The dress she wore probably cost more than Brynna made in three months at the TSP. Definitely more than Mel could afford now. It was green shimmery material and her hair was swept up off her neck. Mel actually wore more makeup than usual. She looked beautiful, sophisticated, and expensive.
She hardly looked like someone who’d spent three days with an abductor.
Mel hugged their father first. Then Jillian because she was closest to the door. Then it was Brynna’s turn. And Gabby. Everyone wanted to touch her, to make sure she was real. That the nightmare was over.
Brynna cried. Jillian and Syd were crying, too. Gabby was a blubbering mess. Brynna grabbed tissues and shoved them into Gabby’s hand. Even Ari and Paige and Carrie and Lacy were teary-eyed. Elliot looked like he was about to panic as he passed more tissues around.
And then Chance was coming in the door and she forgot all about her sister.
At least for a minute. He was safe and right there in front of her. He wasn’t off in a foreign country where anything could happen to him.
Luc and Chance pushed a tuxedo-clad man into the living room in front of them. Bound with duct tape and gagged.
“Chance? Why...why...why…why is Houghton Barratt in our living room like that?” Brynna said the question she knew was on everyone’s mind. “And how did you get him here?”
“Same way he got Mel out of the US. Right through Customs. Figured Mel could decide what to do with him now. He’s her hostage now. Whatever she wants to do with him. Or...we figured we could trade Sonny here for info on Daddy-dearest. Trade him to his father for his father’s turning himself in. We got Sonny on several charges if Mel here wants to bring them. If she doesn’t...”
“Why wouldn’t she?” Brynna asked. “He took her from our home. I think he needs to rot in jail forever. He deserves it.”
Her sentiments were echoed by Syd and a few others in the room.
“Sometimes things aren’t so black-and-white, Bryn,” Mel said quietly. Sadly.
Brynna looked at her sister, leaning heavily on the crutch that went with her everywhere. But…that wasn’t Mel’s crutch, was it? It was a new one, wasn’t it?
Mel’s had been white. This one was sleek black and different shaped. Had he bought it for her or something?
“What happened in Mexico, Melody?” their dad asked, his hand still on her shoulder, as Chance forced Houghton Barratt into a chair. Jillian calmly handed Chance a roll of duct tape from the kitchen, without being told to. Brynna recognized it as the rainbow colored tape Syd had been using for her science project.
Chance and Luc made a big production of taping the man to a dining room chair. She was almost certain the two were enjoying it. They were certainly rough about it. Houghton Barratt didn’t fight them either. Why wasn’t the man fighting to get away?
Why was he just staring at everyone that way?
Brynna studied the man who had taken her sister. He definitely was a pretty man. Bigger than Chance and Elliot, and slightly heavier than Luc. Dark, too.
He almost looked like he could be related to Luc, with black hair and dark eyes and so tall.
Brynna turned toward her sister. Mel was most definitely not looking at Houghton Barratt. Something more was going on, wasn’t it? Not for the first time she wished she understood people better. “Mel? Are you ok?”
“Of course I am. I’m home, now, Bryn. So...who’s going to tell me what I’ve missed?”
“First, why don’t we ask Houghton here some questions?” Elliot asked. “We need to find out what he knows.”
“It’s not much,” Chance said, finishing with the billionaire. The one taped to the chair. The other billionaire had moved to hug his youngest sister, where she stood next to Jillian. The one who reminded him of Sara sometimes. Sara had had dark hair and pale skin, too.
Damn these Becks and their friends. They were sneaking their way in to his mind, weren’t they?
Ari and Lacy had been there, helping Jillian prepare dinner while they waited on information. One big normally-happy family in the midst of a family crisis. One in which he had played a big part. Almost as if he belonged.
Why did that sound so tempting, yet so terrifying, too?
“You know, I think Elliot and Carrie and I should protest this. It’s not exactly how we’re supposed to do things,” Paige said. “Civil rights, and all.”
“Close your eyes, sis,” Luc said. “And your ears. We’re calling this...an intervention, not an interrogation.”
“Intervening with what?”
“Why, his stupidity, of course. It’s up to us to make him see that by not cooperating, he’s making a stupid mistake.”
“Seriously, though,” Elliot said, looking at Carrie and Paige. “Maybe the two of you should find another room to hang out in for a while.”
The two looked at each other for a moment, then Carrie shocked Brynna with her answer. “He took my younger sister. I want to know why. But...what happens has to stay in this room. We can’t let anyone know what we’re doing.”
Carrie was right. They deserved to know why, didn’t they? Brynna stood, then walked across the living room into the dining room and looked into Houghton Barratt’s dark eyes. She stared down at him for a long moment. He stared at her.
He didn’t have mean eyes, at least. That was something.
Everyone went quiet, or so it seemed to her.
She looked around the room. Their home was open concept and she could see from the front door clear to the back. It was large enough that even with everyone in there, it didn’t seem too crowded. She liked it that way.
This was her home. It was Jillian and Syd’s and Mel’s. And if it needed to be, it could be Carrie’s, too.
It was their home. Their safe place.
This man had violated that. She wanted to know why.
She looked at Chance. “The tape on his mouth?”
He pulled it off the man’s mouth. “Ask him what you want, babe. I can guarantee he’s not going anywhere until he answers our questions.”
“I don’t want to talk to him. But I think the rest of you will.” Brynna said slowly, as more emotion swelled inside her. More emotion than she honestly thought she could handle at that moment. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and shifted her weight from side-to-side. She focused on her breathing, on calming herself down before she flipped again.
“Bryn?” Mel said her name, then stepped closer carefully. Mel always moved so carefully now, didn’t she? Bryn grabbed her sister’s free hand, then looked at Gabby, who still clung to Mel’s arm. “Let’s go upstairs. You don’t have to look at him any longer if you don’t want to.”
“No. It doesn’t upset me to look at him. He’s not his father.” If it had been the older man there, she’d be in a full out Gabby-worthy panic, wouldn’t she?
But this man was not his father. She had to remember that.
“What are you thinking, Bryn?” someone asked. She thought it might have been Gabby.
Brynna looked up at Chance as the words started to flow. “How much longer can this go on? How much longer can we do this?” She turned to where she could see almost everyone. Everyone in the room who mattered to her—these people were her world. They were. “You are all my world. Every one of you, in some way. We’re a…family. All of us. Maybe not by blood, but…Maybe we haven’t even known each other all that long, for some of us. But we still all care about each other. Would do anything to protect each other.” She struggled to find the right way to express what she was feeling.
Chance held out a hand to her. She shook her head. She couldn’t be touched by him right now. No matter what she felt for him. “This man...he was just another link in the chain of whatever this nightmare is. His father was right there when I was sliced open with a pocket-knife. When I almost died, the first time, when Chance almost did. I could have died in that rental car with Chance there beside me. Because of something I still don’t understand. Because of what happened ten years ago? W
hen Chance and Elliot’s family was ripped from them? From us? Mel and I were on way there that night, too. We were minutes away from being killed back then. We all know that. And Gabby. Benny knew she saw what happened. He watched all of us for years, didn’t he? All those times we went to him, all of the times we trusted and depended on him? How much longer can we do this? I don’t know. None of us do. And it didn’t end there, did it? Someone shot at my sister, at my best friend. At Elliot and Chance. For reasons we still don’t understand entirely. They were lucky not to be hit. Mel could have been shot in a hospital parking lot again. For what? And then what was it? Oh yeah...Benny blew the world up around Gabby and me. He’d been watching us for years. Knowing every move we made. How do we know his friends haven’t been, as well? How do we know they’re not out there following Syd or Jilly or even Carrie around? It could so easily have been one of them who took Mel when we weren’t looking. Now Mel’s been dragged into it by him. Benny’s daughter Alyssia is still missing. She’s probably dead. We all know that, yet we don’t talk about that, do we? And it’s all because of stuff that happened so long ago. What’s next? When is it going to end?”
“Bryn…” Her father said her name and trailed off. Brynna had to say what she was feeling. Had to get it out there. Somehow.
She looked around at the people, hoping they understood. “Who is next? We got lucky. Lucky that one bomb behind me didn’t go off and kill me and Gabby just like that. We got lucky that Elliot got Gabby out of the way of a bullet and lucky that Chance was there to get Mel back inside. Because she couldn’t run to save herself. We got lucky to get Mel back this time. But when does our luck run out? What are we supposed to do now? Does he—” She waved a hand at the man who was still silent behind her. “Does this man have the answers we need?”
“Brynna, babe...”
She looked back up at Chance when he interrupted her. “Do what you have to do to find those answers, Chance. I’ve never believed in luck. In luck. In luck. I believe in family. And...I’m tired of my family being in danger for something we don’t even understand. For now, I’m just...going to be happy that I have my sister back and she’s alive. Be happy that Gabby and I made it through that Hell that we will never forget. I’m going to try to forget that the son of one of the men responsible is right here in my dining room. I’m going to forget that his father was the one who told me to run. To leave you behind and save myself because your time was almost up. Because there was no hope for you, for the both of us. He wanted me to run. He did. Handley Barratt didn’t want to hurt me. But I think he would have. I think he would have. But I can’t forget. I still see and hear and smell and feel every single detail from the moment his father helped pull me from your car and into this hell. I’m not sure how long I can hold myself together anymore. Humpty Brynna. That’s exactly who I am, isn’t it?”
Her words were cut off when strong arms went around her. When Chance lifted her carefully off of her feet and just held her. When he gave her the comfort she needed. Brynna’s arms slipped around his neck and she held on as tightly as she could.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR.
* * *
FOR the first time since he’d learned of what was happening Houghton started to doubt that Brynna Beck was mistaken. For the first time he started to doubt his father’s innocence.
With a crowd of at least a dozen people staring at the woman now in Chance Marshall’s arms, a crowd that actually believed his father was guilty of what they’d accused, it was hard for Houghton to say definitively that his father wasn’t.
Melody stepped closer to her sister and put a hand on the younger woman’s back. There was such pain on Melody’s face. He wanted to make it all just go away, for her. “Bryn, we’ll get through this. I promise. We’re Becks, after all. Nothing can stop us, right? Bullets and bombs certainly haven’t. We’ll get through. Chance, take her to her room. I think this is just too overwhelming for her now. We’ll—I’ll deal with Houghton. You take care of her.”
Marshall carried the still crying woman out of the room, leaving Houghton facing the crowd. His executioners?
“Dad, we’re going to have to go. Go. I need to get back to Maddie. Sebastian was called out again,” one of the redheads said. He studied her for a moment—she looked like his Melody, didn’t she? “We’re going to fly back with Luc tonight.”
“I need to get back and get Payton. She’s going to join me for the rest of the tech conference. Barratt, I’ll make your apologies to the board. I’m sure they’ll understand that you’re indisposed right now.” Lucas smirked as he said it. What was his connection to these people? How had Houghton’s people missed it? If he’d known, he wouldn’t have taken Melody to the conference where Lucas could get to her.
Lucas hugged a dark-haired woman who stood from where she’d been sitting cross-legged in front of one of the Beck sisters. Side by side, it was easy to see the two were related. As was the only other dark-headed woman in the room. The one next to the eldest Beck girl. How had he missed it? Lucas had family ties to the Becks, didn’t he? Damn it.
Houghton wasn’t used to making those kinds of sloppy mistakes.
He’d walked Melody right into a trap, hadn’t he?
That they’d meant her no harm mattered little.
Within half an hour, a third of the room was empty and several of the women—there were pretty women everywhere in the Beck house, it seemed—were setting the table. Around Houghton.
As if he didn’t even exist.
It irked; he wasn’t too proud to admit it.
Mel disappeared down the hall and returned a few moments later in jeans and a thin sweatshirt. She’d pulled the pins from her hair and left it loose in a wild mess of tumbled curls over her shoulders.
He found her just as alluring in jeans and sweatshirt as he had in that skimpy little green dress.
He so wanted to touch again. But now wasn’t exactly the best time to be lusting after Melody, was it?
“What are we going to do with him?” A slim woman with blue eyes and platinum blonde hair asked.
“It’s up to Mel.” the older man in the room said. He recognized him easily. What would Kevin Beck do when he learned exactly what had happened between Houghton and his daughter? “Honey?”
“Tape his damned legs to the chair and free one arm. He’s sneaky, but we probably should feed him.”
“You’re so full of heart, Melody.” It was the first he’d spoken since he’d been dragged into the warm home that Melody had grown up in.
“Shove it. I still haven’t forgiven what you did.”
“You will. Eventually. We have a lifetime to work on that, after all.” He grinned at her.
Her eyes widened. “Houghton, shut up. Not now.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE.
* * *
CHANCE returned to the dining room in time to catch the exchange between Barratt and Mel. Brynna had fallen sound asleep within minutes of him holding her; he’d covered her with her blankets and fought the urge to go break every bone in Houghton Barratt’s body, just as a substitute for what he wanted to do to the man’s father. Not honorable of him, but it was real emotion.
The room had gotten quiet when Barratt spoke.
He got what caught them up. There was a familiarity between Mel and the other man. One that spoke of long acquaintance.
“How long have you known Barratt, Mel?” Chance demanded the question that had been in his mind since Mexico.
Mel looked at him with guarded eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean...he’s said a few things that have implied you’ve known him for a while. I want to know if it’s true.”
“Chance—” Elliot started. Chance held up a hand.
“No. The only way we’re getting the answers we need is with information. If she has some we need to know...”
Mel’s shoulders slumped and a flash of pain hit light brown eyes. Surprisingly deep pain. “I know him. Or...I thought I did. We met eighteen months
ago, but it hasn’t been a lasting acquaintance. I didn’t even tell Gabby or Brynna or Jilly about it. I didn’t know enough to help with what happened to Brynna. I’m sorry. I probably should have mentioned it—him—right away.”
“Yes, you should have.”
Kevin stepped up to his daughter’s shoulder, and Gabby was immediately at her other side, glaring at Chance. “Leave her alone, Chance. If she doesn’t want to talk about it, she doesn’t have to. Now isn’t the time. If Mel thought he was important, she would have told us.”
Chance took another close look at Mel. Pale, upset. And having just returned from being abducted. Now definitely wasn’t the time. “I’m sure she would have.”
He looked at Barratt. It shocked him to see the sudden rancor on the man’s face. Elliot had freed one of the guy’s hands and Barratt had reached out. Toward Mel.
What had happened between the two eighteen months ago? Chance was starting to get an inkling.
“Dinner’s ready,” Jillian said, with a light touch on Chance’s arm. “You plan to wake Brynna?”
And have her sit down at a table with Barratt? Not yet, not tonight. “No. She needs to rest more.”
With an efficiency that spoke of many such dinners at the Beck house, Jillian and her friends had dinner prepped and on the table within a few moments. Mel took one side of Barratt. Chance took the seat across from him.
It didn’t surprise him at all that Elliot took the other side of the interloper in their midst. Protecting the rest of the family from the possible threat.
It was just their way.
As was the blessing Kevin Beck asked over their meal. It had Mel reaching in front of Barratt and grasping Elliot’s hand. Barratt gawked, like he hadn’t ever sat down to such a family meal. Chance half knew how the man had felt.
He’d been uncomfortable the first time he’d sat down with the Becks, too. And he hadn’t been duct taped to a dining room chair at the time.
Shelter from the Storm (Finley Creek Book 2) Page 18
