Chapter Eighteen
Damon
I didn’t think this prick would be out with other women while fucking the mayor’s wife. After Epson left work, I followed him home. I was going to finish the job there, but he left shortly after getting home. Killing him at night will give me more time to gather evidence of the affair with Tara. I didn’t expect him to go to Alchemy with a group of people I presumed to be work colleagues. I left Sawyer at the motel to learn more about that Clara woman. She knows my Sarah and where she is. I will not accept that she is dead.
Matteo and Ryker confirmed that Max will be done by tomorrow night. I got another text last night that I had twenty- four hours to finish the job or I would be the next target. I laughed at the message when I got it, but it just pissed me off further. If the person behind the phone thinks they can off me then why not just off Epson themselves? Why drag the Reaper boys into it? They are probably worried about getting caught and using us to hide behind us.
The only problem with that is that we don’t get caught. We are professional and make sure we do everything correctly to prevent any screw-ups. I stare at the bar and wait for the night to come to an end so I can follow Epson back home. I don’t know how much time passes and how many giggling people leave with people they didn’t show up there with.
It makes me wonder if these people truly know how heinous this world is or if they choose to ignore it. I d o
everything in my power to rid this world of bad people, but I wonder how many people would put me in the bunch with those bad people? I murder for money, but that is just one side of the coin. It’s collateral for the other side, the important side .
T he door opens again and I look across the street.
Fucking finally. Adam walks out with two of the colleagues he showed up with and another I didn’t see go in at all. The blonde woman holds Adam up. He is clearly drunk which will make this job much easier. The two other people take Epson off of the blonde and she seems relieved. I wish I had one of those devices that cops use so I could hear their conversation.
As they're about to walk away with him, he resists and calls out to the blonde. She stops but I can tell with her body language that she is agitated. Maybe this isn’t her scene. He staggers over to her and the two other colleagues wait a few steps behind him. Epson says something to the blonde and she smiles. It’s the fakest smile I’ve seen in my life. Then he reaches up and brushes his fingers down her cheek and touches her collarbone. She jolts back and her hair flings behind her.
The streetlight shines on her face and even though it's dark I can see her eyes. Those dark blue marbles that hide so many secrets.
“Sarah,” I whisper to myself. I open my door and am about to run across the street to slit his throat in front of everyone and not give a damn. I don’t know for sure if this is my Sarah, but those eyes. The eyes don’t lie, and I’ve studied those eyes before. I see them in my dreams when I close my eyes, and they haunt me every day when I’m awake.
S he fake laughs and the two colleagues pull Epson
back. They apologize to her and yank him along. He looks like a puppy who got his food taken away. As soon as she turns around her demeanor changes. It’s like a flip of a switch and she is completely different. As I get back in my car I completely forget about Epson. Looks like Epson is getting saved once again.
S he gets in her car and I follow her. I need to know
where she lives. What are the odds that we both ended up this close to each other? I never thought we would have even been in the same state. The last placement Sawyer found for her was in the southern states, but who knew where she went after she aged out. I wouldn’t have thought that she would have come back to where it all fell apart for us.
We were placed in that house together and I tried to get out of New York after everything that happened, but it never happened. I thought I was close once, but I got caught shoplifting and that’s when I got thrown back into the system that failed us. I met Sawyer after that and the family we had wasn’t as bad as the others, but I don’t trust anyone. Besides the boys. Sawyer was the first one I talked to after I was at that house for months.
I knew I could trust him after looking into his eyes. He had gone through the same shit I had, and I knew if I told him my plans then he would be on board. The only problem was that I was still missing Sarah. I couldn’t find her after what I had done. It wasn’t like I could walk into the police station and demand to have her when she was a child.
Sawyer was good with computers and we would go to the library once a week and search for her. I never understood how he was so good. I knew he had to advance that knowledge for our plans to work. Sawyer can hack any security system, besides Clara’s apparently. Maybe we won’t have to find out anything else about Ms. Clara Baker if this is my Sarah .
She pulls into a driveway outside the city. There are no neighbors for miles and the road is bordered by tall trees. This street gives off an eerie feeling but makes me feel right at home. I look down the driveway as I pass it and can’t see a house. It must be a long driveway. The number on the mailbox is 4936. I get to the next intersection and look at the street sign.
“4936 Slaughter Road, how fitting,” I say amused. I drive as fast as I can back to the motel. I need confirmation from Sawyer before I rush into that house and claim her as mine. When I barge through the door of the room, Sawyer looks up from his laptop and narrows his eyes.
“What happened? You're back earlier than I suspected,” he says.
“I found her,” I say with finality.
“Are you sure?” he asks hesitantly.
“ 4936 Slaughter Road,” I nod toward the computer.
Sawyer wastes no time in searching for the address. He gets all of the records on the owner and clicks on a picture of her from the Madison Medical Office.
“ Dr. Brynne Thornton,” I chant her name as if it will lead her straight to me. I look at the picture and the blonde girl from my past flashes before me. Those eyes. “My Sarah,” I whisper.
“We need to wait for Matteo and Ryker. We need to fill them in if this is truly her,” Sawyer cuts me off. “You're going to bring her here?” He motions with his hands to the room. I look around my tiny motel room. He’s right, she deserves better than this run-down motel room.
“Get the guys here. We get her tomorrow,” I say.
“Damon,” Sawyer says in that annoying tone where I know a logical statement is going to come. “We can just go get her tomorrow. We need to finish up our loose ends first. What about Epson? Whoever wants him dead will come after us if we don’t kill him. Do you want to put Sarah, I mean Brynne in that kind of danger?”
I lean forward so I’m closer to his face. “If anyone tries to hurt her, then I will personally rip them to shreds, limb from limb.”
“Okay, but we still need to take this slow. She works with Epson, this could get messy.”
“ Messy is my middle name,” I wink.