All of a sudden he gravitates to a photo of Jess, which causes his face to scrunch up. "Is this your sister?" He turns to face me with a startling expression on his face.
"Yeah, why?" I respond cautiously.
He adjusts his entire body and starts shaking his head whilst repeatedly looking at the photo of Jess.
"Steve has been sleeping with her for the past two weeks!"
Chapter 4
"What do you mean he's been sleeping with her?" I ask with bulging eyes.
He shakes his head in discontent. "He told me that she was some chick he hooked up with at a bar a couple of weeks ago" He pauses to rub his forehead. "I walked in on them fucking like a week ago! And that was your sister?" Dean looks at me with a face that hopes this is all one big confused mess.
"Are you fucking kidding me? No way has she been doing this! So she's known about you for this long and she's been acting completely normal with me this entire time?!" I yell as I become more and more overwhelmed.
In the heat of this situation, I step towards Jess's desk, which is right below the pin-up board, and place the gun on it.
"I mean, I know she's a detective and all, but why wouldn't she even hint to you that something was up?" He asks while staring at the testimony that Steve signed.
"She's been fighting for this damn promotion at work." I sigh as I wrap both hands behind my head.
"If she was to solve another big case, she would be awarded a more prestigious role, and more money. I know she's a detective, and information needs to be kept classified, but she knows how I'm going to feel after all this, and she has allowed me to go along in this trap. She fucked your brother as well, who's a criminal, just so she can get where she needs to get to. She's sick!" I finish, now enraged by Jess's lack of care for me.
"My brother isn't much better. Throwing your only brother under the bus like this is just plain bullshit. I wish he was here right now! I'd punch his face until it was unrecognizable!" He grits his teeth.
"The only people that gain from this are them." Dean lets out a resigned huff. "I know this is rich coming from me, but I've been riding with this fool for the last five years, and yes, we specialize in screwing people over, but family are not meant to be like this." He adds before dropping his head, letting his medium-length hair dangle.
This day couldn't get any more emotionally driven if it tried! It started with me losing almost everything, then thinking Dean has lost everything, but now... I think we have both lost everything. Despite all the wrongs he has done, something deep within me is pulled to Dean. Other than Amy, he's the only person I have left right now. I will never be able to look at Jess the same way again, especially after finding out she has been bedding with Steve. I clench my fists over the thought of them both reaping rewards at the expense of me and Dean.
Despite the rage, I have only one concern. Can I trust him?
"Do you know what he receives from this deal?" Dean asks about the plea bargain.
"No, I couldn't find anything." I reply.
"Something tells me this prick won't be facing jail. And if he does, it will be a measly sentence." He growls under his breath.
He's pressing so hard on the paper that the whole sheet begins to scrunch up. "I'm going to take the rap for this, I know it!"
"Every state in this country has been after us for the last five years. I reckon Steve has got a good deal out of this! The cops have questions that only Steve or I can answer, so I bet your sister struck the jackpot as he planted his dick in her. What a lousy detective she is. Leaving all her work in her bedroom, of all places!" His temper starts to flare up.
I feel myself sinking, as the magnitude of his crimes become more apparent.
"How long do you think you could be facing?" I ask with a shallow voice, clearly more concerned than he is.
He steers his focus away from the paper and gazes directly in my direction with a serious expression on his face. "Without this plea bargain, I reckon I would be facing thirty to forty years. But, with this plea deal, I am almost certain to get life without parole." He replies depressingly.
I gasp for air, shocked by the time he could be facing. I cannot believe I naively thought he would only be in prison for no more than a few years.
"Why so long?!" I yell in despair.
"We've robbed well over $10 million from people over the last five years. Like I said, most states have been after us for years." He replies.
Dean's eyes suddenly shift to the pin-up board. He walks over to it and looks at me while pointing his finger at the board. "What's this?"
"The paper at the top?" I ask.
"Yeah."
"That's your scam." I highlight.
With a yank of his hand, he pulls it down and starts glaring at it. Dean's head begins shaking slowly, and a fake smile surfaces on his angered face. "Son...of...a...bitch."
"There is no way that this is an observation collected by the cops. That lying son of a bitch has told them every single part of our system. Agh man, I want to kill him!" Dean growls.
"I'm not going to prison today, Dana. Not for this lying, cheating piece of shit. I need to leave Vegas right now." He pauses to stare deeply into my eyes. "I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm just going to ask you one last time anyway, will you leave with me?" He asks slowly and calmly.
I suck in a gasp of air as my heart sinks over his insane proposition. Less of me wants to reject his proposal now, but I still feel uneasy about the whole thing. It seems too rash and dangerous. But, what do I truly have here now? I thought at worse I would still be able to move on in my day to day life, but after finding out about Jess and Steve, I don't see a future here anymore, nor do I see Jess being a part of my life again. She's ruined me also. On one side it could be said that she is protecting me, but I know Jess. She would choose a pile of money and fame among her peers over her family all day long, especially me. Maybe it's because we didn't have much family, or parents when we grew up. All we had was our grandma, but Jess never really had a relationship with her or me. She's so distant with people.
With a racing pulse and quivering limbs, I gaze into Dean's eyes, pulled by the idea of leaving with him and my money, then out of no-where a heavy knock on the door downstairs echoes through the entire house. Our eyes bulge, and we turn to the banister.
"Who's that?" Dean whispers as he treads quietly behind me.
"I don't know." I whisper back.
Silence consumes us both as we are unaware who is knocking. It could be a delivery guy, but at the same time I know I haven't ordered anything, or Jess. Another knock rings out, but this time much firmer.
"Dana. This is the Nevada State Police. Your sister has sent us down to keep an eye on things for you." An authoritative voice is heard.
"Shit! It's the police!" I whisper and turn around quietly to face Dean. "What do I do? What do I do?!" I mutter some more, this time in sheer panic.
Dean leans in calmly and whispers in my ear. "It's okay. Stay calm. Go and answer the door, I'm going to hide in this room. Just tell them you're okay and try to get them to leave."
He pulls back from my ear and gives me a gentle nod to urge me forward.
With rasping breaths and full body tremors, I pat myself down and proceed to exit Jess's room and walk down the stairs. Every footstep I take, I sense my body seize up more and more. It becomes apparent that there are two shadowy figures behind the front door. As I go to open it, I see two male officers holding their hands around their waist.
"Sorry, I didn't hear you. I was sleeping." I lie, pretending to rub my eyes.
"Don't worry about it. Do you mind if we come in?" The older officer asks.
"Yeah sure! What's up?" I ask while leaning back to allow the officers to come in.
"I'm afraid that's classified information right now. Our orders are simply to stay put with you until Jess and her team give us the green light to leave you be." The officer states, firmly.
As I shut the door behind them,
I look at the younger officer who seems in his early thirties.
"Why do I need two of you here then? If you don't mind me asking."
"It's an order ma'am, that's all this is." The younger cop says.
I sigh in discontent over what is currently happening, which catches the older cop's attention.
"Is everything alright with you? Your face and eyes look puffy. Have you been crying?" He asks.
Fighting the urge to squeeze my eyes shut, I reply. "Yeah everything is fine! Like I said, I've just woken up." I break out with a fake smile.
The older officer looks at me with a facial expression that screams "bullshit".
"Is this yours?" He points to the gym bag left on the floor.
I immediately sense my body shudder as I realize my $80,000 in it. "Yeah." I respond nervously, quickly moving in to put it against the wall.
Despite his clear suspicions, he turns away and begins to stroll into the living room.
"Is there anything I can get you guys? A drink?" I clench both my hands to avoid my tremors being seen.
"No thanks, we're good. We'll just hang out here if it's okay." The older officer points and sits down on the sofas.
"Yeah, sure." I respond.
Before disappearing into the kitchen to fix me up some water, I ask to be excused, and they nod in agreement. Without any hesitation, I scoot off into the kitchen and run the tap to drown the sound of me gasping for air. I'm ridiculed with terror. The man that the entire state of Nevada is after is upstairs, and I cannot seem to find a way to shake them off to leave the house.
I fill up a small glass with water and knock it back as though I'm taking a shot of vodka. As I place the glass down, I am greeted by a blissful silence. I close my eyes briefly to soak up this rare moment, then all of a sudden, I hear something drop on the floor upstairs. "Shit!!!!!" I whisper under my terrified breath, before smothering my mouth with my hand.
Knowing that the noise has come from Jess's room, I head on out of the kitchen to see if the officers heard the thump upstairs. As I approach the corner of the doorway that leads into the living room, I sense my skin becoming clammy. Much to my horror, the two officers are standing up gazing towards the ceiling. The older officer switches his focus to me peering round the corners.
"Is someone here with you?" He asks with furious eyebrows.
"No." I respond timidly.
"Mike, you check the top, I'll check the bottom." He instructs the younger cop.
"Wait, wait, wait! What's going on?" I extend my arms to stop them both from leaving the living room.
"We're just checking to make sure everything is alright here, Dana. We were instructed to be alert, so that's what we're doing. Now please, stand aside." He asks while they both draw their guns.
With no choice but to comply, I move out of their way as they leave the room. Terrified over the thought that this is it, I struggle to face the situation. Instead, I walk into the living room and sit in Jess's armchair and collapse into my arms as the younger officer makes his way upstairs. The careful footsteps from both officers is all I hear, as I await for the impending doom. This is it for Dean, he's going to prison. And as for me, well I could be heading there too.
As I hear Jess's bedroom door open, I brace myself, knowing that this is the moment.
A sudden scramble takes place above, but it quickly reverts back to silence. I take in shallow breaths as I gaze up at the ceiling, wishing I could see through it to find out what's happening above. The older officer makes his way from the kitchen to the bottom of the stairway. I stand up and leave the living room to inspect what he is doing. While turning the corner of the doorway, I see the officer staring endlessly upstairs.
"It's all clear down here, Mike. Everything alright up there?" He shouts, blissfully unaware of the scuffle that took place when he was in the kitchen. The officer looks at me strangely as I stroll closer to him.
"Mike?!" He yells one more time.
As his hands are about to reach for his transceiver, a dark shadow appears at the top of the stairs.
"Drop your gun, and put your hands in the air." Dean's voice echoes downwards.
The older cop drops his gun, and puts his hands in the air, complying with Dean. I glance upstairs, and see a sight I didn't think I would ever see.
Dean has his left arm wrapped around the young officer's throat, while pointing the gun I left upstairs at the older officer. He's got a fucking police officer hostage!
Chapter 5
Disconnect your transceiver...NOW!" Dean yells as he walks down the stairs slowly, keeping his eyes fixated on the older officer.
"Son, you don't want to be doing this." The older officer says assertively whilst disconnecting the transceiver and removing his pepper spray.
"I'm not asking for advice, now move to the kitchen!" Dean growls, now on the ground floor, keeping his gun firmly pointed at the officer's head.
I stare at Dean in shock with what to do, but he fails to make eye contact with me. Instead he and the two officers brush past me towards the kitchen. I soon follow behind to see what is going on. Too numb to say anything, I just gaze in horror. I'm going to prison forever!
"Pull two chairs out into the middle of the room and sit down on one." He instructs the older officer.
After pulling two seats out, he promptly sits down.
"Good. Right! Your turn to play a role pretty boy." Dean releases the younger officer from his grasp.
"I want you to rummage through the drawers and find some duct tape." He demands the younger officer before quickly turning to me. "Dana, you do have duct tape, right?" He asks as the younger officer stands motionless.
I sense my mouth falling open as all eyes are on me, two of which are law enforcement. I take in a gasp, and nod gently to indicate that there is some tape in the drawers.
"Right! Go." Dean fixates back on the young officer, keeping his gun pointed on him at all times.
As the younger officer frantically rummages through the drawers, the older officer starts shaking his head. "I hope you know what you are doing, son. Not only are you holding us hostage, but this is also a kidnapping. If you stop now, and just surrender, you might be able to escape solitary confinement for the rest of your life." He says knowingly.
"I'm already heading to prison for a very long time old man, I've got nothing to lose." Dean presses his lips together.
"Eh! Pretty boy. Hurry up!" He yells at the younger officer.
As if he was struck by lightning, the officer ups his speed and manages to find the duct tape. He turns around to face Dean, who is firmly pointing the gun at him.
"Good! Now strap up 'Gandalf the Great' here tightly. If I see that you're not doing a good enough job, I will pop you in your leg!" Dean dictates.
The sound of the duct tape being strapped around the older officer prompts me to start shaking my head as I stand behind Dean, overlooking the entire situation.
"Dean --" I plea softly.
"Not now, Dana!" He interrupts.
The older officer, who is now fully strapped into the chair looks at me as the final strap is about to be placed around his mouth. "A bright, young girl like you Dana shouldn't be involved in this. You could go away for a very long time." He says calmly.
I jerk my head back in shock over his comments as a sudden coldness hits my core. Feeling disorientated, I fail to respond to what he said, and instead, I play out scenes in my head of going to prison forever.
Out of no-where, Dean storms over to the officer, in the process brushing the younger one aside, and hits him on the temple with his gun. Instantly, the man is knocked unconscious. As I gulp in horror, Dean swiftly points the gun back at the younger officer, and demands him to sit in the remaining chair.
"Dana, hold this." Dean says speedily, indicating for me to hold the gun.
I take the gun without even thinking about what I'm doing. Dean then takes the duct tape from the unarmed officer and begins to strap him to the chair. Dizziness s
ets in as my stomach begins to churn over this entire situation. I have never been this far on the wrong side of the law before! While pointing the gun at both officers, including the older one who is still unconscious, I notice the gun tremor. I lower it, realizing that my hands are causing the instability.
With my left hand rubbing the back of my neck, Dean turns back to glance at me for a moment.
"Dana!" He asserts himself, indicating for me to raise the gun.
"Dean, I don't know if I can do this." I whimper.
He turns to finish strapping down the officer, who is muffling in panic.
Dean then stands and approaches me quickly. "Dana. It's either this, or we go to prison." He whispers.
"What do you mean 'we' will be going to prison? I haven't done anything wrong!" I hiss.
"Dana. What have you got in your hand? You've held that thing up against them. You've failed to tell them that I was here. You're already in the shit." He says unnervingly.
I pull away from him. "How dare you! You've dragged me into this!"
He grabs the gun and puts it on the floor before he walks us both out of the room, so the officer can't hear us. "I know, I have. Words cannot describe how sorry I am either. We need to go! It's now or never, literally. Other cops could arrive at any point, especially now that I've disconnected their transceivers." His breathing accelerates.
"I don't want to go to prison, I don't, Dean!" I beg him.
"You won't be going to prison! Neither of us will! There is no way I'm going to let us both get screwed over by our older siblings. They can go fuck themselves! If the cops don't have me, they will keep Steve instead, which would be music to my ears! And as for your sister, ha, I guess she's going to have to wait a bit longer for her promotion." He reassures me, while gazing deeply in my eyes.
Doubt #3 (The Deception Series #1) Page 3
