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Twenty-Two
Aiden
Beingin the hospital felt like déjàvu. Remembering Brooklyn after surgery had me pacing and panic surging in my chest. My throat became dry with the heaving breaths I was taking to control my emotions. I was sure my brothers had no idea what to make of my behavior, but luckily for me, they were too devastated by the news to pay any attention.
I had pushed Brooklyn away, a large contributing factor to her leaving the house. She had every reason to doubt my feelings for her. And every day since she had been gone, I had gotten roaring drunk to avoid thinking about the stupid shit I’d said to her and the way I treated her as if she was just sex.
Leaning against a wall in the waiting room, I stared at my shoes, unable to make conversation with my brothers. I knew they blamed me and now the thing we feared the most had possibly happened. I rubbed at my chest, trying to get rid of the pain that was radiating there.
Gideon came back into the waiting room and this time, he wasn’t alone. Ash was on his heels and her face was blotchy from the tears that were still sliding down her cheeks. Jaxon and Oliver jumped up and went to her. Jaxon handed her a Kleenex and Oliver put an arm around her shoulders, consoling her with quiet words.
I knew I didn’t belong in the grief, but I slowly made my way over to hear the conversation.
“I didn’t know she was missing until Gideon called. I left for work before she did this morning. We said goodbye like always. She was happy. She mentioned talking to you guys, and she missed you. I half figured she wouldn’t be there when I got home, because she’d go home with you,”Ash said.
I looked at my watch, noting that it was already evening and we had only been notified about Frank an hour before. That was all day for Brooklyn to be missing and we had no leads.
“According to Lee, the original detectives and officers didn’t ID Frank right away. Whoever shot him took his wallet, making it seem like a mugging. But when Lee heard the address, he had a bad feeling and got involved. He knew Frank was my guy, so he called me. That was hours after Brooklyn should have been on her way to work,”Gideon said.
I scrubbed a hand over my face, the weight of the unknown choking me. Normally, I was always the one in control: my emotions, my actions, my thoughts. Instead, I was raging inside, ready to break apart anything I needed to, to get Brooklyn back, to save her, to see that she wasn’t dead in a ditch somewhere.
“We know this is Lyle, right?”I said.
“There’s no way it’s anyone else,”Oliver added.
Gideon nodded. We all knew what was happening, even if the cops hadn’t done anything to protect Brooklyn from the beginning.
“I told Lee. He’s a good detective. He already has a bolo out for both Brooklyn and Lyle,”Gideon said.
“He’s not that good, Gideon. If he was, how is this even happening? How is Lyle not already behind bars or in the ground?”I demanded.
All three of my brothers looked at me critically. I knew I sounded a little manic, but I wasn’t wrong. Lyle had been running free for weeks. He’d already attempted to kill Brooklyn as soon as he could near her. The city police department did nothing but chase their tails as soon as they lost his trail. It was an incompetence I didn’t have the patience for and wouldn’t abide any longer.
“We can do better than this, on our own,”I said.
Gideon’s eyes narrowed critically, but Jaxon started to shake his head. They all knew exactly what I was thinking. We had never gone back into the underbelly once we had dug ourselves out, doing everything we could to save our family. But we came from a life, that transgressions like this against your people weren’t tolerated and were met with all the force necessary.
“I don’t think you mean that, Aiden,”Jaxon started to say.
“Of course I do. We should have done this before she even left the house.”
Ash stood in the middle of us, looking between our faces before holding up a hand, like she was in a classroom.“Can someone please explain to me what in the hell you’re all cryptically referring to?”
I looked pointedly at Jaxon. Of any of us, he was the most connected to our past, his father playing leader in our bad decisions. It would have to be up to him if he wanted to admit things to Ash.
“We know, or knew people, Ash. People that could work in the shadows and maybe help us find Brooklyn and Lyle,”Jaxon said.
“In the shadows? Like black ops or something?”Ash asked.
“Not the legal shadows,”I added.
Ash didn’t say anything, just nodded slowly until she moved to pierce Jaxon with her gaze.
“If you all care about her like you claim to, then you should be doing anything possible to find her,”she said, her voice harsh and determined.
“We will. Let us talk privately, Ash, ok?”Jaxon asked.
Gideon took Ash by the elbow and lead her toward the elevators. She was animated as she spoke, probably not liking that we were cutting her out of our plans. The last thing we needed was to pull someone else down into the darkness with us. None of us would go back there willingly, but saving Brooklyn was all we needed.
