Chapter 28 #4
“Silas was driving. He brought us to Wyoming, to a house outside town.
I don't know exactly where because he would always blindfold us during transport so we couldn't see landmarks or street signs or anything useful. But it's isolated. No neighbors and there’s trees all around it.” She stopped, swallowed hard.
Davies wrote quickly, his expression carefully neutral despite what he must be feeling. “Emma, I need to ask, were you the only woman there?”
“No. There were two others. They're—” Her voice cracked. “They're not there anymore.”
“What happened to them?”
“One tried to escape about six weeks ago. Silas caught her before she made it to the road and shot her in the woods. I heard the gunshot from the house and saw him come back alone with blood on his shirt.” Emma's eyes were distant, seeing something none of us could.
“The other got sick two weeks ago. Infection, maybe, or withdrawal, I don't know.
She needed a doctor, but Silas said she'd talk if they took her to a hospital. She died three days later in the basement. He buried both of them somewhere on the property.”
The cabin was silent except for Emma's shaky breathing and the scratch of Davies' pen on paper.
“Then Morgan started coming around,” Emma continued.
“About two weeks ago. She'd show up at night, scream at Silas and Armand. Morgan would rant about someone named Harper, about Connor, about how her life had been stolen. She had pictures,” Emma looked at me.
“So many pictures of you. Your boutique and the ranch.
You and Connor together. Some looked like they were taken with a telephoto lens from far away, like she'd been following you for months.”
My skin crawled. Morgan had been stalking us. For how long? Weeks? Months? Since before the fire? Fucking psycho.
“Silas was scared of her,” Emma said. “Not physically scared, Morgan's small, not a threat that way.
But scared of her father, scared of what would happen if they didn't do what she wanted. And Morgan,” Emma's voice dropped.
“She's completely unstable. She'd laugh one minute and scream the next. Talk about love and future and then about murder like they were the same thing, like killing you was just another step in getting Connor back.”
“Did Morgan say anything specific about plans to hurt Harper?” Davies asked.
“Not when I was around. They'd send me to my room whenever they would talk,” Emma's voice dripped with bitter sarcasm on the word 'room,' which clearly meant the soundproofed basement torture chamber.
“But I heard fragments. Morgan talked about how the boutique wasn't enough, how Harper needed to suffer more. How she wanted Harper to lose everything.”
“When did you escape?” Jaxon asked.
“This morning. Silas left early, said he had business in town. Armand was supposed to watch me, but he got drunk and passed out in front of the TV. I found keys to the restraints in his pocket while he was unconscious, and picked the lock on the basement door.” Emma's voice held a touch of pride beneath the trauma.
“My dad taught me how to pick locks when I was a kid, and said it was a useful skill. Never thought it would save my life.”
“You walked from the house?” Davies asked. “How far?”
“Miles. I don't know how many. Through the woods, staying off the road when I could because I was terrified of Silas finding me. I heard vehicles a few times and hid until they passed, sure it was Silas coming after me.” Emma looked at me and Jaxon.
“When I saw your Jeep, I almost kept hiding. But I was so tired and so scared.”
“Emma, you did the right thing,” Davies said firmly. “The information you've given us is crucial. But I need to ask, do you think you could identify the house where you were kept? Help us find it?”
Terror flashed across Emma's face, her whole body tensing. “If I do that, if Silas finds out I helped you—”
“He won't find out. You're under our protection now.” Davies' voice was absolute. “But Emma, if what you're saying is true, we need to find that house. There might be evidence. And those women you mentioned, their families deserve to know what happened to them. They deserve to bring them home.”
Emma was quiet for a long moment, her eyes distant.
Finally, she nodded. “Okay. I'll help you find it. I don’t want Morgan to get the chance to hurt Harper like she kept saying she would after you’ve helped me like this.
” The words hung in the air, a death sentence pronounced with absolute certainty.
“She won't get the chance,” Connor said, his voice deadly calm. “I'll die before I let anyone hurt Harper or our baby.”
Emma's eyes widened. “You're pregnant?”
Shit. I hadn't meant for that information to come out, but Connor's protective declaration had revealed what we'd been keeping private.
“Yes,” I said quietly.
Emma's face went pale, the color draining until she looked like she might pass out.
“Oh my God. If Morgan finds out—” She stopped, her hands starting to shake violently.
“If she finds out you're pregnant with Connor's baby, there's no way she’ll let you live.
That baby is everything she wanted. Everything she thinks you stole from her. She'll kill you both.”
“She won't find out,” Connor cut in firmly. “No one outside this room knows, we're keeping it quiet until…” He stopped. Until what? Until we caught the people trying to kill me? Until it was safe? Would it ever be safe?
“I won't tell anyone,” Emma promised. “But you need to be more careful. Morgan has resources, connections, and money from her father's cartel. If she wants you gone, she has the means to make it happen. And she's past caring about consequences.”
Davies stood, closing his notepad with a decisive snap.
“Emma, I'm going to have deputies posted here around the clock.
No one gets on or off this property without us knowing.
Connor, I need you to make a list of everyone who works here, everyone who has access to the ranch.
We need to verify everyone's background again.”
“Already done after the break-in,” Connor said. “Felix, Denny, and Mark have been with me for years. I'd trust them with my life. The seasonal workers are all vetted through an agency. But I'll double-check everything, run new background checks if needed.”
“Good. I'm going to organize search teams to find the house Emma described. If we can locate it, we can build a case against Silas and Armand. And if we can connect Morgan to the operation,” Davies' voice hardened. “She'll go down for trafficking and conspiracy to commit murder at minimum.”
“What about her father?” I asked. “If he's as powerful as Emma says—”
“Then we'll bring in the feds. This is bigger than a local trafficking case now. This is organized crime with interstate implications.” Davies looked at Emma. “Which means you're a key witness. You'll need protection beyond what I can provide locally.”
Emma's face went white. “Witness protection? I'd have to change my name? Never see my family again?”
“Potentially, yes. But that's down the road. For now, you're safe here.” Davies turned to Connor. “Can she stay in this cabin?”
“As long as she needs,” Connor said without hesitation. “It's private, secure, and close enough to the main house that we can respond quickly if needed.”
After Davies left with his deputies to start organizing search teams, Denny, Mark and Felix were briefed on what was going on and were assigned shifts to be patrolling the ranch, and then it was just the four of us. Me, Connor, Jaxon, and Emma in the quiet cabin.
“Thank you,” Emma said again, her voice small and broken and full of emotion she couldn't quite contain. “For stopping and helping me. You didn't have to.”
“Yes, we did.” I sat next to her on the couch, careful not to crowd her space. “Emma, no one deserves what happened to you. No one.”
“Morgan wants you to suffer the way she's suffering,” Emma said bluntly. “She's past rational thought. This isn't going to stop until she's caught or…” She didn't finish, but the implication was clear.
Or until one of us was dead.