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“You’re lucky I didn’t have a gun,” I told him in a voice that was completely devoid of emotion. “Because if I’d had access to one, your brains would be all over the floor.”
His body jerked at the sound of my voice, and he tried to lift his lids, but he must have had a concussion because he appeared to have difficulty keeping his eyes open. “Fuck. Piper, I can—”
“Explain?” I finished his sentence, cutting him off. “Ah, brother dear, I heard plenty of your explanation to Hymn.” Walking over to him, I put my foot on his chest and leaned down so our eyes locked. “Tell me where Cannon is.”
“No.”
“Wrong answer.” The foot on his chest went to his throat. He grasped my ankle with his hands when I put some of my weight on him. He made a gagging sound as I pressed down on his windpipe, but my brother wasn’t lacking in the muscle department. He lifted my foot and then shoved me away, making me fall on my ass a few feet away.
Scrambling to my feet, I moved back to his side. When he tried to sit up, I grabbed a heavy throw pillow and slammed it against his face, making him fall back once again. “Where is Cannon?” I shouted.
“Mexico!” Asher groaned.
“Where in Mexico?”
“Hit me again, Piper. Slap me. Punch me. Call me names. I’m your brother, I’m used to your temper.” He laughed, but I saw his mouth was full of blood when he grinned up at me. “But I’ll never tell you where that bastard is. He doesn’t deserve you.”
I crouched down beside him, disappointment and disgust rolling through me at just the sight of my big brother. “You’re the undeserving one, Asher. No, that’s a lie. You do deserve something, and it’s not the beating I so desperately want to give you. You should be in jail. Not only did you kidnap Cannon, which is a felony, by the way. But you knew about Smith drugging women for…how long?”
“I didn’t know for sure,” he said, swallowing hard.
“Somehow, I don’t think Mom and Dad will care if you knew ‘for sure.’ If you even suspected, then you should have spoken up, done something. Instead, you were part of the problem, not the solution. Who knows how many lives you could have saved.”
“He didn’t kill them, for fuck’s sake.”
“You think his victims don’t have trauma?” I slapped him across the face for being such an idiot. “You think they didn’t wake up wondering what happened, scared, unsure of where they were? Do you think they wondered until it drove them crazy if they’d done something wrong, something that would make anyone think they deserved being drugged and taken advantage of? Are you such a bastard that you didn’t give two shits if he hurt them?”
“I…”
“Here is a little lesson for you, Asher. If a woman is unable to say yes, then it’s always no. And if Smith needed to drug them to get them back to his apartment, then it was definitely a no. You saw what was happening, and you did nothing. In my eyes, you’re just as disgusting as he is.”
“I’m not like him!” he roared, sitting up.
I slapped him with the pillow again, making him fall back so hard his head hit the floor with a loud thump. “You knew, and you asked for his help to destroy my relationship with Cannon. But you can’t do anything to ruin what we have. No matter what you do, or how hard you try, he and I are forever. I will find him, and we are getting married on Saturday.” Tossing the pillow on the floor beside him, I felt my heart rip apart. “But if I ever see you again, I’ll fucking kill you.”
Chapter 5
Cannon
Her name was Erica, and Smith had been one of her “clients” for about three years. They’d had an arrangement before she’d had to move to Mexico, and he’d even helped her set up her new business across the border.
For a price.
There was always a fucking price.
Erica had access to certain drugs that my drummer liked to play around with. Ex-drummer, now, because that motherfucker was dead as soon as I got my hands on him.
I got all that information from Erica for a price, one I’d have to pay as soon as I got back to the apartment and had access to my online banking account. The five grand Smith or Asher, or both of them, had paid her was nothing to how much I was willing to give her to help me get back to Piper.
Fucking hell. Piper. She was probably miles beyond pissed at me. No doubt, she either wanted to kill me or call off the wedding at this point. The idea of losing her made me sweat, and I was twitchy as I sat on the sofa in Erica’s living room, waiting for her to finish the call to another one of her “clients” who she trusted to get me back across the border. I already had her offshore banking information. I’d wire the hundred thousand as soon as I opened my laptop. It was the promise I’d made, and I would keep.
And then I’d figure this shit out with Piper. I’d beg her forgiveness, sell my soul to her or the devil, or wherever the fuck she asked me to in order to keep her. No matter how long it took, I’d fix what I’d broken.
Once that miracle was complete, I would hunt down Smith’s sorry ass and bury him.
I clenched my hands into fists. Asher needed to be dealt with too, but if I touched him, that would only cause more issues with Piper. I couldn’t kill her brother. Not only would she leave me, but her parents would come for me. Liam was scary as fuck, but it was Gabriella I was more scared of.
After all my past fuckups, no one was going to believe me when I told them where I’d been and why. Erica had told me that the drugs she supplied to Smith didn’t immediately disappear from the bloodstream, but by the time I got home, there would be nothing left. No evidence of being drugged. If I was lucky, Piper would believe me, but the chances of anyone else accepting it as the truth were slim.
