Grace blinked, one tear rolling down her cheek. She took in a deep breath and stared back at him with blurry eyes. “The address is in my phone. She got a text from Alayna Jonas and she went to meet with her.”
“Dammit!” Devlin cursed.
“Not in front of my wife.” The judge bellowed.
Devlin’s lips closed tightly right after he apologized.
“Where’s your phone, darling?” the judge asked Grace.
She pointed to her purse on the table across the room. Judge Ramsey retrieved the purse and at Grace’s nod of approval, removed her phone from the side pocket. He pushed a few buttons signaling he must’ve known his wife’s security code, and finally arrived at the message.
His face was tight with consternation as he walked over to Trent and showed him the screen. Trent eased the phone from the judge’s hand and sent the text message to his phone.
“Thank you,” he said, returning the phone to the judge. “Let’s go,” was directed at Devlin.
“You bring her back,” Grace said to Ben. She’d pulled her hand from his grasp and grabbed hold of his arm. “You bring her back alive.”
Ben nodded. “I will.”
Chapter 18
Victoria
“He said I was going to be safe, that he was moving me because that’s what Larry asked him to do. I believed him,” Alayna spoke in a quiet tone, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Victoria listened. She sat on a grungy couch in a motel room that smelled like mold. Dirty curtains were drawn tightly over the only window, all the chains and bolts were applied to the door. There were huge stains on the worn carpet and she didn’t even want to contemplate their origin. Across from her, on the edge of the only bed in the room, its awfully floral printed comforter rumpled from where she’d probably lain the night before, sat the young woman everyone had been looking for.
A year ago she was probably considered to be a gorgeous young lady with big brown eyes and long dark brown hair. Her skin was sun-kissed, her body curvy in all the right places, trim in the others. But her shoulders slumped and her eyes were puffy. This was a look Victoria figured the girl had been sporting for a while.
“So he brought you here after leaving the witness protection location?” Victoria asked trying to keep her mind on the current situation, which by the cut on Alayna’s lip and the bruises on herarm looked a lot worse than any of them could’ve imagined. No, that’s not true. They’d all thought Alayna was dead.
Alayna nodded, hair falling to shield her face. With a shaky hand she pushed thick tresses back behind her left ear. She didn’t look at Victoria, just kept her gaze down at her hands clasped in her lap.
“When I didn’t hear from Larry after a few days I figured something was wrong.”
“Did you see any police officers after you were moved?” Victoria asked. She wished she had a notepad and pen to write down everything Alayna was telling her, but she’d been in such a rush to get to her she hadn’t even thought of stopping by her place to get her briefcase.
“He would lock me in the room whenever he needed to leave. And he’d be gone for hours and hours, working I guess. But when he came back—” Her words trailed off and she used the back of her hand to wipe at tears that flowed much faster. “He raped me over and over, said it was what I deserved for being such a slut and ruining everything. After a while I just stopped fighting because what was the use? I thought he was going to kill me. And that made me mad. I don’t want my daughter to grow up without a mother. That’s why I called you, Ms. Lashley. I need your help so I can be with my daughter.” She’d looked up by then, staring right at Victoria.
An imploring and desperate stare that seared straight through Victoria touching everything within that was woman and prosecutor and protector all at the same time. She didn’t give it a second thought but rose from the sofa and went to the bed to sit beside Alayna. She took the girl’s hands in hers. “I will get you out of this. You will be with your daughter again,” she told her and meant every word.
“I just need to make a call to get someone to come and pick you up,” Victoria continued reaching into her pocket for her cell phone.
“Not the cops!” Alayna yelled. “Don’t call the cops!”
Victoria’s hand froze on the phone. She was about to ask Alayna why she didn’t want the police called when she heard a sickeningly familiar sound. Glass shattered, falling like confetti over the dirty couch Victoria had just vacated. She held her breath as she pushed Alayna to the floor clearly expecting tear gas to come flying through to choke them out. But that didn’t happen. What came through the window this time could be considered worse, depending who you asked.
Ben
“Noah’s not answering his phone.” Ben cursed at the realization and stopped trying to contact the only cop in this city that he trusted right now.
He was in the passenger seat of Devlin’s SUV as they sped down the highway. They were heading toward the exit that would take them to the Morningshade Motel, where Alayna Jonas was staying.
“She’s only been there a couple of days,” Trent spoke from the back seat.
Ace and Rio were in the second SUV that had taken the scenic route to the hotel just in case one of them was being followed.
“She’s been missing for almost a year. Where was she before now?” Ben asked.
