Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
“Get him a vest,” he snaps to the nearby officers. Then he looks at me. “If you weren’t trained in ride-alongs, I wouldn’t even consider this. And I swear to God, I’ll shoot you myself if you force my hand.”
I nod. The good ole boy system worked in my favor—this would never have worked for most people. I don’t have time to feel badly about it. A vest is shoved into my hands, and I strap it on quickly, fingers not quite steady.
An officer to my right is holding a tablet. He clears his throat without looking up. “Lieutenant, we have a probable ID. Appears to be Joseph Simmons. Extensive record. Most recent charges were drug distribution and weapons violations.”
My stomach drops. The name is familiar. “Does he have a brother named Christopher?”
The officer taps the screen a few times. “Yes. He’s at Rikers.”
“Then he’s targeting Ava directly,” I say. I might be sick. “She was the attorney on that case. I won, but it wasn’t the charges I’d hoped for. We suspected mafia ties, because it didn’t make sense how he could even afford her firm, but we could never get proof.”
“Then we assume he is armed and dangerous,” the large officer with the rifle says.
“How the fuck did he get through security?” I snap, then immediately clamp my mouth shut. “Sorry. I’m terrified and angry.”
“It’s a good question, but one we have to figure out later,” Jim answers. “Let’s move.”
We advance down the hallway, stopping short of the corner. “Can you scent her?” he asks me quietly.
I close my eyes and try to focus. “Yeah,” I say, after a second. “It’s hard to detect over the scent of so many alphas. I can’t feel her through the bond, though.” My throat tightens around the words.
“She’s probably blocking,” he reassures me. “Don’t assume the worst.”
The female ESU officer kneels and extends a small mirror on a pole, angling it just enough to see past the corner. “Subject is pacing. Appears agitated and is talking to himself. I have eyes on Ms. Kendrick.”
Relief floods me instantly, only for my stomach to recoil at her next words.
“She doesn’t appear conscious. She’s seated on the ground. I believe she’s bleeding.”
A vise-like pain clamps around my heart. I dig my fingernails into my palms until the skin breaks.
The officer inches the mirror back and straightens, careful not to expose herself.
“Mr. Simmons, my name is Alicia Anderson, and I’m with ESU,” she says loudly, keeping her tone empathetic and warm.
“I can hear you moving around back there. I’m not here to hurt you.
I want to understand and help so nobody gets hurt today. ”
A harsh laugh echoes off the tile. “Bit late for that. The bitch is already bleeding, and you all won’t let me leave here alive.”
My pulse pounds in my ears, and Jim’s hand grips my arm.
Alicia doesn’t react to his language. “I’m hearing that you believe this ends with you dead. That sounds like you feel trapped,” she says.
A scoff. “I am trapped. None of this went how he said.”
“Who?” she asks.
Silence for a moment. “Doesn’t matter. Someone who should know how things work here. The cops were supposed to be handled. You all weren’t even supposed to show up.”
Jim shifts beside me.
“You’re saying you were promised protection,” Alicia says. “And that didn’t happen.”
“I was supposed to take her out the back and handle her, then slip back in to take care of him when he went looking for her. It’s all wrong!” His voice sounds high-pitched and crazed, and it terrifies me.
“Hey, Joseph, it makes me nervous how you sound right now. We don’t have to talk about that. Can you tell me what happened to Ava?”
“She tried to run,” he says defensively. “Threw her damn briefcase at me and bolted, so I reacted.”
I don’t know if I can do this. My body feels like it’s on fire. My vision is blacking out around the edges with rage.
“How did you react?” Alicia asks.
A pause. Then, quieter, “I hit her. With the gun. She dropped.”
“Thank you for telling me,” she says. “I can help better if I understand. Where exactly did you hit her?”
“Her head,” he mutters.
“Is she still breathing?”
The silence is deafening, and my whole body starts to shake.
“Joseph, stay with me. I’m worried about her bleeding out if we don’t address it,” Alicia says. “That will only make everything harder on you. If you let us help her, that goes a long way to showing the DA you aren’t a monster and can only make things better for you.”
He laughs again. “Yeah, right. He’s fucking her. Did you know that? It’s why she lost my brother’s case. Too busy being a whore. So, what do you think he’ll do to me?”
“I can’t say what the DA will do. But if you’re right and they have a relationship, I’m sure he would be more concerned with her safety over anything else. So let’s see if she’s still breathing, yeah? We can work together from there.”
We hear footsteps and the rustle of fabric. Ava groans. It’s low and pained, and our bond flares back to life. My knees nearly collapse under me. “She’s alive, but in a lot of pain. Please let me talk to him, Jim,” I whisper. “I won’t attack, but I can make promises that Alicia can’t.”
He stares at me for a moment and then looks to the negotiator. She shrugs, and he gives me a tight nod.
“Joseph, this is Mark Taylor. If you want to be angry with anyone, you’re taking it out on the wrong person. I’m the one that prosecuted your brother. And I promise, she did not make it easy on me,” I say loudly.
“Oh, bullshit,” he snaps. “You expect me to believe she fought you for real and then went home with you at night?”
“We just bonded this weekend. I don’t know where you got your information, but we are pretty well-known for hating each other.” The lie slips easily off my tongue. “She is a late-presenting omega, and that’s the only reason we realized we are mates.”
“That’s not what I was told,” he fires back.
“He didn’t say anything about her being an omega.
Just that you two were fucking. None of this makes sense.
” His voice is taking on a panicked whine, and I don’t know enough about these situations to know if that’s a good or a bad thing. I look to Alicia for guidance.
“I’m hearing a lot of fear in your voice, Joseph,” she says. “I think that maybe whoever told you all these things might have been using you for their own gain. Don’t let someone have that kind of power over your future. Let us help her and you. This can end peacefully.”
“I don’t want to die, and I don’t want to go back to jail,” he shouts.
“Joseph, all I care about right now is Ava’s safety,” I say truthfully. “If you let them help her, I give you my word that I’ll do everything in my power to help you. But hurting her more doesn’t protect you from anything. It just guarantees you never get to explain who set you up.”
He’s quiet for a while. “Okay, I’m going to come out.”
“That’s great, Joseph,” Alicia says. “I need you to put the gun on the ground and kick it over here first, okay?”
There’s a thud, and then the gun slides into view. It isn’t shaped like a normal pistol; instead, it’s made of some kind of hard, white plastic.
“That’s great. I’m so proud of you for working with us,” Alicia says warmly. “Now, I need you to walk forward with your hands on top of your head. Nice and slow, okay?”
Footsteps echo down the hall, and Jim grips my arm again as the man comes into view. The warning is clear, but despite my burning desire to reduce Simmons into nothing but a puddle on the floor, I meant what I said. Ava is my top priority.
They get him down to his knees and handcuffed, and I yank free from Jim’s hand and race around the corner. I slide to the floor and scoop Ava up to my chest.
“Are you okay, baby? You gotta be okay,” I beg her.
“Mark? My head hurts,” she whines.
“I know. We’re gonna get you fixed up. I’m right here. You’re safe, okay?”