“For how long?” Chance asks and I shake my head. No matter how much Fuzz, Sawyer, and I worked this morning, we couldn’t break past the memory of Gavin locking me in the bathroom and no matter how much they both assured me that it was okay, I can’t help but feel like I failed.
“I don’t know.”
“How did you make it out?”
I shake my head again as my chest feels tight. “I don’t know.”
“But somehow, you ended up with your dad and y’all got into the accident?” Kodiak asks, his face drawn together in concentration and I nod.
“Correct.”
Blaze sighs. “Do you have any idea what was in the folder?”
“I remember saying that the only reason he would have the information is if he was going to use it against me but when I try to focus on the paper itself, it’s just blurry.”
Storm turns to Streak. “Did you find anything that can help us?”
“Oh, yeah,” he answers, rubbing his hands together. “Juliette gave me permission to speak to her father’s lawyer and he was very helpful. Up until two days before the accident, one Gavin Alexander Hale was listed as the beneficiary on Juliette’s will.”
“And how much money was he going to get in the event of your death?” Fuzz asks and I suck in a breath.
“Before my father’s death, between what was left of my trust fund and what I had made through my business, somewhere around three million.”
He nods. “And after your father’s death?”
“Three hundred and fifty million,” I whisper and a wave of shock ripples through the room.
“Holy fuck,” Chance breathes, eyes wide as he falls back in his chair and scrubs his hand over his short hair.
“Sounds like a motive to kill someone if you ask me,” Henn growls, shaking his head. Sawyer sucks in a breath, his shoulders tensing. I grab his hand and give it a squeeze.
“Except he doesn’t get that now.”
“Vengeance is always a sound motive to kill someone,” Streak points out and a few of them nod in agreement.
“Are we sure that he knows he was taken off the will?” Smith asks.
I shake my head. “Clearly things weren’t good between us right before the accident but I don’t see how he could know.”
“So,” Sawyer continues, leaning back in his chair as he pulls my chair closer. “As far as he’s concerned, as soon as he kills you, he’s in for the biggest payday of his life.”
“Hey, speaking of payday,” Streak says, flashing me a wide smile. “I would love a new bike.”
“Absolutely fucking not,” Sawyer snaps, reaching around me to shove him. Laughing, he holds his hands up.
“Chill, man. It was just a joke.”
Sawyer sends a cold look around the room. “And it will be the last fucking one I hear. She trusted us with this information and if y’all are assholes about it, I’m out.”
“It won’t happen again,” Blaze agrees, sending a glare at Streak and he nods.
“Okay, boss. Sorry, Juliette.”
“Now,” Blaze snaps, smacking his gavel on the table. “Back to the matter at hand. How do we deal with Gavin?”
Streak shakes his head. “There is no proof. The car accident and the shooting in the woods look like accidents or coincidences. As for the fire, I’ve reached out to Rodriguez and fire investigation has nothing yet.”
“And you can’t find anything on this guy?”
“There’s literally nothing to find because eighteen months ago, Gavin Hale didn’t even exist.”
I release a breath as my heart stalls and the information seeps into my mind.
“And let me tell you, whoever faked his paperwork is damn good because I had to mine that shit out of the deepest corner of the dark fucking web. For nine months, he lived a seemingly normal life and then he met Juliette. He’s spent every cent he had trying to pretend that their lifestyles were similar and now, he’s broke as a joke.”
“Another option for his motive,” Storm muses and Streak nods.
“But it doesn’t matter ‘cause we still don’t have proof.”
“What if I wear a wire?” I suggest, sucking in a breath as my mouth goes dry. “And confront him.”
Sawyer shakes his head as he glares over at me. “Absolutely not.”
“Actually…”
“No,” Sawyer barks, turning his rage to Streak, who sighs and rolls his eyes.
“Look, I get it, okay? You love her and you can’t stand it if anything happens to her but if we don’t do something, I have a feeling this won’t end well for her. You guys barely made it out of that house unharmed and each time he attempts something, he gets a little bit closer to succeeding.”
I lay my hand on Sawyer’s and he meets my eyes. “He’s right. We have to end this.”
“I am not risking your life for this,” he growls, begging me with his gaze to side with him but as I think about the fire, I can’t do it. Streak is right. We’ve been incredibly lucky up until now and I can’t take the risk that next time, we won’t be.
“I’m sorry, baby, but I’m doing this.”
Blaze hits his gavel against the table and stands up. “I’ll call Rodriguez.”
We stare at each other as the rest of the guys get up and file out of the room and when we’re alone, he pulls me out of his chair and into his lap as he shakes his head.
“Angel…”
“I know you’re scared, Sawyer… I’m scared, too, but we can’t keep doing this. We’ve only been together for a few weeks and it’s been a roller coaster. I want to have a regular, happy life with you, not more of this.”
He sighs, his fingers kneading my hip. “There has to be another way.”
“You know there’s not.”
“I can’t lose you,” he whispers, his voice thick with emotion and I remember the story about Lydia that he told me in the hotel as I press my hand to his cheek and press my forehead to his.
“I love you way too much to leave you, Sawyer.”
He shudders and his arms wrap around my waist. “I still don’t like this.”
“I know,” I answer with a nod. “But once we make it through this, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
“You mean that?”
I nod. “I do. I want to marry you and have babies with you and build a life with you.”
His hand slips into my hair and he pulls me down onto his lips in a bruising kiss that leaves me breathless as he nods.
“I’m fucking holding you to that.”
I smile. “Good.”
“Juliette,” Blaze says, walking back into the room with Storm and Chance. “I’ve got Rodriguez on the phone. He wants to see if we can call Gavin and set up a time to meet and record the call.”
“Does this mean she won’t have to meet with him?” Sawyer asks, his eyes lighting up and Blaze shakes his head.
“Not exactly,” Rodriguez answers as Blaze sets the phone down on the table in front of us. “If we’re going to charge him and get him out of your lives for good, we need him to either admit to everything on tape or demand a certain amount of money and then take that money from Juliette.”