Chapter 63 – Mitchell
MITCHELL
As Brayden starts describing the kind of man his biological father is, I', more convinced this is the person who helped Michael. That he's the person responsible for Jace and Marissa's kidnapping.
“Where is he?” I ask, working through what information he’s given us and comparing it to what I already know.
“I-I don’t know.”
Bullshit. “You don’t seem to know a lot,” I accuse, narrowing my eyes. Beside him, I see Charlie tense, but he doesn’t comment.
“On purpose, I imagine.” His words are frustrating. Mostly because I can hear the truth and logic in them.
If his biological father is the doctor Michael employed, if he planned this kidnapping, then he would be an idiot to give any information to his son.
“Fine.” I sigh, he might not have given him anything he deemed tangible, but that doesn’t mean he can’t lead me to his father. “Let’s start with what you do know. Like his name.”
“Johnathan Richardson.” Immediately Charlie whips out his phone, looking the name up before turning it toward Brayden who lifts a lip in disgust and nods. “Yeah, that’s him.”
Charlie turns the screen my way and I instantly reach out and take it from him, zooming in and studying the familiar face closer. “He was at the river the other day.”
“When?”
“Thursday,” Brayden answers for me. “He showed up Thursday morning to remind me why I didn't have a choice. Why I couldn't back out.”
“He’s using your brother as leverage,” Charlie guesses.
Brayden nods. “Four years ago, he stormed in here in the middle of the night…he dragged Mum and Sammy out with him.
“I don’t know where he took them and I haven’t seen or heard from Mum since that night. He lets me see Sammy every now and again as a ‘reward’ when I do what he tells me to.” He shakes his head.
“I’ve been working on getting Sammy and me out for so long. I finally had enough money. I had-” He sighs, scoffing. “Doesn’t matter what I had.
“I’m such an idiot. I believed him when he said she was dead. Sammy hasn’t seen her either…I took his word for it. What kind of son am I?”
My jaw clenches. Four years. He’s been living here by himself since he was fourteen years old. Shaking my head, I put my gun away. “We can get them away from him. Both of them. And Johnathan? You'll never have to worry about him again.”
“I don’t know where he is or where he has them. He had them drug me whenever he took me there. I never even saw the outside of the house.”
“I can work with that. Charlie, go get your laptop,” I instruct, my eyes not moving from the teenager in front of me.
“I don’t have wi-fi. Or much of anything,” Brayden says, following Charlie with his eyes as he leaves the room, the front door opening and closing a few seconds later.
I tilt my head. “The laptop has data roaming and there’s a 5G tower not far from here. We’re good.”
He opens and closes his mouth a few times, finally settling on a drawn out, “Okay.”
It doesn’t take Charlie long to return, and I take the laptop, quickly waking it up and typing in his password. I’ve barely hit enter when Brayden gets to his feet, rocking back on his heels awkwardly as he looks around the room.
I track the movement before letting out a sigh when he doesn’t say or do anything further. “Yes?”
“I was just…I wanted to-” he stammers out, pointing a thumb over his shoulder, and I tilt my head in confusion. Is he trying to say he wants to go to the bathroom? “I’m beat.”
“Okay.” I look back down at the laptop, pulling up the browser but stop when I still feel his eyes on us. Sure enough, when I look back up he’s still standing there, looking at us expectantly. “What?”
“Well, are you guys going to…” He looks to the curtain covered window behind that leads to the front yard.
“This won’t take long,” I explain, pulling up Google so I can start with a public information search before moving onto a deeper one. “Once I have his address, we’ll go to the closest safe house until we’re ready to go in. Go pack a bag.”
“Okay, good. Wait, why am I packing a bag?”
Setting the laptop down on the coffee table, I stand. Brayden’s eyes widen and he swallows nervously, taking a step back as I stop in front of him.
“You’re coming with us. I may be inclined to believe you, but that doesn’t mean I trust you. You’re desperate and will do whatever it takes to get your brother and mother, including giving him a heads up that we’re coming.
“Until we have both of our families back, you’re staying where I can keep an eye on you.”