Page 30 of Newton

"He has so many people in his pockets," she says, then immediately snaps her mouth closed as if she didn't mean to say it.

"It would be great to know who those people are," Kincaid urges.

"I don't know who they are," she says a little too quickly to make either of us believe her.

"Do you know what might've happened to Detective Andi Greene?"

Her jaw flexes and, at first, I think she's mad that Kincaid is still here asking her questions, but then her chin quivers.

"She's gone?"

Kincaid nods. "She disappeared a couple of months ago. No trace, just gone. We assume Nathan or Xan took her in order to find you."

I think if it were possible, Brielle would curl into a ball.

"Any idea where they might have taken her?" Kincaid prods again, not one to give up easily.

We both know he's skating a line between keeping her calm and trying to find out more information.

Brielle hasn't been very forthcoming. The prosecutor's office, as well as Detective Greene, have been adamant that she knows more than what she's saying, but I have to wonder if she isn't talking to protect herself rather than trying to protect her stepfamily.

We all heard the threats Nathan made. The man was so willing to put himself into a position to get caught just to get her back in his clutches that it's clear he's obsessed with either her or vengeance against her enough to make mistakes. Something he hasn't done much of his entire criminal career.

"They never told me where they keep the women, just that they had them," she says, and a part of me wants to believe her.

Kincaid nods before standing once again and walking away.

She's trembling before he even makes it around the corner into the kitchen.

Beth doesn't come through with Oracle, and I'm sure she's no longer in the right headspace to speak with the woman.

"Want to go back to the room?" I ask, and she stands as she nods.

Chapter 16

Brielle

I chew my nails in the darkness of the closet.

It wasn't long after we got back to the room that the lights were turned off.

I can't tell if the man is asleep or not. He hasn't had a nightmare that I've heard since I started leaving the closet door open. I wonder if that's because he can't sleep without that level of separation or if he feels more comfortable around me.

I wouldn't say that the conversation with Kincaid was confrontational. He was soft-spoken and conversational, but I could sense the irritation in the man when he didn't get answers to his questions the way he expected he would. I imagine the man is accustomed to getting exactly what he wants whenever he wants.

Beck leaned in closer to me as he felt the need to shield me from his boss, and I could tell he did it on instinct rather than acting in some expected or planned way.

Knowing that everything is transactional in life, I feel as if I owe Beck something for that simple protection even though I know the man would never go head-to-head with his boss. Whatever level of chivalry he felt in the moment, he'd never risk losing his job and way of life for a woman who can't seem to get her shit together enough to get out of a fucking closet.

Despite knowing that, it doesn't make the scales any less uneven.

When a chip of nail comes off on my tongue, I pick it away with my fingers, Nathan’s voice in my ear reminding me that it's not only unladylike to chew on them, but it's also incredibly unsanitary to do so. I chew the next fingernail even harder, my insolence one of the very few ways I can fight back against the voice in my head.

Beck’s breathing is calm and even, but that doesn't mean anything. I don't know how many times I quietly climbed out of bed to go to the bathroom to clean my wounds when I thought either Nathan or Xan were asleep only to be punished for getting up.

I remind myself as I stand and cross the room that Beck isn't either of those men.

I haven't caught him looking at me like I'm something he owns, and the only reason I'm still allowed to breathe is simply because he allows it. Those were Nathan and Xan's traits.

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