47. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Hydessa

P anic rises within me as I struggle against the grip, until a familiar scent in the air washes over me. I relax back against his hold as the opening in the wall he just pulled me through silently seals shut.

Slowly releasing the hold he has on my mouth, he captures my hand and starts pulling me along the narrow hall we are in. My mouth drops open as I try to understand what I'm seeing. When the hall opens up into another room, my eyes widen and I stumble to a stop, forcing Link to stop with me.

"What the fuck is this? Where are we?" I demand in a low hiss, still trying to process what I'm seeing. But I don't know why I bother, he just grins at me, letting go of my hand and turning toward Jonah.

They have a secret fucking room in the house I'm renting?!

I'm both speechless and furious all at once. There are an array of screens showing different areas of the house, while another smaller screen shows a GPS map with a little red dot on it over this address. It's a stalkers paradise.

Maybe it wasn't love after all, maybe it was indigestion. I'm sure there's medication for that shit right?

I'm just about to give them both a piece of my mind when a voice starts talking, and it's not any of us in the room.

"Do you think I don't know you're connected to his disappearance, you show up and days later he's gone? I'm not that stupid sweetheart."

Jonah gives a low chuckle, glancing in my direction before pressing a button on the keyboard in front of him. "You mean, the same way we aren't stupid and how we know you were helping him."

I finally see the man on one of the screens, looking around as though he can identify exactly where the voice is coming from. "Jonah? Is that you? Now why are you involving yourself in this?"

"Oh I don't know, Sheriff, why are you looking for our woman in her house with your gun drawn?" Jonah retorts. I watch the way the Sheriff frowns, his eyes narrowing as he keeps looking around.

He doesn't answer, and he doesn't put his gun away either. "Come on now, son, I've known you your whole life, are you really going to choose a fucking meddling tourist over me?"

Jonah exchanges a glance with Link before leaning forward to speak again. "She isn't some random tourist, but either way why would I ever choose you? It really shouldn't have surprised me that dear old dad put one of his own men in charge of the island where his mistress lived. You knew mom and I came home without the baby after dad was murdered. And I know you went and made sure my brother ended up in that foster home. The one that almost killed him."

The Sheriff apparently has no regrets about what he did, his own chuckle echoing slightly through the room we are in as he keeps moving through the house trying to find me. "Oh? He's alive then? Good for him."

Link narrows his eyes at the screen and I can't help but reach out and lace my fingers through his. He offers me a sad smile, but it just makes me want to wrap my arms around him even more. The same feeling I had when we were children.

But those feelings don't quell the rage building to boiling point. How dare that man put Link in harm's way. Even if him doing that was the only reason he came into my life, that darkness inside me calls out for vengeance, it wants to hurt the sheriff for ever hurting my men. And I'm no longer keeping it buried now, the cage is gone.

"There's that heartlessness that my dad loved so much," Jonah responds, his tone carefully even. "You have that down to a fine art, pity you weren't quite so detached from your own son."

A lamp is tossed across the room, the crashing sound echoing on the walls around us. I can see the anger on the sheriff's face as he keeps moving carefully, room by room. "What did you do to him?"

Jonah tilts his head and it reminds me of the way he would look at me when he had the mask on. "You almost had everyone fooled. If we weren't already watching you because of your connection to dad, we may not have even known. I mean, who could have possibly suspected that Chester was your son. But you couldn't resist helping him."

The sheriff finally makes it to the office and I see the look of shock on his face as he takes in the investigation wall set up there. A storm of anger feels like it's twisting and swirling under my skin, anger that the sheriff was involved in killing and disposing of all those victims.

"Oh, did you not realize that just because you burned the bodies for him it didn't get rid of the video evidence?" Jonah continues, his voice filled with a dangerous calm.

The sheriff's face contorts with rage. "You think you're so smart, don't you, Jonah? What did you hope to achieve with this?"

Jonah looks at me before answering. "I didn't do that, Sheriff, our girl did."

I've had enough of listening at this point, my darkness is at the surface and now that I've decided to embrace it, I'm ready to play. I know they say don't take a knife to a gunfight, but seeing the knife on the desk Jonah is at, I know it's my only option.

Letting go of Link's hand, I pick up the knife and turn around quickly. Link and Jonah both try to protest as I turn and walk back to the wall I was pulled through. But when I give them a look, they begrudgingly open it again and follow me out.

"What's she going to do, she's nothing, a nobody," I hear the sheriff say as I close in on the office. He exits the room at the same time, but his attention is still on the investigation wall, allowing me to get the upper hand.

"Actually, I'm a Darling," I snarl as I strike out with the blade in my hand.

It doesn't hit anything vital though, he moves his arm to block me, but I don't think he realized there was a knife in my hand. The blade cuts into the flesh of his arm and when he jerks it away automatically, it sends his gun sprawling onto the ground.

He lunges toward me instead of the gun, but he's intercepted by Link.

The two of them grapple fiercely, and for a moment, all I can see is a blur of limbs and raw fury. Jonah moves quickly, scooping up the gun and training it on the sheriff.

"Enough!" Jonah commands, his voice ringing with authority.

The sheriff freezes, glaring at Jonah with a mixture of hatred and disbelief. "You're really going to shoot me, son?"

Jonah's hand is steady, his gaze unwavering. "If it means protecting her and making sure you can't hurt anyone else, then yes."

The sheriff's eyes flicker with something dark, and in a desperate move, he lunges at Jonah. The shot Jonah fires goes wide, and the two men crash to the ground, grappling fiercely. I try to find a good angle from the narrow hallway, my heart pounding in my ears, but I can't get close enough to strike again.

Suddenly, they roll, and the sheriff rears up, having gained control of the gun once more. Panic surges through me, and I rush forward, but before I can get close enough, a gunshot rings out, the sound echoing through the hallway.

I cry out, almost stumbling, but Link grabs me and wraps his arms around my waist, holding me steady. Seconds feel like eternity before I see the blood spreading across the sheriff's shirt, a look of shock and pain etched across his face. He falls backward to the floor with a heavy thud.

A grunt behind us draws our attention, and that's when I see Deputy Eli leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, his gun held loosely by his side. His face is pale, there is blood dripping down the side of it and he looks like he's barely holding himself together, but his eyes are sharp and focused.

"Can't say I understand all of what I heard just now, but I heard enough to know I needed to do that. I hope you do have evidence or my ass is going to be on the line," Eli grits out.

I glance at Jonah and Link before looking back to Eli. "Yeah we do, but you shouldn't stress too much, I know some people who can help take care of it."

He scowls suddenly as he looks at me. "Please don't tell me your FBI or CIA or some shit?"

I can't help but laugh, not that he isn't close considering who my mother is. Shaking my head I move a little closer, holding my hand out to him. "I'm Detective Hydessa Darling," I respond and for once I'm proud to tell him exactly who I am because I think I've just figured it out myself

He grunts again as he reaches out and weekly shakes my hand, his body sliding a little more down the door frame. My eyes widen and I turn back toward Jonah and Link. "Umm, you may want to get Lachlan here to help him."

Jonah nods, walking back into the hidden hallway. I follow, leaving Link to stay with Eli. Jonah is already on the phone to Lachlan when I get to the room with the cameras, shaking my head at the whole setup. Have they really been watching me all the time since I arrived here?

My eyes catch on the GPS screen again as Jonah hangs up on the call and I frown, looking at him as the gears turn in my mind. "How exactly did you know where to find me last night?" I ask and my stomach drops when his eyes flick to my arm.

No the fuck they didn't.

My fingers graze the place where there is a healing scar left from days before, nothing felt out of place when I first checked.

Like last time there is only one thing that I can feel under the skin of my arm. But if the item under my skin is actually a GPS, then it means it replaced what was originally there.

Jesus fucking christ, I'm going to kill them. Since when did obsession mean cutting out my FUCKING BIRTH CONTROL to replace with a TRACKER?! Is Eli here because he may need to arrest me for murder.

I glare at the man in front of me, and I hope he realizes that if looks could kill he would be ash and dust about now.

He simply grins and gives a shrug of his shoulders. "Not sorry," he says before his hand snaps out and drags me against him, his mouth landing on mine with a need that melts my insides.

After a moment I shove him backward, turning and walking back down the hallway toward the main part of the house. "You both owe me a lifetime of fucking orgasms for this shit," I mutter over my shoulder, trying to hide the smirk tugging at my lips. Jonah's laughter follows me, echoing down the narrow hallway.

Link looks at me with a grin as I walk straight into his open arms.

I guess I did ask for the same sort of obsessive love my parents have. Who needs flowers and chocolate when you can have hearts carved into flesh and stalker tendencies.