woman really feels is finally revealed. I feel sorry for her. I really do. I”m sure she had all sorts of grandiose ideas about how her career as a cop would play out, and I”m sure it leaned more toward medals of valor rather than possible headlines about her death or disappearance.
I don”t waste time standing on the front stoop and pretending to get the breath of fresh air I lied about inside.
I cut across the grass, walking in the direction of the house Brielle is in.
Beth told Oracle every detail about her abduction and the things the Adair men talked about. We know that Nathan”s plans for Brielle include both her death and his, and the man may be free right now, but he”ll never put himself in a situation that will lead to his long-term capture if he can help it.
I wouldn”t put it past the man to take a bite of pancakes with one breath and slit her throat with the next. He has to know that we”re waiting for him to do something before we can move on the house.
I have the urge to put a bullet in as many heads as I can, but I know I can”t get all five of the men inside before they take me down. I consider it to be the best thing for me, but I also know it”s something Nathan will step over my dead body to punish her for as well.
I lift my hand to knock on the door, but I make no mistake in thinking they didn”t clock me the second I stepped off the porch.
I fully expect a gun to be pointed in my face when the door opens, but I”m simply met with the sneer of the very man who ushered her out of the parking garage at the courthouse yesterday. I don”t even want to think about what he could”ve done to her before Nathan got here an hour or so later.
”What the fuck do you want?” he growls.
”Do we have a guest, Mr. Banks?”
Although the only other time I”ve heard Nathan Adair speak was when he was screaming threats at Brielle, I recognize his voice. I hate the formal, unconcerned tone of it.
”Don”t be rude. Let him in.”
Mr. Banks, a rather scary-looking motherfucker in person, steps to the side, but he doesn”t go far.
I walk into the house, keeping my eyes locked on Nathan sitting at the dining table. I can tell by the way the furniture is arranged that this is a production for our sake. The table isn”t centered in the room but on the window, so we don”t miss a thing from Finn who is outside recording and providing live feedback to the command center down the street.
”Ah, Mr. Keller. It”s lovely to meet you. I”ve heard so much about you.”
My blood runs cold that he knows exactly who I am on sight.
I keep my eyes locked on him, not wanting to make him think that I”m here for her. He”s made it very clear that he knows more than he should, considering no one but she and I know the full details of what we shared together.
She has her back in my direction, and she doesn”t bother to even stop eating as I take a step further into the house.
”It”s fine,” Nathan assures Mr. Banks when he takes a step to block me from getting much closer.
”I”m here to get Brielle,” I say, holding my head a little higher.
”Oh lovely,” Nathan says, his smile forced as he looks at his stepdaughter. ”Angel, your friend is here to see you.”
I hate the pet name he has for her, but it hasn”t stopped me from listening to the recorded call from the shelter over and over to see if I can find the lie. I know a lot of people are questioning her loyalty or at least her hatred for him, but I heard it in her voice during every second of that call. I felt it in her tears when I held her as she made confessions of the horrible things he did to her. That pain is real. It”s not something she made up to garner sympathy, and, despite her not even bothering to turn around and look at me, there”s nothing that will convince me that she lied.
It feels like I take a million breaths before she places her fork calmly on her plate and turns around in her chair to face me.
Despite the blank expression on her pretty face, I can read the fear in her eyes. They”ve always been the most expressive thing about her. I see the apology, the wish that things could be different. I see the defeat.
”You need to stop harassing our family,” she says, her tone even and collected, revealing nothing that I see in her eyes.
She blinks and everything I saw in her eyes vanishes. She looks soulless. I”ve seen that emptiness more times than I”d like to count in the eyes of women that had long given up hope despite a rescue team standing right in front of them.
Brielle is no different. He has finally managed to break her completely, and I hate bearing witness to it.
”It seems you”re mistaken about your connection, Mr. Keller. You may go.”
I want to leap across the room and slit his throat for everything including the dismissive way he just spoke to me as if there”s no value to me at all. I”ve had countless men speak to me that way, but none of them since I”ve become a man.
I know I”ll seal my own death if I so much as take one fucking step in his direction, but even knowing that it”s still incredibly hard to walk away.
”I fucking dare you,” Mr. Banks growls.
I look the man in the eye, vowing in my head to be the one to hear his last breath before turning around and walking toward the door.
”See, Angel?” Nathan says before I step out of the house. ”No one can ever love you the way I do.”