Chapter 35
Newton
I thought waiting down the street for her to show signs of distress in order for us to move into the house was hard, but it has nothing on seeing her step out on the front porch with blood on her face.
I”m frozen, fear that she”s hurt making me move slower than Rivet, who wraps her in a blanket and pulls her to the side.
If she doesn”t want me, if what she has said to me twice now is the truth, then that”s something I”ll have to accept, but there will never come a day when I”ll accept someone hurting her. I don”t give a shit about consequences or risks or the danger of getting hurt myself, her pain fucking stops today.
With determination, I move toward the house, my entire body on fire when I see that scarred motherfucker, Mr. Banks, as Nathan called him, step out on the porch.
”We fucking talked about this,” someone says, walking faster than me.
I turn to look at them and see Ace rush past me toward the man on the porch.
”Goddamn it, Jericho. Again?”
My head tilts in confusion and I know I have to look like a dog hearing a weird sound for the first time.
”What the fuck?” I ask, but my words aren”t loud enough for anyone else to hear.
”Is she okay?” Jericho or Mr. Banks or whoever the fuck he actually is asks.
”She”s not your fucking concern,” I growl at him, seeing the blood coating his hands. ”Did you fucking hurt her?’
I”ll rip the man to shreds if he fucking touched her.
He looks at me as if I”ve asked the stupidest question ever asked.
”Hurt her? I just blew my fucking cover to get her out of here,” the man growls back at me.
Ace has strategically positioned himself between the two of us, hands out in both of our directions as if he”s about to referee some sort of boxing match. My lip twitches as I think about wrapping my hands around his throat and squeezing until he stops breathing.
I blame adrenaline. It”s clear the man has been undercover, working as one of Adair”s goons through the same ICE program that Hemlock will be joining soon. I know Hemlock may also be included in Adair”s world because it was specified that he doesn’t show his face outside of the hotel with Cerberus, but I don”t know how that would work. Nathan knew me by name on sight so that tells he had someone watching us at some point in New Mexico, and if they saw me there’s a very good chance that whoever was watching us saw Hemlock as well.
I don’t have the luxury right now of worrying about what might happen down the road with Hemlock. I have more important things to worry about.
”Maybe we can salvage this,” Ace says. ”Tell him that Conroe tried to hurt her, and you protected Brielle.”
”He was going to hurt her. I had to stop him, but you know that”s not going to happen. How would we explain the girl being gone? Nearly every house on this street has someone paid by Nathan. You know it”s like this everywhere.” Jericho runs his hand over the top of his head, unconcerned with the blood on his palm. ”Eight fucking months wasted.”
”Not a waste,” Ace tells him. ”We need to debrief.”
Ace and Jericho walk away. I”d like to say that a better understanding of what the man was really doing in that house makes me no longer hate the sight of him, but I”d be lying if I did. I can”t just switch gears that easily.
I search the darkness for Rivet and Brielle, but I can”t find them. I turn and rush back to the house we”ve been using as a command center, finding the front yard full of commotion.
I knew we”d have to get out of here quickly after we got Brielle out. We aren”t exactly here with a blessing from any organization that operates in this jurisdiction.
Detective Calloway is standing to the side looking nervous as Cerberus and Blackbridge alike carry equipment and furniture out of the house and pack it away into commercial vans.
”Are you going to be okay?” I ask, my eyes roaming as I try to find Brielle.
She turns toward me, the stiffness in her back and the air of bravery she had earlier now gone. ”You know as well as I do how stupid of a question that will be.”
I want to argue with her before she can walk away and get into her car, but I just can”t find the words.
I made promises to Brielle that I couldn”t keep, so there”s no sense in me trying to convince Alice to believe in false hope. The only thing any person involved can hope for is that there”s so much going on that Nathan loses interest while exacting justice on someone else he deems has wronged him in some capacity.
I step to the side as Jinx and Tug carry a sofa out of the house before being able to get inside.
”You have no clue what you”ve done.”
I follow Brielle”s voice to one of the bedrooms, and I hate the sight of tears streaming down her face when I push open the door.
”You”re going to get me killed,” she sobs. ”He”ll kill us all.”
”Ma”am,” Rivet begins. ”Please calm down.”
Brielle snaps her eyes up at my teammate. ”When has anyone calmed down when asked to calm down?”
I bite the inside of my lip to keep from smiling because the woman has a point.
”Brielle,” I say without stepping further into the room.
Her eyes dart to mine, and I hate the quiver in her lips.
”Beck,” she sobs. ”What are you doing? This puts you in even more danger. I have to go back.”
”That”s not going to happen, baby,” I tell her and grind my teeth.
The woman doesn”t want me, and I need to remember that, but nothing will stop me from protecting her.
”I didn”t kill that guard,” she says. ”Nathan needs to know that.”
She”s on edge and more than a little frantic as she speaks.
”We know you didn”t,” I tell her.
Jericho did, and I owe the man everything for his sacrifice.
”We”ve got to get you out of here. Nathan was able to lose the tail we had on him, so we don”t know when he”s going to come back.”
I hold my hand out to her and I hate the way she looks down at it like it”s a weapon I plan to use against her at some point.
”Please, Brielle.”
She shakes her head, her eyes roaming all over the room as if she”s looking for a way to escape. Less than twenty-four hours back under Nathan”s control and he has managed so much damage. It took days and days to get her out of the closet when she showed up at the house Xan died in back in Farmington, and that was only a couple of minutes. I can only imagine how long it will take her to find some form of normal after this.
”Baby,” I whisper as I slowly approach her.
Thankfully, Rivet steps out of the way and leaves the room. I know she”ll stay close by in case I can”t get Brielle to come out of the room. I”d hate to have to manhandle her, but there”s no way we can leave her here.
”Beck,” she says again, her head shaking as she holds her hands up as if to ward me off.
I pull her to me, but as much as I want to wrap my arms around her, I know I can”t.
She doesn”t flail around when I scoop her up in my arms like I expected her to, but I know it can change at any moment.
I carry her from the room, through the now empty living room, and out the front door.
There are no signs that anyone else other than our group is active in the darkness, but I know better than to think we”re going to be able to get away from here without reports making it back to Nathan. If the man is as diligent as Jericho said he is, I have no doubt that Nathan already knows that we have Brielle.
I place her in the front passenger seat of an SUV and lock her seatbelt in place before rushing to the driver”s seat.
We had an evacuation plan in place, but none of the scenarios we worked through had one of the goons being undercover. It certainly didn”t account for the death of one of the other goons. This is a huge fucking mess, but it”s not my mess, and there”s no chance of me sticking around to find out.
I know Kincaid is involved in this process to expand Cerberus into a new chapter, but I”m fairly certain my boss had no fucking clue that Jericho was one of the good guys. I”d like to think that if he did, he would”ve told me as much to ease my fears.
She doesn”t speak when I crank the vehicle and pull away from the curb. She could very easily be in shock right now, and that”s something I can work on getting her through later, but right now I just need her safe.
I drive for miles with no plans, looking over to check on her with nearly every other breath.
Blood streaks her face, and I know I can”t take her anywhere looking the way she does, and I”m chastising myself as I pull over on the side of the road, cutting the lights on the SUV and turning off the engine so I”ll be able to hear or see anyone approaching. After climbing out from behind the seat, I grab the emergency medical bag from the back before going around to her side.
I open the door and take a second to look at her. Other than the blood, I see no other marks on her skin, but that doesn”t mean that Nathan didn”t hurt her in other ways.
”Brielle,” I whisper, but her eyes are locked forward. ”I”m going to clean the blood off your face.”
I busy myself with finding an antiseptic wipe rather than thinking I can talk some sense into her on the side of the road. She flinches like she always does at first when I lift the wipe to her cheek.
I”d risk everything for this woman, and she needs to know it, but I also struggle with telling her again because it sort of feels like I”ve got her trapped and I”m taking advantage of the control I have in this situation.
”I love you,” I whisper, using the wipe gently under her eye. ”If you let me, I”ll protect you from every bad thing that would ever think to hurt you. You”re worth protecting.”
My words are low and soft, and a hundred percent from the heart.
”I need you to trust that, baby. Know that I”ll do anything in my power to keep you safe.”
Her chin trembles, telling me that what we had isn”t a lost cause. She may not be able to open up now or even any time soon, but she cares for me.
She doesn”t resist when I cup her now clean cheek and turn her attention to me.
”I”ll keep you safe or die trying,” I vow.
”I”m not worth dying over,” she whispers.
I give her a weak, sad smile. ”Of course you are, baby, and I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it to you if you just let me.”
”I”ll never be safe so long as Nathan is alive.”
I know she truly believes that, and unfortunately there”s a lot of truth in what she”s saying. Nathan has vowed that she”s his, and as much as I want to protect her, I know in that evil man”s mind he thinks she”s his.
I lean closer and press my lips to her forehead before getting rid of the trash from cleaning her up. I make sure her body is clear of the door before closing it once again and putting the supplies back into the back of the SUV.
I drive to a smaller town outside of Columbus and don”t stop again until I get to a roadside motel that looks like it takes cash. I can”t be too careful where she”s concerned. What I do know is that we haven”t been followed. I also know that the SUVs we”ve been using in Ohio would track back to Blackbridge if they could dig deep enough.
I don”t leave her in the vehicle. After grabbing both of our bags that we brought to Ohio out of the back of the SUV, I open her door and hold my hand out to her.
Her eyes dart everywhere when we walk across the parking lot, but I can”t really blame her. I”m exactly the same way.
The woman at the checkout counter eyes Brielle more than once. It”s clear that she can see she”s in distress but the woman doesn”t say a thing.
I”m disgusted with the human race as a whole by the time I”m handed room keys. Not that I feel like explaining myself or having to deal with the cops right now, but people need to speak up when they see shit that doesn”t seem right. Brielle could easily be an abducted woman, and the lady standing at the counter could be the very last person that could assist in rescuing her.
I”m telling myself that not everyone has my training, and that I know the clerk might be concerned for her own safety because I am a big scary tattooed man, but it makes me no less annoyed when we walk down back outside toward the room we”ve been given.
”This one is yours,” I tell her as I carry her bag into the bathroom. ”I packed it up at the hotel after leaving the courthouse.”
”Thank you,” she says, waiting for me to step out of the way so she can go inside.
When the lock clicks on the door, I”m not so certain she won”t try to stay in there forever.