“Okay, but what does that have to do with the cops not telling us anything?” I ask confused.
“I’m getting there. I was just establishing a pattern. You’ve said this whole time that you think Rob’s had help and I’m telling you that you were right. He’s had lots of it, actually. And Martin Hernandez is footing the bill for all of it.
Rob paid off Lauren Palmer, the woman from the parole committee, to ensure his parole got granted instead of thrown out. Josh Little, the guy she’s been having an affair with, is the one that purchased his house while he was still setting everything up. All while waiting for Rob to be released.
Last but not least, we have Officer Tobias Franks has been on Martin’s payroll for years. He’s definitely the reason why Martin hasn’t been arrested up until this point. He’s the one that was supplying information to Rob through his lawyer and helping him set this whole thing up. And yes, based on the money Rob’s been paying his attorney, that guy is in on it too.
With the threat of what Martin Hernandez might do to all of their families, it’s a perfect plan. Once I knew all of the players, I was able to hack into their emails and find the hidden chatrooms they were in, communicating back and forth.”
I take a few moments to digest everything Jake just laid out. This shit doesn’t happen in real life… This shit happens in movies and terrible drama TV shows that my sister watches. Deacon Hill has one of the lowest crime rates in all of North Carolina. There’s just no way…
But the proof is all right here on Jake’s computer.
Fuck! All the proof is illegally right here on Jake’s computer.
“Shane how the hell can we use any of this illegally obtained information in court so we can nail these bastards?”
Shane grabs his wallet and hands Jake a $1 bill.
“I just hired Jake as a personal consultant on your case. Everything he’s done is legal as long as we have a written contract.” Turning to Jake he says “Wait, you do that right?”
Jake laughs. “Yes, we do. Because we have connections with the DOJ we’re allowed to be hired for private purposes but we still need a subpoena. You and Abel both have to sign the contract though. I can print one right now and we need to have it signed with yesterday’s date. This is shaky shit, but I’m assuming attorney-client privilege covers that too?” He asks, cocking a brow at Shane.
“Hell yeah, it does. Now we just need a judge.” Shane says.
“I can help with that.” Sonya pipes in cheerfully.
We all look at her skeptically. Sonya’s good people, and a great businesswoman, but she’s in the fashion industry. How the hell can she help us lock down a judge?
“Don’t look at me like that, my Dad’s one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina. He plays golf and drinks scotch with lots of people. Two of which happen to be judges. Let me call him real quick and I’ll make it happen.” She says as she digs her phone out of her purse and moves into the other room to call her dad.
It amazes me how much everyone here is able to help in one capacity or another. We would never be able to do this without each other.
“I want addresses for Officer Traitor and the attorney. Now.” I say looking back and forth between Jake and Shane. Between the two of them, I know they have it.
“Abel, what are you planning on doing?” Shane asks.
“As soon as that subpoena clears, I’m going to get some answers my way. Do you think they’re gonna tell the cops anything? Hell no. Even if Josh squeals, the other two have too much to lose, and too much protection. Without them, we’ll never find the girls. And with a cop on Martin’s payroll, I’m not willing to risk anything slipping between our fingers. That’s why no one in the DHPD had any fucking leads until you got us access to that house. And since it was off the books, none of them even know that we know anything. I’m done playing this game by their rules. It’s time I play by mine.”
Just then Sonya walks back into the room, a wide smile spread across her face.
“Judge Murphy said to meet him in his chambers in an hour and he’ll have that subpoena ready.”
The whole room erupts in cheers.
We’re almost there.
We’re gonna bring them home.
I’m coming girls, just hold on a little bit longer.
An hour later, Dex, Shane, and I pull up to the courthouse. I’m climbing out of the truck before Shane even puts it in park. He’s yelling at me to get a grip, but I just can’t slow down, I’ve got too much energy coursing through my body right now. These have been the most agonizing 11 days of my entire life. I’m beyond ready to have both of the girls home where they belong.
Dex and Shane meet me at the metal detectors that we have to go through before we can make our way to Judge Murphy’s chambers. I’ve never met this man before but I’m at the point where I’m ready to give him a kidney, a lung, whatever the hell he wants or needs as payment for agreeing to help. A simple ‘thank you’ doesn’t seem to be enough. I will eternally be in his debt after this. He will be getting Christmas cards, and birthday gifts, and fucking Easter baskets from me until the day one of us dies.
We check in with Judge Murphy’s receptionist and wait to be called back into his chambers. My leg is bouncing, my palms are sweaty, and the seconds are ticking by with a loud vibration that I can hear like a bomb going off. My patience is nowhere to be found at this moment but I’m trying.
God, I’m trying so fucking hard, to keep my shit together when all I want to do it run in and there and yank the subpoena from his hands.
“Judge Murphy will see you now.” The receptionist tells us.
With great effort, I walk like a civilized human being behind Shane into the judge’s chambers. I see him bent over his desk, signing a document. He doesn’t look up from his desk when he speaks.
“Come in, come in. Close the door behind you.” He tells us.
Once we’re all in the room and the door is closed behind us, he takes a seat and motions for us to follow suit.
“I know very little, but it’s enough. I don’t tolerate corruption in our police force. Not now, not ever. Now a lot of people could argue that what I’m doing now is corruption. I’d like to think that what I’m doing is being an advocate between the grey areas that arise when corruption takes place.
Eli, Sonya’s father, assured me that you guys have the necessary paperwork to show that you hired a tech firm to secure the information you got. Is that correct? Keep in mind I just want a simple yes or no.” He says, indicating he will overlook the backdoor channels we might have taken, just as we did with him.
“Yes sir, that’s accurate.” Shane replies.
Judge Murphy locks eyes with me. “You must be the brother and the boyfriend, am I right?”
“Yes sir, I’m Abel Cooper, nice to meet you.” I say, extending my hand to him.
He takes my hand in between both of his, holding them there as he levels me with a compassionate smile. He leans in closely and whispers in my ear, low enough for only me to hear.
“I am so sorry our city has failed you, Mr. Cooper. But I assure you, I take what’s unfolded here very seriously. I don’t know what you plan to do, but I can tell by that fire in your eyes that you plan on doing something fierce when you leave here. And I want to tell you something, brother to brother. Spouse to spouse. You do what you have to do to get your girls back and I assure you, no harm will come to you. I will personally make sure that everyone involved in this sordid scheme will be seen in my courtroom. Your family will see justice.”
“Thank you, Judge Murphy! That means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
“Go find your girls, Mr. Cooper.” He says as he places the subpoena in my hands.
The guys and I make our quiet exit out of the courthouse and to Shane’s truck. As soon as the doors are closed, I turn to Shane.
“Take me to my truck and then go to the police station to keep an eye on what’s going on th
ere. I want you nowhere near the shit that’s about to go down. The fewer people that know, the better. Keep your phone on loud.”
He agrees with a smug smile, pulling out of the courthouse.
It’s fucking show time.
***
Dex and I climb in my truck, feeling the adrenaline coursing through our veins, knowing we’re about to get elbow deep in some crazy shit as soon as we take off.
“What’s the plan here? Or do you have one yet?” he asks laughing.
“Ask nicely. If that doesn’t work, beat it out of them. I’m done playing games, I need answers and I need them now.”
“I’m all for that. Let’s get it done.”
I pull out of my driveway, knowing that I’m not coming back until I have Max in my arms. No matter the cost, she’s coming home.
Dex is amped up, ready to let his inner hellion out to play. He plugs his phone into the aux cord and turns on ‘Face Everything And Rise’ by Papa Roach. He’s gearing up for the fight we’re walking in to.
For the first time since Bree told me she and Dex have feelings for each other, I picture them together and I can see it plain as day. It’s been right in front of me the whole time and I never saw.
It’s why Bree pulled away when we were younger, why she didn’t want to move to LA with us. It’s why Dex would never mess around with brunettes, why he always baby’s her and gives her whatever she wants…
Holy fuck my best friend is in love with my baby sister! I promise myself right then and there to try like hell to accept this for what it is and give them my blessing. I want to be able to give them the opportunity to have exactly what Max and I have together.
Pure and all-consuming love.
I turn to my best friend. “You ready to go get your woman?”
He looks at me, stunned for a moment. He’s clearly taken aback by what my words imply. A big smile quickly takes over his entire face.
“Yeah man, I am. Been ready for 11 days now.”
“Then let’s do this. We’re going to that fucking attorney’s house first. Their attorney-client privilege ends today.”
The playlist Dex turned on switches over to ‘Parasite’ by Breathing Theory and I know that shit’s about to get real. This is Dex’s workout playlist for when he’s beyond pent up.
I already planned on causing all the pain that our family has suffered for the last week and a half, but if this music is any indication, Dex is ready to put a motherfucker in the grave.
Chapter Ten
MAX
“I think I’ll name her Everlast, what do you think, Maxine?”
I think you’re a sick fuck that needs to die!
“This would be the part where you respond.” Rob says, coming over to me and standing so close that I can practically see the sweat fighting its way out of his pores.
“I think you’ve done enough and you need to let us go, Rob.”
“You keep saying that and I’ll start to think that you don’t love me anymore, Maxine.”
“I don’t love you! You’re using one of my best friends as a punching bag and you want to nickname her after one. I’m strapped to a chair covered in my own piss and vomit. Does this look like love to you Rob?” I scream at him.
I hate him. On a cellular level, every living, breathing part of me despises him. How can so much evil lurk in one single man? How is it humanly possible for someone to thrive on causing someone else pain? I can’t even fathom…
Blindsided by my thoughts, I’m caught off guard as his foot connects with the center of my chest and the chair I’m tied down to flies backward and shatters when it lands. The force of hitting the ground momentarily knocks the air out of my lungs, burning like sandpaper all throughout my chest.
I hear Bree screaming from her position on the pillar, but I can’t see her. All I can see is the blinding brightness of the fluorescent bulbs above me while my body adjusts to its new position. My body desperately tries to remember how to breathe properly again, stuttering while it does so. I can feel broken shards of the chair digging into my back from the force of his weight being thrown into that punch, stabbing my already sore body like a hot knife.
Bree’s screaming, begging him to stop, to leave me alone. But he doesn’t listen, he never would all of those years ago. He won’t now. I know that.
Rob straddles my limp form, pinning my hands underneath his knees and begins punching my face side to side, alternating between fists. My head ricochets back and forth like a vicious close-up game of ping pong. Each hit continuously blurs my vision and kills the breath that keeps trying to creep into my lungs.
“Are you done fighting me yet, Maxine? Are you going to continue to defy me?” He asks landing punch after punch.
This is it. This is when he finally kills me.
He’s restrained himself all he can. I’ll never leave this cement coffin.
“ABEL!” Bree yells. “Abel, Abel, Abel!” She screams at the top of her lungs.
What the hell are you doing Bree? Why? Why are you baiting him?
“What have I said about saying his name?” Rob screams, spittle flying from his mouth and covering my face. It mixes with the blood seeping out of my face from the force of his knuckles ripping my skin.
“You can hit me, you can cut me, you can even keep me locked up here in this seventh circle of hell with you. But you will never be a man, Rob. You’re nothing more than vile rodent crawling through the sewer lines trying to find scraps. You’re nothing. You never will be. You think beating us and torturing us makes you a man? Well, you’re wrong. Abel is a man. You’ll never be half the man he is. We all know it.”
With every word Bree speaks, Rob grows deathly still above me. His silence is even more menacing than his screams. Her words pierce through every insecurity he has, blinding him in rage and feeding his inner monster.
I have no idea why she’s doing this when she knows he’ll never let her get away with it. He’ll never let it go. He’s not built that way.
Why Bree? Why? You were safe from him, he wasn’t focused on you anymore.
And that’s when it hits me.
She was trying to protect me.
She was trying to save me from the beating Rob was delivering. She’s willing to take whatever rage she’s created in order to keep me from suffering his rage any longer.
That’s got to be the most selfless thing anyone has ever done for me.
It’s also the fucking craziest.
“That’s it, Everlast! I’m done playing nice.” Rob says as he climbs off my body, delivering one swift, but brutal kick to my side.
My body instinctively curls in on itself, self-preservation mode taking over. The pain radiates through my side, to the center of my stomach, reminding me of the innocent lives I’m responsible for keeping safe and healthy.
Oh god, please let the babies be okay, please let the babies be okay.
I hear Bree’s screams as Rob starts his torment once again, screaming at her how worthless she is and how stupid she is. He tells her that she doesn’t know anything about him and never will. I realize for the first time since my chair got knocked backward, that I can move my arms and legs.
I sit up so fast that the world spins in front of my eyes. I realize I have a full range of motion as I instinctively bring my hand up to my face to wipe to the blood from my eyes. The ropes are still on my wrists and ankles, but they’re loose and easy slide off since the chair broke the tension that was holding us all together.
I’m so weak and my vision still isn’t completely clear, but this may be my one and only chance to save us and get the hell out of here. I’ve lived through worse pain, I can make it a little longer like this.
Right?
I make quick work of removing the rope from each wrist and each ankle. Well, as quick as I can while I try to force my body to recover from the beating it just took.
I stand quietly, testing my body, ensuring I don
’t fall right back down to the ground. My legs are a little unsteady as I extend them for the first time in a week, allowing the blood to circulate through them. My arms feel heavy, dangling at my sides. It’s been so long since I’ve stood up that my body’s taken longer than I’d like to adjust.
After a few seconds, I trust that I can do this. Being quiet, as to not make any sounds by jostling the pieces of the chair, I try to formulate a plan and decide what the hell to do next.
I look up to see Bree tracking me with her eyes as Rob lifts his legs and kicks her over and over. She smiles at me, refusing to give in to the pain, and nods to me as her eyes fall closed. I can see her fighting off the tempting feeling of allowing herself to succumb to the relief of giving into unconsciousness.
Her pain riddled voice creaks out. “Abel. Abel. Abel.” Fueling Rob into a frenzy again, trying her damnedest to keep his attention off of me.
She buys me enough time to quietly, and slowly, making my way to the metal folding chair where Rob has placed his knife and his jacket. As soon as it’s in my hands, Bree laughs out a maniacal laugh, starling me.
“Hey guess what, Dickless?” She asks breathlessly.
“Oh do tell, whore.” Rob replies while continuing his assault.
“She’s pregnant.” Bree laughs uncontrollably, falling into a fit of delirious hysterics.
Rob silences her by punching her in the jaw, followed by a powerful front face jab that sends her head backward, ricocheting off the cement pillar. Bree immediately falls silent, her body drooping. I can’t even hear or see her breathing to know if she’s alive or dead. I’m terrified that I was too late to save her, immediately fearing the worst. The human body can only take so much…
“You son of a bitch!” I scream, my body filling with adrenaline.
Rob turns to where my voice came from, mania covering every inch of his body. He’s coiled up as tight as a guitar string about to pop. But my adrenaline and my training refuse to let him win. It’s time I take down Rob once and for all.
Revival Page 12
