Isaac kept trying to talk softly to Newt, but the child wouldn’t hear him out. I couldn’t blame him. Newt knew what was happening. Isaac stood and lifted Newt into his arms, making sure not to bump their heads on the ceiling of the ambulance in the process. He walked to the back. Newt was sobbing and begging Isaac not to leave him.
I held Isaac’s elbow when he stepped out of the ambulance. He faced me and put his hand over Newt’s head. He waited until Newt had quieted enough to hear him. “Newt, I need you to listen to me, okay?”
Newt pulled back a little. His fingers were wrapped around the chain of my dog tags which were around Isaac’s neck. He’d been wearing them ever since the night I’d given them to him.
“I need you to stay here with Maddox while I go take care of some things.”
Newt began shaking his head. “No,” he croaked.
“You remember how you and Maddox spit on it?” Isaac asked. “The night you and I were going to leave and you asked him to spit on it and so that’s what you guys did after dinner. Do you remember that?”
Newt nodded. “Yeah,” he whispered.
“What did you spit on?” Isaac asked.
“That Mad would watch out for us and keep us safe and never let anyone hurt us again.”
“Do you think Mad would ever break a promise you guys spit on?” Isaac asked. His eyes shifted to me and I knew he was talking to me as much as to himself. It was his way of reminding me of the promise I’d made to him the night he’d told me about his past.
No matter what, don’t let Gary get Newt.
“No,” Newt said sadly.
“So I need you to stay here with Maddox so he can keep his promise, okay?”
I could tell Newt wanted to say no. Fuck, I wanted to tell Isaac no too. I wanted to punch Cam and Alex and everyone who tried to take Isaac from me. But I had to put Newt first.
Newt finally nodded, then Isaac gave him a hug. “Love you, Newt,” he said softly.
“Love you,” Newt returned, then he began to cry again.
Isaac was barely holding it together as he handed Newt to me. The little boy clung to me like a vine as Isaac leaned in to kiss me. “I’ll be okay,” he whispered to me.
“Isaac,” I said in what sounded like a strangled moan. I couldn’t believe I was letting this happen. It was like I was back on that dirt road crawling between the bodies of my fallen comrades trying to make sense of why they were dead and I wasn’t.
There was no sense to be made of it, though.
Isaac kissed me again. “I love you.” Then he turned to Cam and said, “Yes, I’m Isaac Foster.”
Cam hesitated for a moment, his eyes shifting between me and Isaac and Newt. His face fell as he said, “Isaac Foster, you’re under arrest for the kidnapping of Newton Foster-Willis. I’ll need you to come with me.”
I wanted to rip Cam’s arm off when he closed his fingers around Isaac’s upper am and led him toward the patrol car Alex was still standing in front of. I made sure Newt couldn’t see as he told Isaac to put his hands out in front of him and proceeded to cuff him, then search him. I rubbed my hand over Newt’s back as I watched Cam put Isaac in Alex’s car. Isaac didn’t look at me as the cruiser turned around in the driveway and then began making its way down the driveway. I stiffened when Cam approached me again.
“I’ve got a man named Gary Willis down at the station claiming you assaulted him.” Cam’s gaze fell to the hand I was rubbing along Newt’s back. The hand with the bruised knuckles.
Before I could respond, Ford said, “It was me. I hit that guy.”
Cam and I both looked at Ford, me in surprise and Cam in… well, I didn’t know what to make of the look Cam sent him. I was about to protest when Newt hugged me tighter and I realized what it would mean if I was arrested too.
Newt would be alone.
But the idea of letting Ford take the fall for me was like a sour taste in my mouth.
Cam was speaking before I could figure out what to do. “I guess I should question Mr. Willis again,” he said quietly. “Seems like there might be more to his story.”
Something about the way he said that last part gave me a little bit of hope.
“Lieutenant, might I make a suggestion?”
I had no clue what he could offer that would undo the fact that he’d just put the love of my life in fucking handcuffs, so I didn’t say anything at all.
“Get the kid a lawyer,” he said as he pointed at Newt. “Protocol says I have to call family services to pick him up, but seeing as how I’m new in town, it might take me a while to find their number. If this one,” –he actually touched Newt’s back gently for the briefest of moments– “has a lawyer to speak for him, it might make things a bit easier on him.”
The sheriff turned his attention to Ford. “I’m hearing some interesting things about your family, Mr. Cornell. You should keep that in mind the next time you lie to me.”
With that, the man turned and went to his car.
“Sheriff,” I called.
He turned. “I’m getting lawyers for both of them. Isaac’s invoking his right not to talk to you,” I said. “And if you know anything about my family, you know I can get the best lawyers money can buy.”
Cam actually smiled and turned back toward his car. “I expect I’ll see you at the station real soon, Lieutenant,” he called over his shoulder.
“Damn straight you will,” I muttered.
“You said a bad word,” Newt whispered tiredly against my neck.
“I know I did. And I’m going to get Isaac back here just as soon as possible so he can tell me what my punishment is, okay?”
Newt sighed and nodded. “’Cause you spit on it.”
“Because I spit on it,” I agreed. “But you want to know why else?” I asked him as I climbed into the ambulance and sat down on the gurney with him. I ignored the chill that went through me at being in the vehicle.
“Why?” Newt asked.
“Because you and Isaac are my family now and I always take care of my family.”
“So we don’t gotta spit on things anymore ’cause we’re family?”
“No, we don’t.”
“’Kay… but what if I like spittin’?”
I smiled against his little body and said, “Then spitting it is.”
I glanced at Ford who was standing outside the ambulance with Loki by his side. “My brother will be home soon. Can you stay and tell him what happened?” I asked.
Ford nodded. “Sure. Bye, Newt. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
Newt nodded. As the ambulance doors closed, Newt whispered, “You’re gonna get Isaac back, right, Mad?”
“Yes, I am,” I said without hesitation. I couldn’t help but smile when Newt began horking up what would probably be a pretty good-sized glob of spit.
Newt and I shook on it and then I was reaching for my phone, wet palm and all, to start making the calls that would get me my family back.
For good.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Isaac
Here.”
I looked up from where I was sitting on the cot in the jail cell and saw a cup being thrust at me. It was from one of Pelican Bay’s only coffee shops that served espresso.
“Oh, um, I’m not a big fan of coffee,” I said.
“It’s hot chocolate,” the sheriff said as he handed me the cup. He sat down next to me on the cot and dropped a bag onto the thin mattress. “It’s a burger… from that little diner over on Third Street,” he said as he motioned to it.
I was sitting with my knees drawn up to my chest, so I slowly dropped them and eyed the bag. The door to the cell was wide open. There were only two cells in the small building and they were in the same room where the sheriff and his deputy’s desks were.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“Just after seven,” he said. “At night,” he added.
“Is Newt okay?” I asked. “Are you allowed to tell me that?”
“He’s fine.
They didn’t even keep him at the hospital for observation.”
Relief coursed through my body. “Where… where is he?” I was too afraid to ask if Gary had him. The lawyer Maddox had hired for me hadn’t known anything about what was going on with Newt, or even my case for that matter. She’d breezed into the jail within an hour of me being arrested and promptly told me not to talk to anyone but her. She and I had talked for a couple of hours in a private interview room, and now I was just waiting to be arraigned in the morning so I could plead not guilty and hopefully make bail. I’d only been in jail for a handful of hours, but I was scared to death that I hadn’t heard anything about Newt.
“I suspect he’s with your man still, since he hasn’t come storming in here to threaten me some more.”
“He threatened you?” I asked. Oh God, if Maddox got himself tossed in jail…
“Relax,” the man said. “He was just sending me a message.” The sheriff seemed unfazed by the whole thing. “I’m Cam, by the way,” he said as he held out his hand.
I almost laughed. Was he for real?
Since he didn’t retract his hand, I figured he was. “Isaac,” I said. “But you know that already.”
He shrugged, then pulled a box of playing cards from his shirt pocket. “You know how to play Rummy, Isaac?” he asked.
“Um, no?”
“I’ll teach you,” was all he said as he began dealing out the cards. I tried to listen as he explained the rules, but I couldn’t make sense of what was happening. When I said as much, he looked up at me. But he didn’t answer my question. Instead he said, “How’d you get that bruise on your face?”
“I can’t tell you, remember?” I said.
“Yeah,” he responded with a nod. He drew a card from the pile and studied it before discarding it. When I realized he was really expecting me to play the game, I picked up a card. I was in the process of discarding a different card when he said, “My dad used to knock me around when I was a kid.” He glanced at my discarded card, then grabbed it and tossed off a different one. “I never told anyone. Figured it was my fault. Figured there was just something about me that ticked him off. Never found out what it was, though,” he said almost casually. “Wasn’t till I joined the force that the truth hit me.”
When he didn’t continue, I found myself saying, “What truth?”
“That fuckers like him didn’t need a reason. Your turn.”
I looked down at the cards and absently played my turn. Cam was such an intimidating guy, it was hard to imagine him as ever being someone who’d been on the receiving end of a heavy hand. “Did he ever pay for what he did to you?” I asked.
Cam shook his head. “Nope. But you can be sure that a lot of people paid because of him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I learned that silence doesn’t mean a person’s got nothing to say. Just means sometimes you have to listen harder to what they aren’t saying.” He played his turn before adding, “And then you’ve got people like that Gary fella who do a whole lot of talking and not much else.”
As badly as I wanted to ask him what he meant by that, I couldn’t risk it. This man wasn’t my friend. His only job was to make sure I ended up in a cell like this permanently. Cam didn’t seem surprised at my lack of response. We were still playing when the door to the building slammed open. Cam glanced at his watch as Maddox came barreling through the door. “Hmmm, thought I had a few more minutes. I almost had a winning hand,” he said as he flashed me his cards, then began cleaning them up.
“Lieutenant,” Cam said as he motioned to a frantic-looking Maddox. We both stood as Maddox stopped outside the cell, his eyes locked on mine. I could feel myself on the verge of falling apart at the sight of him. Cam moved past Maddox and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Go on in, Lieutenant. He’s been waiting for you.”
It was all the permission Maddox needed. I let out a harsh cry when his arms closed around me.
“I’ve got you, Isaac,” he said as I began sobbing uncontrollably. I’d managed to hold it together up until that point… from being handcuffed, to going through the booking process where my picture had been taken and my fingerprints scanned into a computer, to being placed in the jail cell and the door locking behind me. But now I couldn’t even manage to pull it together long enough to get a few words out. Maddox didn’t seem to mind because he was holding onto me and answering questions he knew I wanted to ask.
“Newt’s fine. There was no frostbite or hypothermia. They gave him fluids and discharged him. He’s with Dallas and Nolan. I got him a lawyer and the first thing he did was file a protective order against Gary.”
I pulled back and wiped at my face. “A protective order? What does that mean?”
“Gary’s not allowed to go anywhere near Newt or anywhere that he is. The sheriff has already served him with the order.”
I looked up at where Cam was sitting at his desk. He shifted his gaze to me briefly, then gave me a little nod.
I didn’t know what to make of the guy.
“Isaac,” Maddox said softly to get my attention. “Newt’s lawyer thinks Gary is going to file a protective order against you… to keep you from seeing Newt.”
“What?” I whispered.
“It’s all part of Gary’s strategy. Even if we get you out of the kidnapping charges, he’s probably going to fight to get Newt back. He’s going to use whatever ammunition he can against you.”
“How did he even find us?” I asked as I sat down on the cot.
“It looks like Trey might have had a hand in it,” Maddox said.
“What?” I asked, completely stunned.
“Trey hired a PI to try and find you… probably so he could get back at you for turning him in for the thing with the violin. If Trey noticed you’d taken Nolan’s old violin, he probably figured you might try to return it to Nolan at some point. It would have been easy for his PI to find you here.”
“So what, he called Gary? How did he even know about him?”
“You said all you had to do was google Newt’s and your names, right? Did Trey know Newt’s name?”
I felt my stomach drop out. I nodded. “I told him once.” I shook my head. “God, I’m so stupid. I even told him about the Isaac Newton thing.”
Maddox sat down next to me and ran his fingers over my hair.
“So Gary came up here to check if it really was me and Newt?” I said.
“Yeah. Jimmy Cornell recognized your picture and sent Gary out to the sanctuary.”
“Who was the guy with him?”
“We’re not sure,” Cam said. I looked up to see him standing outside the jail cell. “When Gary came here to tell us where you were and that there was a warrant out on you, the guy hung back, like he didn’t want anything to do with it. Since he wasn’t the one filing the complaint, we had no reason to ask him who he was. When I served the protective order against Gary earlier tonight, the man wasn’t with him.” He paused and looked at Maddox before saying, “The arraignment’s tomorrow at nine.”
Maddox put his arm around me. “Can I… can I stay with him?”
Cam seemed to think about it a moment, then gave Maddox a quick nod. “I’ve got some calls to make. I’ll need to lock you in,” he said as he motioned to the door.
“That’s fine,” Maddox responded. “Thank you.”
I couldn’t help but jump when the door slid shut with a heavy clang. I suspected it wasn’t exactly within the rules for Maddox to be in the cell with me, much less stay the whole night, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain about it. I leaned into his side as the exhaustion began to overtake me. Newt was safe. That was all that mattered.
“Come here, baby,” Maddox said as he lay down on the cot and pulled me up against him so I was lying with my back to his front. “Get some rest.”
I could feel the tears threatening to start all over again as the uncertainty of it all hit me. “I really can’t see him?” I asked.
“No, Isaac
, I’m sorry, you can’t. But hopefully it’ll just be for a few days until we get this all straightened out.”
“But he’s okay,” I murmured.
“He’s missing you and he’s worried, but Dallas and Nolan will take good care of him.”
“Will he have to go into foster care?” I asked. It was one of my biggest fears for Newt besides Gary getting him back. Tears leaked from my eyes at even the thought.
“His lawyer is going to fight for Dallas and Nolan to get temporary custody. Not only does Newt know them, they’re familiar with his medical condition, so the lawyer thinks that will sway the judge. Family Services might not even fight the placement, and with the protective order in place, Gary doesn’t have a leg to stand on. But, Isaac,” Maddox said as he turned me over so I was facing him. “If there’s a custody hearing, you’re going to need to tell everyone what Gary did to you. And if you end up going on trial for kidnapping Newt—”
“I know,” I said with a nod. “I’m ready. Even if they don’t believe me, I’m ready to say it out loud. He didn’t have the right to do what he did to me. Makeup, girly clothes, liking boys… none of that gave him the right to ever lay even a finger on me.”
Maddox carded his fingers through my hair. “No, it didn’t.” He used his free hand to wipe at the dampness of my cheeks.
My chest felt tight as I whispered, “I’m scared, Maddox.”
“I know you are, baby. I am too.” He leaned in to kiss my forehead. “But you’re not alone anymore, okay?”
I sighed and snuggled against his chest. He held me and kept pressing kisses to my head and urging me to sleep for a bit.
Which was exactly what I did.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Maddox
While the arraignment had been a simple process that had literally taken a few minutes, everything else was just a fucking mess.
After pleading not guilty to the charges, Isaac’s lawyer had fought for bail and the prosecutor had argued, but not much. In the end, Isaac had been granted bail and I’d paid it and had him out of jail within an hour and taken him back to my house. He’d been devastated to learn that the protective order that had been issued against him meant he couldn’t even talk to Newt on the phone or via video chat, but he’d managed to keep it together. He’d insisted I go to see Newt and give him a message saying how much he loved him and everything would be okay. Newt had given me a similar message to share with Isaac. The little boy was doing okay with Nolan and Dallas, but it was clear to everyone he just wanted his brother back.
Sanctuary Found_Pelican Bay [Book 2] Page 25
