Breathless

by HELEN HARDT

  “Not even slightly. Jade?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe.”

  “Jade, we spent seven years together,” he said. “You know me.”

  “The Colin I knew was committed to me. He wouldn’t have run off and left me at the altar. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was for me?”

  “There are things you don’t know,” he said, looking down at his lap again.

  “You’re lying,” I said.

  “I’m not.”

  “You looked down. It’s a classic tell. You left because you were selfish. If you had second thoughts, you should have discussed them with Jade beforehand. For God’s sake, you could have told her the day before and spared her the embarrassment. You could have called it off together, made it look mutual. You deserted her, Colin.”

  “Marj…” Jade entwined her fingers.

  “Sorry. I know it all turned out for the best. You and Talon belong together, but that doesn’t make what he did okay.”

  This time Colin met my gaze. “There are things you don’t know,” he said again.

  “Really? Spill them, then. And while you’re at it, you can tell us what your father’s up to.”

  “My father doesn’t tell me everything he does.”

  “Did you know he was trying to pin your abduction on Joe?”

  “Not at the time he was doing it. No.”

  “Did it surprise you to find out?”

  “Honestly?” He looked down again, shaking his head. “No.”

  I turned to Jade. “You knew Ted Morse. What kind of man is he?”

  “He seemed fine to me. Polite. Always nice, but never overly friendly. Though I did think it was weird, Colin, that you waited until we were engaged to even take me home to meet your parents.”

  “Yeah, that always seemed weird to me too,” I agreed.

  “You didn’t know my parents,” he said. “I did.”

  “So?” I said.

  “Does it matter at this point?” he asked.

  “Yeah, maybe it does,” I said. “What’s up with your parents? Your father?”

  “Your mother always seemed detached,” Jade said. “Detached from your father, from you. From everything.”

  “She’s a classic trophy wife,” Colin said. “Botox and all. She looks the other way when my father has affairs, does questionable business deals.”

  “So you admit he engages in questionable business deals,” I said.

  “Does that really surprise you, after he tried to frame your brother?” Colin met my gaze once more.

  “What was he thinking?” I asked. “You know what kind of money we have. How could he think he’d get away with framing Joe, who—I’ll say it again—rescued you?”

  “If I knew what my father was thinking, I’d be able to deal with him a lot better. He doesn’t have a lot of scruples, which should be obvious to you by now. He saw dollar signs and was looking for a payoff. It’s really that simple.”

  “Is it?” I asked. “Really?”

  “Seems like it is to me.” He still met my gaze.

  I had to give him credit. He was looking me in the eye and everything. For a few minutes, I stayed quiet, digesting Colin’s words.

  “Tell me then, Colin. You say there are things I don’t know. Why did you leave me alone on our wedding day?”

  “Does it matter now?” he asked.

  “It matters to me. You told me you were afraid. You had cold feet. But we’d been together for seven years. Maybe I bought it at the time, but it doesn’t make any kind of sense.”

  “I loved you, Jade. I still do.”

  “She’s taken,” I said harshly. “And pregnant with my brother’s child.”

  “I’m not here to win her back,” he said. “Jesus, Marjorie.”

  “Why are you here, then?”

  He cleared his throat. “To say I’m sorry.”

  “Too little, too late.”

  “You don’t understand,” he said. “I’m sorry for what I did. For what I allowed to happen.” He cleared his throat again. “And for what’s to come.”

  Chapter Forty–Six

  Bryce

  I texted Joe, and he agreed to leave the meeting with his brothers and meet me at the dive bar in Grand Junction, where no one would see us or hear us. He was already sitting at the bar, nursing a martini and talking to an elderly man, when I walked in. I scanned the room quickly. No Heidi, thank God.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Bryce, hey.” He held up his drink in greeting. “Meet Mike. Mike, my best and oldest friend, Bryce Simpson.”

  “Hi, Bryce,” the old man said. “Any friend of the Steel brothers is a friend of mine.”

  “Nice to meet you. How do you know the Steels?”

  “We seem to cross paths a lot.” He set his empty glass on the bar and stood. “It’s way past my bedtime, though. I just hate going home to an empty house since my wife passed. See you around.”

  I turned to Joe. “I hope he didn’t leave on my account.”

  “Nah. He’s a good guy, though. Helped me out once. Helped Talon and Ryan as well, as I understand it. He seems to be something like a guardian angel, always around when we need him.”

  “I wish he’d stayed, then. I could use a guardian angel about now.” I quickly told him about the call with Frankie.

  “She gave up her rights to Henry,” Joe said. “Nothing to worry about. And if she tries anything, we’ve all got your back.”

  “I know.” I signaled the bartender and ordered a bourbon.

  “No beer?” Joe raised his brow.

  “Had to grow up sometime.”

  “So what’s up?” Joe asked. “Other than all the shit we’ve got on our plates already.”

  I took a sip of the drink the barkeep had placed in front of me. “Harsh stuff.”

  “They specialize in rotgut here.” Joe smiled, holding up his martini glass. “This isn’t exactly Cap Rock, but sometimes you need the harsh stuff. It reminds you that life can be…well…harsh.”

  I nodded. I knew exactly what he meant. Our conversations lately hadn’t exactly been Champagne and Bordeaux material. “I need the truth, Joe. About my dad. About what he was into and when.”

  “You didn’t want to know at the time. Why now?”

  “My mom all but destroyed her wedding photo today, and it got me wondering about him. He looked so happy in that photo. So innocent. So normal. So now I have to know. When did he become what he was? Or was he always that way?”

  “I’m not sure of the timing,” Joe said. “All I know is that your father, Mathias, and Wade all went through extensive”—air quotes—“training to work for the trafficking ring. Training they were very well paid for.”

  “Training? What do you mean?” Another sip left burning embers in its wake.

  “You sure you want to know?”

  Was I? Another sip, another flaming throat. “Yeah. That’s why I’m here.”

  “During training, everything they ever did to another human being was done to them.”

  “What?” I went numb. What? What? What?

  “Surely you don’t want me to get into specifics.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “Sorry, bro. You asked.”

  “So my father…”

  “Was tortured. Raped. Beaten. God knows what else. Probably starved too, but that would have been the least of his trials.”

  “When?”

  “Like I said, I’m not sure of the timing, but I could get that information if you really want it.”

  Did I? Had he been going through this when he married my mother? When I was born? When he took Joe and me camping?

  And why? Why in hell would he allow anyone to do such things to him?

  “Why?” I asked quietly.

  “For money,” Joe said succinctly. “It could only be for money. They were each paid millions.”

  “Did they know what they were in for?”

  He shook his head. “No
idea. Probably not, or they wouldn’t have done it. Or maybe they would have. Money had become God to the three of them.”

  “He was paid to become a monster,” I said, more to myself than to Joe.

  “So it would seem.”

  “Then maybe…”

  “Maybe what?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he wasn’t always a psychopath. Maybe he could have been a normal human being.”

  Joe met my gaze sternly. “I’m sure you’d like to believe that, man, and I wish it were true for you. But think about it. If someone offered you several million dollars to be tortured and raped so you could then inflict that horror on others, would you do it?”

  “Of course not!”

  “I think you have your answer, then. They were already messed up. Big-time.”

  An image seared itself into my mind.

  Justin’s limp body washed up on the edge of the river where we fished. We’d been looking for him all morning after we’d awoken to find him missing from the tent.

  My father had held his fingers to Justin’s neck, said he was dead, and had taken him to the nearest police station. Joe and I stayed at camp.

  Alone.

  At nine years old.

  Not a big deal. We knew where we were and what to do. We knew how to start a fire, how to find our own food, how to take care of ourselves. Besides, we were in an isolated area, and while mountain lions occasionally appeared, there were no grizzly bears in Colorado. We both knew how to shoot a rifle.

  At nine years old.

  My father had taught us.

  My father had also warned us, when he returned that day, never to speak of what we’d seen. “It would be too painful for everyone,” he’d said. “If I hear either of you ever utter a word, I’ll tan your hides. This never happened.”

  This never happened.

  After a while, I’d believed it. I’d forgotten, and apparently so had Joe.

  How? We were young, but still we had brains that worked. I remembered other things from when I was nine. How had my father made sure we forgot every detail?

  “I’m sorry, Bryce,” Joe said.

  I hurtled back into reality. “About what?”

  “That your dad wasn’t a better man.”

  I nodded. Joe had been there when my father had shot himself. In fact, my father had been ready to kill my best friend.

  “I’m sorry too, for what he put you through.”

  “Water under the bridge, man.”

  I nodded again, though how Joe could be so readily forgiving, I had no idea. Probably had to do with Melanie and his son on the way. Love and a new life had a way of putting things into perspective.

  “But we do have to talk about what happened thirty years ago.”

  Once more, I nodded. “Justin,” I said softly.

  “Somehow Ted Morse knows. Or he knows something else, but I don’t know what it could be. I’ve racked my mind for the last day and a half, trying to find something else we might have forgotten.”

  “Me too,” I said. “All I can come up with is Justin. How have we forgotten for so long?”

  “Your dad told us to. Told us not to mention him at school because it would be too sad for everyone. Told us we’d be in big trouble if we ever said his name.”

  “And we believed him,” I said. “Why did we believe him?”

  “Because we were nine.” Joe took another sip of his drink. “We were nine fucking years old, Bryce.”

  “Why is it all so fuzzy? It doesn’t make sense.” I shoved my hand through my hair. “My father killed him. My father killed Justin.” After doing God only knew what else to him, though I couldn’t say the words aloud.

  “And then threw him into the river, no doubt.”

  I took another sip of my bourbon and let it burn a new trail down my throat. “Surely the police were called, right?”

  “I don’t know, man. This is your father we’re talking about.”

  How well I knew. “But Justin’s parents…”

  “These men got away with everything,” Joe said. “None of this should surprise us.”

  My best friend was right.

  “I haven’t given him a thought in all this time,” I said. “Even now the memories are like a faded dream. But what else could Morse have on us?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “We were nine. We’re innocent. I don’t know what he thinks he’s going to accomplish. He says he doesn’t want money, but what else could he be after?”

  “He’ll get none from me,” Joe said. “Not a fucking penny, not after he tried to blame me when I rescued his son.”

  “Do you remember Justin’s last name?” I asked. “I know it’s in my head somewhere, but I can’t bring it to the surface.”

  Joe shook his head. “We should be able to find it, though. He attended school in Snow Creek. There’d be records.”

  “How do we get them?”

  “Jade is the city attorney. She has access.”

  “To school records? Minors?”

  “I assume so, and if she doesn’t, Mills and Johnson can find it.”

  “That means we have to tell either Jade or Mills and Johnson why we want the information,” I said.

  “No fucking way.” Joe let out a huff. “I’m worried they’ll find it anyway. I guess it’s up to us, then.”

  I downed the last of the brown swill in my glass. “I guess so.”

  If we could find Justin’s last name, we might be able to locate his family and discover whether Ted Morse or anyone else had contacted them recently.

  Or…

  We could be walking into a giant trap.

  Chapter Forty–Seven

  Marjorie

  I eyed Colin, anger rising. “Say what?”

  Jade fidgeted, twirling her thumbs together. “For what’s to come? What does that mean, Colin?”

  “That’s all I can say.”

  “You absolutely do not waltz into our home, drop a bomb like that, and then leave us hanging,” I said, my cheeks warming with rage. “Not fair, Colin. Not fair at all.”

  Jade stood, her face paler than it had been seconds ago. “I’m not feeling very well. Oh, shit!” She ran out of the living room.

  “Now look what you did.” I balled my hands into fists. “Talon’s going to come in here, really pissed, and once I tell him what you just said, you’d better watch out.”

  Colin stood. “I need to leave.”

  I rose, blocking his exit. “Think again. My brothers are just down the hallway. All three of them. They’ll hear me if I scream.”

  “You have no idea what I’ve been through,” Colin said.

  “Maybe I don’t. We’re all truly sorry about what Tom Simpson did to you. But that doesn’t give you the right—”

  He held up his hand. “I can’t say any more. My father will…”

  “Will what? What will your father do?”

  “Let’s just say he’ll make everything worse if I do.”

  “You said you didn’t know what he was up to.”

  “I don’t. But I suspect he’s up to something. I honestly don’t know what, Marj. You’ve got to believe me.”

  “Then why did you come here?”

  “I already told you. To tell Jade I’m sorry. For…everything.”

  I finally let him pass. “Go. Get the hell out of here. And thanks for nothing.”

  After Colin left, I checked on Jade in the powder room. She had her heaving under control and assured me she was fine, so I trekked to Talon’s office. The door was open, and Talon and Ryan were talking.

  “Where’s Joe?” I asked.

  “He got a text from Bryce about an hour ago and took off,” Ryan said.

  The mention of Bryce’s name sent a quick shudder through me. “Is everything okay?”

  “He didn’t say otherwise,” Ryan said. “How’d it go with Colin?”

  I filled them in. “Jade got so upset she had to leave. She’s in the bathroom.”

&nbs
p; Talon stood quickly. “I’ll take care of her.”

  “She’s okay. I just checked on her.”

  He left anyway.

  Ryan stood then. “I should go. It’s late.”

  “Ruby’s still in the family room with Mel.”

  “She didn’t go with Joe?”

  “Guess not. Any idea what Bryce wanted?” I asked, trying to sound sufficiently disinterested.

  “Not a clue,” Ryan said. “I’ll take Melanie home. Night, Sis.”

  “Good night.”

  I stood alone in Talon’s empty office. Where had Joe and Bryce gone? Was Bryce okay? My tummy churned, and a slow wave of nausea wound its way up my throat.

  I was worried.

  Really worried.

  Neither Joe nor Bryce had been acting like themselves earlier, and now Colin’s enigmatic words disturbed me as well. Something was up, and I was going to find out what. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I could text Joe.

  Yes, that would be the logical thing to do. Joe was my brother.

  My fingers had other ideas. They tapped on Bryce’s number.

  I need to talk to you.

  I waited impatiently, biting my lip and grinding my teeth, at the guesthouse behind the main house. Bryce had texted me back within minutes, telling me he couldn’t talk but would meet me there as soon as he could get away. Was he still with Joe? He didn’t say, and I couldn’t even begin to guess.

  Everything was imploding around me.

  Our tough times were supposed to be over, weren’t they?

  I took a drink from the glass of ice water I’d poured myself. Even the kitchen of the guesthouse was stocked. Bryce and his mom wouldn’t have to bring anything when they moved in. By the time I drained the glass, Bryce still hadn’t arrived, so I went outside to the deck, complete with an enclosed hot tub. The February night was mild, around forty degrees. The whir of the hot tub’s motor drew me closer, and I removed the cover. Steam rose from the warm water, and I inhaled the crisp scent of bromide.

  Still no Bryce.

  What the heck? I went back into the house and into the master bedroom to get a towel. Instead, I found a cushy white robe that must have been Ruby’s. I undressed and wrapped the robe around my body.