by M K Dwyer
Blake kissed Theresa on the way out the door and met Terry at the police precinct for their meeting with the detective. To his surprise they were taken to an interrogation room and made to wait for an hour before the detective finally joined them.
“Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you for coming in today.” Detective Jayson Garrett greeted them when he walked in with another man. “This is Detective Truman. He’s helping me on this case.”
“Gentlemen.” Detective Truman nodded at them.
They nodded back.
“So, tell me how you two know so much about my case.”
“Well…” Blake began, but Terry cut him off.
“I’m the one that believes the man I was hired to investigate committed this crime. He went to see Tank the night he was killed and left just as the first responders arrived.”
“So? That’s highly circumstantial.” Detective Garrett wasn’t impressed.
“True, but he also threatened my girlfriend’s son and said that he would ‘end up like Tank’ if she didn’t come back to him.” Blake realized his mistake the minute he said it.
“Wait.” Detective Garrett held up his hand to stop Blake. “You said on the phone when you first called me that you feared for the safety of your brother’s ex-girlfriend and her son. Are you saying now that your brother’s ex-girlfriend is now your current girlfriend? How do I know this isn’t just some kind of twisted love triangle?”
“I guess you don’t. Except I wouldn’t be here if I just wanted to steal my brother’s girlfriend. I wouldn’t need to accuse him of murder and domestic abuse to get him out of my way. If it were just a love triangle, we wouldn’t have two-bit thugs looking for us because they think we will pay off his debts. I don’t expect special treatment, but I do expect a little professional courtesy. We are helping you solve a case that is cold at this point. Take it or leave it.”
“Thanks for reminding me that you withheld this information for so long. I’d almost forgot. I should charge you with interfering in an investigation.”
“Information that you don’t even find credible. Good luck. Come on, Terry. We’re out of here.”
Terry, a man of few words, just handed the copies of his notes and surveillance photos he had of Mark to the detectives, and they walked out of the precinct completely frustrated.
But when he checked his phone and saw he had multiple missed calls from Theresa as well as two voicemails, his pulse kicked up a notch. Before he listened to the messages, he knew something was wrong, and his fears were confirmed.
In the first voicemail, Theresa frantically relayed that Mark was threatening Joe again from right outside his dad’s house. In the second voicemail, she was even more frantic and worried about Joe. He cursed when he heard her say she was going to meet him. She thought it was the only way to keep Mark away from Joe. He looked at the timestamp and it had been over an hour since she left the second voicemail. A lot could happen in that time.
He and Terry rushed back to the hotel hoping against all odds that she would be there, but she wasn’t. He knew that would have been too easy. Terry called his employee, Rick, that was supposed to be tailing Mark only to find out that Mark had slipped through his fingers. To make matters worse, Mark had spent the morning traveling to twenty different motels all over San Diego county, so they had no idea which one to look at first. Terry ordered Rick to go to Will’s house. He didn’t think they were still there, but maybe he could figure out which direction they went in. Then Terry called his other employee, Greg, that was watching Joe, and Greg confirmed that Joe, his dad, and his dad’s girlfriend were safely at the movies and nothing suspicious was going on.
The irony that Joe wasn’t even home when Mark lured Theresa to his rescue was not lost on Blake, but that made him even more desperate to figure out where she was. He just knew that wherever she was, Mark was holding her against her will. And if he could do heinous things to her before she’d left him, then what would he do to her when he was angry with her?
He opened the door to leave the hotel and find Theresa and two familiar faces were staring back at him.
“Gentlemen, to what do I owe the pleasure? I still don’t know where he is.” The men at the door were the same that were on his doorstep three months ago looking for Mark.
“We’re not looking for him. We’re looking for you.” The big one muscled his way through the door as the silent one followed.
“Can we do this some other time? I’ve got a situation.”
“No. Boss still wants his money and we’re not leaving here without it.”
“Well, you’re going to have to. Do you think I keep eight-grand in cash on me?”
“Ten.”
“Ten?”
“Yeah. Boss wants ten-grand now. Interest. You know.”
He laughed. “Sure. Whatever. Still don’t have it. How did you find me anyway?”
“You shouldn’t put a hotel room under your real name if you don’t want to be found. We have eyes and ears all over the southwest.”
“Good to know. So, what’s your plan? You think if you beat me hard enough, I’ll just shit out ten-grand? Because it doesn’t work that way.”
“Very funny. No, a black eye would be suspicious. You’re going to go to the bank with me, and Victor is going to stay here with your friend. We were hoping the girl would be with you, but he’ll do just fine as collateral too.”
“Fine. Whatever. Let’s go. I have somewhere else to be.”
“So cooperative. What am I missing?”
“My brother, jackass. If you’d found him before he found the girl as you called her, none of us would be in this mess.”
“Sure, we would. We both know he can’t pay off his debts which would still lead us to you.”
“So, let’s get the inevitable over with.”
On his way out the door, Blake shared a look with Terry that said they would both take any opportunity they found to overpower the thug they were with.
Except everywhere he went was too public to start an altercation. He withdrew the money and they went back to the hotel.
When they got there, the hotel room looked empty and Vince rushed in. As he passed the bathroom, Terry stepped out behind him and bashed him over the head with the toilet tank lid. He went down completely unconscious.
Blake was impressed. He knew Terry could take care of himself. He never doubted that, but he’d never seen him in action either.
“Come on, we need to get to Theresa.”
Terry was right, they needed to keep moving. Running to the bank had cost them almost another hour. He threw the money on the bed, grabbed his and Theresa’s bags and left the unconscious men in the hotel room.
“What’d you do that for?”
“What? Leave the money?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think they’ll stop coming for it, but once Mark is locked up, at least he won’t be able to rack up any more debt with them or anyone else.”
“Makes sense, I guess, but you’re putting a lot of faith in them to stop coming after you for more and more money.”
“Maybe, I am, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take while we focus on getting Theresa back.”
Chapter Seventeen
Theresa
She’d acted rashly. It didn’t matter that she knew she was walking into a trap because her son was more important than her own safety, but she wished she’d at least called her ex-husband to find out if they were home. When she got there, and his truck was not in his driveway, she rolled her eyes at herself. She’d been stupid enough to get lured to an empty house. Go her. She felt like a real winner.
She also did not expect Mark to pull a gun on her. That never even entered her mind. He was never the type to own one. She wondered if he even knew how to use it because she sure did if she could get her hands on it. Blake and Bryan had made sure of that while they were in Montana.
After he’d forced her in a car she’d never seen before, he drove her to
a tiny run-down motel close to the Mexican border. He had her sit on the bed, and he put the gun down to tie her hands. She saw the opportunity to fight back and took it. She bashed her head into his. That always worked in the movies, but it didn’t work out so well for her. It left her more dazed than him.
“You bitch. You’ll regret that.” He backhanded her across the face and while she tried to get her bearings, he hit her again. Still reeling from the first two hits, she didn’t even see the third one coming. It was all too much, and she slipped into unconsciousness.
Sometime later, she woke up gagged and secured to the ratty bed sitting up with her hands tied to the headboard on either side of her head. Her head throbbed, she could taste blood, and her right eye was swollen almost completely shut.
Mark wasn’t in the room when she came to, and she had to come up with a plan until Blake found her. She wasn’t sure how he would track them down, but she wouldn’t have walked into Mark’s trap if she didn’t have total faith that he would.
Mark came back into the room carrying a couple of bags as she was testing the strength of her bonds.
“Don’t bother. You’re never getting out of those again. Well, maybe for short trips to the bathroom, the courthouse and the bank. You’re going to add me to your accounts, so I have access to all our money.” He winked at her and she wanted to retch. How she ever found him attractive, she didn’t know.
No wonder they couldn’t find him, he’d grown a beard, dyed his dark hair to a dirty-blond, and gained weight. He could almost pass for Blake except where Blake was muscular, Mark had just gotten fat. Maybe he was just trying to avoid being spotted, but Theresa couldn’t help but wonder if he was purposely trying to look like his brother to convince her to come back. But if he thought that the reason that she preferred his brother to him had anything to do with looks, then he was more delusional than she originally thought.
She watched him walk around the bed and place the bag on the battered table by what she suspected was the bathroom. He looked back at her with the slimiest smile she’d ever seen on a person. “If I take that gag off, do you promise not to scream?”
She just nodded. What else could she do? Of course, she didn’t really mean it, but she wanted the damn gag off. She was still considering whether she’d be quiet or not.
“Good girl.” He removed the gag but left it around her neck before walking back to the table.
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. She hated when he said that, but she didn’t need to set him off again. That was the opposite of biding her time.
“So, what do you say sweetheart? Have you learned your lesson? Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t understand why he was acting the way he was. She expected him to scream, hit her again, and threaten her son. But he was almost nice—like he hadn’t just kidnapped her at gun point and then smacked her around to the point of unconsciousness. She couldn’t figure out what the right answer was. If she said the “easy way” would he whisk her straight to the courthouse and try to marry her? He had to know she would use that opportunity to run. But if she fought and said the “hard way” the beating she imagined she was in store for scared her more than anything Mark had done before.
He brought his hand down hard on the table and made her jump. Thinking time was up. “I need an answer, Theresa. Your silence says, ‘hard way’ to me.”
“Easy way. I choose the easy way. Whatever you want if it keeps my son safe.”
He came to the bed with the same slimy smile, sat down next to her and stroked her face. “Of course, that’s why you’d cooperate. It would never be just because you want to be with me.” Now he gets it. “I knew I’d always be able to control you through him though. You’re so easy.”
Then his smile dropped, and she actually preferred it to the menacing look that replaced it.
“‘Easy.’ Funny choice of words. Right? Considering just how easy you turned out to be—spreading your legs for my brother of all people. You were never that easy for me. I bet my brother had quite a laugh thinking he’d won, again. But I win this time. Not him!”
The only thing that made his rant worse was that she’d thought the same terrible things about herself at one time. She’d called herself every name in the book just for being attracted to Blake but listening to Mark made her realize that she’d long forgiven herself. She no longer labeled herself that way or saw her relationship with Blake as anything but exactly right.
Her silence though just pissed him off. Again. He brought his hand back, and she knew it was coming, but had nowhere to go while tied to the bed. The pain that exploded across her cheekbone was unlike anything she’d ever felt. Finally. That was the Mark she was expecting when she woke up. It was oddly comforting that he was finally showing his true colors again instead of trying to talk to her. That was never his style. He’d always talked at her instead of trying to have a conversation with her.
“Why are you smiling, bitch?” Was she? She stopped. As glad as she was that he finally dropped the act, she wasn’t inching for a repeat. “That’s what I thought.”
If she were in a different situation, she would’ve laughed. He was as pathetic as a school yard bully who picked on the smaller kids to make himself feel better. Unfortunately, she was the smaller kid, and as pathetic as he was, he had the advantage over her. So, instead, she buried the urge to mouth off and dropped her eyes admitting submission to him.
“That’s my girl.” There’s that nausea again. He stroked her battered cheek, and she flinched. He smiled. The insane asshole liked that she flinched.
“So, the easy way. Huh? You sure about that?” His hand left her cheek, ran down her neck and briefly paused at the neckline of her shirt before tracing her sternum down between her breasts to her belly button.
Oh, God. She did not realize what she’d agreed to, but she didn’t know why she was surprised. He always enjoyed bringing her to her knees. Intimidating her. Overpowering her. His favorite way of dominating her was in the bedroom, but unlike the with doms in the books she loved there was no control, no negotiations, and no fun, frankly. What he did to her wasn’t consensual, much less safe or sane.
“If I’m going to accept you as my wife, then I need to erase the filth of my brother from you. Make sure you never think of him again.”
That would be impossible. She fought the urge to roll her eyes again. Months ago, a statement like that would have scared her with the implications, but she was over being afraid of Mark. He was shit on her shoe. He could do whatever he wanted to her, but she would still come out ahead.
She was getting angry instead. Angry at Mark for all he’d put her through. Angry at him for being certifiably insane. Angry at herself for purposely walking into his trap without checking out the basics. It seemed like the best idea at the time, but she was fully aware that it was the wrong decision.
On the outside, she was shaking in her boots because that’s what he expected and what kept him from the next outburst. But on the inside, she was cocooning herself in the confidence she had in herself that she could get through anything and in the confidence, she had in Blake that he would eventually find her. Her son was safe and that was still all that mattered.
He gingerly removed her socks and shoes, like he was taking care of her, messaging and stroking her feet. He’d always had a weird, creepy fascination with her feet. She had to fight the urge to kick him while his face was so close, but after the head-butting incident, she knew that wouldn’t end well.
When he’d had enough of her feet, he moved to her top. He tried to raise it but seemed to rethink that when he realized it wouldn’t go very far as long as her hands were bound. Giving up on her shirt, he popped the button on her jeans but didn’t bother unzipping them before pulling them roughly off of her. She grunted at the rough handling but wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of her whimper.
She snapped her knees together the second her jeans were fr
ee. She might not be able to stop what was about to happen, but she didn’t have to make it easy on him either.
“Shy, baby? That was never your style.” He ran his finger over her hip along the edge of her underwear.
She didn’t respond. She didn’t imagine she could without throwing up all over him. Though maybe that would stop him. No. Never mind. Her luck, it would turn him on.
She heard a knock at the door and let out the breath she’d been holding.
“Maintenance.”
She almost cried. She didn’t know if it was Blake or the actual maintenance man, but the hope that came from hearing another person’s voice was more than she could bear.
Chapter Eighteen
Blake
Rick sent Terry the list of fleabag hotels that Mark had stopped at that morning, including the one where he’d been staying. Terry looped in Adam, War and Jesus who were happy to help for the sake of finding Joe’s mom, and the six men divided the list by location to check them all out at the same time.
Blake took the three motels furthest away which where closest to the border. He knew if he were his brother, he would get as far away as possible, but he was limited to the motels he’d already visited because he had to book a room before he came back with Theresa.
Half an hour later he pulled up in front of the first motel on the list. It was the most run-down building he’d ever seen. Praying Theresa wasn’t being held in a place like that, he went to the front desk, showed the clerk a recent picture of Mark that Rick had taken and asked if his brother had rented a room. At first the clerk tried to say something about not being able to disclose who their guests were, but with just a little prodding he admitted that though he saw Mark earlier that day, he didn’t rent a room to him.
The clerk at the next dingy motel was more forthcoming and admitted that Mark came in asking for directions to the airport that morning but nothing more. He updated the other guys in a group text that the first two places were a bust and they all confirmed that they were striking out as well.
