Chapter 33

Sadie

I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but when my eyes fluttered open, I was no longer in the van. My head was pounding, and a warm, sticky substance was on the side of my face. Blood. Carefully, I looked around.

It seemed like they’d moved me from the van into a poorly lit storage building with pallets and crates along the walls, rafters above, and a chest-height metal table roughly five feet from us. Near the table lay a large, black rucksack bag and some water bottles leaning up against it.

When I tried to move, I realized that my legs and arms were bound with ropes, and I was in a chair that was bolted to the floor. No one else was in the building.

“Sadie?” a raspy voice spoke behind me. I whipped my head around, ignoring the vicious thumping in my skull.

“Oh, my God. Mom! Mom, you’re alive,” I said, my throat tight with relief .

My mom was strapped to another chair just behind me. Her silver-streaked blonde hair, normally styled to perfection, hung limp around her face. I could feel the rough plaster of her cast brushing the back of my arm. Her face bore dark bruises, and a nasty gash cut across her heart-shaped lips. I couldn’t see her green eyes through the swelling.

Anger coursed through my veins. “Was that all from Dad?”

She nodded. “When your father returned from his business trip a few days ago, he saw security footage from when Keelan broke into the mansion. I couldn’t hide the fact that I spoke with him. He knows, Sadie. Your father knows everything.”

My stomach leaped, and bile rose to my throat, a reminder that my father did that because of me.

I bit my bottom lip as anger coursed through my veins. Keelan had told me what my father did, but I hadn’t expected it to be that bad.

“There’s a lot you don’t know, Sade. Your father learned that I’ve known where you were hiding this entire time and that it was me who helped you escape.”

I let my head hang. “Jesus, I still can’t wrap my mind around all of this, let alone the fact that the man I’ve been sleeping with for the last eight months was using me as part of his job description. He was one of them this entire time.”

“Finn told me that Brian Danon had been following you since the moment you left that courtroom. He was an agent on his payroll who he had a lot of damning information on. Brian would have done anything to keep those secrets hidden.”

I turned and looked over my shoulder. “Patrick found out, though. Brian’s dirty laundry is in the files they’re after. ”

She nodded. “I wish Patrick had told me. I could have helped.”

I shook my head. “You know the men in the family always leave out the smarter ones.”

My attempt to smile was futile.

“What I don’t understand,” I continued, “is why wouldn’t Dad just take me himself to get that information? If he’s known where I’ve been hiding, why not fly to Vermont and come get me himself? It’s not like he’s afraid to raise a hand against me. Torturing me for the file location would have been fun for him.”

“If he couldn’t hide you behind the walls of our home, surrounded by security, then having you hiding out in another state with a federal agent watching over you was the best outcome, all while having the agent search for those files in your home. Your father figured that someday, he would get that information. He might be a monster, but he wouldn’t kill you. Yet there are men in this city whose files are in those boxes who would. Running away under a new identity was the best thing for him, too. He just didn’t like the fact that I hid it from him.”

My father was never going to change. He hired a man to kill his son, so why wouldn’t he do the same to me if I didn’t give him what he wanted? Mom may have thought Dad would hold back, but I knew better.

Patrick not only gathered incriminating information about everyone on both sides of the family and their clients, but he found something else. He entrusted Keelan with hiding the location, knowing the risk if anyone found out. Patrick died to make sure no one could get their hands on those secrets—except for me and Keelan .

“Where is he now?” I asked. “Did Brian say what his next move was?”

She shook her head. “Brian hasn’t said anything I haven’t already told you. Your father’s plans changed when he discovered Keelan had escaped and was coming after you. Brian, who had been monitoring your movements, reported that you had been taken and that he had been tracking you both. If Brian couldn’t get that information from you—this code you have—then he was hoping you and Keelan would lead us to the files. He worked with Arthur to set up a trap in Vegas, using Keelan’s brothers to make sure the two of you separated and you got on that plane with Brian. It wasn’t until I was dragged out of the house and thrown into an unmarked car that I realized that the kidnapping was all set up by your father. Of course, I knew he had to pretend to be shocked that someone broke into the house for the security cameras, putting on a show for the police when they showed up.”

Tears were now threatening to fall. Yes, I ran because it wasn’t safe for me in Los Angeles anymore, but at what cost? My own mother’s life was now in danger, and I couldn’t protect her.

“I won’t let your father or Brian hurt you, Sadie. I’m so tired of living with death,” she said. “After Patrick died, I continued to exist in this selfish cycle, this haze of alcohol, to numb my pain when you were suffering so much. I knew there was a risk in sending Keelan to get to you first, but I couldn’t take being a coward anymore. I told Keelan where you were because, in my gut, I knew he was the only one who’d truly protect you. He might have been a bully in your eyes growing up, but I know a man in love when I see it. That kind of love your father could never give me. But Keelan would with you . ”

I flinched in surprise. My own mother saw the real Keelan before I ever did.

“Mom—” I started, but the sound of a metal door opening cut me off.

It was Brian.

He closed the door behind him and sauntered over to where we were, carrying the burgundy briefcase he always had on him.

“Sorry for the accommodations, ladies,” he said. “I would have gotten you some cushions, but time’s running out. Sadie?” Brian walked over to the metal table and set the briefcase on it, flipping up the latches and pulling out a laptop. After Brian powered the computer on, he connected his phone to it, glancing at the screen while he typed in everything to pull up the software.

Shit. Dad must have cloned the program.

“Finn expects me to get the location within the next thirty minutes,” Brian said. “He set us up here in one of the warehouses Arthur owns, so if we don’t do this quickly, he and his men will head this way. And, trust me, they’ll be a lot less friendly.”

That means we’re right back in Burbank.

“Finn already walked me through the steps. Now I just need you.” He pulled up the prompt for the key phrase and then turned to me. “I took a photo of the tattoo while you slept. Read to me the key phrase. Now.”

“Go fuck yourself, Brian,” I cheerfully replied.

Brian let out a heavy sigh, pinched the bridge of his nose, then pulled out a handgun from his waistband and walked toward us. My blood turned to chips of ice as he leveled it at my mother’s head. “Do not make me blow your mother’s brains out, Sadie. Read it to me. Now. ”

“Jesus, okay!” I shouted. “Lift my shirt, and I’ll try to decode the tattoo. I’m rusty, so it might take some time.”

Brian pulled the gun away from Aisling’s face and slipped it back into his holster. He went over to me and grabbed the hem of my shirt. But as he lifted the hem, his fingers brushed my skin in a gentle caress. “You know,” he murmured, looking up to meet my eyes, “I really do care about you. I don’t want your dad to hurt you. Please cooperate, and this whole fucking mess can be done with.”

I looked down at Brian and stared into those blue eyes that had once made me feel safe. Where affection and care once lived in my heart, they were replaced by disgust and betrayal. This man lied to me for months, spying on me just so my dad could get the files Patrick had stolen. Those pretty blue eyes were the eyes of a liar.

Lies for a lie, Brian.

Saying nothing, I took the hem of my shirt in my teeth and bent as much as the ropes allowed me to look down at the tattoo. I knew I couldn’t tell him the actual location of the documents, so I had to think fast.

“Okay,” I said around the cloth, swallowing down my nerves. “It says ‘Shadows in Silence.’” Brian stepped back, his eyes narrowed, and I released the shirt from my teeth.

I was banking on the fact that Brian hadn’t a clue how long it would take to read Morse Code, hoping he’d believe me.

“Type that into that prompt, and the location will appear on a map.”

Brian gave me a quick nod and walked back over to the laptop, typing in the phrase.

My hands were fidgeting against the ropes, and my breaths became shallow .

“What the fuck?!” Brian cursed, slamming his fist against the laptop keyboard. I watched with delight as a series of error codes flashed across the screen and locked him out. Then the desktop blinked once with the blue screen of death and shut off.

“Shoot,” I said flatly. “I must have gotten it wrong. Well, it’s too late now.” My lips curved into a smile just before Brian came marching over, gun raised again, only this time it was aimed at my head.

“You think I’m an idiot?” he asked, rage burning in his eyes. “No fucking way you’d do that on purpose if you didn’t already have the location. Where the fuck are the files?”

I shook my head. I can’t tell him. I won’t.

Closing my eyes, I turned away. Think dammit. I knew I had to tell him something. It wasn’t my life I cared to save at that moment. It was my mother’s.

Where could I lead them that would buy time for Keelan to arrive without being killed or taken away?

At least I grew up in Los Angeles County.

I needed somewhere that was obscure enough that it would take them an hour of searching before coming up empty-handed, so I wracked my brain. Then an old memory bloomed in my mind.

“Sadie?” Brian asked, his voice rife with impatience. “Tell me where the files are. Last chance.”

“Fine!” I snapped, turning back to him. “Elysian Park. The map pinpointed where they grow non-native trees and shit. You’ll have to explore the Chavez Ravine Arboretum, near the playground. A note in the program stated they’re buried under a painted red stone used as a memorial on the grounds. Exactly fifteen inches down. That’s all that popped up on the screen when Keelan and I looked it up in the hotel room. Patrick hid them there.”

Brian glanced at me before stepping back to retrieve his phone from his pocket. He dialed a number, set the phone on speaker, and instructed the man on the other end to search the location for any red memorial stones.

There was a muffled reply before Brian ended the call. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, the throbbing in my head easing into a dull thud. Patrick and I went to Elysian Park once as kids with our nanny. It was one of the rare times that we played as siblings without fighting. It was a treasured memory of my dead brother.

It’s also a real bitch to get to, regardless of the time of day. So, hopefully, I had bought Mom and me thirty minutes to an hour before they knew I was lying. Brian sat on a nearby box and leaned back, exasperated and stressed.

“For your sake, I hope you’re not lying,” he warned.

“For your sake, you should let my mom and I go before you get killed. The money you made from this bullshit will not protect you from Keelan Blake. You may think you’ll catch him using me and that tracker as bait, but you don’t know what he’s capable of when it comes to me. That man will fucking kill you.”

Two hours later, my ass was burning from the damn chair. Brian didn’t say much as he sat in the chair beside the table. Then his cell phone rang. Brian sprang up and walked away from us, the receiver pressed to his ear. A few seconds passed.

“Fuck!” he cursed, slamming his heel into the chair beside him and sending it flying ten feet across the room.

Well, here we go.

“Sadie,” my mom whispered frantically. “Did you—?”

“Yup,” I replied quickly. “I’m not letting Patrick die in vain. They’re never getting that location.”

“Sadie!” Brian shouted, storming over to me. He grabbed the front of my T-shirt, tearing the fabric around the collar. My wrists and ankles screamed as the ropes cut and burned into my skin. Despite my restraint, I hissed in pain.

“Tell me what the code actually says.” The look in Brian’s eyes broke me. This wasn’t the man I knew. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will have no choice.” He let go of my shirt and took one step back. “Sorry that I have to do this.”

Brian’s left hand cracked across my face, sending a lightning bolt of pain through the cut in my scalp. My head rocked to the side, and my mom screamed. Blood filled my mouth when my lip split, and I spat a mouthful onto the concrete, splashing Brian’s brown loafers. I looked up at him, the man I once trusted, who had just assaulted me again.

“Typical man,” I seethed. “Can’t keep his fucking hands to himself.”

“Shut up!” Brian shouted, and my body froze, not in fear. I wasn’t afraid anymore. I was furious.

“You hit like a little bitch,” I added and waited for another slap, but it never came. Instead, his eyes darted over to the cut on my lip .

“Fuck,” Brian said, his brows pulling together. “I don’t want to do this to you. Believe me when I say I did care about you. It wasn’t just business. I mean—” He ran his hand through his disheveled hair. “It was at first, but—”

“I don’t give a shit,” I said. “My lies about who I am were only to protect myself from being killed. You, though … you did it to deceive me and protect yourself from going to prison. You’re nothing but a selfish dick. Please don’t force me to share what my brother died to protect. Let me and my mother go.”

Once he took a few steps toward me, a voice came through on a walkie-talkie he had connected to his belt.

“Brian,” a man called out. “We have a problem. The security cameras picked up movement down the east hallway by the back alley. They’re already inside.”

Brian’s lip curled up, and he turned back to me, meeting my eyes. “Lucky for you, I won’t have to force you to talk. Once Keelan sees that I have your life in my hands, he’ll do whatever the fuck I ask.”