Lorenzo pops his head into the den where I’m playing with Kat and the kids. “Nathan and Drake want to see us at their office, sunshine.”
“Oh.” I bite my lip and cast an anxious glance at Kat.
“Drake says its good news,” he assures me.
Kat squeezes my arm. “And Lorenzo won’t let anything bad happen.”
Less than an hour later, I’m seated next to Lorenzo in Drake James’s office. Anxiety and trepidation shudder up my spine, but Lorenzo squeezes my hand, and I’m reminded that he and the James brothers are on my side.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Nathan says as he and Drake walk in.
“You said you have some good news?” Lorenzo asks.
“Some very good news. We found the sister,” Nathan answers with a smirk.
“The sister? The one you told me about? The one who disappeared?” I ask Lorenzo. “What does she have to do with anything?”
Lorenzo nods but keeps his focus on Nathan. “You found her? How?”
“One of my new clients back in New York happens to be the best hacker in the country. She found her for me. Michaela Mulcahy is now Callie Stretton, and she lives in Nevada.”
“And did you manage to speak to her? Did she tell you what happened? Has Jake been covering for his big brother all these years?” Lorenzo asks.
Drake clears his throat. “How about we let her answer that herself?”
“Herself?” I gasp. “You mean she’s here?” I grip Lorenzo’s hand tighter. I’m not sure
I want to meet Brad and Jake’s sister. What if she’s as awful as they are?
Lorenzo squeezes my hand in return. “I’m right here, sunshine,” he assures me, then turns his attention back to Drake. “She was willing to come here after hiding for so long? Why?”
“She’s an advocate for women’s rights. She runs some charity in Nevada. I gave her an overview of the situation and she was keen to help. She’s on the level, I swear.”
“You want to meet her?” Lorenzo asks me.
“Do you think she can help us?”
“I think she might have some information that we could use to keep Jake off your back until I find a more permanent solution,” he replies. I don’t ask what his permanent solution is—I already know. I make a mental note to remind him that he can’t go around killing cops.
“Then yes, I’d like to meet her.”
“Brad and Jake abused her too, Mia,” Nathan says. “Her motives align with ours, I promise you that.”
They abused her? Their own sister? I swallow down a bubble of anxiety as Drake leaves the room. A few seconds later, he comes back with a woman who looks to be in her early thirties and is wearing the coolest pair of purple boots I have ever seen in my life.
She chews on her lip, and I feel her nervous energy from across the room. I guess she has even more reason to be anxious about this meeting than I do.
“Callie?” I say with as wide a smile as I can muster.
“Mia, right?” She gives me a faint smile in return.
“Yes.” I instinctively jump up from my seat and pull her into a hug. Thankfully, she’s a hugger too, and she hugs me right back. “Thank you so much for coming.”
She laughs nervously, tucking a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. “Anything I can do to save any woman from those toxic pieces of shit is my pleasure.”
The sadness in her eyes makes me want to cry. I didn’t have any siblings, but Kat was like a sister to me growing up. She has a brother, Leo, and he was always kind of an asshole, but I can’t comprehend how anyone could hurt their own sister.
When introductions have been made and Drake’s secretary has provided everyone with a hot drink, the four of us wait for Callie to speak.
“I guess I’m the one with all of the answers then?” she says with a wry laugh.
“We have some for you too,” Nathan tells her.
“You said Brad is dead, right?” she asks.
He gives her a curt nod.
“Good riddance to that piece of shit,” she mutters.
Lorenzo leans forward in his chair. “Can you tell us what happened to you, Callie?”
She takes a sip of her coffee and rests the mug on her thigh. “That sick fuck beat me and raped me,” she says matter-of-factly, as though she’s told this story many times.
“Brad?” Lorenzo asks.
“No.” She shakes her head. “Jake.”
“Jake?” Lorenzo frowns.
“Yeah, I told my parents, and they both just let it happen,” she says with a shrug. “He was like our dad’s golden boy, and he got away with murder—probably literally in the case of our mom.”
“You think it was Jake who killed your mom?” Nathan asks, while I listen in shock.
“I wouldn’t put it past him. He was a sick, twisted fuck.”
I squeeze Lorenzo’s hand and try to stop my entire body from shaking.
“Jake? Not Brad?” Lorenzo asks again.
“The semen found on Janice Mulcahy’s body belonged to Jake,” Nathan cuts in. “We got access to all the sealed files.”
Holy crapballs. What the hell kind of family did I marry into?
“How old was Jake then, like fifteen?” Lorenzo asks.
Nathan nods. “That’s why his files were sealed too.”
I fight the urge to be sick. “Semen? You mean Janice? Brad and Jake’s mom?” Lorenzo squeezes my hand tighter. “So she was abusing Jake? Having sex with him?”
Callie snorts. “He was raping her too. I told you, he’s a twisted fuck.” How is she so calm about all this?
Lorenzo takes a deep breath to compose himself before he speaks again. “What happened when you were thirteen?”
“I got pregnant. Best thing that ever happened to me,” she says with a derisive laugh. “That’s when people started to believe me. Child services whipped me out of there and I never looked back. I found out about my mom’s death when I was seven months along, and I haven’t seen a single one of those fuckers since.”
“What happened to your baby?” I ask.
She smiles softly. “He was adopted by a great family. He’s doing really well. Just finished college. I don’t see him, but I get updates.”
I return her smile, glad that she seems to take comfort in that.
“Did you know that Mike Mulcahy wasn’t your father?” Nathan asks her.
“Not back then. I didn’t find that out until a few years ago.”
“Who was your father?” Lorenzo asks. I can’t believe I had no idea about any of Brad’s messed-up past. “He have anything to do with how hard it was to access those records?”
“Yep. Seems my dear old mom had an affair with a guy named Foster Carmichael,” Callie replies.
Lorenzo frowns. “Why do I know that name?”
“He was a big deal in New York in the nineties and early 2000s,” Nathan explains. “Before he started pissing off the wrong people. But back then he was a big fish with a lot of government pull. Family values were a major foundation of his campaigns. He couldn’t afford the scandal if word ever got out that he’d had an affair and a kid with a married woman, so he had the whole thing buried deep.”
“I figure good old Mike knew all along that I wasn’t his kid, which was why he allowed Jake to do what he did,” Callie adds. “And my mom was bullied by him her whole life.”
“Where does Brad fit into this though?” I ask, finally finding my voice. “Jake always seemed a little afraid of him.”
“I guess he was.” Callie shrugs. “Brad was always a bully too. He was the one person Jake could never push around, and while Brad didn’t actively participate in any of the shit Jake did to our mom and me …” She shakes her head.
“He didn’t stop it either. And he was the one person who could have exposed Jake’s secrets.” Drake finishes for her.
Callie nods. “Exactly.”
“But what does all this mean?” I ask. “Callie, you can never let Jake know who you are now. You’d be putting yourself at risk, and maybe even your son too.”
“My son is very well protected, I assure you. And while I have no desire to see that piece of shit again, he has the entire Boston police force on his side. Oh yeah, I’ve kept tabs on him. If he wants to pin Brad’s murder on you, he won’t stop until that’s what he’s done. I will happily do whatever I need to if it means preventing him from ruining your life the way he tried to ruin mine.” She pulls a brown envelope from her purse and hands it to Nathan. “But I hope this is enough and that it never has to come to that.”
Nathan slides the envelope across his desk. “This is Michaela Mulcahy’s written statement of everything that happened to her and her mom, and it’s sure as hell gonna be enough to get Jake to back down.”
I lean back in my chair, my entire body trembling as her words sink in. I thought I knew Brad and Jake. And I knew they weren’t good men, but now that I know the true extent of the things they’re capable of …
“I will never let him anywhere near you again, Mia,” Lorenzo says, his voice calm and reassuring.
I swallow the huge knot of anxiety balled in my throat. I know I’m safe with Lorenzo. He’d protect me from harm even if it meant hurting himself, but if Jake is determined to have me arrested for murder—one that I actually committed—I have no idea how he can stop that from happening. Not unless he can persuade Jake to drop it.
“So we confront him with the information and warn him that if he doesn’t stay the fuck away from Mia, we’ll make sure Michaela’s statement goes public?” Lorenzo’s question is met with nods of approval from Drake and Callie.
“I’ll go to trial to see that sick fuck suffer if I have to,” Callie adds.
“Don’t do anything stupid, buddy,” Nathan warns Lorenzo. “I can speak with him. Lay it all out on the line right here in my office.”
“That sounds like a good plan.” I don’t want Lorenzo getting himself into trouble.
Lorenzo turns to me. “No, tesoro. I will look him in the eyes when I threaten his life if he ever comes anywhere near you again. It’s not up for negotiation.”
Callie grins. “I wish I could be there to see it too.”
“So, it’s settled then? You’ll speak to him yourself?” Nathan asks Lorenzo. “And I mean speak.”
“I’ll be good. I’ll take Dante and Max,” he replies with a hint of a smirk.
Drake laughs. “He’s gonna shit his pants.”
“Good.” Callie stands and sets her coffee mug down on the table beside her. “I have to catch that plane back if I’m gonna make my meeting later.”
“Of course. Thank you so much for coming, Ms. Stretton,” Nathan says, standing to escort her out.
“Thank you for flying me here on your fancy private jet,” she says with a chuckle. “Not every day a girl gets to see one of them.”
I jump up and give her another impromptu hug. “Thank you so much, Callie. For everything.”
“My pleasure, honey. I hope he leaves you in peace now.” I smile at her, trying to think of something appropriate to say back, but she winks at me. “I found my own peace a long time ago, don’t you worry about me.”
Nathan returns to the office after escorting her out and grabs his coat. “If you don’t need me for anything else, I have a whole fuckload of shit to deal with in New York.”
“Thanks for everything, compagno.” Lorenzo wraps the other man in a hug. “I owe you.”
Nathan hugs him back. “You will never owe me, buddy, and you know it.”
