Limit

by McAdams, Molly

  Einstein turned her laptop and pushed it across the table toward me. On the screen were blueprints of a small house.

  “Okay.” The word slowly rolled off my tongue. “What does this have to do with Sutton?”

  Everyone just stared at me, waiting, until Kieran finally spoke up. “That’s below her house.”

  “Guesthouse, to be exact,” Einstein corrected.

  “And we didn’t see any indication that there was an underground bunker when we checked it last week,” Kieran continued, irritation seeping from him.

  “That means we might have been right on top of him,” Jess said softly. When I glanced at her, she looked nearly as torn as I felt.

  “Sutton was in the picture when this structure was built,” Kieran continued. “Hard to believe she didn’t know about a bunker this size under her guesthouse.”

  “What’s more,” Maverick said, grabbing the laptop and pulling it toward him, “is they’re on every property of the core families.”

  “Her parents’?”

  He shot me a look, eyebrows raised in confirmation.

  “Shit.” I dragged a hand over my face as he continued.

  “Looks like as time went on, they’ve gotten bigger. Went from the size of a mini bomb shelter to a bunker the size of the suites you were staying in.”

  “She might not have known,” I said, knowing the argument was weak at best.

  “And that’s why you won’t be asking questions tonight,” Kieran said.

  “There’s so much she hasn’t known,” I reasoned. “That we informed her of.”

  “If you weren’t fucking her, you wouldn’t be defending her,” he growled, each word was as sharp as one of his blades.

  I’d barely taken a step before Jess slammed her hands against my chest, trying to keep me in place. “Conor, no.”

  The instant I moved her aside, Kieran was in front of me, a cold mercilessness in his eyes that I knew he couldn’t help. “Don’t touch my wife.”

  “She was in my way.” The words were pure grit as I seethed, “Get your knife away from my ribs.”

  The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees as he stared at me. I wasn’t sure anyone was breathing or moving as they waited.

  As soon as I felt the retreat, I laid into him. “You don’t want me to ask questions? Fine. But don’t talk to me like what I’m doing completely clouds my sense of reason. Of course I’m defending her. Doesn’t mean I don’t see what you see. Doesn’t mean I don’t see the case. Considering what happened when you and Jess started—”

  I shoved him back when he lunged at me.

  Surprise slowly wove through my veins when I realized he wasn’t going to try again and that he didn’t have a blade in his hand.

  “You’re a fucking hypocrite. Both of you,” I bit out, stepping back to shoot a glare at Einstein. “Talking to me like I don’t know what I’m doing and like I’m messing everything up because of it. When both of you have been in my exact damn place.”

  “Jessica and I were different,” Kieran said.

  “No.” My head shook slowly. “No, she was different for you. She was it for you. I found that, and all any of you have done is beat me down for it.”

  “Don’t lump me in with these killjoys,” Diggs huffed.

  “Shut up, Diggs.”

  “Conor, she has been withholding information,” Einstein said, her usual knowing tone absent. “She’s lied to us.”

  “I understand,” I said at the same time Maverick whispered, “That’s enough.”

  Einstein slowly looked in his direction when he shut the laptop. “Who are you talking to?”

  “You,” he said gently. “Conor’s right. He’s never once held back from telling the rest of us when he thought Sutton was lying or holding back. He has still tried to get information from her. He’s doing his job. Why the hell am I the only one sticking up for him?”

  “Dude.” Diggs smacked Maverick’s shoulder and then raised his hand as if to remind everyone of his neutral stance.

  “It’s because we know and because it’s you,” Jess said, reaching out to touch my arm. When a warning rumble came from Kieran, she sighed and shot him a look. “Get over yourself.”

  But even as she said the words, she went to go stand in front of him.

  Once Jess was leaning against Kieran, she continued. “Conor, you protect everyone, and you’re the one we go to when something in our lives goes wrong and needs to be fixed. Due to that, we’re all extremely protective of you. And with Sutton? It’s hard because of who she is and the situation she’s involved in. Yes, it’s hypocritical. Einstein’s the queen of withholding information.”

  “Excuse me,” Einstein said, sitting back to send her a glare, but Jess kept talking.

  “And you’re right, a lot of bad things happened when Kieran and I started out, and we remember them vividly. But he knows what it’s like to be lied to and betrayed because of what I did to him. So, it’s hard for us not to step in when we see similarities.”

  “You’re saying Sutton’s spying on me to get us all killed.”

  “No.” Her shoulders and expression fell, and old guilt and regret flashed through her eyes. “I’m saying what all of us want more than anything is for you to find someone, and if that’s Sutton, great.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I really do like her, but this is a very delicate situation, and we’ve been through those. They are filled with pain and heartbreak and come at a cost. None of us want to see you go through that.”

  I looked from her to Kieran to the three sitting at the table.

  All wore matching expressions of guilt and worry . . . Diggs not included.

  “Delicate. That’s one way to describe this.” I nodded and sucked in a breath through my teeth. “There’s already so much I’m going through just letting myself go there with her. That we’re going through just trying to navigate what we’re doing. So, I appreciate it, but I don’t need your worry when it comes disguised as tearing me down and shutting me up.”

  I focused on Kieran. “I need you to remember everything you told me about those first weeks with Jess. Remember what it was like to fall for her while still doubting everything she did.” When he dipped his head in understanding, I gestured toward the room I’d left Sutton in. “Know that I don’t doubt everything Sutton says. I don’t need to. She’s a horrible liar. I haven’t forgotten the conversations she’s avoided or the shit she’s said that hasn’t added up, but those things don’t make or break our case or trust with her, and they don’t matter when my biggest priority is keeping those girls safe.”

  I swallowed thickly, never losing Kieran’s hard stare. “Now remember that, even with that doubt, you defended her to the death.”

  The room was utterly silent.

  There was no reason to continue, they understood.

  I folded my arms over my chest. “I’m done.”

  “She still needs to be questioned about what we found,” Einstein said a minute later.

  “I never said she didn’t.”

  Just then, Sutton rounded the corner into the kitchen and stumbled to a stop.

  “Uh, I can—” Her chest jerked, and it was then I realized that she looked as if all the color had been leached from her. “I can go.”

  I reached for her, mouth opened to ask what had happen, when Kieran said, “We need to talk to you.”

  She looked from me to Kieran, nodding subtly as she walked forward.

  I pulled her close and dipped my head to search her panicked eyes. “What happened?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Sutton.”

  “I saw the notes and my ring,” she whispered after a brief hesitation. “I thought they would be gone or—I don’t know. Not out in the open.”

  I hissed a curse and ran my fingers down her arm. “We need to keep them, but I’ll make sure you don’t see them again.”

  Her head moved in quick jerks, pausing when I pressed my mouth to her forehead.
r />   I wanted to tell her I was sorry for what was coming.

  I wanted to tell her to prepare herself.

  But I just pulled out a chair for her and then took a few steps back once she was seated.

  My eyelids slipped shut when Einstein instantly asked, “Where’s Zachary?”

  Conor

  Immediate.

  Straight to the point.

  No bullshit.

  Full of accusation and suspicion.

  When I opened my eyes again, Sutton was staring at Einstein in blatant shock. “I don’t know.”

  “Where’s he hiding?” Kieran asked in a voice so low it made all the tiny hairs on Sutton’s arm stand on end, but still, she kept her back straight.

  “I don’t know,” she repeated.

  “Sutton,” he began again, but stopped when a sharp, defeated laugh left her.

  “I have told you—God, so many times.” She gave me a helpless look before directing her attention back to Kieran. “I have told you what I know. Where I know of. If Zachary isn’t in any of those places, then I don’t know where he is. How many times are we going to do this before you believe me?”

  “You could only think of friends or relatives’ houses,” Einstein said. “It’s weird to be with him for so long and not know exactly where he would go, or at least not have an idea.”

  “It’s probably also weird not to know what he wanted for birthdays or Christmases, but I didn’t. Whatever he wanted, he bought himself and had delivered to his office.” She pressed a hand to the table. “There’s nothing I can think of that can help you. I thought I knew him, but I’ve realized recently that I don’t, maybe he never wanted me to. I know what he likes to eat, but that’s because he had to be in control of our menu. And I don’t see how that’s relevant or helpful.”

  “It isn’t,” Kieran said, his tone void of emotion. “The place you told us about at the lake . . .”

  Sutton moved her head in something resembling a nod. “His parents’ place.”

  “It’s your family’s.”

  “Okay, fine. My family’s place,” she said irritably. “But I’ve never thought of it as mine, and seeing as I was never legally married into their family, I don’t know why you of all people would consider it as such.”

  “No,” he said roughly, sharply. “Yours.”

  Her body straightened and stiffened as she slowly began to understand what Kieran meant. “My—mine? As in my parents’?” She didn’t wait for anyone to answer. She pushed back against her chair, her head firmly shaking. “No . . . no, it’s my in-law’s. I’d never even been there before Zachary and I were engaged.”

  “It definitely belongs to your parents,” Einstein said dryly. “And your grandparents before that. Not that Zachary’s there anyway, but if you’d like to change any of the other answers you’ve given us, now’s the time.”

  “That isn’t—I would’ve known,” she cried out. “I would’ve gone there sometime in the twenty years before I was engaged to him.”

  “Now’s the time to tell us everything,” Einstein repeated. “For example, hidden places you previously, conveniently forgot about.”

  “What?” It was a pained breath that I felt in my chest. “Anywhere that I know of, I have already told you about. Countless times.”

  When she looked to me for help, the sting and hurt in her eyes made me want to tear out my heart.

  She had to know this was necessary.

  She had to know how damn difficult watching her be questioned was.

  Had to know that my hands were tied because of what she meant to me.

  I stepped over to Jess and lowered my voice so it wouldn’t carry, “She was blindsided by that. She doesn’t know where he is.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “I’ve seen her deflect and lie, and it’s obvious when she does.”

  Jess touched Kieran’s arm and gave him a look that had him stepping toward us with a sigh.

  “Don’t say it,” he said roughly. “She still has to explain the blueprints, and I don’t see how she can.”

  “Then ask, but stop interrogating her,” I hissed. “She’s going to shut down if you keep pushing her.”

  “Someone has to if we’re ever gonna get the truth.” His voice was tense, and his eyes were cold with warning.

  I was done with it.

  With the constant reminders that he didn’t trust her, that he didn’t trust me to do my job.

  “You’re pushing me to a limit that we won’t come back from,” I said in a grave tone.

  His jaw twitched under the pressure he was putting on it. With a sharp nod, he said, “You’ll thank me one day.”

  I shoved past him when he started for the table and snatched the laptop away from Maverick.

  Opening it, I dropped into the chair next to Sutton and tried to calm myself so I wouldn’t snap at her when I spoke.

  “The twins have been waiting for blueprints of houses and businesses before going back out,” I said, answering her earlier question. “They like to know exactly what they’re walking in on. All entrances and exits, secret or not. But every place owned by the Tennessee Gentlemen has falsified blueprints on record. Easy enough to notice when all the floor plans on record are identical to each other. When Jess came by earlier, she confirmed they didn’t match the places she and Kieran had already visited.”

  Sutton’s eyebrows had pulled together as I spoke, but even through her confusion, I could see the exhaustion.

  As though she were trying to prepare herself for another blow and wasn’t able to.

  “Okay, so what does this mean?” she asked.

  “Were you around when your house was built?”

  “Of course. I helped design it. Everything about it, I chose. That’s my dream house.”

  Shit.

  I could feel a wall of anger and suspicion slam into me from the people near me.

  From the full-body shiver that moved through Sutton, she felt it too.

  I turned the laptop so the screen was facing her, showing the blueprint for the bunker.

  She blinked quickly and then leaned forward, her eyes searching and studying.

  Almost immediately, she asked, “What is this?”

  “I need you to tell us that.”

  Her eyes met mine from over the laptop before falling to the screen again. “I don’t . . . I don’t know.” She shifted back, pushing the computer away as she did. “I have no idea.”

  No evading.

  No lying.

  Only genuine uncertainty.

  Before she was able to settle against the chair, I slid the computer back to her. “Look again.”

  A discouraged sigh left her as she leaned forward.

  Nearly a minute later, she reeled back. “That’s my address.” She reached for the laptop and pulled it to the edge of the table so it was directly in front of her. “That’s my address at the top there.”

  Her eyes bounced around the screen quicker than before. Her brows pulled low as if she were trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

  “I’ve never seen this. That isn’t my house. It isn’t even the guesthouse—that isn’t how it’s designed. Is this the—” She looked around at everyone when Maverick took the laptop from her so he could glance at the screen. “Is that one of the fake blueprints?”

  “No,” Maverick said simply and pointed to the screen. “This number here? That’s how many inches below ground it is.”

  A startled laugh left Sutton before she seemed to understand he wasn’t joking. “What?”

  “That is a bunker,” I answered.

  Sutton slowly shifted her head to look at me as if in a daze. “We don’t . . . no.”

  “How often were you around when your house was being built?”

  “All the time. Every few days,” she whispered, her stare drifting. “They couldn’t keep me away.” Clearing her throat, she shook her head firmly. “No. No, I would’ve known. I was there constantly. The construction crew even
had a personalized hard hat made for me because I was always there. It’s in Lexi’s room.”

  I wanted to beg her to stop talking.

  Every time she opened her mouth, it only made this worse for her.

  But even still, I could see the resolve and sincerity in her eyes, and I wondered if anyone else could.

  “I would know if there was a . . . a bunker under my house.”

  “Guesthouse,” Einstein corrected.

  “Guesthouse. What does it matter? I would—” Sutton’s mouth fell open, and her eyes widened. For long moments, she just sat there with a distant look. “Oh my God.”

  “What?” I asked, not caring that my tone held a hint of hope.

  “I was mad,” she breathed. “I was so mad at Zachary because he told the crew not to allow me on the property in the last few days before our wedding. He said he had a surprise for me, and I was upset because they were doing inside details, and I had been waiting for that time.” She gestured to the screen, shaking her head as she did. “He’d told me long before that we couldn’t have the guesthouse, said we couldn’t afford it. When we came home from our honeymoon, they were building the guesthouse. That was my surprise.”

  I sat back and shot Kieran a glare.

  “How long were you on your honeymoon?” Einstein asked, pulling the laptop back toward her.

  “Ten days. I wasn’t at the house for four or five days before that.”

  “Enough time to at least build the foundation of the bunker and get it covered,” Maverick murmured.

  “Yep,” Einstein said, already submersed in her work.

  I dragged Sutton’s chair to mine and grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her closer until her forehead was pressed to mine.

  “I’m sorry.” It was soft and low and begged forgiveness for so many things I couldn’t get into right then.

  Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and like before, that wounded look flashed through her eyes. “I don’t know where he is, Conor.”

  The way she spoke said it all.

  The fact that I’d been standing there while she was questioned hurt her the most.

  As I’d known it would—as I’d known it had.

  “I know that.” I shifted forward until my mouth was at her ear. “We’re still working a case, Sutton. You’re everything to me, but that doesn’t mean I can stop doing my job.”