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Frowning, he whipped around. “A safe? I don’t think so. Why?”
“Because I found a key.” She lifted up a small silver key.
He crossed the room, studying the key. “I’ve never seen that before.” He plucked it from her hand, turning it over in search for some clue as to what it would unlock.
Standing, Brooke wiped her hands on the thighs of her jean shorts then turned in a circle. She scanned the room with narrowed eyes. “If Matthew has a safe, it’d be in here. I doubt he’d hide it somewhere else in the building.”
He followed her line of vision, but nothing popped out as a hiding spot for some secret safe. “How many freaking secrets is my best friend keeping from me?”
“None.” Matthew’s hard tone turned him toward the doorway. “Dude. What the actual fuck? My sister is missing and you’re in here ransacking my office? For what? You should be out there trying to find her, or was everything you said about the two of you complete bullshit?”
The insult made the turmoil bubbling inside him boil over. He stormed over to Matthew and fisted the neck of his shirt in his hands, pushing into his personal space. “You have some nerve waltzing in here, questioning me. Questioning my motives. I’m in love with your sister and you don’t even seem to care she’s gone.”
Matthew’s eyes widened, his mouth fell open for a second before snapping shut. “I care. I care more than you’ll ever know. She’s my sister and she’s in danger. I got here as soon as I got your messages. But I can’t wrap my mind around what her being kidnapped has to do with you wrecking my office.”
Jude placed a hand on Cade’s shoulder, easing him back. “We need to stay calm.”
Brooke cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “Matthew, what’s the key for?”
Scowling, Matthew stormed over to Brooke and snapped the key from her hand then turned toward a framed picture on thewall, revealing a wall safe behind it. He opened the safe, grabbed a handful of papers, then dropped them on the desk. “There.”
Cade flipped through the papers. “What are these?”
“Information pertaining to the company.” All the anger had left his voice, leaving Matthew sounding exhausted. “Tax papers, bank accounts, licenses, liability insurance. Everything I had to figure out when I was starting up the company. If you’ll remember, we didn’t know what the hell we were doing. You were still getting your feet under you. I handled all this shit. Honestly, if it wasn’t for my dad helping me figure all this out, we wouldn’t have ever gotten off the ground.”
“Why hide it?” Cade asked, pissed about yet another aspect of his business he was unaware of.
Matthew snorted and lifted his hands before letting them fall to his side. “I was keeping it safe.”
A bank statement caught his attention, and he unburied the rest of the paper. The name Mountaintop Construction Co. was at the top of the paper with two names underneath.
Jenson and Matthew Metcalf.
The names were like a punch in the gut. Matthew was full of lies, and for the first time, he’d been caught red handed.
21
The houses got farther apart, and the crowd of trees grew thicker the longer Laura was in the car—a car she’d never seen before. Isaac had either bought a new one or stolen this one. She didn’t bother to ask which. He’d clearly gone over the deep end, and she wouldn’t put any erratic behavior past him.
Which only cranked up the terror clawing inside her.
She kept her gaze fixed out the passenger window. He’d taken back roads out of town, and now they wound higher and higher up the mountain. She searched her memory for anything that looked familiar, but nothing came to mind.
So much for escaping him and finding help. She had no phone and no sign of civilization anywhere around. Unless she got lucky and stumbled on a hidden cabin tucked in the forest, there were almost as many dangers waiting for her in the woods as there were with Isaac.
Almost.
A quick glance in his direction showed he still had the gun in his lap, the barrel pointed in her direction. She could try tosnatch it off his legs, but if she failed, she’d only ignite his anger further. Or cause an accident that could hurt the baby.
Think, think, think.
Isaac drove the sedan onto a dirt road, piquing her interest.
She straightened against the plush seat. Panic pitched high in her throat. She’d assumed since he hadn’t killed her, he planned to keep her around. Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe he just needed to take her somewhere off the beaten path before putting a bullet in her brain. “Where are we going?”
“Oh look, she speaks.” He snorted then aimed a sneer in her direction. “I like it better when you keep your mouth shut.”
“Too bad,” she shot back. He may hold a ton of power, but she’d never let him control her again. Never be the submissive woman who held her tongue. She may be terrified of what was about to happen, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear.
