I rubbed the bandages they’d wrapped around my hands and squeezed them into fists. I’d been through worse. Hell, I’d probably go through a lot worse in the future, so I wasn’t about to let this get to me.
“Mr. Dare?”
I looked up to find another detective standing outside the bars of my cell. He looked tired and worn out, like he hadn’t slept in the last decade. His wrinkled shirt hung on him as if he hadn’t changed it in a few days. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and I’m sure if I looked closer, I’d probably find a coffee stain or two down the font. His slacks were somewhat rumpled, and he shoved his hands into his pockets.
“If I say no, does that mean I get to go home?”
“I heard you confessed to the murder of Mr. Curt.”
“That I did. Let’s get this show on the road.”
“How’d you do it?”
“What?”
“How did you kill Mr. Curt?”
“I shot him,” I said without pause.
“Where?”
“In the head.” I knew J.D. was ruthless. He’d give no mercy. I hated I knew how that sick bastard worked.
He took a step closer. “You do understand the extent of your claim, Mr. Dare?”
“It isn’t a claim. I killed him. Me. Alone.”
“If you’re lying, you’ll be charged with obstruction of justice.”
“I said I killed him!” I growled.
“I don’t believe you. A fighter? Yes. A killer? No.”
“It doesn’t really matter what you believe, detective.”
“Look,” he started, leaning into the bars, “I get what you’re doing. It’s admirable. You want to protect your family, but this isn’t the way to do that.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say, detective.”
“Give me something so I can help you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Miss Noelle seems to think she was drugged the night Mr. Curt was killed.”
“She was.”
“So give me names. Who was it?”
I wasn’t a narc by any means, but after everything that had happened recently, I didn’t see any need to protect these people.
“And then? I give you names and I get a slap on the wrists?”
“Well, that might have worked had you not punched that officer back there.”
He signaled behind him with his head, and I leaned over, looking around his body to the officer with a swollen black eye, who sat glaring at me from behind a metal desk. Leaning back, I looked at the detective and shrugged.
“Sorry, kneejerk reaction.”
The corner of his mouth twitched with a smirk. “Unfortunately for you, Mr. Dare, I don’t have a deal for kneejerk reactions.”
“Makes sense. I have the worst streak in luck these days. So what do you have for me?”
“You give me names, you’ll do some time for assaulting an officer.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful and all, but how much time is some time?”
“A year or less, give or take, depending on your background.”
“So we’ll just say a year, then.”
I rested against the wall and thought about my options. That took less than a second when I realized I had no options. It could’ve been worse. I could’ve been going away for a murder I didn’t commit. I would have done it, though. For my brother... for Araya... I would have done it. I owed him that much for falling for his girl.
“Let’s get this over with, then.”
There wasn’t one part of me that was second-guessing what I was about to do. I was done letting Jonathan Dare think he could control everything and everyone. I wouldn’t let him ruin Araya. Sebastian had been right... Without trying, I was going to be the one to ruin Araya’s life if I didn’t fix this. I couldn’t let that happen.
The door to the small room opened and a police officer came in.
“Mr. Dare, please follow me.”
I frowned. “I need to see the detective. Where is he?”
“He’s waiting for you in the front.”
“Waiting for me? Why?”
“You’re being released, Mr. Dare. Please follow me.”
“What? No! I need to speak to the detective right now. I need to talk to him!”
“He’s in the process of discharging Miss Noelle right now.”
“She’s being released? I don’t understand.” I got up from the table and followed the police officer to the front.
Araya was standing on the other side of the counter where I’d spent a good portion of the evening pacing. They were explaining to her the forms she was signing.
“Sign here, Miss Noelle, and you’re free to go.”
“Where’s Ryland? I need to speak to him.”
“Araya?” I pushed through the half door and spun her into my arms. I cupped the sides of her head, my thumb sweeping across her bottom lip. “Thank God! Are you all right?”
“Ryland.” She sounded sad and relieved at the same time.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Sebastian. He confessed, Ryland. He didn’t do it, but he confessed.”
“What are you talking about?” I turned toward the detective. “Where is my brother? I want to see him.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Mr. Dare. Your brother confessed to the murder of Michael Curt. He’s being processed and set to be transferred to the country jail until his court date.”
“Please, detective. Give me five minutes to talk to him.”
Detective Marks asked one of the officers to take me back to Sebastian’s holding cell. He was lying on the small cot, his arm behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.
“What are you doing, Sebastian?” I asked, stopping in front of the cell.
His head rolled lazily in my direction. “Do me a favor, little brother. Get me one of those really cool harmonicas so I can learn how to play the jail house blues… or is it rock?”
“You didn’t kill anyone, Sebastian.”
“Yeah, well, neither did you, Ryland.”
“How’d you know?”
“Dear old Dad, of course. He came to see me right after you told him what you were going to do.”
“I didn’t need you to do this. I’ll tell them you lied.”
“Then I would’ve been charged with obstruction of justice.”
“Would’ve?”
“Well, it turns out I’m not a very good liar.”
“Really? According to the talk on the streets—and by the streets, I mean the walk from the front to the back—it seems you made an epic confession. Even punched a guy.”
“Eh, don’t believe everything you hear, little brother.”
I turned around and looked at the police officer sporting the black eye. He was glaring in our direction.
I nodded my head toward him. “Hey. How are you?” He didn’t respond.
“What happens now?”
“Well, I gave them the names of the fuckers who drugged Araya and her friend, and they gave me a slap on the wrists.”
“That’s all?”
He shrugged. “It might have been if I hadn’t used yours truly over there as a human punching bag. With my record, I’ll do some jail time.”
“How long?”
“A year maybe.”
I appreciated Sebastian’s sentiment about this whole situation, but seeing him behind those bars wasn’t right. Ever since we were young and I got into a fight with Billy Sanders and got my very first black eye defending Careless, Sebastian had been the one to teach me how to protect myself so it didn’t happen again. He’d even taught Careless a thing or two so she didn’t have to take any guy’s crap.
“I could’ve handled it.”
“Oh, I know you could’ve.”
“Why’d you do it, Sebastian?”
“Because you need to take care of Araya, Ryland. And because I owe you for kissing her. And because I wasn’t going to let that
son of a bitch win. I’ve got this one, little brother.”
“You are a dick for kissing her.”
“Yeah, I am, and I’m really sorry about that.”
“He’ll pay for this, Sebastian. For everything he’s done to us.”
“I know he will.”
“Well, aren’t I the popular inmate? I’m going to make everyone jealous.” When I didn’t smile, he got up from the cot and walked over to the bars. “Aww, come on, Red. Don’t look so grim. I’m the one who’s behind bars here.”
“You shouldn’t be, Sebastian.”
“I couldn’t let Ryland take the blame, Red. You need him.”
“Take the blame? You mean he was going to—”
“Yep.”
“This is wrong.”
“This was never your fight, Araya. We couldn’t let J.D. win.”
“J.D.? He did all of this?”
“The one and only. Ryland and I are so proud.”
“He wanted me out of Ryland’s life that much?”
“He wanted to control Ryland’s life that much. It’s always about control with him.”
“You’re a good brother, Sebastian.”
“Actually, I’m a crappy one. Hence the bars,” he said, pushing his forehead against them. “But Ryland would have done this for me if the situation was reversed. He was going to do this for you. You’re lucky to have him, Red.”
“I’ve never doubted it for a second, and J.D. won’t win this. Ryland will get you out of here.”
“I’ve never doubted it for a second, Red.”
I smiled, wishing things weren’t ending like this. Wishing Ryland and I didn’t have to walk out of here without Sebastian. Walking up to the bars, I stretched up and kissed Sebastian’s cheek.
“Thank you for not letting them take him from me.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Noelle, but we have to get Mr. Dare ready for transport. You’ll have to leave now.”
“My entourage awaits. See ya on the outside, Red.”
I moved out of the way and the officer opened the door and handcuffed Sebastian, pulling him through the cell door. They took him out the back door, and I was alone for a few minutes before Ryland’s warmth surrounded me.
“This is an impossible situation.” I sighed. “I’m so happy that you’re still here with me I want to cry, but I’m so sad for Sebastian, that he has to pay for our happiness, I want to cry.”
He turned me around in his arms. “Don’t think about it like that, Hummingbird. Sebastian knew what he was doing.”
“Like you did? I can’t believe you were going to… Don’t you know I can’t live without you, Ryland?”
“I wasn’t going to let J.D. do this to you. It doesn’t matter anymore. We’re together and we’ll work together to get Sebastian out.”
He kissed me softly and I felt every bit of his love for me spread through my body, and my lips tingled.
“Let’s go home, Hummingbird.”
“Where’s home?”
“Wherever you are.”
I’d spent the last two weeks obsessing over every little detail until there was no doubt in my mind that this plan was going to work. I held the thumb drive between my fingers, realizing my future with Araya rested entirely on the information inside. No matter what, she was here with me and I wasn’t ever going to let her go again.
I set the thumb drive on the nightstand and turned off the small table lamp. Turning toward Araya, I watched her sleep. She stole the breath from me every time I looked at her. Robbed me of my ability to exist without her in my life. Her presence packed a punch to my soul that I would never recover from, and she turned my world upside down.
Pushing the hair away from her face, I leaned over and kissed her cheek. Even in sleep, her body, her trust was drawn to me as she snuggled into my side and sighed. The urge to wake her up using only my lips was so tempting I literally had to force myself to lie down next to her.
I knew she wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow, but she was handling it a lot better than she thought she would, and I was proud of her for her decision. Stretching out along her body, I let sleep sink into my own.
The next morning, I was dressed and ready before Araya had even awakened. I kissed her softly, not wanting to wake her, and left her a message on the machine before I left the apartment. Within thirty minutes, I was walking through the hall of a place I vowed never to step foot inside again.
I didn’t know how I was going to feel walking in here today, and I was relieved to feel... free. After today, everyone I cared about, everyone I loved, would be free from that bastard.
I wasted no time as I pushed through the door to J.D.’s office and slammed it shut behind me. He looked up at me and smiled.
“I’ll have to call you back, Bert. Yes, let’s do dinner. I can’t wait to hear all about it.” He hung up the phone and gave me his full attention for the first time in my life.
“I knew you just needed time. I knew you’d be back.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, J.D.—Oh, wait, I’m not. I’m not back. In fact, it’s the exact opposite actually. I’m here to tell you that you will leave me and my family alone.”
“Is that so? And what makes you think I’m just going to do what you say?”
I didn’t say anything as I set my leverage on his desk in front of him. He looked down at it and then back at me without touching it.
“What is this?”
“Your demise, J.D.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“It seems working here wasn’t all in vain. I learned a lot about this company… a lot about you, thanks to the help of Careless. Turns out you’re exactly as dirty as you claim to be, J.D., and all the proof of that can be found on that drive. Can you imagine the scandal it would cause if people knew Jonathan Dare was a crook? Stealing from his partners.”
He glared down at the drive. “You’re lying.”
“Try. Please, try me. I’d be more than happy to send a copy of those files to everyone that matters.”
I’d never seen J.D. turn so many shades of red before and I relished in the extreme pleasure of it.
“Now, like I said, you will leave us alone. You won’t think about us. You won’t try to contact us. We’re done. And if you do, you’ll regret it.”
His hands were balled into fists so tight they’d turned white. I thought the pulsing vein in his temple was going to pop out of his head, but he didn’t say anything, not a word.
“You may have tried to destroy our lives, J.D., but you didn’t succeed.”
“You think this makes you different than me?” he hissed through his teeth.
“The difference between you and me, J.D., is I actually destroyed you. I succeeded where you did not.”
“You think you’ve succeeded by this?” he yelled, pushing at the drive and sending it sliding across the desk. “If this is the worst you can do, Ryland, you’re pathetic.”
“Oh, this isn’t the worst I can do, J.D., not even close. Don’t worry, I saved the best for last.”
Something flashed in his eyes before the phone on his desk began to ring. Looking down at my watch, I made a face.
“Will you look at that? Right on time.” The phone continued to ring. “Are you going to get that? I promise it’ll be worth it,” I whispered, slipping my hands inside my pockets.
Picking up the phone, he slowly brought it to his ear. “Jonathan.” His eyes lifted toward mine as he continued with his conversation. “Hello, Mark. Actually, yes, he is still here.” He frowned. “No, he didn’t tell me anything. What’s—”
I really wished I’d pulled out my phone before J.D. answered because the look on his face right now was fucking priceless. I thought his head was going to explode.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered as J.D. tried to channel all of his rage and anger through his eyes. “I wanted to tell you, but Mark was insistent that he break the good news to you personally. It seems that not only did I find out about your
dirty dealing, but I came across something else very interesting.
“Imagine my surprise when Careless told me you had appointed yours truly as the new active chairman of the board.” I waved my finger at him. “Your daughter, she’s a smart one. I knew you wanted me to take over the company, but you knew I wanted nothing to do with it… Looks like you were a little too confident that I’d come crawling to you. So I sold Dare, Inc. to Mark Vincent. You now have a new boss, but don’t worry, he’s generously agreed that you will remain the face of the company since you are, well, a Dare. And if you want that face to remain profitable, you won’t make me use that drive. Have a nice life, Dad.” I sneered and turned on my heel and walked out.
I smiled as I heard the explosion coming from inside J.D.’s office. His shrieks of outrage rang throughout the entire building. J.D. finally got exactly what he deserved: nothing.
“Come on! Don’t leave me hanging! The suspense is killing me,” she demanded, and I walked toward her. “Did it work?” she asked excitedly.
I grinned at her. “Hook, line, and sinker.”
I’d never seen her smile so big before. “Not smart enough, my ass! Shove it, Jonathan Dare.”
“You did good, baby sister,” I said, wrapping my arm around her neck and pulling her toward me.
“It never would have worked if he hadn’t thought you still hated me this whole time.”
She was right; it wouldn’t have. J.D. had to think I hadn’t forgiven Careless or he never would have trusted her enough to let her close to those files. In the beginning, it had been easy to fool him because I’d been so angry with her. It had actually been a lot easier to forgive her than I thought, and then she came to me with her plan and the rest was history.
“You made sure to give me my credit, right? You told him it was me who found the files?” Careless asked, leaning against the side of my car.
I rolled my eyes, but a grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. “Yes, Careless, I gave you your credit. I even threw in a compliment.”
She smiled. “Aww, shucks!”
It was nice to see her smile again, and it was a real, genuine smile. After selling J.D.’s company for a pretty nice amount, I split it between the three of us Dares and now Careless had the money she needed to go to her art school.
The Grace In Darkness Page 21
