Before that particular round of debate could begin, a door slammed and Liam was there, striding across the warehouse. The lethality in his movements and the barely suppressed rage in his expression had me tensing and shifting my balance without a second thought. Freddie moved behind Rome and closer to the girl, like he was gonna shield her, and Milo cut between all of them to meet Liam almost halfway.
The tension in the room crackled, because Liam wasn’t looking at us, he was staring at his brother and the girl. “What the hell did you do, Rome? Why would you bring Elaine Benedict here of all places?”
Milo stiffened. If I hadn’t been looking at him, I’d probably have missed it. His back rippled with tension and he straightened.
“Great, is there anyone else coming who is going to be shocked and awed by my presence that we’ll need to stop to explain it all?” Elaine demanded. “If so, would it be possible to use the restroom now? I’d rather discuss Emersyn’s problems instead of this, but we don’t have all day.”
“She can help,” Rome said after Elaine finished. “Come on, I’ll show you to the bathroom.”
“Wait,” Liam said before they even went two steps. “Having her here is dangerous.”
“Why?” Jasper said and I ran a hand over my face. A headache was already building behind my eyes.
“Fuck this,” I stated. “Rome - take her to the bathroom. Everyone else, shut up and let Freddie explain. All of you be quick. We’ll do this inside—” There weren’t any rats around inside right now, but if having Benedict here was going to be a problem, better to nip it in the bud. “Vaughn, call Doc and get him over here. Then we won’t have to have them explain everything twice.”
The door closed behind Rome and Elaine before I was even done speaking, but it was Milo who twisted to glare at me. He and Liam pinned the same damn fury in my direction. Not that I gave a fuck. Not right now.
“Be pissed at me later,” I told them both. “Snarling like mad dogs isn’t getting us anywhere. If she can help, she can help. But until we hear it, we won’t know anything. As for the rest? I seriously don’t give a fuck whether you want to be involved in finding your sister or not, Milo. I love you man, but this shit is old.”
With that, I left them to follow or not, and headed inside. Freddie jogged to catch up to me and muttered, “When did you become such a badass?”
“About five minutes after everyone stopped using their brains,” I retorted.
He almost snickered. Almost. It was the first Freddie-like sound out of him in days. “So, years ago?”
Fair.
I chuckled.
That helped some. Not a lot. But some.
Fifteen minutes later and with a beer in hand, I waited as Elaine Benedict glared at all of us, though Milo seemed to get her stare more than anyone else. We’d waited for Doc. Liam fumed. A layer of fresh bruises had begun to appear along his jaw. But that wasn’t that unusual. Nor was the purplish bruises and broken skin along his knuckles.
Freddie had made sandwiches. A whole stack of them, and he passed them to Rome and Elaine when they came back. She eyed the sandwiches then Freddie before she’d taken a bite from one. I couldn’t quite pin down what it was about her. The clothes and the mannerisms screamed money, wealth, and privilege. But the attitude? The attitude was all fight me and control. She hadn’t said a word about the living room, the cheap furniture or the concrete walls.
She looked more out of place here than Emersyn ever had, but not in a bad way. I couldn’t put my finger on it and I stopped trying to figure it out. The moment Doc walked in, Liam pinned her with a look and said, “Talk.”
“Charming, I’d know you two were brothers without the looks.”
Vaughn chuckled, even Jasper shook his head. The humor, no matter how needed, was far too fleeting. I didn’t want to be entertained. I wanted information.
Thankfully, Elaine didn’t waste anymore time. “Everyone here is trustworthy?” Of all people, she directed that question to Freddie.
“Yes,” he said without equivocation.
“Good, because I’m going to need all of you to help.” She rose from her seat and moved to stand in front of the dark television. It shifted the power in the room, which I assumed was her intention. It also left her standing alone and directly opposite Milo. “Emersyn’s in trouble.”
“And you know this—”
She cut off Milo with a slice of her hand. “Pretty boy, this will go a lot faster if you let me talk and save the questions until after the presentation.”
My eyebrows weren’t the only ones who shot up. Holy shit. She didn’t miss a beat either.
“So, a little more this,” she continued, holding her thumb and fingers together like a closed mouth. “Instead of this.” She mimed yapping with her hand. After a beat, she nodded. “Good. Emersyn contacted me a few days ago because of a reward that was put out by my family and friends of ours. I knew she was okay, but my grandfather offered the reward at my request. We were hoping someone would try to collect from us before the Sharpes, and that would let me know if anyone had found her before they could sell her out.”
Some of her confidence wavered, but all she did was fold her arms. “I promised her I would help in any way. I would also warn her if we heard anything. That was our last conversation. Then I heard she’d been found and was coming home.”
A shudder raced through her.
“That was the last thing she wanted.”
“Told you,” Freddie said, though his tone was far from smug.
“You sound certain,” Milo said.
“That’s because I am, I’ve known Emersyn since we were five. Granted—we haven’t always been in the same places, and we had a hard time keeping in touch sometimes, but we never gave up on each other and I’m not giving up on her now. As much as I hated not knowing exactly where she was, I was happy knowing she was safe.”
The emphasis she gave to that last word slayed what reservations that might have still lingered over our choices in taking her.
“She never told me why you took her and I don’t care right now, I’m just glad you did. Her going back was never the plan.”
“The false IDs,” Liam said. “You got them for her.”
“Yes, a new identity, cash, anything she needed to not be Emersyn Sharpe anymore, and disappear.”
I frowned. The ferociousness in her eyes glinted with no small amount of danger. She was the real deal. She’d fight for Emersyn. Fight for her the way we would fight for each other.
Freddie and Rome were right to bring her here. “Where is she now?” I asked. “Where is she that you’re so damn worried about?”
As desperate as I was to see her, I wanted the answer to be something like a beach in Mexico or the Caribbean or anywhere. I wanted this to be overkill. I wanted our concerns to be unfounded.
“If he’s done what I think he has and if the rumors are true, he’s sent her back to Pinetree.”
“What the hell is Pinetree?” It was the first time Doc had said a word since he arrived.
“It’s a psychiatric facility,” Liam answered, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “A very exclusive one.”