CHAPTER NINETEEN

After that unceremonious edict from MBI, Brent did not spend that night in the jail cell with MaKayla. But he stayed the night outside of her cell, seated on the floor, his long legs outstretched, his back to the bars. MaKayla was seated on the floor inside of the cell with her back jammed up against the bars too. They were on different sides of the lock, but they were effectively back-to-back. Brent’s men were both astonished by their boss’s actions. They always viewed their chief as a coldhearted lawman first. They were shocked by the depths of his love for his wife.

“Who do you think took that video?” MaKayla asked him.

But that was an odd question to Brent. Why would she put it that way? “You make it sound as if the video is real.”

MaKayla hesitated. “Gemma said it was.”

But her hesitation didn’t sit right with Brent. “Did she tell you what was on it?”

“No.”

But Brent knew his wife. “Did you ask?”

“No.” Then MaKayla frowned. “Why should I? It’s not the truth. I don’t want to hear any more lies. I’m just tired of this, Brent. I can’t understand why this is happening to me. I just don’t understand it.”

Brent leaned his head back. He felt her pain. “It’ll work out eventually.”

“But when is eventually? That’s what scares me.”

That was what was scaring Brent too, although he wasn’t going to admit it. “What I don’t understand is why Darren McGuire would be willing to lie under oath like that? What’s in it for him? Your position maybe?”

“Maybe,” said MaKayla.

“Is he ambitious like that?”

“Not the Darren I know. I’ve always viewed him as a good team player. I had no problems with him whatsoever. That’s why I promoted him to my deputy.”

“You’ve got some problems with him now.”

MaKayla nodded as a sad look came over her face. “Yes, I do.”

Brent pushed harder against those bars. “Don’t worry, babe. I will get you out of this mess they’ve gotten you into if it’s the last thing I do.”

“I appreciate it. You don’t know how much. But please go home and get some rest, Brent. It makes no sense for both of us to be suffering.”

“I told you I’m going home when you go home. I still mean that.”

“But you said MBI is already here. And they’ve issued a warning already.”

“I’m not in your cell. I’m outside of it. And as the duly elected chief of this police department I can stay here all night long if I want to. And I want to. And they can’t say a damn thing about it.”

MaKayla smiled. They had their issues, but he was always a man she could depend on. “Thank you, Brent. To be honest, I’d be terrified without you here with me. To be honest.”

Brent knew it too. That was the main reason he was there. “We’ll work it out,” he said. And neither one of them was sure if he meant her situation, their marriage, or both.

“What about June? We’ve got to at the very least tell him something.”

“Not yet,” said Brent. “Not until you get out of this mess. Frankie and Ash are doing a great job keeping all the young people away from their social media or phone calls from friends. They even took their cellphones. Which they didn’t mind because they’re having a ball with Ashley. She’s keeping them plenty busy.”

MaKayla smiled. “That’s Ash. All the kids in the family just love her. To them she’s a kid too. She’s a wonderful aunt to them.”

“I’m hoping you’ll be completely exonerated before we have to tell June anything,” said Brent. “I also hope those rumors about her stepping out on Monk aren’t true.”

“I heard them, too, but I don’t believe’em,” said MaKayla. “Ashley loves Frankie too much.”

“Yeah, but that sister of mine has always been a handful. I’ve had to bail her out of situations you would not believe. She was hooking up with the worst guys imaginable. I just hope she’s changed like you and Pop seems to think she has.”

“She has,” MaKayla said firmly. “It’ll break Monk’s heart if she’s cheating on him. Ash wouldn’t do that to him.”

Brent had too many crazy experiences with Ashley to rule anything out with that kid sister of his.

But then MaKayla exhaled again as her own situation came back into focus.

“I’m going to get you out of this mess. I promise you that,” Brent assured her again, and MaKayla accepted his reassurance.

But it would be nearly seventeen more hours of waiting before they would get word that Gemma’s appeal was successful, MaKayla was granted an excessively high half-a-million-dollar bail, and she was free to go.

For now.

Brent easily put up the bail and the family wanted to celebrate. But Brent and MaKayla just wanted to go home.