“He’s here,” Broadway says, watching the street through the window. “Want me to go get him?”
“I think he’ll manage without assistance.” My eyes swing upstairs where Hailey’s been sleeping for four hours.
I wrung so many orgasms out of her she couldn’t lift her head off the pillow and she fell asleep before I got dressed.
It’s good she didn’t come down with me to carry on looking through the evidence… it’d probably fucking kill her.
Alex wasn’t the only familiar face among the three hundred and fifty pictures. I’ve been stewing for hours, imagining all the ways I’ll torture Vaughn for endangering Hailey’s life. For the lies he told and the strings he pulled behind the scenes.
Two minutes pass before a shy knock echoes through the loft. Koby flings the door open, letting Vaughn inside. He looks worse than he did at Delta: ashen skin, bloodshot eyes, slumped shoulders… little confidence left in his veins.
“Where’s Hailey?” he asks, stumbling inside. “Does she—”
“She knows,” I cut him off, pointing out a chair. “Sit.”
With visible reluctance, he does. “Where is she? Don’t you think she should hear this from me?”
I scoff, twirling the crystal glass on the armrest. “You thought I’d let you dump this on me? No fucking way am I cleaning up your mess, but before I wake her, I want to know one thing.”
I tell Ryder to bring the laptop, find the picture that’s been stripping me of my sanity for four hours and turn the screen Vaughn’s way. Leaning out of my seat, I rest both elbows on my knees, stewing beneath the artificial calm façade.
“Did you know where Hailey was when you cuffed me?”
He stares at a picture of himself in some dark alleyway, arm-in-arm with Octavius Grey and… Blaze Noretto. Seconds tick by as Vaughn pales further, covering his mouth with a clammy hand.
“Did you?” I repeat. “Did you send Noretto after Matthews’ daughter, so he’d take Hailey there?”
“I… I couldn’t hide her from your father without help,” he squeaks. Every word boils my blood further. “When Matthews called to say he was bringing Hailey home, that you had been at Lakeside with her the whole time—”
He falls silent when I jump to my feet, pull my gun out and aim it between his eyes. “I should fucking shoot you,” I grit out. “Do you have any idea what you put her through? How fucking scared she was when I got there?”
He hides his face in both hands, a powerful shudder shaking his shoulders. “I swear… I didn’t deal with Noretto. I asked Octavius for help but I had no idea Hailey was with Blaze until we found Matthews… I—”
“Shut up,” I clip, my insides shaking like an uncoiled spring. “Hailey deserves to hear this from you. And I fucking hope she doesn’t find it in her to forgive you.”
I holster my gun, shepherding the wrath burning my veins as I climb the stairs and enter the bedroom. She’s still asleep, a veil of her hair scattered across the pillow, framing her calm face.
She won’t stay this calm much longer.
I spent hours watching her sleep at Lakeside when I broke into her room in the dead of night, and many more hours on the monitors at the safe house. She’s fascinating no matter what she does. Even comatose, she’s absolutely breathtaking.
I crouch by the bed, running a gentle hand across her cheek. “Hailey… wake up, pretty girl.”
It takes a few tries before her eyes flutter. “Hey,” she whispers on a soft sigh, untangling herself from the comforter as she sits up. “Is he here?”
“He is.” I grip her wrist, pulling her hand to my lips. “I found something while you were sleeping. You should hear what Vaughn has to say but remember I’m always here for you. I’ll get you through this.”
Her brows furrow and her pulse quickens under my thumb. “How bad is it?” she whispers, tucking her hair behind one ear.
This is one of those moments where a lie would come in handy, but I’ve lied enough. She deserves better.
“It’s bad. So bad that I’ll only let him live if you tell me I can’t fucking kill him. Whatever you decide, I’ve got you, Hailey. I’ll make sure you’re okay.”
Her chin wobbles but she curls her lips into a small smile. “You can’t kill my dad, Carter.”
“You haven’t heard what he’s done.”
She cups my face, stamping a cute, soft kiss on my head. “It doesn’t matter. If you want me to be okay, you can’t kill him.”
I catch her lips with mine, soothing her mind the only way I know how. It’s temporary. The calmness won’t last longer than a few seconds, but those few seconds are important.
“Come on, he’s waiting downstairs.”
She scrambles out of bed, pulling my hoodie over her head, and follows me as we descend the stairs. Vaughn watches her every move, tears springing to his eyes, shoulders visibly shaking.
“Hailey…” He rises to his feet, stepping forward, but I grab my gun, halting him in place.
“Don’t,” I snap. “She won’t let me kill you, but I can wound you. If you even think about going anywhere near her, I will pull the trigger.”
He balls his fists, looking at his daughter like he expects her to defend him.
The fucking audacity.
Hailey does nothing, putting all her trust in me not her father. The only indication she’s not happy with my threat is the way she tenses beside me. But she doesn’t stop me.
“You don’t get to act like a concerned father,” I continue. “Not after the hell you put her through. Sit andtalk. You have one chance to tell her exactly what happened from start to finish.”
I almost hear the frustration screaming inside his head. Heaving out a breath, he settles back into the armchair, grinding his molars. “I’m so sorry,” he begins. “I hope you believe that, Hailey, because I truly am sorry. It’s no excuse, but…” He inhales deeply, finding a shred of courage to look her in the eye. “When your mother got sick, I lost my way. My salary didn’t cover her medical bills and I was desperate to save her.”
“So you made a deal with Octavius,” Hailey says, crossing her arms. “You did the one thing you swore you’d never do.”
“I loved her,” he says simply. “I couldn’t imagine my life without her.” He forces the wobble out of his voice before continuing, “Her oncologist mentioned some experimental treatments, but I couldn’t afford them. You’re lucky you don’t remember how she suffered.”
He pinches his nose, briefly glancing my way before focusing on his daughter. “Right around the time your mom was admitted to hospital, I made a breakthrough in my case against Octavius. I knew he was heavily involved in human trafficking, but it took months to find concrete proof.”
He keeps talking, explaining how, instead of using the evidence to put Octavius behind bars, he made him a deal.
Vaughn promised he’d facilitate Grey’s growing business, which coincidentally aligned perfectly with Noretto’s new venture. It’s a deal as old as time: immunity in exchange for cash, which Vaughn used to try and save his wife.
Obviously, that didn’t work. His wife died and word about the cleanest cop in the northern hemisphere accepting bribes somehow got out. It’s unclear how it happened.
To be perfectly honest, I don’t exactly give a shit how, though given who found out, I have ideas. Rhett’s a cunning bastard. I guess he was looking for an angle on Vaughn since the day he arrived in Ohio.
And he found one.
“Rhett reached out to me a few months after your mom passed away,” Vaughn continues, his eyes not veering from Hailey’s face. “I was devastated. I wanted revenge but there was no one to blame… so I found a way to channel my anger…” He glances at me, wiping the sweat beading at his hairline with the back of his trembling hand. “I channeled it all into your father. Call it payback for old times’ sake.”
“Rhett killed your partner, didn’t he?”
“Is that what he told you?” he scoffs, eyeing the glass of whiskey in my hand. “It all happened thirty-five years ago, Carter. I didn’t have a partner back then. I wasn’t even a cop.”
I jut my chin at Koby, motioning at the drinks cabinet. “Get him a whiskey.” No matter what his reasons are he doesn’t deserve forgiveness, but I can spare a glass of my finest to keep his tongue loose.
Hailey stirs beside me, pulling her feet under her butt and nuzzling a touch closer to me.
“You want wine, pretty girl?”
A nod is all I get.
She listens to Vaughn’s confessions in silence, and once again I’m filled with so much fucking pride. I have no idea where she gets her strength from.
“It was Grandad, wasn’t it?” she asks once Broadway’s handed out fresh drinks. “That’s who Rhett killed.”
“Yes. It’s a story for another day, though. It doesn’t matter how and why I chose Rhett, what matters is that I made him my outlet. I needed someone to blame for my world falling apart so I dug up the old grudge and moved to Ohio.”
“You said we needed a change of scenery.”
“We did. I did,” Vaughn admits, his tone resigned, eyes darting away from his daughter. “You hated the idea.”
He keeps going, telling us how he started building a case against Rhett the minute he landed in Ohio, that pinning my father became his obsession, something he used to channel his rage and despair. His voice wobbles a few times, then starts to break when he delivers another blow.
He drops his teary eyes down, mirroring his next words. “I couldn’t look at you, Hailey. You reminded me of your mom so much… every time I looked at you, I relived her death.”
She grabs my hand, digging her nails into my flesh like that small connection is the only thing keeping her together.
“I spent as little time at home as I could, working myself to the ground. The months ticked over, but I couldn’t find enough evidence to secure an arrest warrant, let alone put Rhett behind bars.” He downs the last of his whiskey, holding the empty glass in his shaking hand until Broadway takes it for a refill.
“When did you realize Rhett had the pictures?” I ask, steering the conversation back on track.
I want facts not a sob story.
“I was drunk one evening,” he says, leaning back in his seat. Looks like the amber liquid cruising down his throat is working. “I didn’t think I had anything to lose so I went to see him. I told him he should watch his back… he showed me the pictures.” He heaves a heavy sigh. “I was ready to give up, pack our bags and move elsewhere, start over again, but then I got handed a golden ticket. See, after I left Florida, Octavius found himself a new doormat.”
His voice grows thick again and I know he’s about to divulge the worst part of this story. My fingers flex around Hailey’s, the only consolation I can offer. She squeezes right back, inhaling an inconspicuous, calming breath.
“Another cop, he had a daughter. Young little thing. Barely sixteen. And Octavius had a man in his crew who started using. It caused him a lot of trouble.”
“Was it Alex?” Hailey asks, her tone void of emotions.
I’m not sure if she’s this fucking brave, or just in shock, but this lack of emotional reaction isn’t her. She’s not a cold person. She always feels.
Right now, she’s blocking out the meaning behind Vaughn’s words.
“Yes, it was Alex,” he confirms in a stilted voice. “All I know is that, one night, the cop wouldn’t help with something, so the drugged-up idiot kidnapped his daughter. He locked her somewhere and—” He chokes on the sentence, gouging his fist into his eyes. “He raped and battered her to death.”
“And you introduced that fucking psychopath to your teenage daughter,” I spit out, my pulse skyrocketing.
“He got clean,” Vaughn wails in defense. “When Octavius told me what Alex did, I saw an opportunity… I was tired of failing, scared of what your father would make me do in exchange for keeping those pictures buried. I needed a win, and I wanted that win to be Rhett.”
“So you wiped Alex’s background and blackmailed him into working my father,” I say, flexing my fingers to stop them grabbing the gun and emptying the clip into Vaughn’s head. “Was Aalyiah his way in from the start?”
“No… Of course not. I didn’t know about your sister’s involvement for a long time.”
“That’s what he meant,” Hailey whispers. “When Alex said I was his insurance policy… he was going to use me as leverage if things went wrong.” She wiggles her hand out of my grasp, snatching her wine glass. “Did you know we were dating? Did you know what he was doing to me?”
Vaughn shakes his head. “Not until that night.”
“We were sneaking around for months!” she snaps, the anger in her tone quickening my pulse. “How did you not notice?!”
“I… I didn’t pay attention, Hailey. I avoided you for so long I was glad whenever Alex came over and I didn’t have to sit alone with you. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I was riddled with grief; I couldn’t see any light.”
“He abused me for months,” she spits. “I let him because you weren’t there. I had no one. You didn’t talk to me. You didn’t care and Alex… at first, he was nice. He had time.”
Vaughn stares at her, guilty tears running down his cheeks. It’s clear he regrets his choices and, while I understand grief, he wasn’t the only one grieving. He wasn’t alone. He had a daughter. A daughter he alienated because she reminded him of his late wife. A daughter he left in the claws of a rapist and killer.
“He talked to me,” Hailey continues softly. “He bought me pretty things, called me pretty names… I didn’t feel so lonely when he was around. It was fucked up later, but even when he only stopped by to have his dick sucked, he was there. I wasn’t alone.”
A pained sob almost rips Vaughn’s chest wide open. It’s not often you see a man of his stature break down. The weight of the pain he’s caused his only daughter is crushing him… and there’s still more sinister shit for him to confess.
“I wish I could turn back time,” he whispers, wiping his face with both hands. “I swear, I never meant to hurt you.”
“Too late,” she snaps, finishing her wine.
Broadway doesn’t miss a beat, refilling her glass as if he’s her personal bartender.
“So, when you sent Alex to retrieve the evidence from Rhett, you weren’t doing a noble thing,” Hailey continues. “You weren’t trying to send a bad man behind bars. No, you were trying to cover your own ass. Then Rhett found out he got screwed over, Alex died, I lost my memories…” She frowns, tapping her nails along her glass. “Did you know Alex gave me the evidence?”
He nods, weighing his next words. “He called me that night of your accident. You were in the car with him. He said Rhett’s men were after him and that if anything happened, you’d know where the evidence was.”
I wonder if that’s how my father found out. Did he get his hands on a recording of their conversation and discover Hailey was the key? He couldn’t have had a bug on Alex’s phone. If he did, he’d have known he was working him much sooner.
“So you hid Hailey at Lakeside and lied through your teeth the whole time she was there,” I say. “What about Matthews? How does he play into this?”
“Matthews didn’t know shit. Well, he knew Alex was working Rhett, and that Hailey had the evidence, but he had no idea who Alex really was, what he was there to retrieve, or that I was blackmailing him.”
“Keep going,” I urge. “Tell her about the night she ran from Lakeside.”
Hailey shifts beside me, tensing like a drawn bowstring. “What about that night?”
Vaughn takes a moment, swirling the amber liquid in his glass while he gathers the courage to continue. “Matthews called me after you told him about the flashbacks and Nash.” He shoots me a pointed look. “I knew that Nash was someone from Rhett’s crew and I panicked… If he found you at Lakeside, I had no hope of keeping you safe for however long it took for your memories to come back.”
“You motherfucker,” Broadway clips, apparently losing his patience. “You fucking piece of shit. You staged the kidnapping?!” And he’s on his feet, gun in hand.
“Calm down,” I clip, gesturing for him to stand down. “Let him finish.”
“I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Vaughn utters. “The ground was slipping from under my feet.” He meets Hailey’s eyes. “I wanted to make sure you’d be safe. Had I known where—”
“Get. To. The. Point,” I seethe. “What did you do?”
He swallows hard, eyes idling between Hailey and me. “I called Octavius because he’s in those pictures too. If you look closely, there are many powerful people in the background. Not just mafia, but politicians, CEOs, army generals, celebrities… He didn’t know those pictures existed until then. I begged him to hide Hailey. I knew he’d most likely kill me once he had the evidence, but that wasn’t important… what I didn’t anticipate, was that he’d involve Noretto.”
And crack.
Hailey’s disturbing composure shatters in an instant. It’s not as spectacular as I expected. She’s not yelling, cursing, or panicking. She’s simply done. So fucking disappointed I can feel the hurt radiating off her. Her cheeks turn white, tears spring from her eyes, and the most heartbreaking sob fills the loft.
I reach to grab her, curl her into me and hold her while she cries, but that initial reaction doesn’t last. My fingers grasp thin air.
She bolts upright. “Matthews is dead because of you! His daughter is dead because of you! I spent every waking minute in that mansion scared I’d end up just like them. Blaze’s men threated to rape me, lashed me down with whips and belts, they almost fucking broke me!” She hurls her glass at Vaughn.
It shatters against the right side of his face, leaving a gaping wound that immediately leaks blood.
“Hailey, I—”
“Shut up!” she booms. “Don’t you dare make excuses! You were so scared of failure you couldn’t see you were failing me.” She turns, grabs my glass, and sends it flying after the first. “You lost your wife when Mom died. I lost both parents!”
“Oh shit,” Broadway snaps. He snatches his gun at lightning speed, plastering himself beside the window he’s been looking out of for the past ten minutes. “Sorry to interrupt, but fuck, Carter. Your father’s here.”
I’m beside Broadway in a flash, looking to check how many goons Rhett’s brought with him. Confusion twists my gut when I see it’s just him and Apollo. They’re armed and Rhett’s got murder on his mind if the way he strolls toward the building is any indication.
Instead of a Glock or a Revolver like he usually carries, he’s holding a fucking tommy gun.
“Ryder,” I clip. “Time to disappear. Keep the evidence safe.”
He starts unplugging his hardware, shoving it all into a large duffel bag, and Broadway rushes over to help.
“How the fuck did he find out we’re here?” Koby asks, the barrel of his gun aimed at the door. “You think he knows we have the evidence?”
“Yeah. Looks like he’s been keeping tabs on him.” I nudge my chin at Vaughn, who’s still staring at his heaving daughter.
She’s no longer yelling, still as a statue, her eyes following my every move while I check my clip’s loaded.
“He probably has a tracker on your car,” I tell Vaughn.
“Or a bug on your phone,” he whispers.
“I didn’t tell anyone we’ve got the evidence.”
“You told me. You didn’t call me from a burner this morning, Carter.”
The color leaves my face, in stark contrast with the blood still oozing from the hole in Vaughn’s cheek.
He’s right. I was shocked, fucking seething at the sight of the cleanest cop in the history of America accepting bribes that I pulled out my phone, not the burner.
That explains how Rhett got here less than half an hour after Vaughn. He heard our conversation… I can only imagine what’s been going through his head.
Fuck! “You didn’t bother checking Apollo’s phone bug since we came back, did you?” I snap at Ryder.
We would’ve known they were coming if a shred of anyone’s attention had been on something other than the evidence.
He shakes his head, guilt marring his expression. “No… I—”
I wave him off before he gets going. It’s way too late for apologies and I should haves. “Get moving.”
Koby gets into the elevator, sliding the metal cage shut, determination etched into his face. “I’ll wait for your call.”
“Don’t get caught.”
“Don’t fucking die,” he counters, nothing south of his head visible. Two seconds later, it’s not even that.
Hailey sways on her feet. The onslaught of revelations and the fear cinching her chest at the prospect of facing my father makes her knees weak. She’s paler than curdled milk, her lips parted, wide eyes trained on the door.
I bet she’s recalling the only image of Rhett she has: covered in blood and fresh from a kill. She’s a tough girl but my father fills her with fear unlike anything else.
“Hailey.” I grasp her chin, forcing her eyes on me. “Look at me. I won’t let him anywhere near you. You trust me, don’t you?”
“Yes, but—”
“None of that. No buts. I’m here and you’re safe. Go upstairs. Your gun’s in the nightstand drawer, fully loaded. Grab that and don’t come down until I tell you, understood?”
Her white teeth sink into her bottom lip, her uncertainty fading and turning to determination as she bobs her head.
“Good girl. Go.”
She scrambles away, her small feet thudding up the stairs. The bedroom door closes and, simultaneously, the front door bursts open, hitting the wall with an almighty clang.
Apollo is greeted by three gun barrels pointed at his head.
“This will work out better for you if you drop your gun,” I say, sliding my finger onto the trigger. “As I’m sure you recall, I’m a much better shot than you.”
“Because I taught you everything you know, you ungrateful son of a bitch!” Rhett booms, elbowing his way inside the loft, his tommy gun pointing down. “You better have a good reason why you told this scum you found the evidence before you told me.” His gaze roams the whole place, sweeping every nook and cranny before reaching the first floor.
The second his eyes land on Hailey, a deranged, twisted smile curls his lips. “There’s the troublemaking slut.” He casts a long glance at Apollo. “Drag her down here.”
“Take one fucking step and it’ll be your last,” I say, aiming between Rhett’s eyes while my men’s guns stay trained on Apollo. “Calm the fuck down and let’s talk. I seem to be missing some information. Like who it was you executed at the warehouse before you sent Babyface after Alex?”
Now I have his attention. His and Apollo’s. While Rhett looks positively stunned, Apollo looks relieved…
Rhett’s eyes narrow, surprise crossing his features before he shakes it off, masking other emotions. Too little, too late. I already know I’m barking up the right tree, and I don’t miss that scrutinizing, hateful stare of his shooting upstairs again.
He knows Hailey saw him. And he knows it’s only a matter of time before I find out what really happened.
“I should’ve killed that bitch when I had the chance.”
There’s a soft thud upstairs as if Hailey braced against the glass wall above my head. I have an order on the tip of my tongue: Broadway, go check on Hailey, but I can’t risk Rhett firing the tommy gun the second Broadway turns his back on him.
