by K. M. Scott
“What does it matter what I tell you? You’re just going to kill me anyway, so why the fuck should I tell you anything?”
I narrowed my eyes and worked to control my impatience with his stalling. “Because if you’re lucky, I won’t kill you. Tell us everything you know and I’ll let you go and you can spend the rest of your pathetic life looking over your shoulder for that bitch Hailey.”
It may have been a lie, depending on what he told us, but my main concern wasn’t being honest with this piece of garbage. It was getting answers so we could clear Jordan’s name.
I saw I had bluffed well. While Justin looked elated for the briefest moment, Jordan was obviously confused at my answer. A quick glance in her direction told her I hadn’t been entirely truthful. Justin was too excited by the news that he might live to see another day and thankfully didn’t notice the tiny smile she gave me to tell me she understood.
“Ok…ok, what do you want to know?” he sputtered.
Criminals like this guy were all so similar. Threaten to kill them and they clammed up, but offer them the possibility of getting away with it and they not only jumped but asked how high.
“What are you stupid? Everything!” Jordan snapped.
“I would listen to her, Justin. I might have the gun, but there’s nothing worse than a woman scorned, and I’d say Jordan has every reason to be that,” I said, managing to make him shake even more. He knew damn well I was the one to fear, but he also knew enough to fear her wrath. Even the dumbest man could see when a woman wanted revenge. Hell really did have no fury like a woman bent on getting back at someone.
“I’ll tell you, okay? Just promise you’ll let me go after I do,” Justin pleaded.
“Answer the question. How did you come to impersonate Brock Hannon?” I repeated.
“Hailey. She hired me. She said she wanted me to impersonate the guy, but I swear she never told me why,” he said.
Justin’s eyes darted left and right nervously. It was hard to tell if it was because he was lying or because he guessed correctly that we wouldn’t be satisfied with the continued variation on the answer, “I don’t know anything.”
Hailey. I was so fucking sick of hearing her name already. What I wouldn’t have given to have her tied up in front of me instead of this clown.
“Why did she kidnap Jordan and force her into a marriage with you? Why is any of this even happening, Justin?” I asked. The thought of Jordan being married to this useless scumbag made my voice shake with rage I never thought I had inside me.
“I told you, man. I don’t know!” he cried out in frustration. Whether I liked it or not, it was starting to seem as though Justin knew barely more than Jordan did.
“I bet you think you’re so clever don’t you?” Jordan asked, clearly tired of his stalling. “Do you really think that we’re just going to believe that you don’t know anything about what’s going on and then what, just let you go on your merry way afterwards? If you don’t have a bargaining chip, you don’t get to keep playing the game, Justin.”
“Jordan, don’t you remember back in South Carolina? I wanted to help you back there. I tried to. Remember?” Justin said, attempting to appeal to Jordan’s good side, not exactly a winning strategy for him.
Her eyes narrowed to thin slits and her mouth tightened into an equally thin line. “I’m finding it hard to recall, though the memory of you trying to shove me into a car while you nearly choked the life out of me is pretty damn vivid right now.”
This was getting us nowhere. I understood her anger, but this wasn’t working. “Jordan, I want you to stand back by the couch,” I said. “Justin and I need to have a man-to-man talk.”
She opened her mouth to protest but said nothing. Glaring at him, she stormed away and did as I had told her to.
Justin looked up in terror at me as I slowly circled around to behind him to check his bindings to make sure he was still secured to the chair. When I saw he was, I leaned down so my lips nearly touched his right ear and whispered, “I’ve had just about enough of your fucking stalling. I’m not a killer by nature, but if you think I won’t shoot you right here if you don’t start telling me what I want to know, you’re wrong. That woman you and that bitch Hailey tricked into marrying you is the woman I love, so if you don’t start saying something useful, I’m going to solve the problem of her marriage to you by making her a widow. In fact, you have no idea how much easier that would make both our lives, so I’d think carefully about your next words if I were you, Justin.”
He turned his head to face me, a look of pure terror flashing in his eyes. Finally, he understood what his future held if he didn’t begin to cooperate. “Okay, okay. Just give me a second to think, okay?”
I stepped in front of him and pointed the gun at the spot between his eyes once again. “I expect to hear something useful from you when I get back.”
Keeping my eye on him, I crossed the room to where Jordan waited and quietly said, “Jordan, I don’t know if he’s lying. He might not know anything.”
I hated to admit that. I’d hoped to hear something from him that would help us solve the puzzle of why Hailey had wanted Jordan to marry him instead of continually turning the little pieces we had over and over in our hands.
“But Gage, he’s been in on it from the start. This has been going on a while. I mean, think of how long he and I were together. He’s got to know something.”
Thinking about how long she was with him only made my stomach turn. “I’d rather not, but I get it. It seems like he should know more than he seems to, but Jordan, I know how to spot a liar and my gut says he isn’t lying. He may know small details about this whole thing, but I’m not getting a mastermind vibe off this guy. I’m pretty sure Hailey kept him out of the loop, for the most part.”
In her green eyes, I saw the disappointment she felt. “I don’t necessarily disagree with that, but we should still question him longer to see if he cracks and says something we can use, right?”
“Yes. I’m not ready to give up yet, but I’m not expecting too much from him. He’s a tool and that’s about it. I just need you to not be distracted when he appeals to you emotionally. He knows you pretty well, after all. He’s going to know how to play on your sympathies. Don’t let him.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding her agreement. “I’ll try to keep my cool. I can’t help it sometimes, though. I trusted him for a long time and thought he was…”
Her voice trailed off, and she hung her head. God, I hated seeing her like that. Jordan believed in people, and this asshole had gotten his jollies off playing her for a fool.
But she didn’t need me letting that get in the way of finding out what the hell was going on with him and Hailey, so I stuffed that down inside and pressed a small kiss to her forehead. “Don’t let the memory of that get to you. We’re going to find out what this is all about and then we’re going to ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after, right?”
Jordan forced a smile. “Right.”
“Okay. Let me handle this and then we’ll move on with what he tells us. Don’t worry. I’m not going to let these jackasses do anything more to you.”
I saw in her eyes that she believed me and hugging her to me, I kissed the top of her head before we returned to where Justin sat to hopefully pull something useful from him. He must have become convinced that we were discussing whether or not to kill him because when we stepped back in front of him he immediately started pleading for his life.
“Please. Please, I’m just a guy. I only did it for the money and no one ever told me it was going to go this far. I swear you guys, please.” He faded off into tears and I snapped my fingers in front of his face to get him to look up again.
“Hey, hey. No crying. If I decide to kill you, I’ll let you know,” I said coolly, making sure to lower the pistol slightly. Perhaps having it in his face for too long had scared him out of giving an answer at all.
Justin sniffled and sat up a little. “Okay.�
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“Here’s how this is going to go,” I continued. “You’re going to tell us everything you know from the beginning. I don’t care how much you do or don’t know about something. If it relates to Jordan and this entire thing, you’re going to tell us. Do that, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll let you walk out of this cabin alive. But I swear to God, Justin, if I think for one fucking second that you’re lying to me, and I will know if you’re lying to me, I’ll leave you buried so deep in these mountains they won’t even know where to start looking. Do I make myself clear?”
There was no room for discussion. My terms were clear and he could decide to not follow them if he liked. I had no problem leaving him tied up miles from here where it would take days for the cops to find him and we’d be long gone from this cabin and him.
He nodded, his hair shaking as he agreed to my demands. I wasn’t being entirely untruthful. I might let him walk away with his life, but I wouldn’t make it easy for him.
“Well…I don’t really know where to start. Hailey hired me, told me to marry Jordan. I was to meet her and make her fall in love with me. I mean it when I tell you that she kept me in the dark.”
“Why did she want you to marry me?” Jordan spoke up, her voice raspy.
He turned his gaze toward her and for a moment I could see genuine pain there. He didn’t look like he’d enjoyed having hurt her, but that didn’t change anything, in my opinion. Just because the guy had decided after he had conned her that he wanted to protect her didn’t make him a hero. Frankly, I questioned the reality of his feelings towards her altogether.
“I don’t know,” he answered feebly.
As much as I hated it, that didn’t sound like a lie. I had told the guy that if he failed to tell me something we would kill him. Either he was calling my bluff or he really didn’t know anything about why Hailey wanted Jordan. Sadly, I had to admit the latter seemed more plausible.
“So she just said find this woman and make her fall in love with you and you didn’t ask a single question?” I found it hard to believe that anyone, even a total idiot, wouldn’t ask a few questions when being told to impersonate a millionaire businessman and woo an elementary school teacher.
“It was a lot of money,” he offered lamely.
I moved the pistol back to its position in between Justin’s eyes.
His eyes opened wide in fear. “Okay, okay. I mean, I had to ask a lot about the Brock Hannon part, but Jordan seemed secondary to me. Pulling off being Brock Hannon was a full time gig, and Jordan didn’t come into the picture right away.”
“So you asked what about him?” I wondered, remembering that Daryl had said Hannon had died before all this had begun.
Justin blew the air out of his lungs slowly. “You know, his mannerisms, what he liked and didn’t like, who the guy was. If I was going to pretend to be him, I had to get him down pat. It took a few weeks, but I got it and then Hailey said it was time to do my part with Jordan.”
“And when you did?” Jordan asked quietly.
The pain in her eyes wasn’t just because of what he’d done to her throat just minutes earlier. She had been won over by this guy and had been convinced she was on her way to living the life she had always dreamed for herself. I knew she wanted a life like Nina had with Tristan. Hell, who wouldn’t? Instead she’d gotten this in return for her trust.
“Well, Hailey had some information on you. Basic stuff like where you liked to eat, what you liked to do, where you worked. Then I got to getting to know you.”
Justin spoke very casually about the private and personal details about Jordan’s life he had been privy to. In my own line of work, it wasn’t unusual to do some digging about the people who didn’t like the person you were protecting, but for Jordan it was clear this was huge invasion of her privacy. Her mouth turned into a harsh frown as her eyes filled with tears.
“How…how could you know that about me?” she said, struggling to keep her composure. I wanted to go comfort her, but I needed to focus on Justin and his answers to my questions.
“I told you. Hailey.”
“Was she the one who sent me the letters about Jordan?” I asked, drawing his attention back to me so Jordan could gather herself.
He struggled to look past the gun and to my face as he responded, “I don’t know anything about any letters.” His eyes were wide, but he didn’t seem to be lying.
“What was the plan after you married Jordan?”
“I don’t know. That part got a little fucked up, you know?” he said like he regretted what had happened to the plan.
I didn’t like that he seemed to be relaxing, so I pushed him hard enough to make the chair nearly fall backwards. “You think this is a joke, Justin? You might not know what the plan was, but you and I both know that her plan now is to kill you. There’s no way Hailey’s letting you live after you botched things up, so you better get serious quick. Otherwise, I’m going to leave you tied up in those woods out there like a prize pig for her to find and do whatever she wants with. Do you read me?” I shouted, watching him wince as he struggled to maintain his balance.
He nodded but said nothing, but my rage wasn’t done. It coursed through me as I barked, “I said, do you fucking read me, you piece of shit?”
“Yes! Yes,” he sputtered through tears.
I glanced at Jordan and she looked at me frightened. I had warned her that I wasn’t going to be playing good cop here. This guy had been a key piece in ruining what Jordan and I had originally had, and he was responsible for so much of her pain. I wasn’t going to take it easy on him. Still, I wanted her to know I wasn’t some animal, so I struggled to form a half smile and hoped that she would understand.
Thankfully, she seemed to register that I was still in control of myself and nodded back at me for encouragement.
“Let’s get back to what you were saying, Justin. You won over Jordan, so why did Hailey come around and start watching over her so closely?”
“Well, we were together, you know, but I’m guessing you don’t want to know about that.”
I couldn’t stop from rolling my eyes. This guy really was an idiot. No wonder Hailey hadn’t keep him in the loop. “Spare us the sordid details of your love affair with your psychotic girlfriend. Just stick to what her interest in Jordan was.”
“She said she sensed something was wrong. She didn’t trust me to handle the situation, so she said she needed to come in and handle it herself. After that she didn’t tell me anything, except for when I was supposed to be somewhere to meet with her. I was to stay away from Jordan on business.”
“You aren’t telling us anything we don’t know, Justin. We told you that you needed a bargaining chip if you wanted to keep playing, but you don’t seem to know anything. I think we should kill him and move on to dear Hailey, Gage,” Jordan said as Justin looked over at her in horror.
Then it dawned on me. I had been so distracted by his attempt to take Jordan that I had forgotten the most important question. “How did you find us here?”
He paused, trying to think of a lie, and I moved closer, pushing the gun to his forehead. “We agreed there would be no lying, Justin. Answer me.”
“Your sister, Denise. She’s been working with Hailey,” he whispered in a shaky voice.
I didn’t move as the gun stayed pressed against his forehead and I stared into his eyes searching for a clue that would tell me he was lying. I couldn’t find one. But that was impossible. Denise wouldn’t be wrapped up in all this. She couldn’t be. Not her.
“What did you say?” Jordan rasped.
I stepped back, still pointing the gun at his head. “I said don’t fucking lie, Justin. Who really told you we were here?” I yelled.
“I told you! Denise!” he wailed, and the room fell silent.
Chapter Eleven
Jordan
It was immediately clear that Gage didn’t believe what Justin was saying, but he was the one who had said not five minutes before that he didn’t t
hink Justin was full of it. It didn’t seem to make sense that Justin would be lying right now, not after the threats Gage had made and especially not after being pushed around like that.
“I’m going to give you one more chance to tell us the truth before I put a bullet in that ugly face of yours,” Gage said, practically growling in anger at Justin.
He sat there trembling and looked over at me like he was searching for an ally. “You have to believe me. I’m not lying! She’s been working with Hailey, but I don’t know for how long. I just know Hailey found out from her that you were here!”
I wanted to look into his eyes and see a lie there, but try as I might I couldn’t find one.
“Why would Denise sell us out? She doesn’t know me and she wouldn’t hurt her brother like that,” I said, hoping I was right.
I wondered if Hailey had lured Denise in the same way she had Justin. She obviously hadn’t been above pretending to be romantically interested in someone just to gain an advantage.
“Hailey told her that she would hurt his family if she didn’t give you up,” he said quietly, wincing from the rage coming off Gage.
“Shut up! Just shut your face!” Gage barked, clearly letting his anger get the best of him. Every muscle in his body flexed in anger.
At first, it had been nice to see Gage handling the situation. There was an undeniable sexiness in him taking control, but that feeling was starting to fade as Gage was pushed to a new breaking point. The idea of someone he loved doing this to him was more than he could take. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to be dealt such an utter betrayal from a sister, but he needed to focus and not let his emotions get the best of him or we’d never find out what was truly going on with Hailey.
“Gage,” I whispered, “What if he isn’t lying?”
They were forbidden words but something needed to be said and time was starting to run out. If Hailey knew where we were, it was only a matter of time before she showed up and the situation got one hundred times worse.