A dark, dark rage seeped out from my friend even as he scoffed. “I’ll be right there beside you.”
“Reconsidering, Ms. Wade?” Jarrod asked once the door slammed shut, removing his button-down shirt to use as a towel for the blood smeared all over his face.
“You can’t take Nora from him,” I said, picking up where we’d been when Reed had come in earlier, voice nothing more than a trembling breath as he edged closer again.
That charming grin that was so, so cruel was back as if he hadn’t just taken all those punches. “Actually, I can,” he said easily. “See, Ron did all the paperwork, which means I have access to the paperwork. Some changes here and there, and what do you know?” He lifted out the hand not holding his shirt. “Your boyfriend no longer has custody.” He stepped closer, his voice dropping lower. “No one has custody . . . imagine that.”
“You can’t—”
“You keep saying that,” he said with a laugh that was all frustration as he tossed his shirt aside. “I’ve already shown you what I can do, Ms. Wade. I assure you, the next step will be child’s play. And after this?” He waved to his face. “I won’t just take away his custody, I’ll make good on the rest—he’ll no longer have a career.”
“Reed hasn’t done—” I slammed my hands against his chest when he ran his fingers down my arm, a strangled cry working up my throat when he gripped my wrists to the point of pain. “He hasn’t done anything,” I cried softly, pleadingly.
“But he’s the key to everything.” He pressed his body to mine, smiling when I tried leaning away. “He currently has what I want, and he has a lot to lose. And I can’t imagine you’d want him to lose his career and that adorable little girl.”
Of course I didn’t.
I would do almost anything to protect Reed and Nora from this—almost. Giving Jarrod what he wanted wasn’t one of those things.
“I see you trying to figure a way around this, but I will get what I want. Soon. Ron ensured that.”
I looked up at him as I tried to get out of his hold, my silent question lingering in the small space between us.
“He got your mother’s police records and gave them to me. He also came up with the ingenious idea of creating a record for you . . . based off hers.”
My stomach dropped and shock had me frozen in place.
“How would that look on your boyfriend while his career is also being destroyed? His drug-addicted, prostitute girlfriend, dragging him down,” Jarrod taunted. “How would that look on your precious grandmother? Unable to face the town’s judgment because both her daughter and granddaughter turned out the same way.” He dipped down, a wicked grin crossing his face. “How would it look when you try to get custody of Nora?”
A breath that was all horror and pain and sorrow for what I was about to do to the people I’d come to know left me when I asked, “What do you want from me?”
A victorious smirk met me as he leaned in closer. “Good girl.”
“What do you want from me?” I asked again.
He stepped away, eyes devouring me as he reached for his belt. “I want you to beg me to fuck you.”
My head moved in a mess of nods as I reached for my phone that I’d slipped into my front pocket during the commotion with Reed and Peter.
“I think—” I choked out a relieved cry when I saw it was still recording. “I think I’ll just tell you, once again, to rot in Hell.”
Jarrod looked at once terrified and terrifying. “What are you doing?” he asked softly, his voice warning me to answer carefully.
“You’re no longer untouchable,” I muttered as I stopped the video and slid the phone into my back pocket. I started walking quickly away, a cry ripping from my throat when he lunged forward and yanked me back.
“You stupid bitch,” he seethed as he held me close with one arm and searched for my pocket with the other hand as Reed and Peter came rushing in. Shouting things at Jarrod as Reed pulled me from Jarrod’s grasp and held me close.
“I’ve got you,” he breathed, stare quickly searching me.
“Manhattan,” I choked out, and Reed’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “He’s my boss’s friend. I know him from that night in Manhattan.”
Reed went still against me as a dark wrath seeped from him and spilled into the room. “Rowe,” he said softly, the tenor sending chills up my spine. “Take Emma out of here.”
“Reed, please,” I whispered softly, my head shaking.
But his gray eyes were all dark intent. “Baby, he touched you. Those demons in your eyes are from him.” He dipped his head closer, his mouth passing across my jaw and lingering when he said, “You can’t ask me to let that go.”
“If it can ruin your life . . . yes, I can.”
He pressed another soft kiss there before saying, “Rowe.” The name nothing less than a command.
I pulled away from Reed reluctantly when Peter appeared beside me and let him lead me out of the office and into the hallway.
“You okay?” Peter asked once the door was firmly shut behind us and he was leading me away. “Did he hurt you?”
I tried looking back when I heard raised voices, but Peter kept me going forward. “Uh . . . no, not really.”
Peter stopped us at the entrance of the hidden staircase and seemed to search me the way Reed had—as if looking for any injuries. “You said ‘Manhattan.’” When I looked up at him in surprise, he slanted his head down the hall. “What happened there?”
My gaze drifted to the floor as that night burst through my mind and mixed with everything that had happened since. Reaching back to touch my phone, I released a weighted sigh once I was sure it was still there, and muttered, “Something that’s going to hurt a lot of people.”
I sat on the opposite side of a table from one of our detectives and my chief that afternoon, both of them wearing identical expressions of disappointment and frustration.
My chief sighed and lifted his hands out in front of him as if I’d literally tied them. “I can’t help you here, Reed.”
The detective grunted. “Davis already has his father-in-law with him, and they’re going for your badge and a civil suit for the unprovoked assault.” He glanced at Chief and made a face. “They’re trying to go for a higher charge because you’re an ex-SEAL—saying you’re lethal.”
I snorted. “He would’ve been dead if I’d wanted him that way.”
“This isn’t a joke,” Chief said.
“I’m aware,” I muttered and glanced to the door, knowing Emma was somewhere in one of the other rooms.
I’d backed Jarrod into the corner of the office, delivering hit after hit to his chest and torso as I’d seethed over what he’d done to Emma before knocking him out cold.
If I’d known I’d still end up here, I would’ve taken my time. Tortured him because that night was sure as fuck still torturing her. Given him back to Rowe to finish off. Anything to satisfy this wrath still coursing through me, knowing he was one of the men from that night.
“And I wouldn’t exactly call it unprovoked,” I continued, looking back at them. “He tried to rape her about a month ago. When I walked in, he had her pinned to the wall, and she was trying to get away from him.” I watched as the detective wrote something down. “He’s lucky I didn’t shoot him.”
“You’re not helping, Reed,” he mumbled as he continued writing, then sighed as his focus returned to me. “Will the people in that room back your story?”
I hesitated for a while before slanting my head. “Probably not,” I admitted. “Peter Rowe came in a few minutes later, and he doesn’t know about what happened to Emma. Emma . . .” My stare darted to the door again as everything ached to get to her. “I doubt she’s saying a word—she doesn’t trust cops.”
His brow lifted and he shared a look with Chief. “This . . . Emma Wade . . . is your girlfriend, correct?” When I nodded, he asked, “Is she aware you’re an officer?”
“It caused a lot of tension, trust me. But
it would honestly shock the hell out of me if she so much as says ‘hi’ to whoever’s in the room with her. She’s had a shitty life, and police officers were usually at the center of it.”
We all looked at the door when a knock sounded just before it opened, and then one of the other detectives was poking his head in to say, “Need a word,” to the one talking with me. When he stepped back far enough to hold the door open, I saw Butler standing in the hall. Arms folded tightly over his chest and looking anxious as hell.
Once he caught my stare, he dipped his head. Silently letting me know he was there—no matter what.
Chief sighed and took the empty seat once the door closed. “This doesn’t look good for you, Reed.”
“I know,” I said softly.
“If no one’s going to corroborate your story. If your girlfriend isn’t going to talk. If they’re saying you assaulted without provocation, and his face looks ten shades of busted up—the same as your knuckles.” He clicked his tongue. “Your side is sound, but not when the woman it all happened to won’t validate it.”
I grunted in understanding.
In the middle of Rowe helping me drag Jarrod out of the bookstore, trying to calm a frantic Leah, and driving over here with a waking Jarrod to get everything out of the way that we already knew was coming, Emma had whispered twisted confessions.
Telling me how she hadn’t known a thing about Jarrod when he’d shown up that night with her boss and others—including where he was from. How horrified she’d been when she stumbled upon him in Colby. How he’d cornered her last week and what he’d wanted her to beg for . . .
I’d nearly stopped my truck to beat the shit out of him again as silent rage had exploded from me, and it was physically draining to sit in that room when I didn’t feel nearly done with him.
“I’d still do it again,” I murmured. “Just to give him a moment of the pain she’s been living in.”
Chief’s head bobbed as he leaned across the table. “I get it—I do. If that happened to my wife, I’d be right there, doing and thinking and saying the same things. But since you’re refusing a lawyer, let me tell you that saying shit like that is going to land you in prison.”
I nodded as my mind raced, continuously pulling back to Emma and Nora and what was going to happen to them until the door opened a few minutes later.
“You are free to go, Reed,” the detective said, looking like he was glad to be saying it when I was too shocked to believe that I was hearing him correctly.
“What?”
“Get on out of here unless you’ve formed an attachment to this room.”
I stood, confusion weaving through me as I moved toward the door. “What happened?”
He lifted his brows. “Seems you’re about to have the hell shocked out of you because your girlfriend thought it best to talk.” He gestured down the hall. “I’ll let her explain.”
I started for the doorway but paused just outside it when he continued.
“I didn’t know you had kids, Reed.”
“You have kids?” Chief asked, looking more surprised than I’d been to be released.
“I—” I faltered in my response because Nora wasn’t mine, but she’d felt like it for longer than I’d had custody of her. “It’s complicated,” I finally said. “I have custody of a six-year-old, who happens to be Emma’s sister. Why did she come up?”
“Sounds complicated,” the detective agreed with a soft laugh, then gestured down the hall again. “But I think I better let your girlfriend explain this one.”
Worry crept through my veins and urged me out of the room even though the detective hadn’t seemed like anything was wrong.
“What happened?” Butler asked, falling into step beside me.
“I don’t know. Did something happen to Nora?”
He slipped his phone out of his pocket. “I don’t have anything from Jenn or Leah.”
That eased my worries only slightly as we moved through the hallways faster and faster until we spilled out into the large entrance where Rowe waited beside a girl of ice and steel.
Emma was standing so tall with a look similar to the one she’d worn the first few times I’d seen her. Arms folded beneath her chest and radiating a warning for people to stay far away. All of which broke the instant she saw me.
Her chest caving and her shoulders slumping as she staggered forward before running into my arms.
I held her close, absorbing her shudders as she eased one of her hands between us to rest it against my chest.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, words warped with the tears she was fighting.
“Don’t,” I said just as softly. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” Cradling one of her cheeks in my palm, I leaned back to search her eyes. “You okay?”
She nodded against my hand, but the tremors rolling through her and that haunting look in her eyes said differently.
“What’d you tell the detective?” My continued surprise at the shift in the last few minutes wove through the question. “Because it changed everything.”
“Leah’s in labor,” Butler said, smacking at my shoulder and already heading for the doors as he brought his phone to his ear.
“Is she okay?” Rowe asked, voice more frantic than it should’ve been.
Thankfully, Butler didn’t notice. He just glanced back at Rowe with a look as if he should know better. “After everything that happened with her husband today? Fucking doubt it, man—hey,” he said into the phone. “Where are you?”
He rested his back against the door to open it, listening to whatever was being said on the phone as Rowe went out the door beside him, already set on getting to Leah.
“We’re on our way,” Butler said, nodding to me as he stepped outside.
“Was that Jenn?” I asked as I slipped outside with Emma’s hand firmly in mine.
Butler nodded. “They’re already at the hospital. Nora’s with them,” he added as soon as my mouth opened to ask.
I gave him a grateful smile and pulled Emma closer to ask, “You want me to take you home, or do you want to come with us?”
Her hand squeezed mine, those walls nothing but rubble on the ground as insecurities and vulnerabilities bled free. “These are your friends—your family. I shouldn’t be there. I can find a way home.”
“You should absolutely be there,” I said softly. “I want you with me always, Emma.”
Her hazel eyes met mine, all hesitation as she gave a slight nod. “Then I want to be with you. Besides, I still haven’t heard from Lala. I need to check on her.”
I pulled up our joined hands and turned hers over to press my mouth to her palm. “Then that’s what we’re going to do.”
* * *
All hell broke loose at the hospital.
The strain of having left Leah when she’d been a sobbing mess only to find her screaming in pain had broken Rowe when we’d arrived.
He’d pushed through Butler and Jenn to get to her, whispering soothing words while apologizing for shit that he’d had no part in. Butler had lost it right about the second he’d seen what we’d all been blinded to for so long. Yelling and pulling Rowe away from Leah and out of the room, throwing a punch as soon as they’d crossed the threshold. Demanding to know what was going on between him and his sister and throwing another punch before Rowe could begin to explain.
I didn’t blame him. But the stress of it all had been too much for Leah and the baby—setting off alarms on her monitor and snapping them out of it long before security had gotten there. Still, none of us were allowed to see Leah anymore. And there’d been a thick layer of tension between everyone ever since.
Tension that had grown when Emma and I had taken Nora to the other side of the hospital to see Lala—only to find out Lala had another seizure and was going to have to stay for a couple more days at least.
Nora hadn’t said a word since. Emma and I were struggling to hide our grief over the doctor’s grim news. My best friends looked ready
to explode. And it only got worse . . .
“What?” Butler’s mom cried out, standing and looking all around her as she held her phone to her ear. “What do you mean—okay, yes. I’ll be right there.”
“What’s wrong?” Butler asked.
“Your father was arrested while helping Jarrod,” she responded, sounding blindsided as she whispered, “This can’t happen,” to herself repeatedly while searching for her bag.
“Who was that, and what’d they say?”
“It was your father,” she answered, voice trembling now. “He’s being charged with tampering with evidence.”
A sharp huff left Butler. “He what?”
“I don’t—” Her head shook quickly. “I have to go. He said he needs me there.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No,” she said and pointed to Butler, motioning for him to sit back down. “One of us needs to be here for your sister.”
He watched her go, looking torn and helpless before he sat and mumbled, “What the fuck?”
Jenn rubbed at his back, whispering something to him as he roughed out a strained laugh.
“My dad might suck as a dad, but he wouldn’t do anything illegal.” He gestured to me. “And what the hell is going on with this day?”
I forced my expression to remain neutral when it hit me and glanced at Emma in time to see Rowe do the same, as if he’d just made the same connection.
But she was sitting on the opposite side of Nora. Eyes wide and lips firmly pressed together. Chest hitching with ragged breaths. Looking like she was already spiraling.
“Emma,” I said softly, and reached behind the chairs to brush her shaking shoulder with the tips of my fingers.
She jolted but didn’t respond.
“Emma, what’d you say?”
Her body shook with a ragged inhale and her stare drifted toward me even though she continued facing straight ahead as she confessed, “The truth.”
I gripped her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her and looked back to where Butler was slowly getting more aggravated. “I’m sorry, man.”
Lie to Me Page 40
