Chapter Sixteen
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gage
T he cops want to talk, but I don’t have time. I brush them off and run toward my truck, only to realize I don’t have my keys. “Shit.”
I call Zane, and he answers on the first ring. “Maddox.”
“It’s Gage. Someone threw a firebomb into my apartment. Baby and I are okay and the fire’s out, but the fire department won’t let me inside.”
“What do you need?” His voice is strained.
“Socks. Boots. A jacket. I know who’s behind this, and my mother knew where Jerricka’s lake house is. It’s a little over four hours away.”
“Your mother knew?” he asks, confused.
“She had an affair with Stephen Mallory. I’ll explain everything later. Can I get a ride?”
“I’m on the way. I’ll have Stella order you some clothes. Text her your sizes.”
He disconnects before I can thank him, and I lean against my truck breathing in the stink of wet smoke. “I’m coming, baby,” I murmur. I’m this close to finding Zarah, and after I do, I hope to God she still loves me because I am never letting her out of my fucking sight ever again.
Max’s diary pokes me in the back, and I pull it out of my waistband, grateful I had the time to save it. The fire ate a huge, black hole in the side of the building, the wall of my apartment and the roof over my living room and loft the most damaged.
Baby presses into my leg, and I open the truck’s door. She jumps in, and I sit with her, my feet needing the slight warmth. My socks are frozen and I’m cold, but the temperature is mild, in the lower twenties if I had to guess, and at this time of year, it makes a big difference.
I text Stella and ask her for socks, work boots, and a winter jacket.
She replies, Glad you’re okay and nothing more, but I know she’ll find me the things I need. Probably more than what I need, and food for Baby, too.
I’m in with good people.
While I wait for Zane, I call Pop.
“Your mother already told me what happened. Are you hurt?”
“No. It wouldn’t have done as much as it had if it weren’t for those pussy curtains Mom put up when I moved in. After those caught, it spread pretty quick, but I got out through the loft window.”
“Baby okay?”
“Yeah. She let me carry her down the fire escape. Zane’s on his way to pick us up. Mom and Stephen Mallory were having an affair. That’s why he and Jerricka didn’t get married.”
Pop sucks in a breath. “Are you sure?”
“I was reading Max’s journal. A couple of years ago he went to dinner at their house, and Jerricka Solis and Stephen Mallory were guests. Max watched them together and did the math. When Mom helped me clean out Max’s apartment, she told me she had an affair, but she never said with who.”
“What does that mean for the case?” Pop muses.
“I don’t know. I’m sure Rourke knew—nothing gets by him. He couldn’t have liked it.”
“You’re saying he wanted revenge.”
“What better way than to frame your wife’s lover for murder?”
“Would have worked, too, if the cops had done their jobs.”
“Yeah.” I lean my head against the seat. “Are you still with Lucille?”
“Yeah, but we were thinking of going into the city.”
“Don’t. Keep Arya and Sansa close and stay there. Without evidence, what we have is all speculation, but if they think you have the same information I do, they’ll go after you, too.”
“I’m not going to hide, Gage.”
“No, but it’d be nice if you didn’t die. I’m going to marry her, Pop. And I need you there when I do.”
“You know where she is.” It’s not a question.
“Yes, and we’re going after her.”
“Be careful. This goes way back, and there must be a lot at stake. We only know half the story.”
“But the other half is becoming clearer every second. Here’s Zane. I gotta go.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Zane idles next to my truck, and Baby and I hop out. At the last minute, I grab Max’s journal. I need to keep tabs on it. There’s too much information inside to lose it.
The interior of his SUV is blessedly warm, and I tuck Max’s journal under the passenger seat and press my hands to the vents. “Stella’s got some things for you at the hotel. What did you find out?”
“Wait until we get to the Crowne. I want to tell her, too.”
He frowns but says, “Okay.”
At the hotel, Zane parks in the back, and we use the staff entrance. I’ve only been here once before—the morning I met Zane for breakfast. It seems so long ago now.
Housekeepers push loaded carts down the hallway, but no one pays us any attention. The air smells like lemon, and I inhale, trying to get the acrid scent of smoke out of my nose.
Stella hugs me the second we step into the suite. “I ordered lunch. Sit and eat.”
I don’t want to disappoint her and tell her my stomach is too queasy to eat anything, but the soup and sandwiches win me over, and she offers me a mug of coffee. Zarah’s out there and I feel guilty eating anything, but I have to keep my strength up. I have no idea what we’re going to find at Jerricka’s lake house, and I need to be prepared for anything.
I eat a few bites and change into the clothes Stella ordered. Just like I thought, she bought Baby supplies too and she pours kibble into a new bowl and in the bathroom, fills a matching dish with water. I feel somewhat back to normal wearing dry socks, food in my belly, and my dog taken care of.
We sit, and I go over what I know. Mom’s affair, the location of the lake house. That I know who Ash Black was talking about.
Every single piece fits together.
“Except one,” Zane says. “Why would Cook want his own son dead?”
“Why risk killing Ingrid for revenge? Why pay to abuse Zarah when he could have, and probably has, any woman he wants? Why invest in a dementia and Alzheimer’s drug? He owned Quiet Meadows and he knew what they were doing there. Now they’ve taken Zarah to finish their testing.”
“ Finish their testing?” Stella asks.
“Jerricka said Zane and her doctor gave her their approval, and she prescribed Zarah a new medication back in November. That’s why she was suddenly having memory lapses. Because of the new drug.”
Stella bites her lip. “The breakdown at your apartment.”
“I didn’t give my permission for her to take anything. Her doctor is in control of all that,” Zane says.
“Jerricka lied , Zane. She told Zarah she had your approval, and Zarah believed her. Why wouldn’t she? She trusted Jerricka. Trusted her enough to go with her yesterday.”
He scrubs his face, and Stella rests a hand on his knee.
“She had some other memory issues she didn’t want to tell you about. One morning she forgot Baby’s name, and she said she hated watching Netflix with you, Stella, because she couldn’t follow the plot of a show.”
“She seemed a little off the evening we got married,” Stella admits, and Zane scowls. “But I thought she was just nervous it would change things.”
He glares at us. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Stella and I speak at the same time.
“What am I supposed to say? I told you I didn’t like Jerricka—”
“I wasn’t sure—”
“We fired her—” Zane says, defending himself.
“It wasn’t enough. She thought Jerricka was helping her recover. I told Zarah point blank that her seeing Jerricka made me uncomfortable and it didn’t matter ,” I say, my voice rising.
“Hey,” Stella says.
“ What? ” Zane flinches. “I’m sorry.”
“We’re all to blame, okay? She wanted to do things on her own, make decisions on her own, and we tried to let her. We should have been more involved, but we can’t do anything about that now. Banks is downstairs in his room. Let’s tell him what we know and go get her. If what Gage says is true, Rourke was one of her jobs, and he has her. She’s not safe.”
That’s not what I said, but my gut twists. That’s what I meant. There’s only one man behind all of this, and according to Ash Black, he was waiting for Zarah at the Lyndhurst the night Ash took Stella. It’s no wonder he was so against Max and Zarah being in a relationship. How would it feel to have raped the woman your son is in love with?
Stella and Zane stand from the couch, and he holds her and buries his face in her hair. He does that a lot, when he needs to find strength.
I sit, my body feeling like lead. “I can’t go with you.”
Zane lifts his head. “Why not?”
“Rourke’s my stepfather. My brother’s father. He’s married to my mom.” I swallow a sob. “He raped Zarah and paid Ash to do it. I can’t...she won’t want...” She’s not going to want to look at me. Be near me. Let me touch her. Rourke is part of my family, and he did that to her. “I should go.” I don’t know where, but I need to get out of here.
Baby rubs against my leg. She always knows when I’m hurting.
Stella sighs and says, “You should let her decide. Help us find her, then let her decide. Be brave enough to hear her say it, if that’s what she wants.” She presses Zane’s hand to her lips. “We all have demons, Gage. We love, and are loved, despite them. You love her even though men used her, when she feels she’s good for nothing more than that. Let her tell you if she doesn’t want to see you anymore.”
Zane nods. “Come with us. She’ll need you.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t know.”
“No one did. Come on.”
Dressed in the clothes Stella bought, my cell in my pocket, Baby by my side, I’ve found the determination I thought I lost. I’m in this until Zarah tells me otherwise. I’m in this until she can tell me with clear eyes and a clear mind and heart she doesn’t love me.
Banks is an older guy, grooves cutting into his face. He’s dirty, hiding evidence of Lark’s and Kagan’s deaths, but for some reason, Zane trusts him. He was the FBI agent who helped find Stella and Quinn when Black tried to sell them. Maybe that was enough to exonerate him, but Zane’s more forgiving than I am.
Using the information my mother gave me, Banks needs only a second to pinpoint where Jerricka’s lake house is located. The warrant that will allow him to search Jerricka’s property comes through in a matter of minutes, and he calls the FBI field office in King’s Crossing to request backup.
He mentions a helicopter, and Zane turns the grossest shade of green I’ve ever seen, but we can’t waste four hours driving and a jet would have nowhere to land. The chopper can set down in the field on the other side of the highway from Jerricka’s house. A quick internet search told us there’s plenty of space.
Banks won’t let us leave until we tell him every detail we know. Everything from the minute Zane and Zarah’s parents were killed to the very moment we’re sitting in this hotel room. Most things he knows, but some he doesn’t, like how I became involved. He knew Max and had fond memories of working with him. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks. We weren’t close.”
That too, will be a huge regret after this is over.
I’m a bundle of nerves on the drive to the FBI’s helipad. Banks walks us through what will happen, and he’s clear he’s giving us access only because of who Zane is and their victorious takedown of the Blacks. Until proven otherwise, Zarah’s considered a hostage, and Banks and a special agent from the field office will secure Jerricka’s house. Only then will Zane, Stella, and I be allowed to enter.
That’s fine with me. Rourke put out a hit on his own son. He’d kill me without blinking, and I have too many plans to let that son of a bitch do me in.
Under different circumstances, flying in a helicopter would have been a helluva good time. I’ve never flown in one before, but I can’t enjoy the hour we spend in the air or the bird’s-eye view of King’s Crossing and the surrounding area. All I can think about is Zarah, how she’s doing and what they’re doing to her. Jerricka hasn’t had her for long, but there’s no telling the amount of damage that woman can do without interference.
Zane doesn’t look as bad as I thought he would, though he keeps flicking worried glances at Stella. It doesn’t surprise me he doesn’t want her here, but I can only imagine what Stella’s reaction would have been had Zane tried to keep her at the Crowne. I smile a little, even if it feels like betrayal.
There’s no way to take Jerricka and Rourke by surprise, if Rourke is at her lake house. We’re only assuming, and I can’t call Mom and ask if she knows where he is. The chances of her knowing his real whereabouts are slim to none, and all it would do is give her the opportunity to tip him off we’re looking for him.
For all he knows, he’s gotten away with everything.
Clayton and Ash believed it until the bitter end.
Banks is sitting next to the pilot, and he gestures out the windshield. We must be getting close. The special agent from King’s Crossing stares into space, her hair pinned into a bun, her eyebrows shaped, her makeup minimal. I wonder if Banks chose her to help Zarah feel comfortable, or if she volunteered. As Banks has proven, working with Zane Maddox is a guaranteed career bump.
She meets my eyes. “We’ll get her out of there.” Her voice is tinny but clear through the headset I’m wearing.
I have no doubt we’ll find Zarah, but I’m more worried about the state she’ll be in when we do.
Zane presses his lips together. I hope in unhappiness and not the urge to puke.
A house’s roof comes into view, and we circle around it, smoke drifting out of a chimney. The lake stretches into the distance, and though the space is close to her house, a dock providing easy access to her backyard, we don’t set down on the frozen water. There aren’t any cars or icehouses on it—the ice may not be thick enough to hold much weight. Instead, the pilot backtracks toward the field opposite the house. We’re low enough I can see a black SUV parked in the driveway behind a black truck that looks similar to mine. Off to the side, a silver sedan is parked near an evergreen tree. That means there are possibly three people in that house plus Zarah. We have them outnumbered, if it will do any good.
“We’re going in first,” Banks reminds us. “Don’t play the hero.”
I have no intention of pretending to be something I’m not, but he’s staring Zane down. Zane would do anything to protect his family, including putting himself in the line of fire. I’ve never known Rourke to shoot a gun, but then again, I’m discovering all sorts of delightful things about the guy. Jerricka’s a wild card. I’ll expect her to do anything and everything to hide what they’re doing.
The chopper touches down in the field that luckily isn’t blocked off by a fence. Banks and his partner crouch and run low over the snow and frozen soil, the helicopter’s blades creating a windy resistance, and continue across the road. They disappear down the long, plowed driveway.
I grit my teeth.
The pilot powers down the chopper, and we climb out too, Baby happy to have solid ground beneath her paws. The snow isn’t deep, and we trot to the road. We follow down the driveway at a slower pace, and when we reach the house, Banks and the other agent are outside. He’s pacing in tight circles.
“What’s going on?” Zane demands. “Where’s Zarah?”
“She’s not in there.”
“Like hell she’s not,” he growls.
“Dr. Solis is there, and a Dr. Pederson. They’re alone.”
Zane pushes past Banks. “I want to talk to them.”
Banks doesn’t stop him.
Stella and I trade a look, and we go into the house, too.
It’s pretty, light and airy, a huge picture window displaying the frozen lake. Jerricka and Dr. Pederson are sitting on a couch in the living room sipping coffee, a fire blazing in the hearth.
Baby starts to sniff around, and Jerricka’s eyes widen.
Ah-huh.
Not as calm as she’d like us to believe.
“Mr. Davenport, Mr. and Mrs. Maddox, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?” Jerricka’s voice sounds perfectly modulated and slightly amused. “The fanfare was certainly unneeded.”
“We’re looking for Zarah. We know you have her,” I say, keeping track of Baby in my peripheral vision.
“I’m not sure how you came to that conclusion.”
“Zane and I spoke to the attendant who was supposed to fly on Zarah’s flight. She described you and told us you convinced Zarah to leave with you. We want to know where she is.”
“In the end she decided not to. Have you called her cell?”
“You must think we’re stupid. We found her cell on the side of the road outside the airport.”
Jerricka shrugs. “Perhaps she tossed it so you wouldn’t bother her. Lord knows how she stands the three of you in her face every second. It’s one of the things that most troubled her when talked during our sessions—her lack of privacy.”
“Then what are you doing here?” Zane asks, losing steam.
“I’m on holiday with my significant other. It’s quite innocent, I assure you.”
Dr. Pederson pats her hand.
I don’t believe her. “Baby, find Zarah.”
“I don’t think—” Jerricka starts and stands from the sofa.
“If Zarah’s not here, then there’s no harm in letting my dog sniff around, is there?” I ask.
She closes her mouth. If she protests, she’ll look like she’s hiding something, but I already know she is.
Baby will find Zarah.
She’s here.
Somewhere.
But Rourke isn’t, and that surprises me. I thought he’d be here too, but maybe he’s waiting until Zarah’s been taking the drugs longer.
Baby sniffs through the living room, whines, and paws at the floor. That’s her tell she recognizes the scent she’s trailing.
Banks, Zane, and I follow her to a door behind a staircase. Baby noses the crack between the door and the doorjamb, cries, and looks at me.
“What’s in here?” Banks asks, his hand on the doorknob. He jiggles it, but it doesn’t move.
“Nothing that concerns you.”
I turn toward Rourke’s voice and swallow. My throat is so raw the saliva feels like fire.
“You wouldn’t give up, would you?” he asks, a small silver handgun pressed to Stella’s temple, his arm tight around her neck, cutting off her air supply.
Zane stands absolutely still, only his hands bunched into fists at his sides betray his fury.
Banks and his partner draw their weapons, but we all know who has the advantage here.
“At what? Giving Zarah her life back?” I ask, tentatively stepping forward.
Baby snarls low. She has never liked Rourke, and in all the years I’ve had to keep them separated, I never understood why. Now I do. She knew his true nature...she sensed the monster hiding in his soul.
“Zarah was a tool, and it was a godsend, Maddox, when you wrote off care to Black. In your own way, you contributed to our cause. You should be proud of the work we’ve accomplished using your sister as our test subject.”
Zane moans, and I squeeze his shoulder. Now isn’t the time to let emotions get in the way. Stella could die. Rourke is as heartless as Ashton Black, and I have no doubt Rourke wouldn’t hesitate to blow Stella’s brains all over Jerricka’s living room.
“What are you trying to do?” I ask.
“I think that’s evident now. We’re developing a drug that mimics Alzheimer’s. It will be revolutionary. Think of what a drug like that could do—incapacitate world leaders, dispose of troublesome family members. When Maddox shut down Quiet Meadows, the trials were almost complete. We were forced to go underground and wait out the storm.”
“Dr. Stephen Mallory was helping you.”
“He was, until he decided falling in love with your mother was more important than our cause. Revenge is better served cold, but you ruined that, didn’t you?”
“You were the one who planted Mallory’s watch at Ingrid’s homicide.”
“I can’t trust the King’s Crossing’s police department to do anything right. If Black still had most of those swine in his pocket, I wouldn’t have had to worry about planting evidence and hoping for an arrest.”
“But why kill Ingrid?”
“Because I felt like it. Because she was greedy. I thought she cared about her patient, but she was willing to turn on her for a dime. I don’t care for people like that. Have some fucking loyalty for Christ’s sake,” he says, disgust heavy in his voice.
He presses the muzzle of his gun to Stella’s temple a little harder, and she flinches. She’s not crying, only watching, listening to the explanation he’s giving us. Cool under pressure, but that’s just one more thing she can add to the list of what Ashton Black taught her.
“And Max?” I ask.
“The last thing I needed was my son marrying the woman I paid to fuck. It would have been embarrassing, and we couldn’t have continued the trials. Max was like a pit bull—he never would have given up. He never would have left it alone. Max would have uncovered the whole sordid mess.”
I try to pry all the information I can out of him before he decides he’s done talking. “Did you blow up my truck? Did you try to burn down my apartment?”
“You’re just like Max. Would never stop even if you knew what was good for you. You dig until someone gets hurt. If you would have just left her alone, if you would have just fucking stayed away from her, none of this would have happened.”
“I’m never going to leave her alone. I love her.”
Rourke’s face turns red, and he aims his gun at me, his hand trembling in a rage he can’t, and doesn’t want, to control.
Stella uses the distraction, jerks out of Rourke’s grip and ducks, and I let Baby do what she’s wanted to do since the first time she laid eyes on my stepfather.
She goes for his throat.
Rourke pulls the trigger, but Baby’s impact jolts him and the bullet shoots into the wall near the ceiling splintering the paint and plaster.
Stella kneels on the floor, rubbing her throat, and Zane rushes to her so quickly I don’t see him move. Banks’ partner keeps her gun trained on Jerricka and Dr. Pederson, and Banks restrains Rourke.
I don’t care about any of it, and I kick the door open that Baby sniffed at. The lock gives easily under my boot. I know Zarah’s in this house, and nothing is going to stop me from finding her.
There’s a light switch on the wall, and I flick it up. A fluorescent light blinks on, and I trot down the wooden stairs to a basement that’s designed to be one half of a laboratory, the other half a hospital room.
Zarah’s lying on a hospital bed, cuffed to the rail, her back to me.
“Zarah,” I say urgently, my strides eating up the space between us. “Zarah. It’s okay. You’re safe now. I’ve got you.” I gently touch her shoulder, and she rolls over.
Her deep brown eyes are blank, and tears streak her cheeks.
“Zarah, sweetheart.”
She says the words I’ll try my whole life to forget.
“Who are you?”
Everything moves quickly after that.
Banks’ partner flies out with Zane, Stella, and Zarah to find her medical attention as quickly as they can. “We’ll keep you in the loop,” Zane calls over his shoulder, but I’m already an afterthought to his sister’s care. He wraps his arm around Zarah’s waist and they hurry down the driveway.
Despite Zane’s last-minute promise, I feel like I’ve lost her.
I want to go along, desperately, but Banks and I stay and wait for backup. We watch Rourke, who’s pressing a handkerchief to his neck with a shaking hand, Jerricka, who’s pushing back angry tears, and Dr. Pederson, who looks sickened by the whole thing. Banks tried to question them, but now that they know they’ve been found out, they lawyered up and aren’t talking. Their cases won’t be as cut and dried as the Blacks’, but this house is full of evidence like the handcuffs and Jerricka’s lab, and adding our testimonies and eyewitness accounts, there will be enough to put them away for a long time.
Baby stands guard, her teeth bared and growling, Rourke’s blood tinting her fur pink. Banks nods in approval, smugly talking on his phone to his supervisor.
I make a phone call of my own and tell Pop I’m okay and that Zarah’s on the way to King’s Crossing with Stella and Zane to find the help she needs.
Pop hears the misery in my voice, even though I’m trying like hell to keep my tears locked away.
Since the day I met her, this is what I feared would happen.
That one day she would regain her memories and step into her rightful place as the Maddox heiress.
It hasn’t happened yet—she’s still on the chopper flying back to the city. But it will. Zane will pay for the best doctors to help Zarah, and after she recovers, there will be no room left in her life for me.
That’s okay. No, it is. I said I would walk away if it meant Zarah could be happy and healthy. I know the kind of woman she’ll be once she’s cured, and that means more to me than anything else in the world. I want that for her.
Banks decided ground transportation was the safest and most secure way to transport Rourke, Jerricka, and Martin Pederson into the city, and the police department of a small town half an hour away assumes custody of them. Banks, Baby, and I ride behind the law enforcement van in a county sheriff’s cruiser, and when we reach the FBI headquarters in King’s Crossing, Banks records my statement and congratulates Baby on a job well done. Hours later, I’m left to my own devices.
My apartment isn’t habitable, and though I’ve been spending time at the penthouse and the Maddoxes’ country house, I wasn’t invited to wait there, and I don’t feel welcome at either of those places. Having nowhere else to go, I hail a taxi and ride to Pop’s. I feed Baby, change into a pair of old sweats and a t-shirt, and fold up the clothes Stella bought me. I don’t want to wear them anymore. I don’t feel like they belong to me, or to the life I’m living.
Pop’s house feels familiar, in a foreign kind of way. Like coming home after a long vacation.
Baby falls asleep on the couch, at home at Pop’s as much as she is at my apartment.
Things are back to normal, but they feel anything but.
I check my phone, but no one’s tried to get a hold of me. I should give Mom a call and explain what happened, maybe encourage her to find an attorney. She’s going to be in the same situation Willow’s in.
Instead, I crawl into the bed I sleep in when I spend the night, and Baby snuggles next to me, abandoning the couch to keep me company.
I wake up to Pop frying steaks and a replay of a football game flickering on the TV. I sit at the table, sip on a beer, and joke about the things that went down.
It feels like the past five months never happened.