by Elise Noble
“Luca? Luca Mendez? What are you doing here?”
“Where’s Parker?”
“Uh, in the living room? What’s all this about?”
I brushed past her, then realised I didn’t know where the fuck the living room was. And if Parker was in the living room, where the hell was Brooke? I could see Easton being complicit in her abduction, but Sara wouldn’t go along with that shit. Had Parker stashed her somewhere?
“Could you please show us the way?” Colt asked, good cop to my Frank Castle.
“Sure, but I don’t understand why you’re here.”
“We have a few questions about an incident that happened at Applejack’s earlier.”
Sara groaned as she started along a hallway to the left. “Did Easton pick another fight?”
“He told you about that?”
“No, but he’s in a foul mood this evening, the same way he always is when he loses whatever argument he gets into.” She waved at a door ahead. “In there.”
I stormed ahead, ready for a fight of my own, but some of the steam evaporated when I spotted Parker in a pair of plaid pyjamas, feet propped up on a burgundy padded footstool that matched the velvet couch. When he saw the three of us, he appeared more puzzled than anything else.
“What the…?” He looked past us to Sara, who shrugged. “It’s almost midnight.”
“Where’s Brooke?” I demanded.
“How should I know?”
“What do you mean?” Sara asked. “Brooke’s missing?”
Aaron had brought his cool head this evening. His lawyer head. “We believe she was drugged and abducted from outside the bar tonight.”
Sara gasped. “My gosh!”
“Your brothers left around the same time she disappeared.”
Parker got to his feet. “And you think we were involved? I know Easton was a tad rude earlier, but you’re clutching at straws.”
“Last year, he was also at a party where Brooke got drugged and sexually assaulted.” Aaron winced as he said the words. “You fit the description of the last man seen with her.”
Now Parker paled a shade. “What party?”
“Adeline Crowe’s birthday celebration.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that happened, but I assure you I had nothing to do with the matter.”
“He really didn’t,” Sara put in. “March last year, right? I was in the car with Parker when he picked Easton up from Addy’s place. Another fricking fight.” She rolled her eyes. “Parker only went inside for two minutes, if that.”
I didn’t trust Parker, but I was inclined to believe Sara. She might have had the Baldwin name, but she’d never lorded it over the serfs the way the rest of the clan did. And she’d once covered for me when I put a live rat in Tucker Jones’s locker. When I thanked her afterward, she’d just smiled and said he deserved it.
“Fuck,” Aaron muttered under his breath.
“Did you see Brooke or anyone else in the parking lot when you left Applejack’s?”
“Can’t say I did.”
And we were back to square one. For the ten-minute trip to the Baldwin place, I’d been so certain it was Parker, but all we’d done was waste time. Brooke was at the mercy of a madman, and… I couldn’t think about it. If I went down that rabbit hole, I’d lose my damn mind.
“We need to go back to the bar,” Colt said. “See if Taya’s found anything on the cameras.”
Except Easton Baldwin blocked the way.
“What the hell are you doing in my house?” His gaze homed in on Sara. “Why are they here? Did you let them in?”
She took a couple of steps back, and I got the impression the move was as natural to her as breathing.
“They knocked,” she said, so softly I barely heard her.
“Luca and his friends were just leaving,” Parker told him. “Brooke Bartlett went missing from the parking lot at Applejack’s, and they thought we might have been involved.”
“So there’s a problem, and right away, you thought, ‘Oh, it must have been Easton.’ That’s discrimination.”
Discrimination? Not if it was usually true. “Save it.”
“And get out of our way,” Aaron added.
“No, I think you should apologise for disturbing our evening first.”
From zero to full-asshole in five seconds. Some things never changed. “Fine, we’re all very sorry. Now move before I make you.”
Behind me, Parker sighed. “Just let them leave.”
“Why should I? You’re not upset that Luca has a vendetta against us? His girlfriend goes missing, and his first instinct is to come over here and make accusations when he should be looking closer to home.”
“I don’t have a damned vendetta.”
Sara twisted her hands. “Please, Easton. Don’t do this.”
But it was Aaron who grabbed the thread Easton had given us and tugged it. “What do you mean, closer to home?”
“I wasn’t the one skulking in the parking lot this evening.”
“You saw someone?”
Easton folded his arms, smug now, and I wanted to knock his teeth out. “I might have done.”
“Who?”
Parker huffed out a breath. “For goodness’ sakes, just tell them. A woman’s missing.”
“Oh, fine. It was that friend of yours.” He jerked his head at Aaron. “The one working on the derelict building you call a home.”
“You’re sure? Which friend? Deck? Brady?”
But I already knew the answer. Brady. He fit Lydia’s description too. He was friends with Addy. He’d handed Brooke the damn plant. He’d been the one to point us toward the Baldwins. The fox had been in the fucking henhouse the whole time.
And he’d been alone with Brooke at Deals on Wheels for almost two hours.
35
Luca
“I’ll kill him.” Aaron was riding shotgun, although I suspected he’d rather be driving. “If Brady’s hurt Brooke, I’ll choke the damn life out of him.”
He’d have to get in line.
“No, you won’t,” Colt said from the back seat, the voice of reason. “If one of us kills Brady, we’re gonna need a good defence attorney, and that’s your job.”
“You’ve got a kid,” I reminded him. “You can’t go to jail.”
That was my fate. I was no stranger to death, but inflicting it had never given me pleasure. Tonight, I’d make an exception.
Then my phone buzzed. I juggled it out of my pocket and read the message that had flashed up on the screen.
Brooke: Could you come to Deals on Wheels? I’m fine, just need a hand with something xx
“What the fuck?”
“What is it?” Aaron asked.
I tossed the phone across. “A message from Brooke’s phone.”
He took a second to read it, and I heard his misplaced sigh of relief. “She’s okay. Brooke’s okay. So what the hell happened earlier?”
“She’s not okay. That message didn’t come from Brooke.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she always puts three x’s at the end, not two.”
“Are you—”
“Of course I’m sure,” I snapped, then felt guilty for biting his head off. “Try calling her.”
Aaron dialled, pressed the phone to his ear. “She’s not answering.”
“Told you.”
It was an ambush. Brady had Brooke’s phone, and he was trying to lure us in.
But he’d made a mistake.
The drive across town usually took ten minutes, but I did it in seven. Deals on Wheels was in darkness apart from a faint glimmer around the drapes near the sitting area. Somebody had put a lamp on. The worst part of this whole nightmare was that it wasn’t just Brooke’s body Brady had violated; it was her home too. He’d come into her safe space and turned it into a house of horrors.
“He’s still here,” Aaron muttered.
Brady’s truck was parked out front, doors closed. Had he dumped Brooke
in the back like cargo? Or risked driving with her slumped in the passenger seat? I checked the gun at the small of my back and tamped down my emotions. Brady was gonna suffer, but my priority was ensuring Brooke’s safety. Once Aaron had gotten her out of there, all bets were off.
I motioned Colt and Aaron toward the front door.
“I go in first. When it’s safe, I’ll call you forward.”
“But—” Aaron started.
“I’m trained for this. You’re not.”
In truth, I didn’t know how dangerous Brady was. A day ago, I’d have put him at the lower end of the scale, but now I realised I didn’t know him at all. He had to know we’d be back. That we’d work out his secret. Had he prepared? Was he lying in wait? Hell, he’d installed the damn camera over my head. I glanced up, but the red light wasn’t on. Had he turned off the system? I checked my phone—I’d only had one alert from the motion sensors, hours ago when he arrived to “pick up his tools.”
PERIMETER DEACTIVATED.
That motherfucker.
I turned my key in the lock. Waited.
Nothing.
Slowly, slowly, I inched through the door. Checked the ramp to my right. No movement. But I did hear the faint strains of music drifting through the air, and…fuck…
I knew that smell.
Unwanted images flashed through my head. The blast of an IED. Flames. Red-hot razor blades flying through the air. Brothers writhing on the floor, screaming. Our driver’s legs, cut off at the knees. He’d have bled out if the shrapnel hadn’t cauterised the wounds.
“What’s that stink?” Aaron whispered, because of course he hadn’t stayed where I told him to. Would I have listened if my sister had been in trouble? Probably not.
“Burning flesh.”
I swallowed down the bile in my throat. Forced the images out of my head and carried on.
The music got louder. A woman’s voice, sweet, slow, and sad. Where was Brady? Where was that traitorous snake hiding? Although the place was only half-finished, there were plenty of nooks and crannies a man could duck into, and in a moment of clarity, I recalled him mentioning he had a gun.
I’d die for Brooke in a heartbeat, and I’d give up my future to avenge her past, but I wanted to take him with me.
Vega whined from his little pen, standing by the gate, begging to be let out. Brooke had got the mutt to act as a guard dog, but to him, Brady was practically family. This was so messed up.
Then I saw her.
And my face must have mirrored Parker’s from earlier.
What the…?
Was Brady using her as bait?
Brooke was sleeping on the couch, snuggled under a blanket, the lamp illuminating the faintest smile on her face. Gleaming hair tumbled over one bare shoulder, and as my chest suddenly hitched because what if she was dead, she stirred and turned onto her back.
She was safe.
My girl was safe.
But was I?
The stench was stronger here, a cloying odour that slithered down my throat and turned my stomach. I ran forward, instinct taking over, and I was halfway to Brooke when I heard a muffled groan.
Company.
I could see five doors from where I was standing, leading to the gym, Aaron’s home office, the guest bathroom, and two bedroom suites. The rooms lay empty for the most part, a house waiting to become a home.
Only one door was closed.
The door to the bedroom Brooke had been using.
And I knew, I fucking knew, that I’d find Brady in there. He’d raped Brooke in her own bed a year ago, and tonight, he’d followed the same playbook.
But why was Brooke on the couch?
I motioned Aaron forward. “Get her out of here.”
“What about Brady?”
“I’ll deal with Brady.”
Colt stacked up one side of the bedroom door, and I took the other. There was no lock, just a handle. I pushed down, the world slowing around me, my pulse loud in my ears. Eased the door open with one foot.
Held my breath.
When I was eight, me, Aaron, and Colt had “borrowed” The Silence of the Lambs from Colt’s dad’s movie library and watched it in Aaron’s room. We’d stuffed our faces with popcorn and candy and potato chips, and when it came to the scene with the cage, the one where Hannibal Lector strung up the cop like Christ on the cross with his guts hanging out, I’d almost puked all that shit up again.
Tonight, I got that same feeling again when I saw Brady.
“Holy fuck,” Colt breathed in my ear.
Brady jerked his head when he saw us, eyes wide, and I took in the details. He’d been tied to the bed with what looked like electrical cord, naked and spread-eagled. The soldering iron on top of his toolbox told me where the smell had come from. Whoever got there before us had used Brady’s body as a canvas, a vessel for their macabre artwork. Words were seared into his skin from his forehead to his feet, embellished with swirls and flourishes.
Rapist.
Pervert.
Traitor.
Snake.
Stalker.
They’d taken wire and threaded it into his skin, carved into him with his own Stanley knife. I winced myself when I saw the G-clamps crushing his testicles. There was a message written on his chest in black marker, neat block letters not so dissimilar from those he’d written to Brooke. The letters were upside down, the words meant for him and not me. I took a moment to read them before I removed the duct tape from his mouth.
* * *
CONFESS, OR I’LL COME BACK AND FINISH THE JOB
* * *
As Colt had said, holy fuck.
Free to speak, Brady said nothing, just glared at me mutinously.
“Why’d you do it?” I asked. “Why’d you betray your friends and put Brooke through hell?”
There was some kind of white powder on his stomach, and when I looked up, I saw a hole in the ceiling. The visitor had taken a claw hammer to the Sheetrock, and wires were hanging out beside the light fixture. Black wires and a tiny gleaming lens.
My semiautomatic was in my hand before I had time to think. That cunt had wired Brooke’s room with a camera. He’d been watching her. Watching us.
“Do it,” he croaked. “Shoot me.”
Oh, it was tempting. One tiny squeeze and he’d be out of Brooke’s life. But so would I, and realisation dawned that in death, he’d still win. I put the gun away. Brady would be the asshole going to jail, not me. I was going to a tropical island somewhere. With Brooke.
I headed for the door.
“Good luck with the jury, pal.”
36
Brooke
The most dramatic evening of my life, and I’d slept through the whole thing.
Although on balance, I had to be grateful for that. When I awoke, I was in Luca’s room at the Peninsula, nestled among a million pillows with his heavenly arms wrapped around me. And utterly mystified as to how I’d gotten there.
“Luca?”
He kissed me on the forehead, on the nose, on the lips. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“I don’t think I’m meant to be here. Aaron—”
“Is fine with it. We had a talk last night, and we agreed that I’m the best person to guard your body.” Another sweet kiss. “That’s a role I intend to take very seriously. How are you feeling?”
Honestly? “Like I got run over by a truck. I think I drank a little too much last night. I’m so sorry—I know I promised to be sensible.”
“You were sensible. Cupid played everyone for fools.”
I went rigid. “Cupid was there?”
“He spiked your drink again. Snatched you from right under our noses.”
“Then how…how am I here? Did he…?” I felt sick now. Sicker. Did I have that ache between my thighs, the one I’d woken up with last time? I moved my legs, testing. No, I didn’t hurt, not that way. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s a long story.”
And when Luca told it, I w
ent through the full spectrum of emotions. Shock, horror, disgust, confusion, and disbelief.
“Brady? Brady was Cupid?” Aaaaaaand we were back to the horror. “But he was my friend. I thought he was my friend.”
“Everyone thought he was their friend. Addy’s devastated.”
Because she was the one who’d introduced us. “It wasn’t her fault.”
“In time, she’ll learn to accept that, but right now, she’s taking it hard.”
“I should call her.”
“Later. You can call her later. Her mom gave her a sleeping pill at three a.m., so she’ll still be dead to the world. We can have breakfast first, and then I’ll take you to see her. Colt’s gonna have questions too.”
“I’m not sure I’ll have any answers. The last thing I remember is falling off the wall outside Applejack’s, and then it’s all a blank. Do you have any idea who this…this… I can’t call them a Good Samaritan because what they did was very, very bad, but…”
“The Bad Samaritan. That works.”
“You don’t know who they were?”
“They covered their tracks well. Colt’s gonna question Brady when the doctors let him, see if he remembers anything.”
Brady. I shuddered at the mention of his name. Probably I always would. The wolf in sheep’s clothing who’d infiltrated my life and upended it, only to get taken out by a bigger predator. The biggest. A shark? A bear? A Siberian tiger? That’s when I felt the relief flood through me. It was done. Finished. Cupid’s grip on me was gone. It was finally over. And do you know what? Even if my memories were crystal clear, if I remembered the Bad Samaritan’s face in perfect detail, I wouldn’t tell a soul.
I’d send a thank-you note.
And also some cookies.
“I hope Brady doesn’t remember.”
“Me too, sweetheart. Me too. Do you want me to order breakfast? Aaron’s gonna feed Vega and bring more clothes over for you if he hasn’t already.”
“He’s truly okay with us?”