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“Ah.” Gaige raised the notepad, jotting down something on the paper. “So, when you dated, was it before or after she was taken the first time?”
There it was. I’d known this moment was coming. Again, I looked at Slade. This time, I didn’t break away. “During. Lily was brought to my father’s house as a slave. I took care of her. Protected her while she was there. I fell in love with her.”
All three men seemed to lock up in shock. Their bodies stiffened and not a single eyelid blinked.
“I came here to escape the life I, myself, had been kidnapped into. My father killed my mom and stepfather when I was eight and raised me from there on out. The life I’ve led has been far from glamourous. It was downright hell until Lily. She changed things. Changed me.”
“I’ll fucking kill you.” Slade took a step forward, his arm reaching toward me. Blake caught him just before he reached the bed. “Mark my words,” he said, pointing his finger, “you’ll never get near my sister again for what you’ve done.”
“Try to stop me.” My voice was weak, but the threat was clear. “I love Lily and she loves me. No one will keep her away from me. Not even you, Slade.”
The tightening of his jaw was joined with the clenching of his fist as he shrugged Blake off with a hard jerk. “We’ll see about that.”
“We will. Have you noticed how unhappy she is? Have you been there to see? No, but I have. She wants me. She loves me, but refuses to try to make it work because of how much she loves you. She’s afraid to find happiness, Slade, all because she’s too focused on yours. How we met…I can’t change that. I don’t have any part in the trafficking, but yes, I was surrounded by people who did. Death wasn’t something I wanted, sorry. And death wasn’t something I was willing to let find your sister. That’s the only reason I’ve held off for so long. Do you not think I could have killed your men to get to her? It would have been so easy. Yet, I waited, bided my time. Me,” I growled. “I risked our happiness to give her time to adjust to life and make her safe. Now this? It’s nothing more than a slap in the face for the precautions I tried to lay out.”
The last words faded as my voice gave out from the rawness. I closed my eyes, only able to open them when Slade began talking again.
“You don’t have to worry about finding her anymore. Mr. Morgan will take care of that. I’m sure you can thank him later for taking care of your other problems, too.”
“I will not sit back and do nothing. Lily belongs to me,” I forced out. “And I’ll be damned if any of you are going to stop me from searching for her.”
A loud knock was followed by the door opening. The nurse paused, glancing at the three men. “I’m sorry, are you family?”
Gaige smiled and shook his head. “Police business,” he said, quickly flashing a badge. “We’re almost finished.”
“No, you’re finished now. Get out of my son’s room.”
I heard my father before I saw him. My stomach turned and my eyes jerked to Slade. All I could do was shake my head, a silent plea that I didn’t want it to play out like it was.
He grabbed Gaige’s jacket, but still stared at me. Something flashed behind his eyes and I knew he didn’t have the rage he’d projected toward me. He was scared about Lily, but he didn’t hate me entirely.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to step out of the room until we’re finished.” Gaige’s anger was visible in his words and the other man, Blake, was staring at my father like meal. All three eyed every movement he made, but my father appeared not to notice as he shook his head.
“It’s okay. I’ve got this.” I threw off my hardass look — the one that said I didn’t let anyone push me around. For seconds, he looked between all of us. Surprisingly, he stepped out. Gaige wheeled around, leaning close to Slade.
“This isn’t a real investigation, Mr. Roberts. Do you know the trouble I can get into if he reports this to my superiors?”
Slade kept his focus on me. “If it comes down to it, I’ll say I came to you to file a real report. Right now,” he said, walking toward me, “I want to know what’s going to happen.”
It was the perfect question. One I already had the answer to. “I go home,” I said, looking into his eyes. “If they have Lily, I get her and we escape. It’ll knock out my biggest suspicion of them taking her. But, if she isn’t there and I can’t find proof…”
Blake came closer to the bed. “That’s where I’ll come into play. I’ll start searching here. You’ll look there. In one week, I will show up at your residence. Let’s say…at two in the morning. You’re going to be outside waiting for me. From there, we will discuss what we know.”
My head shook. “You don’t even know where I live.”
His eyes grew cold while he crossed his arms over his chest. The long-sleeve black shirt hugged his wide shoulders tightly as he tried to stare me down. “Well, you can spit it out real quick, or you can waste an hour of my time while I search for it. Regardless, I will find it.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Pen,” I breathed out. Fuck, my eyes were so damn heavy. Why the hell was I sleeping so much? I needed to get out of here fast. I needed to get back home so I could see if my family had Lily. Or maybe, I’d luck out and learn the truth before…
“I’m ready when you are.” I read out the address from memory, keeping my voice low in case my father was somehow listening. If he knew I was working with these men, he’d kill me on the spot. Maybe that was his plan anyway. Did he know I was the one responsible for two of my uncle’s deaths?
Blake pushed the notepad into his pocket, stepping back deeper into the room. Gaige followed and I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Slade, coming even closer, wiped away any care I may have had toward the tracker.
“You say you protected my sister while she was there. How so? By fucking her? By using her as your own personal sex slave?”
Slowly, I rose to sit up straighter, ready to crush his throat in my good hand. Pain flared, making my jaw clench, but I refused to back down. “If you ever say anything like that about her again, brother or not, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Answer the question, Zain.”
