by Rebel Hart
“Ma’am, why don’t you go take a dip and cool down, okay? Because if you’re going to give a statement, you’re going to need to be in the right frame of mind. Which is not right now.”
I glared at him. I wanted to smack him across his face, but something about his words felt off. Take a dip? Cool off? Why would he have made that statement to me? As I stood there, glaring at the grinning man, my gut began to tap at the inside of my ribs again. Tap tap. Tap tap.
I blinked. “I want to speak with someone else.”
He shrugged. “There is no one else.”
I hissed, “That’s bullshit, and you and I both know it.”
“There is. No one else.”
I slammed my fists against the bulletproof glass. “Stop fucking with me and get someone else for me to talk to or I’m going to scream bloody murder and your boss will rain holy hell down on you. You got that?”
I tried to stand my ground as much as possible, even though my mind was working a million miles a second. Take a dip. Why choose those exact words? I hadn’t given a statement yet. There was no way in hell anyone knew about me being there and being tipped back into that pool.
Unless Max has already given a statement.
I didn’t know. Something didn’t seem right about any of this. Including the officer behind that damn glass.
As his grin grew into a wide smile, I thought my threat might not work. Until there was a knock at the door behind him. His smile faded into an annoyed sort of frown before he got up and answered it. He murmured something to the person standing in the darkness, and when they stepped into the light I saw a female officer locking eyes with me.
She came over and sat down behind the bulletproof glass before shooing the other officer away.
“Hello there, ma’am.”
I nodded. “Hello.”
“My name is Captain Riley. And I’ve heard there might be a disagreement taking place. I’m hoping maybe I can provide a solution that benefits all of us. How can I help?”
I leaned forward. “Can we speak someplace more private? I need to talk to you about what happened last night at the Ryddle Estate.”
She nodded. “I’m sure I can make that happen.”
“I also want to see Max.”
“Max Ryddle?”
“Yes. You have him in custody here. I’d like to see him after giving my statement, please. That shouldn't be an issue, seeing as the gentleman before you informed me that he’s still in holding.”
“Is that so?”
“I read up on some things on the way here.”
She nodded slowly. “We can try our best to--”
“You don’t get my testimony unless I see him.”
“You know I could technically swing that into a crime, right?”
I shrugged. “The only thing you have to do is let me see him. That’s all I’m asking for. In my eyes, it’s your issue. Not mine.”
She didn’t look too happy with me, but I didn’t care. If getting arrested and thrown in holding myself is what it took to see Max, then I’d make it happen. Because I wasn't going anywhere or doing anything until I got to sit down and see him. Talk to him before anything else happened. I needed to know what I could do, if there were any guys he wanted me to contact since it was very clear to me he wasn’t being given the rights he was afforded as a U.S. citizen.
“Well?” I asked.
Captain Riley nodded. “Come through the door to your left with the orange handle. I’ll wait for you in the hallway. You can follow me into a private room where we can take your statement.”
I shook my head. “Not until I have some sort of physical proof that you’re going to agree to let me see Max.”
“You have my word, as an officer of the law.”
I shrugged. “Cops are dirty all the time.”
“Mine aren’t.”
“Want to bet on that?”
She narrowed her eyes. “What are you insinuating?”
“Nothing, since I don’t know whether or not you’re going to hold up your end of the bargain.”
Her nostrils flared. “If I’m going to trust you, then you have to trust me. I’m trusting that you have more information about what happened last night. So if I’m going to trust you with that, then you have to trust me with this. Understood?”
I paused. “Fine. But, the officer that was here before you? I want him nowhere near me, this testimony, or Max.”
“And why’s that?”
“Let’s call it a hunch for now and live with it.”
I heard the door unlock to my left and I rushed for it. And sure enough, Captain Riley stood in the hallway, waiting for me like she said she would be. I followed her into a room that had a desk and a computer. There was a window to my right and a plush chair sitting in front of the desk. The captain closed the door behind me before throwing the lock, and I wondered what I had just gotten myself into.
“Take a seat. I figured my office would make you feel more comfortable speaking to me, and only me,” she said.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
I took a seat in the chair across from her desk and waited until she sat down herself.
“So, Miss…?”
I cleared my throat. “Just call me Dani.”
“All right, Dani. I want you to know that you can speak freely here. The only downside to my office is that no one is recording this conversation, so you will have to rely on me to translate and get it right. To make up for something like that, I’d like to record this on my work computer to have something in the system that backs up any testimony you might write down and sign. Are you okay with that?”
I nodded. “That’s fine. Whatever you have to do.”
She typed away at her keyboard. “Wonderful. Okay. So what happened last night? Tell me everything from your point of view.”
I sighed. “It was horrible, Captain Riley. But I need everyone to understand that Max Ryddle saved my life.”
“Why don’t you tell me how.”
I launched into everything. How Max was supposed to pick me up from my dorm room for a nice night in and he never showed. How I worried so much I went out on the hunt for him. How Rupert told me to stay put, but I just couldn't. How I was kidnapped from my car and taken to the Ryddle Estate. I told her about how Max’s father kidnapped me. Tied me to a chair. Pushed me into the pool and essentially let me drown.
“There are hospital documents to back up what I’m saying,” I said.
The captain nodded. “We’ll get them pulled. I’ll have you write down the information once you’re done.”
“The only reason I’m here right now pestering you is because Max fought through those men. Five or six of them, before his father was shot. They didn’t have a choice. That man would’ve killed his own damn son before letting him get to me. The only reason I’m sitting here is because that man was killed and Max jumped into the pool after me. And they still had to perform CPR for much longer than necessary before I came to. Max had nothing to do with this. The only thing he did was save me last night. Nothing else.”
The captain blinked. “You said someone killed Ashton Ryddle.”
Tears rushed my eyes. “Yes. And it’s all my fault. If I would’ve just listened to Rupert and stayed put, no one would have come for me. I wouldn't have ended up in that situation and Max wouldn't have had to do the things he did last night just to save my life. If anyone is guilty here, it’s me. For being an absolute idiot.”
She furrowed her brow. “There’s one major error in your story that really changes the place you’re sitting in.”
I paused. “What do you mean?”
“Ashton Ryddle is still alive, Miss Dani. He was rushed into surgery, where he came out just fine.”
And I felt my entire safety net crumbling at my feet.
Now no one was safe.
13
Max
I paced around in holding, enjoying the space I was afforded. All of the men that had been in here with me had come an
d gone throughout the night. And for once, I was alone. It wasn’t my first time in a holding cell. But it was my first time alone in one of these places. And the more I paced, the more anxious I grew.
I need to get out of here and find Dani.
She wasn’t safe. My lawyer promised me she’d get me out of this damn place, and I was banking on that. Because without phone calls, I felt like I was going stir crazy. I needed to figure out what happened to my men. I needed to get Dani somewhere safe.
Until my father could be eradicated, I had to make sure everyone I loved was okay.
My lawyer told me I might still be charged, which meant she had a lot of preparation to do in terms of a court case against my father. But she assured me she’d try with all of her might to get me out of here for the time being. I needed that time, too. I needed to be a free man. The only way I could ensure my father really went down for all of this was if I was running the show from the other side.
Heels clicking down the hallway caught my ear and I lifted my head. My incredibly tired lawyer was walking toward me, but the frown on her face told me everything I needed to know.
“They won’t release me, will they?”
She sighed. “Not for another twenty-four hours. They want to hold you another day. I’m assuming to try and sweat out more information from you.”
I shrugged. “I have nothing else to say. I told you everything that happened, and then some.”
She nodded. “The good news is that once you get out, you’re out until the supposed trial. Because I’m almost certain someone is going to try to pin charges on you. You know why.”
Yeah. I did. They’d press charges against me because my father was a ruthless man who controlled half of this damn city and people always bowed to his every whim.
Fearful they might meet the same fate that almost befell Dani.
“But, setting all of that aside, Mr. Ryddle, you have a visitor. And she’s been making some serious noise this morning.”
I blinked. “A visitor?”
“Max!”
The second I heard Dani’s voice, nothing else mattered. My eyes scanned the hallway, looking around as relief flooded my veins. Her voice sounded strong, and her footsteps sounded stronger. And when she finally came into view, I wished with all of my might that I was out of this fucking cell.
So I could hug her and kiss her properly.
“Dani!” I exclaimed.
She rushed to me and slid her hands through the bars.
“Max. I’m here. Holy shit, I’m here, handsome.”
I slid my hands up her arms. “Gorgeous, what in the hell are you doing here?”
Tears dripped against her cheeks. “We don’t have much time. But I need to tell you what’s happening. Can’t they let you out of here?”
My lawyer interjected. “Not for another twenty-four hours.”
Dani groaned. “Fucking hell.”
I brushed her tears away. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
She sniffled. “Your father isn’t dead, Max.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“You do?”
“Miss Hall told me.”
“Who’s Miss Hall?”
I nodded toward her. “My lawyer.”
Dani looked over at the woman in the pantsuit before the two of them exchanged greetings. Then her worried eyes came back to me.
“Max, what do we do now?”
Even though her voice was strong, she still looked frazzled. I wanted nothing more than to scoop her into my arms and let her know everything was going to be all right. She already knew too much. She already had information at her fingertips that would get any of my men killed. And I didn’t like that.
“I need you not to worry, gorgeous. Can you do that for me?”
She sniffled. “And I need you to remember that I love you after I say what I’m about to say. Okay?”
I felt my heart still in my chest. “Always.”
She slapped my upper arms. “Don’t fucking treat me like I’m some goddamn child, Max.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“I know what happened. I was there, remember? Stop shushing me and treating me with kid gloves. I’m in this, Max. I’m neck deep in this, literally and metaphorically. So I need you to listen to me. Okay?”
My lawyer started giggling to herself, but I blocked out the sound.
“Okay, Dani. I’m listening.”
She nodded. “After I left my dorm, I went by your house, and it was crawling with police. The pub, too. I don’t think the guys are available, even if you do get a phone call. I’ve got a really bad feeling about this, Max. Something more is going on. I can’t explain how I know. I just--”
Miss Hall stepped forward. “What aren’t you telling us?”
Dani looked at me before I nodded.
“She’s okay. You have my word. But she’s right. There’s something that has you spooked.”
She swallowed hard. “It might be nothing. But that cop at the front desk? The one I was yelling at before Captain Riley intervened?”
“You were yelling at a cop?”
“Will you focus? Damn.”
“Okay.”
“Did you tell anyone else other than your lawyer that I was pushed into that pool? That I’d, like, you know, practically drowned?”
Miss Hall spoke up. “I haven’t filed any sort of formal testimony with the police yet, no.”
Dani shook her head. “I fucking knew it.”
I held her hands tightly. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Dani licked her lips. “When I was yelling at that police officer at the front desk, he literally told me to ‘take a dip and cool off.’ Take a dip, Max. Somehow, he knew I was pushed into the pool last night. He knew it without anyone knowing anything.”
I paused. “That’s a bit hairy to go on.”
Miss Hall started scrambling around in her purse. “Not for me it isn’t. Can you write that down on a piece of paper and sign it for me? I want to add it to the file I’ve got on this case.”
I shook my head. “You mean to tell me--?”
Dani leaned in closer, whispering. “I think some of these cops are on your father's payroll. You have to be careful. Do you understand?”
I jammed my tongue into my cheek. “Shit.”
As Dani scribbled it down for my lawyer, I raked my hands down my face. I mean, I should’ve seen this shit coming. He owned the rest of this town. Why the fuck wouldn’t he own the police department, too? My father had always operated without a fear of consequences from the law. Back when we all still worked together, my men and I always seemed to skirt them in the nick of time without anything coming down onto our shoulders in the process.
How the hell had I been so blind to that fact?
I’m screwed.
For all I knew, he’d simply bury me in the prison system to keep me here. For all he knew, he had his paid minions trolloping around using everything in their power to hold me here until they could find a way to kill me. I felt the ground undulating beneath my feet. For the first time in my life, I felt physically sick to my stomach. I drew in a deep breath, trying to put on a brave face. And as Dani handed everything back to my lawyer, I felt her hands on my forearms.
Slowly, and softly, massaging me back to reality.
“We’re going to get out of this, okay? You’re going to be just fine,” Dani said.
I wasn't sure I believed her, though.
If my father had free rein of Ann Arbor, everyone was screwed. This beautiful, thriving town would become nothing but a desolate wasteland being bled dry by my father. And if I wasn’t there to stop him, he’d hop from city to city, doing the same damn thing. My father was practically impenetrable. No one had ever been able to get anything he did to stick in court. He always weaseled his way out of situations like this one.
How the hell is that man still alive?
“Max?”
Dani’s voice pulled me back to real
ity once more and I put my hands on her shoulders.
“Dani, I need you to listen to me. This is important.”
She nodded. “I’m listening.”
“I know this looks hopeless, and I know you’re scared out of your mind. But my lawyer is capable. I have a very good feeling about her. And I trust her to bail me out of this.”
Miss Hall sighed. “Aww, thanks. You shouldn't have.”
Dani snickered. “No offense, but are you sure you want to put all of your eggs in that basket?”
Max quirked an eyebrow. “You sure that’s a smart thing to say in front of a lawyer?”
Miss Hall laughed. “What are you two talking about? Sorry, I was checking my phone.”
Dani grinned. “See?”
I shook my head. “Dani, you’re not going to like what I have to say--”
“I know I’m not. So I’m going to beat you to the punch. I’m not leaving your side.”
“You have to.”
“Well, I’m not.”
I gripped her shoulders tighter. “You are, and that’s an order.”
She scoffed. “You don’t order me around. That’s not how this works.”
“Fine, then I’ll break up with you.”
She paused. “You wouldn't.”
My hands slid all the way down to hers before I took them in my own.
“Dani, this is dangerous. This is very serious. My father is a very, very bad man. I need you to keep your head down. I need you to stay as far away from this as possible. I need you to stay away from me.”
Her lower lip quivered. “No. Please don’t make me do this.”
“You have to. Can you do this for me?”
“No.”
“Well, I’m telling you that you have to. Until this is settled and until I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you're safe, you stay away from here, and away from me.”
Tears lined her eyes. “Max, please.”
My hand cupped the back of her neck. “Come here. Come here, gorgeous.”
I pulled her lips to mine and grew angrier at the bars separating us. I wanted to sink myself against her. I wanted to invade her and prove to her that I was doing this because I loved her. Not because I didn’t love her. I had to keep her safe, and until I could get out of this place and check up on her myself, she had to be cautious. She had to take precautionary measures and listen to me, for once.
