CHAPTER SIX

A few days later

– LEONTINE –

I growl in frustration and click away the few files I just went through. We’ve received all the reports from the homicide case, and there’s no evidence, no fingerprints, no freaking nothing to take us a step in the direction of the killer.

Over the past few days, I’ve also been searching for any kind of connection of the similarities in other cases. There have been a few cases that were flagged, but when I dove into the details, I couldn’t link them to the same perpetrator. We’re having a meeting with the four of us later this afternoon to talk things through.

The other case we’re working on, Veloz’s teammate Presley who is not so dead, is turning out just as frustrating. We managed to find a visual of Presley using Seymour Wallace’s identity. Veloz and I were going to head over to Seymour’s place and bring him in.

It’s as if he knew we were coming; he was nowhere to be found and hasn’t surfaced since. Weird because he didn’t take anything with him. All Seymour’s things, phone, personal stuff, and such, are still at his home. As if he simply walked out into nothing.

“It’s going to take a long-ass time if you’re going to check every crime involving stab wounds,” Sully states as he takes a seat across from me.

I glare at him and snap, “Sitting here doing nothing won’t solve the case either.”

The corner of his mouth twitches. “Okay, I earned that one.”

He gets to his feet and I barely manage to get my fingers out of the way when he closes my laptop. “You need a break. Come on, we’re going out.”

I tap my phone to check the time. “Veloz has a meeting with Archer. We’re supposed to put our heads together when he gets back.”

“And we will, but right now you need to leave everything behind you and take a breather. We’re going for ice cream,” he states.

“Ice cream? What am I, five?” I huff.

Sully chuckles. “The way you’re behaving? Sure, babe.”

I shove his shoulder as I get up. “Whatever.”

“Ah, you’re getting up, eh? Good. For a second there I thought you lost your mind completely. Nice to see some things don’t change.” He shoots me a lazy grin. “You were never one to pass when it came to ice cream.”

I flip him off. “That’s because you were always the one to get us into trouble, so I’d end up hurt, causing mom to give me the sweet icy treat.”

“Oh, come on now.” He bumps my shoulder lightly as we walk out the door and head for his truck. “You make it sound as if I were a pain in the ass criminal lunatic. All while, if I remember correctly, you were always the one who planted ideas in Asher and my head.”

“Whatever,” I mutter with a smile in my voice.

He’s not wrong. Asher and I were a handful, but when Sully came to live with us, we instantly clicked. I guess that’s also the reason why my parents arranged for Sully to come live with us because he simply fit right in.

Sully parks in front of an ice cream parlor near the edge of town, the one where my dad used to take us from time to time. His hand is on my lower back again as he guides me inside.

He places a kiss on the top of my head and says, “Go sit in a booth in the back and I’ll get our order in.”

I could mention that it’s been years since we’ve had ice cream and the fact that my choice of flavor has changed. Truth is…I’m still a sucker for chocolate ice cream and I rarely have another flavor.

Sully is flirting with the girl behind the counter and it lets my mind jump to the small touches and the kiss on the top of my head he just gave me. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, and to me, it feels as if Sully is my brother. Blood doesn’t define family; our MC thrives on growing a strong foundation with members who all resemble the same values in life.

Over the past few days I have noticed some tension between Veloz and Sully. Though, weirdly enough it’s more from Sully’s side. Maybe he feels protective, like Asher, but he’s also overly attentive toward me. By this I mean beating Veloz to make me breakfast in the morning.

Even then Veloz seems unimpressed. This morning for instance Veloz simply walked into the kitchen and snagged a piece of apple from my fingers, dipped it into the orange juice, and popped it into his mouth as if it was something he’d done for years.

Asher and Sully always thought it was weird for me to eat my apple that way, but they simply ignored me. Veloz? He doesn’t think it’s weird, and mentioned I have great taste. That comment right there made Sully roll his eyes. See? It’s like Sully is giving Veloz a hard time for liking me.

I was glad Asher moved out and is having his own life with his old lady and a different MC, while now I seem to have another brother move in and take over my twin’s job. Annoying. That’s what it is.

“See? That’s why I mentioned you needed ice cream,” Sully states as he slides a bowl with a load of chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and crushed Oreo cookies in front of me. “I’d rather see you smile than have your face all scrunched up like someone forced-fed you lemons or something.”

“You did,” I grumble and practically rip the spoon from his fingers. “Why are you giving Veloz such a hard time?”

Sully snorts and slides into the booth across from me with his banana split. “I’m not giving him a hard time. Asher told me to watch out for you, and I am. Be fucking glad I haven’t mentioned that Veloz is spending each night in your bedroom. I’m pretty sure he’d flip his shit and would do much worse than give him a hard time.”

I blush at the mention of Veloz sleeping in my bed. Well, we do sleep, but Veloz also likes to spend time with his head between my legs. I’ve tried several times to return the favor, or take the next step and have sex…but each time he simply states that we’re taking it slow.

If taking it slow means mind-blowing oral orgasms for just me, I’d say he’s doing a magnificent job. Though, I’m ready to have sex and feel him inside me. It would only be fair since I feel as if he’s already under my skin.

“I’m gonna boob pinch you if you keep ignoring me.” Sully’s voice rips me from my rambling thoughts.

I narrow my eyes at him. “You can try, but I’ll break your damn finger before it so much as comes near my breast.”

Sully throws his head back and laughter rips from him.

He’s still chuckling when he says, “Woman, don’t ever fucking change.” All laughter drains from his face. “I’m glad you’re still happy, and I don’t care if it’s because of Veloz. Those scars.” He jabs his chin in my direction. “That fucker never should have touched you. His darkness changed your outer appearance and most people see you as a victim of something now, treat you differently, or worse…look at you with pity. Veloz clearly doesn’t give a shit and also doesn’t coddle you. I’m giving him a hard time to be sure he’s worthy of you, sis.”

My throat clogs with emotion and I only manage to give him a thankful smile.

“Now, eat that pile of sweetness. Take your time, though. ’Cause I’m already enjoying myself at the thought of walking back into the clubhouse to see Veloz’s death glare. He might keep his shit together when he knows you’re looking, but I’m getting on his last nerve for sure.” Sully grins with satisfaction.

He scoops some vanilla ice cream with whipped cream from the bowl in front of him, and shoves it into his mouth. I reach over to snag a maraschino cherry, but he anticipates my action and bats my hand away. He doesn’t have to wait for Veloz’s death glare because I’m giving him one of mine right freaking now.

“Fine,” he grumbles, and offers me the other one. “I don’t like it when you’re mad at me.”

“I could never be mad at you,” I mumble, my mouth full of the maraschino cherry along with some of the chocolate ice cream.

“Classy.” He shakes his head and scoops some ice goodness onto his spoon and really starts to scarf down his banana split.

I shake my head and we ignore each other in comfortable silence as we both enjoy our food. An hour later we return to the clubhouse and I have to say, I feel less stressed and more focused. Sully was right to drag me out for ice cream.

My brain needed the time-out, brain freeze…whatever. I feel refreshed. The way I’ve been forcing myself to keep going over everything was clouding my brain. I’m itching to get back to work, that is until I notice Archer, my parents, and Asher crowding Veloz.

“What’s going on?” I question, halting their discussion as they all whip their heads my way as if I caught them red-handed with fuck-knows what.

“I had a hunch and stumbled onto something, I brought it to my prez’s attention. He told me to talk to your father, and he’s the one who brought in the rest of your family,” Veloz states.

Asher glares at him. “Spineless dick, blurting shit out to dodge my sister’s fury.”

“Being honest is better than going behind my back,” I snap at my twin.

“Why are you defending him?” he whines, as if we’re teenagers again.

“Shut your piehole or I’ll slam it shut,” I hiss, unable to stop myself from being the bigger person.

Sully groans beside me. “Here we go. Can we just put a pin in it right here, or you two can go into the boxing ring and go a few rounds, whatever speeds this up.”

I punch him against the shoulder. Hard.

“Ow, what was that for?” Sully grumbles and rubs his shoulder.

I cross my arms against my chest. “For butting in without reason. I don’t need to put a pin in it nor do Asher and I need to go a few rounds because he’ll lose every damn time and he knows it too.”

Swinging my gaze in Asher’s direction, I find him grinning from ear to ear.

“What?” I snap.

He catches me off-guard when he suddenly launches forward, grabs me in a bearhug and spins me around.

“Put me down,” I wheeze.

Asher laughs as he plants me back on my feet. “Fuck, Leontine. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to have you back.”

I frown, though I quickly realize what he means. After what happened, the painful days of recovery, then finally getting flashes of my memory back, I wanted to keep the walls up that were forged by the post-traumatic amnesia. Things were easier for me to hide the pain. Not just from my body healing, but the fear those flashbacks gave me.

I’ve had nightmares ever since my memory returned. There’s only so much your support system can do because ultimately? You’re on your own when the battle is fought within your own mind.

At least, that’s what I thought…until Veloz entered my life. I still have nightmares, but they are less frequent and Veloz pulls me out of them. His warmth, strong arms, soothing words…I feel safer somehow. That day Peter took something from me. I didn’t know what until I no longer had it.

You take everything for granted up to the point where it’s taken from you. It’s a hard realization to experience fear when it wasn’t a daily experience in your life before. No matter how many people I surrounded myself with, feeling safe was as thin as the air around me. When I was taken when those same people were with me; my safety net had a hole the size of Texas in it.

The promise I made to myself after I remembered everything was to live life to the fullest. Meaning sex. It’s why I offered myself to the first guy who seemed interested in me. He hasn’t fully given me what I asked for and yet he gave me so much more.

Asher keeps staring at me with a mushy grin on his face and I place two fingers on his forehead and tell him, “Don’t get all soft on me, doofus. Or rather, please keep it up, then everyone will know I’m still the smarter twin.”

He narrows his eyes. “Right, as if that will ever happen.”

“Just when you think it’s over, they start back up again.” Sully sighs.

I flip him off and direct my attention to Veloz. “What hunch did you have? And what did you stumble onto?”

Veloz jerks his chin in my father’s direction. “I was wondering why Peter Vorstad escalated so damn quickly and jumped to a planned murder without a weapon of coincidence. Killing someone in a rage, out of panic, or fear of getting caught is different than torturing for pleasure, cutting someone’s lips off, carving letters in a chest, raping with a foreign object…fucked up.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Motivation, the reason why, some kind of logical explanation to the insanity is something my mind craves. It’s the thing that also bugs me from my own case. Why they set me up, how that hostage gave my teammate a gun so I had to shoot him or he’d kill me…anyway…Peter’s motivation. I thought he might be inspired. It’s why Archer told me to ask your father to check out if Peter’s name or any of the others he used was found on the dark web.”

“The dark web?” I mutter to myself.

My father takes a step in my direction. “Veloz was right to question Peter’s motives. We were all too eager to close the case, with what happened, and his death it made sense to write the report and be done with it. Back then we thought we knew his reasons for killing, but what we stumbled onto today shows he found a new obsession.”

I’m not sure I like the sound of this, but I also can’t stop myself from blurting, “His new obsession was the adrenaline rush he got from torturing and killing.”

“Yes,” my father states. “And sharing it with others.”

“With others?” I whisper in horror.

Fear slides through my veins like ice, causing a chill to run up my spine so fast, it makes me shiver. Flashbacks of Peter carving his knife through my skin. The pain. His eerie smile. I’ve suppressed most of those memories, but…did he…if he shared with others, does that mean he took pictures?

Did he? I close my eyes and try to remember. Strong arms wrap around me. Panic bubbles up inside me until Veloz’s scent enters my nose. I bury my face into his chest and absorb some of his strength and warmth.

“He can’t fucking touch you ever again, remember that,” Veloz murmurs. “I didn’t dig through this to hurt you.”

I pull back and let my gaze collide with his.

Placing my hand against the side of his face I tell him, “I know. All of this is just still fresh in my mind, even if I tried like hell to put it all behind me. The thought of…of…sharing? Really? Tips and tricks?” I wince, knowing it’s useless so instead I ask, “Did you find…evidence he shared of me?”

“Are you sayin’ that Peter fucker took pictures while he was carving her up? Shared them with others? Please tell me you pulled that shit off the dark web and have names of any fucker who’s seen them,” Sully snarls.

Veloz seems unimpressed by Sully’s outburst and completely ignores him. Veloz doesn’t take his eyes off me and calmly says, “We’ve managed to hack into some kind of bulletin board where pictures of victims are shared. One of Peter’s names was used to comment and share some pictures. Mainly of Arrow’s old lady’s manager, the one he sliced up and carved letters into her chest. We know that board is some kind of meeting ground where twisted fucks reach out and chat, share, or what-the-fuck-ever they do in personal chats, phone calls and shit. Point is, we haven’t been able to find anything of you. That’s why I asked if Peter’s phone was on him when he was killed. Your father asked Asher and it turns out–”

“There wasn’t one,” I finish for him and then add on a mere whisper only Veloz can hear, “But he did have one.”

“Right. That’s why I wanted to go back to the crime scene and see if he put it anywhere. You could come with me,” Veloz states.

“I’ll go, you stick with her. She doesn’t need to go back there,” Sully grunts.

“I was there that day. I’ll go,” my twin offers.

I keep my gaze locked with Veloz and tell everyone with a firm voice, “No. Veloz and I will go. This is our case, Veloz’s lead, and my unfinished business.”

“No. That shit ain’t right, beaut.” Sully sighs and nudges Asher. “Do something. You know it won’t do her any good to relive what happened there. Fucking hell.”

Turning my head, I notice Asher bobbing his head in agreement, making my blood pressure rise. Here we go again, all of them jumping on a train to take the decisions out of my hands and thinking I can’t handle my own shit.

“Why don’t we all just calm down,” my mother softly states.

My attention is brought back to Veloz when he gently squeezes my neck. “You’re right, it’s my lead, our case, your unfinished business. I’ll be there every step of the way and if you can’t handle it–”

“I know I can handle it,” I fiercely tell him and lower my voice to add, “especially if you’re there with me.”

Veloz nods and turns to Archer. “Prez, this is my call, right?”

Archer’s gaze slides to me and back to Veloz. “It is.”

“Then Lea comes with me,” Veloz decided.

The relief I feel is short-lived and I frown when Veloz adds, “And I would like to have Chopper coming with us as well.”

Why the hell would he want my father to come with us?