Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
“We have a problem,” John Henry told him.
Victor stood in his den. The house was silent. Cold. Melody was upstairs. He’d taken her to the guest room. Made sure she had clothing. Following Victor’s instructions, Jenner had stopped by her place before he’d come to the station. He’d packed bags for her. Brought over everything she needed.
When they’d arrived at Victor’s house, she’d seemed so small. So fragile. So breakable. He’d wanted to pull her into his arms.
But hadn’t he already pushed her too much? He’d taken her at her house. He hadn’t been able to stop. When she’d offered herself to him, his control had shattered.
He’d intended to play the gentleman. To charm her. To prove to her that she’d always be safe with him.
Only he’d fucking feasted on her.
Then nearly watched her die right in front of him. Like he’d ever get over that moment.
He’d been in the upstairs guest room with her when the phone call had come. He’d carried up her bags and put them down just as his phone had pealed with a call from John Henry. And he’d known that he had to slip away.
“I’ve got quite a few problems,” Victor murmured. “You’re gonna need to be way more specific.” A man died in front of me tonight. After he nearly killed Melody.
Right. In. Front. Of. Me.
“The nurse just caught Olivia Hatcher sneaking out of Sebastian’s bedroom.”
John Henry had his complete attention.
“She was only inside a short time. Very short.”
“Where the hell were you?” He’d given orders that Sebastian was to be protected.
“I swear, I’d only left my post for moments.
The guy had been sleeping, and I needed to piss, all right?
But she must have been waiting for me to leave.
Gave some BS story to the nurse about him calling out.
The woman looked guilty as sin.” An exhale.
“No way she just happened to hear him calling out. Her room with Dario is on the other side of the house.”
Yes, it was. “Anything else?”
“Sheriff grilled everyone. Didn’t turn up any evidence at the estate. The truck was stolen. I did get that much intel from the deputies.”
And Benny Turner was good at boosting trucks. “I’ll follow up with the sheriff in the morning. Make sure that Sebastian has no other unwelcome visitors, would you?”
“Thought I was supposed to be guarding him from attacks. The woman in the see-through robe didn’t have a weapon on her.”
“Looks can be deceiving.”
John Henry grunted. “Olivia is leaving in the morning. Heading out with Dario.”
“I’m sure they will be paying me a visit at the first opportunity.” He’d be ready for them. “Appreciate the update.” He lowered the phone.
It was the second update he’d gotten that night. The first had been from Hunter McQueen, a call that came during Angus’s unfortunate interrogation session. It had been short.
The fingerprints match. Used one of Declan’s new tech systems, it’s five times more accurate than a human expert. The woman with you is Melody Mage. Ninety-nine percent accuracy. That is your missing fiancée.
As if he hadn’t already known that fact.
He’d been balls deep inside of her. He’d heard her moan. He’d felt her come. There were some things that could not be faked in this world. The way Melody acted and the way she looked when she broke apart for him?
I know her. Inside. Out. I know my Melody.
Even as he gripped the phone in his hand, it rang again. A soft peal followed by a quick vibration. He glanced down at the screen. Sure, why not take another late-night call? Victor put the phone to his ear.
“You were supposed to check back in with me,” Hunter chided him. “This is my call to confirm that you are still in the land of the living. Doing my due diligence and what-not.”
Victor had to unclench his jaw. “Sorry.” Clipped. “Had a situation to handle.”
“What kind of situation?” Then, harder, “Is Melody all right?”
He looked upward. Was she crawling into bed? Already sleeping? Or wide-awake as she replayed the events of the day and night? “We were ambushed.”
“What?”
“When we left the police station, the bastard was waiting. My tires were slashed. This kid, Benny Turner, was waiting with his knife. He swung at Melody.”
“You stopped him?” A pause. Then, with certainty, “You stopped him.”
“He’s dead.”
Hunter cleared his throat. “Yeah, you stopped him.”
“He was running away. He ran straight into the path of a van. Died before he could tell me anything.”
“And Melody?”
“She’s upstairs.”
“Damn.” Softer, “Damn.” He cleared his throat. “Tell me about the attacker. Every detail you’ve got.”
“Benny was a former foster kid who was in and out of trouble for years.” Like that could not be a description of himself. Hadn’t Victor bounced around? Only to wind up taking care of himself? And, yeah, he’d crossed the line and broken the law a few times.
But that sonofabitch Colton Crane, he’d truly deserved what he got. Don’t think about him. Not right now. Victor forced his grip to ease on the phone. “Benny was a repeat offender. One who was apparently good at boosting cars.”
“This a random attack?” Doubt filled Hunter’s voice.
“He went for her, not for me. There was nothing random about it.”
A low whistle. “Someone definitely wants Melody Mage to stay gone.”
Too fucking bad. “I need you to dig into Benny’s life. See who his contacts were.”
“I’ll do more than dig. I’ll rip his life apart.” A pause. “Next time, remember to call when there’s an ambush. Think you can handle that? You’re not flying solo on this one.”
Yeah, he got it. “I wanted to kill him.” There. Done. Said. “As soon as he swung at her with the knife, he was a dead man.”
“You didn’t kill him.” Maybe a faint question underscored those words. Or maybe not.
“I was chasing him. Me and the detective—Angus Clinton. The perp had on a ski mask. He didn’t stop when he burst out of the alley we were in. He just ran right into the road.”
“Hell.”
“I’ve never seen a hit like that. You could hear the bones crunching. His scream kept echoing. And there was so much blood.” And all Victor had thought was…
It was like this for Melody? This is what she went through? Hunter had already gotten her medical records emailed to Victor. A bit of not-necessarily-legal probing without a medical release. But he’d scanned those reports while they’d been at the station.
Medically induced coma. She’d been in a medically induced coma because there had been so much swelling in her brain.
Was it any wonder she didn’t have a memory?
Brutal truth, he didn’t care if her memory ever came back fully. He would take her any way he could get her. Fuck the past. They’d build a better future together. Maybe he wouldn’t screw up and make all of the same mistakes that he’d made with her before. Maybe this time, he could do things better.
“I know what it’s like when the screams won’t stop.” Hard words from Hunter. “Be prepared for that shit to chase you into your dreams.”
Victor knew Hunter’s past was twisted. He’d glimpsed the scars the other man carried but had never asked specifically about them because Victor hadn’t wanted to cross lines. A person’s pain was private. You didn’t dig it up and show it to the world.
“Your lady okay?” Hunter wanted to know. “Seeing that accident had to be like getting an up-close view of her own hell.”
His exact worry. “She’s resting.”
“Is she?”
Fuck. He feared she wasn’t. He feared she was replaying the scene in her head over and over again. Wasn’t he doing that?
“I’ll check in tomorrow,” Hunter promised. “Until then, try not to get hauled to the station or attacked, okay? Sure would appreciate that.”
Victor hung up the phone. Shoved it in his pocket. He whirled and rushed toward the stairs, but…
Stopped.
His backpack had been tossed near the entranceway table.
He remembered dropping it there earlier.
His gaze lingered on the backpack before he looked up, following those winding stairs to the next level of the house.
Maybe Hunter is wrong. Maybe Melody is asleep.
Or maybe…maybe she just doesn’t want me around her right now.
Again, a person’s pain was private. You didn’t dig that shit up, not without an invitation. And yet…
Unease slithered through him. His stare shifted to the backpack once more. Things weren’t adding up for him. One of the things bugging him? Why the hell had Sebastian held onto the old sheriff’s file for so long? And was a teenage joy ride really worth blackmail money?
He opened the backpack. Took out the manila file. Began to thumb through it and read it in more depth and—sonofabitch. His breath left him in a whoosh.
Sebastian had been sitting on this? He’d kept this news secret for years? Victor yanked out his phone once more. He had Hunter back on the line in about three seconds.
“Missing me already?” Hunter wanted to know by way of a greeting. “I get it. I’m cool. But, still—”
“Brant McKee,” he gritted out the name.
“Brant McKee,” Hunter repeated. “Brant McKee…why in the hell is that name familiar to me? Wait, wait, he’s the guy running for attorney general in Maryland, isn’t he? Gonna be the next big gun there.”
“I need you to look into him. Hard.”
“Uh, dude, I think you misunderstand my role with the Ice Breakers. I was supposed to help you find your lady. She strolled back herself, so I didn’t exactly hold up my end of the deal there, but as far as helping you with any weird vendettas that you might have against politicians, you’re gonna need to count me out. ”
“When he was seventeen, Brant beat up Melody so badly that she had three broken ribs.” Rage nearly blinded him.
“What?”
“She broke up with him after she found out that he stole a ride. The prick attacked her in response.” He wanted to find the bastard and rip him apart. He would be destroying Brant McKee. Only a matter of time. “Hatterson found them.” That had been in the file.
“Wait, her dad’s guard? Or butler? Or whatever the hell the dude is?”
Hatterson was all of the above. “He pulled Brant off her. Called the sheriff.” A man who’d died…last Thanksgiving. In a hunting accident.
They always called the sheriff’s office for estate business because it was outside of the city’s jurisdiction.
The local sheriff—the previous guy, Sheriff Tom Jenkins—had been running the county for years.
After his death, fresh blood had finally come in the form of Jamal Wroth.
Victor liked Jamal. Respected him. A former Green Beret, Jamal didn’t stand for BS.
Unlike the previous holder of his position…
“The old sheriff took down a report.” There had even been references to pictures in the report.
Where in the hell are the pictures? They weren’t in the file Victor had.
“But from what I can tell, no charges were filed. Sheriff Jenkins kept the details private.” If Tom Jenkins blackmailed Sebastian, he probably blackmailed Brant’s family, too.
“Her ex beat Melody when she was a teen? She never told you about this?”
A person’s pain was private. You don’t…Her smile flashed in his mind.
That wide smile. The dimple in her cheek.
“She never said a word.” But she’d opened two shelters for abused women and children.
He’d hadn’t asked Melody why she’d done that.
He’d just thought, hell, he’d thought that she had a big heart. That she liked to help people.
Now he realized that she’d probably opened those shelters because she knew what it was like to be a victim.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Hunter ordered him.
Oh, that was easy. “I’m thinking Brant McKee is a dead man.” The prick just didn’t know it yet.
“Victor. Dammit, I was afraid of that. You can’t just go after and kill the lead candidate for attorney general in Maryland!
We can leak the file you have, all right?
We can wreck his life. Working with Declan Flynn, I’ve learned that there are a thousand ways to destroy a person.
But you don’t get to murder someone. Repeat after me, ‘We do not murder—’”
“The sheriff who originally investigated is dead,” Victor snapped.
The piece of shit who should have locked Brant away.
Who should have protected Melody. And what about her father?
Why the hell didn’t Sebastian help her? Why didn’t he punish Brant?
Destroy him? “The photos showing what happened aren’t here.
The vic who could tell the world what Brant did…
” My Melody. “She was taken a year ago. Nearly killed. Call me crazy, but I’m seeing a fucking pattern here.
All of this is happening as the SOB is revving up interest in his run for attorney general.
” The election would be held the upcoming November.
“You think Brant is making his past disappear.”
His gaze lifted to the ceiling once more. There had been no sound from upstairs. “It’s a possibility.” A pause. “She won’t disappear again.”
“I know.”
“Even if Brant is not involved in her disappearance, that sonofabitch will pay.” Three broken ribs? What. The. Fuck? Three? And where was the medical report? There had been a notation of three broken ribs, but to know that information, then Melody must have seen a doctor.
There were no medical records in the file.
“You don’t just stop,” Hunter muttered. “Perps never do. You don’t abuse one girl, then treat the rest you meet with the utmost care for the rest of your life. That’s not the way those pieces of shit operate. You hurt someone once, you hurt other victims over and over again.”
Victor agreed. “There will be other victims.” Victims who had stayed silent.
Probably because they were fucking terrified.
Or maybe Brant had done something to ensure their silence.
“Fuck,” he breathed. “Do you think anyone else close to the would-be attorney general has gone missing?” Because that would be one sick pattern.
“If so, we’ll find them.” Hunter seemed certain. “After all, that’s what the Ice Breakers do.”
Yeah, it was. It—
“Victor!” Melody’s scream echoed through the house.