Mila wrapped both arms around her stomach. “Can I have some water please?”
I walked to the kitchen, never taking my eyes off of her. I held the glass out for her, and after taking a sip, she handed it back.
Mila stood and walked over to the bookshelves that lined one wall of the living room. She studied the books in them, running her fingers across the spines.
“I met you once before,” she said.
“I remember.” It was more than that, though. I recalled every detail of that particular day. It was shortly after I’d been taken out of one foster home and placed into another that was on the outskirts of Austin.
The area was predominantly affluent, but my foster parents were from the poor side of town. It was the family that came before my last foster experience—the one that took me to Hays High School where I met Quint Alexander and the trajectory of my life had changed so dramatically.
I’d been thirteen at the time, and the school I attended was so small that elementary and junior high was in the same building.
In my first few days there, I operated in a constant state of anger. Every brush of an arm as I walked through the crowded hallways, put me on edge. As I looked out at the masses of people, I saw every stranger I passed as a potential threat. All I’d known up to that point in my life was that I could trust no one.
The day I first saw her, Mila had been walking toward me, clutching her books to her chest. Three guys that looked close to my age, walked behind her, pushing into her with their bodies as they taunted her. Her face, that day, looked much like it did now.
I hadn’t known her name then, but I recognized the fear in her eyes. I’d gotten between her and the three guys.
“Leave her the fuck alone,” I remembered seething. I was twice their size and wasn’t surprised that they turned and hurried away.
I hadn’t seen the girl again who had murmured her thanks and scurried away from me like the guys had. That I was an intimidating fucker wasn’t lost on me then or now.
I’d only lived with that foster family another four months, and in that time, I’d looked for her every day.
I hadn’t seen her again until I looked into her eyes as she approached me the day I picked her and the asshole Adler up at the airport. I’d immediately recognized the girl I’d seen only one other time in my life yet had never forgotten.
I looked over at her, and she was studying me instead of the books.
“I remember every detail,” I told her.
“I asked around that day, and no one knew your name,” she said. “My mom worked in the office and looked it up. I think that’s why I felt so comfortable around you from the moment I met you. Because it wasn’t the first time I met you.”
I walked over to where she stood and took her hands in mine. “What set you off before, Mila?”
“Marshall.”
“What about him?”
“The man who attacked me. His name was Marshall.”
Every alarm, every red flag, every instinct began screaming at me. If Mila weren’t standing in front of me with her hands in mine, I would’ve raced into the office to run a full report on Marshall Livingston.
“Decker?” I heard Rile say.
“Go ahead,” Mila told me.
Rile motioned me into the office. The report I would’ve asked him to start compiling was waiting for me on the desk.
“Give me the short version.”
“There’s a connection between Judd Knight and Marshall Livingston.”
“What?”
“Business adversaries.”
I nodded.
“If there’s nothing else you need tonight, we’ll leave you alone.”
“The main house is accessible,” I said, turning to Edge. “You know how the system works.”
Edge nodded.
Grinder motioned his head in the direction of the living room, and I turned to see Mila walking toward the kitchen. “Take care of her,” he said before following Rile and Edge out of the house. “Let us take care of everything else.”
“What can I get you?” I asked once the men had left.
“What are you having?” Her eyes never met mine; they darted around, not focusing on anything in particular.
“Mila?”
“Yes?”
I walked over and took her hands in mine. “Mila,” I repeated. Finally, she looked into my eyes. “Come with me.” I led her over to the sofa and pulled her close to me when we sat down. “Tell me what happened that night.”
She shook her head. “It was a long time ago.”
“Who have you talked to about it?”
“No one.”
19
Mila
No one. That’s who I’d told. Absolutely no one. Other than my therapist, but I didn’t even tell her the whole story, because my father told me not to.
“Let me handle this, Mila,” he’d said after he pulled Marshall away from me and slammed him into the wall. I hadn’t known his name when he ripped my blouse, scattering the buttons on the floor. I hadn’t seen his face when he put his hand on me, tore my bra, and grabbed my breast so hard that I’d had bruises that lingered for days.
It wasn’t until my father lunged at the man in the ski mask and called him by name, that I realized what happened wasn’t a random act of violence. It wasn’t me being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The man who attacked me had planned it.
But how? How had he known I would visit my father that night for the first time in ten years? How had my attacker known I’d beg the man who had abandoned my sister, our mother, and me to please help me pay for college, only to walk back out into the dark night with nothing?
I looked into Decker’s green eyes and saw the kindness I always found in them. He said I could trust him, and I knew I could.
“It happened when I was seventeen…”
I told Decker about calling my father and asking if I could meet with him, and him insisting I come after business hours. “It wasn’t long after my mother passed away. Maybe a week. I planned to ask him to help me pay for college.”
I’d driven into Austin and parked in the lot he’d told me to; it had been empty save for one other vehicle.
“I was anxious the whole way into the city that night, as though I knew something bad was going to happen. I remember thinking that it was because I expected my father to turn me down.”
“Did he?”
I nodded. “He said that my mother should have left me more than enough money to go to college.”
“Did she?”
“If I had gone to a local college, maybe. But I wanted Sybil to be able to use that money so she could go to college too.”
“What happened next?”
“I was waiting…”
Decker brushed away my tears. “Take your time, sweetheart. If this is too much, we can do it tomorrow.”
“No. I want to tell you now, Decker.” I rested my head on his chest, and he tightened his hold on me.
I sat up and began again. “I was waiting for the elevator, but it seemed like it was stuck on another floor. It didn’t move. I was embarrassed that I was crying, and didn’t want my father to come out of his office and find me. After waiting for another few minutes, I decided to take the stairs.”
“Is that where it happened?”
I nodded. “Between the second and third floors. It all happened so fast; the man came out of nowhere. He slammed me up against the wall and told me not to scream. He covered my mouth with one hand while he ripped my blouse with the other.”
“Were you able to see his face?”
“No. He was wearing a ski mask.”
“Go on when you’re ready, sweetheart.”
“He pulled off my bra and grabbed me. I tried to bite his hand that covered my mouth, and he backhanded me. He hit me so hard I thought I was going to lose consciousness. I don’t know, maybe I did. The next thing I knew, my father grabbed the guy and threw him up against the wall like he’d do
ne to me.”
Decker pulled me closer to him.
“My father yelled for me to go back up to his office and wait for him there.”
“Did he tell you to call the police?”
“He told me not to.”
“What do you mean?”
“He told me to go upstairs and wait. He screamed at me not to do anything until he got up there.”
“And you followed his instructions?”
I nodded again.
“You said his name was Marshall.”
“When my father pulled him off of me, he screamed, ‘You’re a sick fuck, Marshall.’” There was more I’d heard, but I’d never been able to make sense of it. I shuddered and shook my head.
“How long was it before your father came back to his office?” Decker asked.
“I’m not sure. Maybe fifteen minutes.”
“When he got there, he didn’t call the police?”
“No. He made me promise not to tell a soul, ever. If I did as he asked, he said he’d pay for me to go to college.”
“What happened after that?”
“He gave me a jacket to put on since my blouse was ruined, and then walked me down to my car. Before I was able to get inside, he reminded me of our ‘deal.’ That’s the way he put it, that we had a deal.”
I felt sick to my stomach.
“When was the next time you talked to your father?”
“This morning.”
Decker stroked my hair and soothed me. “That’s enough for tonight,” he whispered.
Soon, I felt my eyes drifting closed, and I didn’t bother to fight it.
When I woke again, the sun was coming in through the window curtains and I was on the bed, fully clothed like I’d been the night before. There was a blanket covering me, but Decker wasn’t beside me. There was no clock in the room, so I could only go by how high the sun was in the sky to try to guess the time. I sat up and was straightening my clothes when I heard the door open.
“I thought you might like some coffee,” Decker said, walking over to hand me the cup.
“Thank you,” I murmured. I took a sip and studied the steaming liquid rather than look over at him when he sat down beside me.
“I know it was wrong,” I said.
Decker took the coffee from my hand and set it on the bedside table.
“If you mean any part of what you did or didn’t do that night, or in the days, weeks, months, and even years afterward, you didn’t do a single thing wrong, Mila. Nothing.”
“I thought he killed him, Decker, and I didn’t tell anyone.”
Decker looked into my eyes. “If it had been me who found you in that stairwell, I would’ve killed the man assaulting you.”
20
Decker
The least surprising detail of everything Mila had told me about the assault was that Judd Knight had handled the aftermath himself. It explained a great deal about her lack of any kind of relationship with the man.
If the “Marshall” who attacked Mila was still alive, and was Adler’s father, I couldn’t help but wonder why Judd let her live in an apartment building owned by the man—unless he didn’t know.
Later this morning, I’d meet with Rile, Edge, and Grinder to fill them in about what I’d learned so we could plan our next steps.
While it was vital to determine whether Marshall Livingston was the man who’d attacked Mila, how that related to Sybil’s murder was the bigger mystery. There was a chance it didn’t relate at all, although that wasn’t what my gut was telling me.
The other two questions puzzling me were where Adler had disappeared to, along with why Judd Knight had someone tail us on our way home from Bluebell Creek. And, was that who had been creeping outside the cabin the night before?
The other thing that lingered in the back of my mind was how long it had been since I’d done any of the ranch work that was accumulating daily.
“I can hear you thinking.”
I laughed. “Yeah? That loud, huh?”
Mila stood and held her hand out to me. “You don’t have to handle me with kid gloves, you know. Not about this. I’m okay, Decker. I know I just told you that you make me feel safe, but I haven’t lived the last nine years of my life in fear.”
“I know you haven’t.” The way she’d dealt with identifying her sister’s body, Adler’s bullshit, and more than anything else, confronting her father, proved her words true.
“I know I haven’t truly dealt with what happened to me. If I had, my reaction to hearing the name Marshall wouldn’t have been so intense.”
“I sense a but at the end of your sentence,” I said, following her out to the kitchen.
“I’ve compartmentalized. I keep myself out of situations that make me uncomfortable as best as I can, and I’ve learned how to protect myself.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Someone killed my sister, Decker. I need to know who and why. That’s the most important thing to me right now.”
“Understood, and I agree.” Unless they were somehow connected, but it was too early in the investigation for me to verbally theorize. “There are some things I need to take care of this morning.”
“Understood,” she repeated, giving me a half-smile.
“You alluded to not being the biggest fan of Texas, but I was wondering if you’d be interested in riding out on the ranch with me this morning?”
She appeared to be thinking it over.
“No pressure,” I added.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve thrown a leg over, Decker.”
“It’s like riding a bicycle.” I winked.
Mila smiled, fully this time. “But no pressure.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sure, I’ll ride out with you. Why not?”
“We’ll stop up at the main house and get you some clothes to ride in. The Invincible guys are there too. The five of us can continue our discussion from last night.”
“The Invincible guys? I kind of like that. Although, won’t you hire women too?”
I shrugged. “I guess so.”
“Then drop the guy part. Just call yourselves the Invincibles.”
“You understand that there is no shortage of over-inflated ego amongst these guys, right? Start calling them that, and you won’t be able to be in the same room with them.”
“You’re one of them, Decker.”
I smiled. “That’s what I’m talking about. You’ve already busted my balls about my over-inflated sense of self.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud, but maybe it isn’t so inflated.”
I poured her another cup of coffee and one for myself, and then sent a text to Rile, letting him know we were headed to the main house.
“Good morning,” said Grinder, who was standing in the kitchen when I walked in with Mila. He motioned to a pot. “Coffee?”
“No, thank you,” Mila answered.
“If that’s Quint’s coffee, I don’t recommend anyone have more than a cup. That shit will float a horseshoe.”
“I figured that out.” When Grinder tilted his cup, it looked as though half of what was in it was milk.
“Good morning, my friend,” said Rile, joining us in the kitchen. He walked straight over to Mila and looked into her eyes. “I regret upsetting you last evening.”
“It’s okay. I was in shock more than upset.”
“I know this is difficult for you.”
I rolled my eyes. Damn smarmy Spaniard. I looked at Mila, who was smiling at me, perhaps thinking the same thing I was. Rile was smooth, no question about that. I was happy to know that Mila saw right through him.
“We’re going to ride out this morning. When we get back, the five of us can continue our discussion from last night.”
Rile nodded, walked over to the cupboard, and poured himself a cup of coffee, which he proceeded to drink black. I cringed, remembering how bitter that shit was. It figured that Rile didn’t seem to think it so.
> “Did I hear you say you were riding out this morning?” asked Edge, walking into the room.
“Yep.”
“I’ll ride along.”
I nodded. When he was last at the ranch, Edge rode out every chance he got. At first, I thought having him along would be a pain in the ass, but the Brit held his own and then some. He was an accomplished rider who took to ranch work like he’d been doing it all his life.
“Got a minute?” I asked Rile.
“Of course,” he responded.
“Edge, can you show Mila where the tack room is? There should be something of Wren’s in there that she can wear.”
“Do you want some coffee first?” Grinder asked.
Edge made a face and shook his head. “I don’t know how anyone drinks that bloody stuff.”
Once the back door closed behind them, I sat down at the kitchen table.
“What more were you able to learn about Marshall Livingston’s relationship with Judd Knight?” I asked.
“They were roommates in college. After they graduated, they went into business together. They had a falling out in 2002.”
“Around the same time Judd and Nancy divorced.”
“That’s correct,” confirmed Rile.
“Obvious assumption is the two were related,” said Grinder.
I agreed.
“I need a twenty on Adler Livingston. The same day he flew back to Boston, he told Mila he was returning to Texas the next morning. He called and told her he’d meet her in Bluebell Creek. That was the last she heard from him.”
“On it,” said Grinder. “Anything else?”
“Judd Knight. He was the one who put the tail on us yesterday. I want to know why. Somehow this all relates to Mila’s sister’s murder.” I turned to Rile, who was looking at his phone. “What’s on your mind?”
“I want to bring Casper in on this.”
Grinder raised his head. “Calla?”
Rile nodded.
“Where is she?” Grinder asked.
“Miami.”
“Either one of you want to include me in this conversation?” I asked.
“Calla Rey.”
Decked (The Invincibles Book 1) Page 9