CHAPTER 25 - Bryan Trevor
I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
Wrecking Ball – Miley Cyrus
Take our daughter out of this prison, Bryan, and don't let her ever come back.
It's with Noah's phrase repeating for the thousandth time inside my head that I fire three times at the lock, making it disintegrate and the door open.
The smell of gunpowder accompanies me when I enter the library, but just as I imagined, the place is empty.
I control the scream of fury that threatens to come out because now is not the time to lose it.
It's time to think straight to find Noah.
To process that, after years of silence, she spoke and that her words managed to change the course of everything.
First because she saved me, since if it weren't for her warning, I wouldn't have been able to dodge. The shot that Sarah fired in my direction would have hit my chest, but ended up grazing my shoulder because Noah screamed.
And second because her lips pronounced something I could never even consider.
It was so surreal that I believed she had only said our girl because she knew I would never leave Sadie behind.
But then she completed the sentence.
She said in so many words that Sadie is our daughter.
And if her lips hadn't pronounced it, I would have discovered it through her gaze, because the way she looked at me was something I'd never seen.
It had so much intensity that for a moment I lost my strength and sense of where we were.
It was unique, different and screamed that our love bore fruit.
A beautiful, intelligent, charismatic fruit with red curls.
I saw in her iris how much she loves our girl.
And how much even in the midst of pain, she was relieved to know that Sadie was with me and away from this house.
Far from Gavin's and Sarah's clutches.
But I'm not relieved.
I'm burning like an erupting volcano because I have to save them both.
I need them with me and I'll turn the planet upside down if necessary to protect Sadie and find Noah.
I want to break this whole damn house to vent my hatred, however, I won't because it would be a waste of time and right now I need to channel it only to find clues that will lead me to my woman's whereabouts.
Mine.
She was always mine.
Always will be.
And nothing, nor anyone, in this damn world, will be able to stop me.
This wasn't how I had imagined confronting Gavin.
Not with Noah being used as a hostage and him in control.
I hate that things went off my damn plan, but today was just one lost battle.
One that caught me off guard, but that won't interfere at all with the final outcome, which is me slowly disintegrating every piece of Gavin's body.
He may believe he's in control, but I'll show him that I am the control.
That I make the rules.
And that he's going to crumble along with all the rot he built.
“Bryan.” Lauren's voice stands out and I return to the hallway, walking toward the elevator.
“I'm here,” I shout and stop in front of the metal box.
Of course it needs a password and facial recognition to open.
I'm about to grab my phone when Lauren approaches.
“They're not in the basement,” she warns and I narrow my eyebrows.
“That's the only place they could have gone, because there's no exit in the back!” I shout impatiently.
When Gavin disappeared from my sight with Noah, I approached slowly because I knew he wasn't bluffing when he said he would kill her. I had to act cautiously and the moment I managed to reach the hallway, it was empty.
I searched every damn place in this fortress and found nothing.
The only place left to enter is the basement.
“There's an exit inside the library,” she retorts, walking toward it and I follow with my teeth almost breaking from how hard I'm clenching them.
I watch her approach one of the shelves, pull out some books and then put her arm in, feeling for something.
When Lauren steps away, the shelf opens in the middle, revealing the passage.
Prepared son of a bitch!
“What the hell!!” I curse, already approaching to analyze the place.
“You're not going in!” Lauren stands in front of me. “We don't know what's in there, so it could easily be a trap.”
I admire her courage in trying to stop me, especially when it comes to Noah.
“My girl went through there and if you don't get out of my way, I'll remove you from my path myself,” I state, in a threatening tone of voice.
She acts tough, but I see fear flash across her eyes.
“If you die, they'll kill Noah and keep abusing Sadie forever,” she continues, trying to change my mind.
“That's not going to happen,” I warn, raising my pistol impatiently. She backs away, knowing better than to keep arguing.
I duck to avoid hitting my head on the ceiling as I enter the passage.
The tunnel is only lit by light from the library, so as I move deeper in, I turn on my phone's flashlight.
The space is narrow, and I spot bloodstains on the floor—probably Sarah's, since she was shot.
“Too quiet,” Lauren murmurs, walking behind me.
I don't respond.
I focus entirely on the path ahead.
I strain to hear something, but the only sound is our cautious footsteps.
Just when I think this shit is never going to end, I spot a staircase up ahead with an open exit above it.
I climb the steps, ignoring the ache in my shoulder. When I reach the exit, I find myself in the forest behind the mansion, facing a dirt path marked with tire tracks.
That bastard had an escape route. This only confirms my suspicions that he's hiding plenty of dirt—after all, he didn't build this exit for me.
A few hours ago, he didn't even know I was alive.
“I want you to search every corner of this mansion, especially Gavin's things, and gather anything useful against him,” I order. Lauren nods, her sharp eyes scanning the surroundings. “I'm sending Dominic here to see if he can crack the elevator code.”
“Make it quick. Gavin said his men are on their way.”
“Don't hesitate to take out anyone who gets close until you're done,” I tell her, heading back down.
I make my way back through the tunnel and exit the library.
I take the stairs quickly, dialing my brother's number.
“She's with me!” The confirmation lifts a weight off my chest. I knew he had her—the plan was for me to get Noah out while he grabbed Sadie without anyone noticing—but I still needed to hear those words. “The housekeeper too.”
“Good. She'd be scared since she doesn't know you,” I say, hearing her voice in the background.
My chest burns like there are embers inside it.
Daughter.
I have a daughter.
A daughter with the woman I love!
“Gavin took Noah, so I need you to send me the link tracking his car,” I say, stepping into what used to be Sadie's room.
If it's up to me, she'll never set foot here again.
“Son of a bitch!” my brother shouts. “Sorry…” he says, his tone suddenly shifting. “The girl heard me curse and scolded me.” I can almost see him scratching his head as he explains.
“Watch what you say around her or I'll rip your tongue out,” I warn him. He huffs.
“Bryan, the car is parked at the distribution center. Gavin didn't take it to the mansion.”
“Hell!” I want to crush the phone—the hatred consuming me is that intense. “I want our best men in the city today. I want men in front of the house, in the woods, and at the trail exit. No one gets near Sadie. No one!”
“Don't worry, I'll protect her until our people arrive. What are you going to do now?”
“I'm heading there. I need to make some calls and figure out where that vermin took my girl.” My eyes narrow when I spot a phone on the bed. “Tell Dominic to get to the mansion. Now. He needs to crack the code for an elevator,” I instruct, picking up the device.
A smile crosses my face when I realize it's probably Sarah's phone.
“He went to drop his parents off at the plane, but I'll send him over right away,” he says. I hang up and pocket both devices.
I see the pink blanket and the teddy bear my girl was hugging the day we met—the same ones she held every night I watched her sleep.
She'll definitely miss them, so I grab both and leave the room.
“If you need help, just call,” I tell Lauren as she approaches. “When Dominic gets the elevator open, let me know. In the meantime, go down and search everything.”
“All right,” she agrees. I walk away and head down the stairs quickly.
I leave the mansion and walk to my car.
My shoulder protests again when I start the car, but I don't care.
Right now, pain is the least of my problems.
When I arrive at the door, I find Sadie lying on her stomach on the rug, her little legs swinging in the air as she scribbles in a notebook that appeared out of nowhere.
She doesn’t notice me come in because she’s absorbed in what she’s doing.
It’s probably better this way, since I feel like someone poured lead into my bones, making it impossible to move.
My chest burns again as Noah’s words echo in my mind.
Our daughter.
How did I not see this coming?
Sadie is identical to Noah, and her age lines up perfectly with everything that happened.
How could I have been so irresponsible, thinking one pill would be enough to prevent a pregnancy?
The night we were together, we didn’t use a condom and I came inside her, but the next morning I got the morning-after pill and gave it to Noah.
She said she took it, and I know she’s not lying. Still, I should have considered the possibility of it failing.
Hell, I was a complete idiot.
A total idiot!
Five years cost me not just moments with the love of my life, but with Sadie too.
I think about everything I missed by being away.
The first smile I didn’t see.
The first steps I wasn’t there for.
The first fall I didn’t catch.
The first word I didn’t hear.
The discoveries that should have been ours.
The flavor of ice cream she loves.
What makes her wrinkle her nose.
Which cartoon makes her eyes light up.
What she doesn’t like to eat.
Almost five years of details I don’t know.
Years of little things that shaped my daughter, things I’ll never get back.
And it’s not just the absence of moments that tears me apart inside.