It took her a while to figure out what she was looking at. It was an altercation of some sort. Two cops were trying to get hold of this guy who she guessed must be resisting arrest. She couldn’t make head nor tail of the image. Then one of the cops who was considerably bigger than the other gripped the perp around the neck. He actually lifted him off the ground. The man’s feet kicked out, and he caught the other cop in the stomach. The officer retaliated by punching him in the face. She wanted to look away—her stomach was lurching at the violence—but she couldn’t seem to tear her attention from the screen.
The camera zoomed in as the victim was hauled backward into a side street, but not before she caught a glimpse of the face of the guy who’d done the punching.
Cole.
She suppressed a horrified cry. An icy coldness swept through her veins, freezing her in place. No, it couldn’t be… It couldn’t. Cole wasn’t the violent type, despite the demands of his job. He must have had good reason. Maybe the other man had a gun? That would justify Cole’s actions, surely? The big guy was definitely Draven, although she hadn’t seen his face. Cops got into altercations with people all the time, didn’t they? Sometimes a little rough justice must be needed to stop a situation escalating. And that guy had kicked Cole in the stomach. That was self-defense. Even if Cole’s superiors didn’t see it that way, surely the worst he’d get would be a slap on the wrist. A formal warning at worst.
She needed to keep a clear head, not let Tanner know how shocked she was. She fixed him with a cool stare. “So? Cole’s a cop. He gets into fights all the time.” She didn’t know whether that was true or not, because she and Cole rarely talked about his work. He preferred to keep that side of himself from her, probably because it had a whole lot of ugly attached to it. “It’s highly unlikely he would get kicked off the force for something like that. Anyway, there are procedures the guy could follow if he wants to make a formal complaint.”
Tanner’s smile inched across his face, and the wider it got, the more uneasy she became. The conceited attitude on display meant he was far from finished. He tucked the phone away in his pocket.
“You’re right. I’m sure the police force is well-versed in covering up brutal acts by their officers. The public however...” He hitched a shoulder. “They take a very dim view of violence against the good citizens of this great nation of ours.”
Tanner’s intentions didn’t come to her in a flash. They built slowly, inch by inch, making their way into her addled brain. But as the last jigsaw piece slotted into place, and she figured out what he had planned, her world fell apart.
“You can’t,” she whispered. “Please, Tanner. Don’t.”
It didn’t matter whether the guy had been resisting arrest or not. If Tanner leaked footage of Cole punching him in the face, his career would be over. The ‘victim’ could be a pedophile, a rapist, a murderer, yet all the public would see was a cop beating up on a guy, regardless of the fact he’d kicked out first. By the time the truth came out, it would be too late.
“Oh, darling. I can. And I will. The only thing that will stop me uploading this to every news agency I can find, as well as every social media site, is if you come back to Chicago with me. And, as long as you play nice, and act like the dutiful wife, this will stay just between us.”
She clutched her stomach and bent over double as a terrible pain spread through her abdomen. This couldn’t be happening. She’d escaped. She was finally free and happy, and in love with an amazing man who cherished her, and made her feel safe, and loved her like she deserved to be loved. Tanner had spent ten years slowly stripping away her self-esteem, her confidence, and Cole had spent the last few months putting her back together again. And for what? So Tanner could try to rip her apart all over again? Trapped. She was trapped in an ever-spiraling hell.
It didn’t matter to her what that video showed, because she knew Cole. There would be a reason he’d hit that man. What was the saying? The camera didn’t lie. Well, it did, but she couldn’t let Tanner put that video online. She owed Cole that much at least.
“How do I know you won’t post it anyway?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I guess you’ll have to trust me.”
She half raised out of her chair. The frightened, broken woman who’d walked out on Tanner over five months ago no longer existed. With Cole’s rock-solid support encouraging her all the way, she’d grown into a fearless, self-reliant woman who refused to let Tanner take her down. To save Cole, and the undoubted fallout on his family, she’d go back to Tanner—for now. But if he thought for one goddamn second she’d bend to his will, he had another think coming.
She jabbed a finger at him. “You listen to me, you pathetic excuse of a man. I’ll come back to Chicago. If you want to live with a woman who’s only emotion is her hatred for you, fine. You got it. You think you’ve won. Well, you haven’t. You’ve lost, because you’ll never get inside my head again. And I’m warning you. If you ever release that video online, I will find a way to make you sorry.”
For a moment, he looked stunned, and then his smarmy expression returned. “You’ve got twenty-four hours. Our plane leaves tomorrow at noon from La Guardia. Be there, or this goes viral.”
She snatched up her handbag and slung it over her shoulder. As she began to walk away, Tanner called after her.
“Oh, and, baby, make sure to tell Brook I’ve made several copies, and if anything happens to me, I’ve left clear instructions on what to do next.”
She didn’t look back. Even if she had, she wouldn’t have been able to see him through the furious tears rolling down her cheeks.
Turned out she could cry after all.
Chapter 22
With her vision blurred, Millie miraculously made it to the subway without stumbling into anything or stepping in front of a car. She collapsed into a seat and let the tears fall unchecked down her face. She wanted to punch a wall, smash a window. Grind her heel into Tanner’s balls.
An elderly lady sitting opposite passed her a tissue. She took it gratefully and dried her cheeks, but more tears came. She couldn’t turn them off. Finally, after all these years, she was allowing her anger to rampage. It was what she needed to fuel the fire raging within her.
As station after station went by in a blur, her mind kept searching for a way out. A way for her to avoid going back with Tanner, to stay with the man she loved, and for Cole to keep his career. But there was no way out. Tanner had every angle covered.
She played over how she would approach this with Cole. How would she even start this conversation? And she wouldn’t be able to apply for college now. Another dream Tanner had cruelly ripped from her.
Ten years married to the man, and she didn’t understand him at all. He knew she hated him, that he made her skin crawl, that she’d been spending her nights in another man’s bed, and yet still he wanted her back. Control and power were strong motivators for a man like Tanner. Love didn’t enter into it. She knew he’d be searching for a way to punish her for leaving him and sleeping with another man.
Fine. She wouldn’t give up until she’d exposed every single one of Tanner’s weaknesses. Until he couldn’t bear to look at himself in the mirror. She’d be subtle, as he had been. Chip away at him with calm defiance until he begged her to leave. However long it took, she would not go down without a fight.
The train arrived at her station. By the time she reached the street, she could barely breathe. Millie checked her watch. Cole would be home in an hour or so, but she didn’t want to tell him in their private space. She jogged back down the stairs into the bowels of the subway and got back on the train.
Fifteen minutes later, she found herself standing outside the police station. Cole’s shift would be over soon, and if she waited here, she’d catch him as he came out. She watched cops come and go, and she wanted to scream. Why couldn’t they arrest Tanner? How come innocent people were accused of bad things every single day, yet he got away without penalty?
She
spotted Cole in the doorway of the station. He was sharing a joke with Draven, and the two of them were laughing. Draven gave him a nudge that, given Draven’s size, almost bowled Cole over. Cole shoved him back, and they laughed once more. Her heart almost stopped. He looked so carefree, so happy, and she was about to crush him. She’d considered lying and telling him she’d decided to get back with Tanner of her own accord, but as both the lie and the truth were equally heinous, there was no point. Anyway, he’d see right through her deception.
He glanced over and spotted her, a frown drawing down his brows. He said something to Draven who turned his head, waved, and then slapped Cole on the back before heading off in the opposite direction.
Cole jogged toward her. “Hey, you.” He wrapped her in his arms, and she let herself sag against him, pulling his strength and warmth into her body, memorizing this moment for all the times to come when she would need them the most.
“This is a nice surprise. How did the tour at the college go?”
“I need to talk to you.”
A flash of anxiety crossed his face. “Is everything okay?”
There was no point hiding it. “No.”
He blinked at her and rubbed the space between his eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”
“Can we go grab a drink somewhere?”
“Sure.”
He began to walk toward the coffee shop across from the station when she pulled him back.
“Not coffee. A real drink.”
He frowned deeply, knowing she wasn’t a big drinker, so for her to suggest alcohol in the middle of the day was out of character to say the least.
“Okay, Mia, you’re really scaring me.”
She linked her arm though his. “Let’s get that drink, yeah?”
They slipped into a booth at the back of a bar and ordered their drinks. When she chose bourbon, Cole’s eyebrows shot up, almost disappearing into his hairline. The bartender brought their drinks straight over, and after she’d taken a decent slug of liquor—accompanied by an appropriate amount of coughing—Cole reached for her hand.
“Talk to me, please.”
“Tanner’s blackmailing me,” she blurted. “He’s got a video and he’s threatening to put it online.”
“Hold on, slow down. What video?” And then, horrified, “Not of us?”
She struggled to follow, finally catching on after a second or two. “No. Worse than that. The video is of you.”
Cole scratched his cheek. “Doing what exactly?”
“Hitting someone. It’s clearly you. Draven is there, too, although you can’t see his face on the video. You punched this man in the face, and then Draven hauled him down an alleyway.”
Cole’s entire face relaxed. “Oh that. Yeah, I know exactly what that relates to. There was an altercation in a bar. This guy belted his girlfriend in the face. Knocked her out cold. When we turned up, he resisted arrest. We gave chase. Caught up with him by that alley. He’d already punched me.” He pointed to a faint bruise on his cheekbone. “That’s how I got this. Yeah, maybe I was a little rough, but if we hadn’t gotten control of him, he could have hurt us, himself, or others.”
“Tanner has threatened to release the footage online unless I go back to Chicago with him.”
“Tanner can do whatever the fuck he wants. You are not going anywhere with that bastard.”
She chewed the side of her mouth. “It looks bad, Cole. None of that other stuff has been caught on camera, only the part where Draven got the guy around the throat. He kicked out and caught you in the stomach. Then you hit him in the face.” She winced.
Cole pushed a hand through his hair. “Anything looks bad taken out of context. I didn’t hit him hard. I just needed to shock him, to calm him down, and it worked because the minute we got him into the alley, he stopped fighting and we were able to safely take him in. He didn’t even make a complaint. Let Tanner do his worst. My superiors will understand.”
She pressed her fingertips to her temple. “It’s not your superiors I’m worried about. They may be fully supportive, but the public won’t be. You’ll get kicked off the force.”
He gestured dismissively. “It won’t come to that.”
“Cole, it will. You know what’s happened to every other cop who’s been filmed doing something the public thinks has overstepped the mark.”
“Then I’ll do something else.”
“I won’t let you do that. You love being a cop.”
“I love you more.”
“And I love you.” She swallowed past a lump in her throat, struggling to contain her emotions. She had to keep a clear head, because if she allowed herself to think, to really think about what this meant, she’d lose her shit. “But you have to listen to me. If that video comes out online, it’s not only your police career that will be over: your name will be dragged through the mud; the press will camp outside the hotel; no one will want to stay there. It’ll ruin the business. Jax, and your entire family, will lose everything.”
He thumped his fist on the table. “You are not going back to Tanner.”
She answered calmly. “It’s the only way.”
“No, it’s fucking not!”
A couple of guys sharing a beer after work at a nearby table glanced their way at Cole’s raised voice, then carried on with their conversation.
He raked his hands through his hair. “I will fix this. Can’t you goddamn trust me to fix it?”
“How, Cole? How are you going to fix it?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, his control close to snapping. “I don’t fucking know. But I will.” His eyes narrowed. “What I’m more concerned about, Mia, is your capitulation.”
She glared at him across the table. “Are you fucking kidding me? Capitulation? I’m trying to protect you. I’m trying to protect your whole family.”
“And what about you, huh? Who’s going to protect you?” He poked a finger to his chest. “Me. That’s my fucking job. If you don’t believe in me, in us, then maybe our relationship isn’t as strong as I thought.”
Bitterness leached through his tone. Yet despite his obvious hurt and disappointment, she lashed out. Pressing her palms hard into the table, she leaned forward.
“You want me to trust you to fix this?” she hissed. “What about you trusting me? Do you realize how insulting it is that you haven’t even considered whether I have a plan? And in case you’re interested, I do. Tanner thinks he’s getting back the downtrodden Millie who ran five months ago with her self-worth in tatters. Well, he’s not. By going back as the woman I am now, the woman you helped create”—she accentuated her pointed comment with a finger poke in his direction—“he won’t be able to control me. I’ll be the one manipulating him, defying him at every turn, refusing to bend to his will. By the time I’m done, it’ll be Tanner kicking me out.”
“And how long do you think this will all take to play out?” Cole asked in disbelief.
She nibbled on a fingernail. “I don’t know. Six months, maybe a year.”
“Are you fucking joking? Six months? Of you, what, living together with him? I can’t believe you’re even considering this.”
“Cole, I promise you, he won’t be able to handle my defiance. He’ll kick me out eventually.”
Cole dug his fingertips into his temple. “You’re wrong, Millie. Men like him never give up. He’ll never let you go, he will just keep on trying to break you down again and again. Can’t you see that? And what about the reason you left in the first place? What if this time he uses a knife on you? Or a gun?”
Cole was right, but she had to hope that Tanner’s cowardice would stop him ever being truly violent. He hadn’t touched her physically during their entire marriage. She had to believe he still wouldn’t.
“He won’t. Cole, I know Tanner, better than he knows himself. He controls people through manipulating them emotionally. I’ve never seen him violent with anyone.”
Cole pinched the bridge of his nose. “And if he tries to t
ouch you sexually? Have you even thought about that?” He paused as another thought must have occurred to him. “What will you do if he does? Will you sleep with him?”
“What?” Millie said, aghast. “Seriously? Of course I won’t damn well sleep with him.”
“I know you won’t want to sleep with him, but you don’t know what he is capable of, Millie. Whatever damage he has done to you in the past has only scratched the surface. I guarantee he will be furious at you for leaving him. He will want to dominate and assert his power over you. He will want to share his bed with his wife.” Cole’s voice broke.
“Cole, you know that I could never do that. This is the last thing I want. Please—” Tears welled up in her eyes.
“It’s too dangerous,” Cole said, his dogged determination to refuse to face up to the facts grating on her nerves. “Even if he doesn’t touch you physically, it’s not worth the risk to you emotionally.”
She pressed her lips into a straight line, still angry at his lack of faith in her. “I’m stronger now. Tanner’s words can’t hurt me anymore.”
“You may be stronger now, but how are you going to feel after a week, a month, longer, of being with him?”
She reached across the table and captured his hand. She needed to connect with him on a physical level to have any hope of getting through to him. “You have made me strong again, Cole. You built me up with kindness and strength, compassion and belief. Trust me to work on fixing this from my end, and I’ll trust you to do the same. Please, it’s the only way.”
He swept a hand over his beard and squeezed his eyes closed. When he opened them, they’d lost all of their sparkle, turning them from a vibrant emerald green to a dull moss. “Do you know what you going back to him is gonna do to me?” he croaked.
“I’m not going back to him. I’m playing his stupid game until the time comes to strike. And it will.”
He stared over her shoulder, his face blank. Silent minutes stretched between them. She knew the time to leave had come, but she couldn’t bring herself to. Not yet. Not like this.
His to Protect: A Brook Brothers Novel Page 17
