Chapter Seven.
Hallie
I was antsy and knew it. A week had passed, and I’d healed. I remained sore in some places, but I was moving a lot more freely.
“Maybe you ought to organise a sit-down with Shane,” King suggested to me out of the blue. I choked on the lemonade I’d taken a sip of and spat it at him.
“Nice,” King replied and brushed himself clean.
“I swear you just said that I should talk to Shane.”
“I did. Something’s not adding up. On both sides.”
“Well, Elise’s dramatic confession last week put the cat amongst the pigeons. That lying cunt. She was supposed to be a friend—my female equivalent of you. Instead, she’d wanted to bang Shane too.”
“Half of your girl circle did, actually make that about ninety per cent. Shane was a handsome bastard. Hallie, I hate to say it, but I think Shane honestly believes you attacked him.” At my scowl, King held his hands up and explained, “Others have wavered in their statements. Not him. And I know you didn’t hire a lookalike.
Hallie, I’m at a standstill. A meeting with Shane might give us a lead we don’t have. ”
I paced back and forth in the garden, the warmth on my skin fading. I was reluctant, but King was right; everything had stopped. There was no trace of her.
“Fine, set it up, but make it public or somewhere safe. Not their clubhouse. Maybe the police station or a local lawyer’s office. I don’t trust Hellfire.”
“That’s fair enough, Hallie.”
“And he can’t bring those I’ve injunctions against,” I added. “Ensure Harry can attend as well. We want legal representation present.”
“I’ll organise something,” King promised.
Nodding, I stared at the blue sky. I wanted answers, and I knew Shane held them.
I was owed that if nothing else. The situation would be uncomfortable, but I could control the narrative.
The problem was controlling my resentment and hatred.
It would be hard not to spit on Shane, but I’d manage somehow.
King parked and climbed out of the SUV. We’d arrived in a large parking lot for the meeting. It had taken four days to organise, but it was happening today.
He glanced about before walking around to open my door. It looked like we were the first to arrive, which suited me. “Wait here. Security got caught at those traffic lights. I’ll go pay for parking.”
I nodded and settled back. Trust us to have parked at the opposite end. King disappeared amongst the vehicles, and I closed my eyes for a few seconds, preparing for this meeting. When I opened them, surprise mixed with horror as I gazed through the window at my doppelg?nger.
She cocked her head at me as she held a gun pointed right at me. Fuck! This had been a setup. King and I had been stupid to trust Shane and his club.
“Stay the fuck away from Shane,” she snarled, and her finger squeezed. I was fast, but nobody could outrun a speeding bullet. The windshield shattered as the bullet went wide.
Cursing, she fired again, and this time it grazed my other cheek. The bitch smirked and then took off. Bikes roared, and I saw Hellfire riding towards me. King shouted from somewhere.
The lead biker stared at me, then at the fleeing figure, and waved on two riders behind him.
King closed the gap quickly, but the bikers were right in front of me. I scrambled for the weapon in the glove box, but the men were positioned before me. Chance and Shane.
“She’s hit!” Chance stated. “We have to move her now.”
“Motherfuckin’ assholes,” King roared, barrelling into Chance and knocking him aside. “This was your last chance.”
“This wasn’t us!” Shane shouted.
“You need to get her undercover immediately. That bitch could be hiding for another shot,” Chance added.
“You telling me you didn’t shoot Hallie?” King asked with sheer disbelief.
“For once they’re being truthful. My fuckin’ evil twin did this,” I murmured weakly.
“I heard two shots. Where are you hit?” King demanded, his hands roaming over me.
“My cheek is the only damage. Guess I’m going to have matching scars. I think the other bullet…” I turned and, yup, it had missed me by an inch. It was embedded in the headrest next to my head.
“Christ, that was too close,” King murmured. “Babe, we need to get you safe.”
“Okay,” I replied in a daze.
King didn’t argue; he scooped me up and sent warning glares to Chance and Shane. Chance took the lead, and we followed him across the road to the building opposite. Some fancy law offices. As we entered, the receptionist gasped.
“Call the police. She’s been shot,” King stated.
“We had a room booked. Name of Michaelson and Milton. Point us in that direction,” Chance said.
“Over there. I’ll fetch the first-aid box,” the girl announced and stood up.
King walked towards the room, kicking the door open. It was a large conference room.
“This won’t do,” Chance said, entering. “Too many windows.”
“Do you have another room?” Shane asked as the receptionist followed us. “Without windows?”
“I can pull the blinds. They’re blackout ones,” she said.
“I’ll do that,” Chance said.
The receptionist flicked the lights on as King placed me down and opened the first-aid box. “This is going to sting,” King warned and began cleaning the wound.
“How deep is it?”
“Not very, but it will leave a slight scar.”
“What’s one more?” I murmured with a faint smile.
“The police are coming. More of your party has arrived; should I send them in?” the receptionist asked.
“Yes,” Chance and King replied together.
Harry entered first, his eyes narrowing. “What happened?” he demanded.
King explained as he placed butterfly stitches over my cheek. I didn’t recognise the other three individuals who entered, but I recognised the man trailing behind them. Kris. What the hell was he doing here? Were these his associates?
Two additional men entered, followed by a woman, before they all sat.
“Who are all these people?” Harry demanded as someone else arrived. “This is not what we agreed to.”
“Good question,” the newest intruder said. “I’m Lieutenant Jonas Richards, Internal Affairs, and I’m investigating the complaints against the SPD. I’m unsure why I was asked to attend. And he is on suspension,” Lieutenant Richards stated, pointing as Emilio Hawthorne entered the room.
“We’ve invited all relevant parties to get to the bottom of this,” Chance explained.
“On whose authority?” Harry demanded.
“My own. Problem? Considering Hallie was just nearly killed, surely you want this ended as much as we do,” Chance growled out.
“Let them sit, Harry, and they’ll explain who they are,” I stated. “If we don’t like them, we can walk at any time.”
Harry nodded as King stepped back and cleaned up the mess.
“I’m John Sutter, and this is Clive Dean. We’re lawyers here, and Mr Lynch asked us to attend for an impartial view. This is our note-taker, Jessie,” one of the men explained.
“I’m Artemis. This is Simone, Nigel, and Kristoff. They work for me. We’re an independent company that deals with private investigations.” Artemis smirked. I read between the lines. This woman was much more than that.
“Detective Emilio Hawthorne,” Lio said and most grinned. They all knew him. To my surprise, the groups sat around by separating themselves.
“We aren’t starting until Hallie’s security team arrives,” King stated as the door opened and they walked in, followed by two bikers.
“Bitch got away. I’ve sent Leila the details, but I’m betting the car’s stolen,” one said.
My private security placed themselves behind me.
“Did you call Phil?” Hawthorne asked.
“Yes. He’s on his way.”
“Does anyone want to explain what this is?” Lieutenant Richards demanded, looking bored.
“It’s a sit-down. A sharing of information and we’re trying to work out what’s true and what ain’t,” King said.
Lieutenant Richards pursed his lips and nodded. “This could be interesting.”
“Okay. Who wants to start?” Harry asked.
“I will,” Artemis said. Nigel opened a briefcase and passed a file around to everyone. Guess they’d been informed how many were attending, since they had the right number.
“Background on Hallie Milton,” Artemis said and ran through it. The group already knew mine, so I wasn’t bothered.
“We have found no medical records that Mrs Milton ever carried twins with Hallie. No death certificates and no family member who could resemble Hallie so closely. Basically, we ruled out the relatives,” Nigel stated.
Simone took over. “We’ve two varying and honest people both giving different statements.
It makes no sense that Hallie flipped out and stabbed Rascal.
Especially now, when evidence is proving Hallie’s alibi is genuine.
There is still the missing footage, but what has been discovered, alongside the witness who lied, leads us to suspect Hallie didn’t stab Rascal. ”
Rascal shifted in his seat. “I saw her.”
“No, you observed someone resembling Hallie. Images and CCTV have shown someone running around who’s identical to Hallie. And today, the lookalike attacked Hallie. You all witnessed it. There’s no doubt that someone is mimicking Hallie, right down to her scar,” Simone said.
“With—let’s call her Jane—attacking Shane first, we don’t believe he was the target. Her goal was to get rid of Hallie, which Jane succeeded in doing,” Simone continued.
“Wait a minute, the bitch nearly stabbed me in the heart, but you don’t think I was the victim?” Shane snapped.
“No, Hallie has always been the target. Jane attacked you and made sure you identified Hallie. Your statement put Hallie behind bars. In there, Hallie was beaten and lost her child. She was cut and tortured until she fought back. Someone paid the women to do that; we’ve statements from them and bank records.
Nigel traced the account to the Cayman Islands; we aren’t going to get an identity,” Artemis said.
“Okay,” Shane said, not looking convinced.