by V. Hunter
We kept crawling until there was nowhere left to go.
Sofia wedged herself into the tight corner and I laid in front of her. My eyes were glued in the direction we came from, but crawling in at a curve meant we couldn't actually see the mouth of the cave anymore. As I laid there, my ears straining for signs we'd been found, I prayed to god that we would both somehow make it out alive.
And if that was an impossibility, then I prayed I would be able to keep Sofia alive until someone found us.
She was too young to have to face something so dark.
"Dammit!" Cooke swore from somewhere too close for comfort.
Sofia stiffened and her hands grabbed hold of my shirt as she clung to me. I wanted so badly to turn over and reassure her properly, but I couldn't risk turning away in case it ended up making noise.
"Brooke? Sofia? It's just me. There's nothing to be scared of." His voice was getting further away as he tried desperately to convince us we were safe. I wasn't sure who he thought he was fooling. The longer he called for us, the angrier his voice was growing. I would stay wedged in that mini-cave forever if it meant not having to face him and the new, terrifying quality of his voice.
Eventually—I couldn't tell how much time had passed—his voice and footsteps disappeared completely.
Sofia and I still didn't move, holding our positions for what had to be hours. I was too scared to crawl out for fear that someone might come back looking for us. At least in the cave we were hidden and not aimlessly wandering the woods.
After a while, I did roll over onto my back and let Sofia cuddle closer to me. She clung to me, using me like a pillow as she fell into an exhausted sleep. I could tell from the familiar way her breathing evened out. I wrapped my arms around her and tried to take comfort in the feeling of her heartbeat. I didn't know what came next, but I'd kept the both of us alive that long, and her heartbeat was proof of it.
I wanted so badly to see Jairo's face when he realized I kept Sofia safe for him.
I desperately hoped that moment was coming. Cooke insinuated pretty clearly that Jairo was dead, but since everything else appeared to be a lie, I held onto hope that it wasn't true. Jairo was still out there somewhere, I was sure of it. And he would find us. He had to.
23
Jairo
I took long strides through the lobby of Oscar Brunetti's downtown building. His son, Oz, kept pace beside me. I was seriously uneasy after seeing his car pull up right behind mine. Oscar never let his son sit in on our meetings. In fact, most of the time he objected to anyone sitting in. Even Tomas usually was forced to sit and wait in an empty conference room until our meetings were over.
"You're sure he doesn't know anything?" I grilled Oz, worried we might be walking into a trap.
"There's no way." Oz shook his head. "He spent all night meeting with Duffey. And the only person Duffey called was his wife, and that was still early in the evening. If my dad knew anything before that he never would have waited this long to call us both in. Patience isn't his strong suit."
"So I've noticed."
Oz's words offered me no comfort. In fact, knowing Oscar didn't take any calls during his meeting with Duffey only raised more red flags. Oscar was a man of habit. He took meetings in private, but frequently interrupted by taking and making other phone calls. I knew from asking around that it wasn't just with me, either.
Something was happening, and I didn't enjoy being the last to know.
I glanced back at Tomas to make sure he heard what Oz said. His eyebrow ticked up a couple notches. So, I definitely wasn't the only one that noticed the oddities. It didn't bode well for any of us if Oscar had caught wind of the angle I'd been working. If he knew, there was a very good chance I wouldn't make it out alive.
In the back of the lobby, the three of us stepped onto the private elevator together. Once we were out of public view, I reached down in my pocket and withdrew Brooke's phone. I was planning to give it back to her last night but didn't get the chance once Tomas told me what was going on.
Oscar put some girls on board with one of my outgoing shipments. My transport guy didn't think anything of it at first when Oscar dropped my name and said the order came directly from me. Apparently, though, he got spooked when he realized how young some of the girls were. That was when he decided to call and check in before he left the port.
The girls were with my security team now. There was no way Oscar would know that, though, since the ship he tried to put them on wouldn't arrive at its destination until tomorrow. After that, he would have some pretty pissed off guys of his own to deal with.
And hopefully I would be alive to fucking see it.
"Here," I said to Tomas, handing him Brooke's phone.
He took it wordlessly. It was my way of telling him to make sure she was taken care of if things went south. I didn't dare say her name since I'd gone to great lengths to make sure no one caught wind of a woman staying with me. Oscar, especially, would be keen to take advantage of the perceived weakness if he realized she was there.
Since there was no way for him to know about Brooke, and no way for him to know about his girls, it seemed more and more likely that he knew about the meetings I'd been having with Oz behind his back.
I couldn't imagine Oz would tell him. Maybe we hadn't been as discreet as we thought, especially recently as the calls and meetings became more frequent.
The elevator doors opened on the top floor.
Oz stepped out first and I followed with Tomas close behind. Oscar's receptionist was new, a young blonde that barely looked out of high school. She eyed our trio nervously as we approached.
"We're here to see Oscar," I told her for formality's sake.
"Oh." She looked down at a sheet of paper on her desk and shook her head. "He said there would only be two of you. Uhm, J-A-I-R-O and uhm, Oscar Jr.?"
Oz barked out a laugh. It was true, he was named after his father, but he never went by the name. Oscar Sr. leaving that name at the desk seemed like a pretty heavy-handed reminder for Oz to remember where he came from. Add it to the list of things that made me certain he knew what we'd been doing.
Dammit.
I tried to think of how we could spin things in our favor as Tomas explained to her that he wasn't going back with us. She seemed relieved, and I was sure she was terrified about what would happen if she was forced to go back and tell her boss someone extra was there. Oscar wasn't known for kindness, not even with his actual staff. It was no wonder he robbed the cradle to get a new receptionist. Anyone older would already have heard the warnings not to work for the man with the infamous temper.
The young woman led us down the hall to Oscar's office. The door was already open for us.
When Oz and I entered, Oscar didn't even bother to stand up as he greeted us. He waved us over to the desk and the two uncomfortable leather chairs across from him. We all sat, but then Oscar grinned and stood up.
"Actually, Junior, why don't you sit over on this side," he suggested.
Oz eyed him with thinly veiled suspicion. Oscar made it no secret that he detested the son he fathered with his stripper first wife. Most people assumed an uncle or cousin would take over if something happened to Oscar since he seemed so unwilling to give his own son a place in the family business. Hell, it seemed like he barely tolerated Oz living in his house.
Which, to be fair, Oz was only still doing because he spent the last year spying on his dad's comings and goings. Otherwise, I was sure he would have jumped at any chance to get as far away from his sadistic dad as possible.
Oz stood and walked around the desk to sit in his father's seat.
Oscar let out a booming laugh that nearly made me jump out of my skin as he took Oz's abandoned seat beside me. I was starting to wonder if Brunetti had flat-out lost his mind. Whatever game he was playing, I wanted out of it as soon as possible.
"Why'd you call me here, Brunetti?" I asked, cutting straight to the chase.
"Shit, Pomar, that'
s my son there. Let me swing my dick around a little, remind him how good he has it before you go getting all dry on me." He was taunting me.
It wasn't just a hunch anymore, I was certain now that Oscar knew. Based on the way Oz's face paled, he seemed to realize it, too.
"Oh come on. The two of you seemed to be having so much fun spending all that time together that I thought it was about time I joined the fun for myself." Oscar pinned his son with a hard stare. "I've got a couple suspicions. Want to hear 'em?"
"Sure," I answered, jutting my chin out. I needed him to know I wasn't scared. Advice I wished I could give Oz, who looked like he might crap himself at any minute.
Oscar smirked. "Well, either the two of you have shacked up and you're giving my son the ass-fucking of a lifetime. Or you're both actually stupid enough to think I wouldn't realize you were plotting behind my back to try to cut me out of my own deal." He didn't know everything, I realized, if that's all he thought we were doing.
Oz started to protest, "That's not—" but Oscar cut him off.
"Don't worry. I already know it's not the first one because Pomar here has been getting plenty of action at home." His lips twisted into a sick smile as he focused his attention solely on me. "Not that I could blame him. In fact, I wouldn't mind taking a crack at Miss Harris myself."
My lungs stopped working.
My heart, too.
I'd been fucking careful, hadn't I?
Leaping to my feet, I grabbed the nearest object and chucked it at the wall. Oscar smirked, clearly thinking I'd meant to hit him with the metal picture frame. Fucking idiot. Less than fifteen seconds later, Tomas burst into the office. The receptionist was right behind him, begging him to stop, but the second she saw the expressions of the men in the room she gave up and darted away.
"Check the house, now," I told Tomas.
Oscar suddenly didn't look so comfortable where he was sitting. He stood up and paced away as if that might actually offer him any protection after what he'd just revealed.
"No contact," Tomas barked as he turned and left the room quicker than he came.
"Where the fuck is he going?" Oscar asked.
Tomas had strict orders to prioritize Sofia and Brooke's safety before mine. He had emergency procedures in place for exactly the kind of situation we found ourselves in now. If anyone could undo whatever the hell Oscar had managed to start, it was Tomas.
But I sure as hell wasn't going to tell that fucker that.
I drew my gun and pointed it directly at Oscar's head. The man didn't flinch at all. I was sure it wasn't the first time someone pulled a gun on him. He snorted when a few seconds passed and I hadn't pulled the trigger. I wanted to, so badly, but I'd made an agreement that I planned to uphold. I walked the few short steps to where Oz was now standing behind his father's desk.
"Here," I grunted, passing him my gun.
Oscar lost his poker face long enough for me to read his surprise. Whatever agreement he thought I had with Oz, he clearly thought his mere presence would be enough to negate it. He'd underestimated his son's hatred.
"I don't think you want to do that," Oscar told him as Oz took his turn pointing the gun at him. Oz merely rolled his eyes and ignored the other man.
"Are you sure about this?" Oz asked me.
There would be a mess to clean up if we killed Brunetti Sr. in such a public place, but I couldn't bring myself to care at the moment. The faster Oscar was taken care of the sooner I could join Tomas and figure out what the hell was going on. I needed to get to Brooke and Sofia before someone else did.
"Do it." I nodded.
Oz put his finger against the trigger but froze. Oscar cackled, clearly amused by his son's hesitation. "Pussy," the man taunted him. I could tell Oz wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger, but I could also tell he wasn't going to. Part of the reason Oz had been so keen to work with me to take his father down was because he was tired of his father's dark legacy.
"I want to do things different. I don't always want to be washing blood off my hands," Oz admitted as he lowered the gun to his side.
"I like that about you, kid," I said as I went around the desk to his side. I clapped him on the shoulder as I took back my gun. I raised it just as Oscar lunged for his own gun in his waistband.
Thanks to the last year-and-a-half, I already had blood on my hands. I squeezed the trigger and watched with satisfaction as brain matter splattered across what looked like a very expensive rug.
24
Jairo
"Okay, thanks for letting me know. We're still about twenty minutes out from the house. Yeah, stay close." Tomas pulled the phone away from his ear with a grimace.
"Fuck!" I yelled, slapping the dashboard in frustration.
"Everyone else is accounted for except Cooke. Apparently, he showed up this morning in a black SUV instead of his usual car. The security feed went down before he got out but all signs point to him having the girls. My guys haven't had any luck tracking them down yet."
"I told Brooke not to leave with anyone but you. Do you think he hurt her?" I couldn't imagine how else Brooke would be coaxed into leaving with him. She was a smart woman and naturally distrustful. Wouldn't she have remembered that conversation about what to do in an emergency?
"Jairo," Tomas paused, "Brunetti knew they're worth more alive than they are dead."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I glared at the side of his head.
I didn't want either of them to be hurt, but I didn't like that alternative either. Tomas was right, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that Brunetti saw my girls as a business opportunity as well as a way to take a big swing at me. I didn't know what that would mean now that Oscar was dead. Hours had already passed since the security breach, and we had no information yet about where the girls might be.
Oz was poised to take over the Brunetti family empire. I worked for months to help groom him and had gone to great lengths to make sure nothing would derail that plan. He wouldn't be continuing the trafficking side of their business, which was why I put so many resources into helping him. But that didn't mean someone else wouldn't take up trafficking in his place. I thought it would be a problem I would deal with when it happened, but now I desperately needed to know who would make the calls with Oscar unavailable.
There had to be someone.
It wasn't Oz. And I doubted he would want his brothers involved since all of them were foaming at the mouth to take over the business themselves.
But there was someone Brunetti could be connected to on more than one occasion. Someone that just so happened to be meeting with the man the night before.
"Duffey," I spit out.
Tomas glanced over at me. "Hm?"
"Duffey was more loyal to Brunetti than we anticipated. Loyal enough to indicate he had more to gain than political power. I know we checked his finances, but did we check the wife's?" I asked
"Yeah. I even checked all three of his kids to make sure he wasn't clearing money with any of their names." Tomas looked bewildered. Probably because I was suggesting that his team somehow missed something.
But there did have to be something. Something that would connect the two men as more than just political allies. A thought nagged me from the back of my mind.
"Tomas, remind me again when Duffey made that first cover-up happen?"
"Right about four years ago," Tomas said.
"Four years," I muttered. A lightbulb went off. "Four years. Dammit, Tomas, what about Brooke? Did we check Brooke's financials?"
I already knew the answer. We only ever checked financials if there was a red flag. With Brooke, who had a full-ride scholarship, supportive parents, and her own job—there hadn't been any reason to. And it just so happened that four years ago, Barron Duffey was meeting his estranged son—and his son's girlfriend—for the first time.
"Shit," Tomas muttered. "He should be heading back to Georgia today. Brunetti would have wanted some distance between them in case thin
gs went south. I'll see if I can get someone to intercept his flight."
Tomas picked up his phone, but instead of dialing he suddenly slowed the car almost to a complete stop. He leaned forward in his seat as the car crept along at about 2mph. When he didn't say anything, I started to get frustrated. We didn't have time to fuck around right now.
"Why the fuck are we stopping? And why aren't you making the call?" I demanded. We needed to get to the house. We needed to figure out how to find Sofia and Brooke.
"Jairo, shut up," he said. "Look."
He pointed to something on the side of the road. I looked for a long minute and I realized what it was he saw. Over on the side of the hill, there were tire tracks in the grass from where someone had pulled off the road. Sometimes people turned down our road on accident, but no one in their right minds would turn around on that steep hill.
"Pull over," I snapped.
Tomas jerked the car hard to pull in next to the tire tracks. I was out of the car before him, turning circles as I tried desperately to find any sign of Brooke or Sofia. There was nowhere to hide out in the open and no sign of them.
That left only two options.
One, that the girls were still with Cooke or whoever he might have handed them off to. Or two, that they’d gone into the woods. I stared out at the expanse of trees with a sinking stomach.
If they were out there in the thick of it, there was no telling if we would even be able to find them. The forest went on for miles and if they had gone in there, it was likely they were too turned around to have any hope of finding their way back towards the road unless by accident.
“The foliage is all torn up here, it looks like this is where they went in,” Tomas said as he examined the tree line, confirming my suspicion.