Page 70 of Law Of Love

Freya appeared sheepish as my little sister’s vibrato bounced off the walls, and she picked at her cuticles nervously as she gauged my reaction.

I couldn’t react, though. I couldn’t move. It was as if the bear had been welded into my skin, and we were connected for life. Fuck. I wanted to be. I wanted to carry around this little creature for life—forever able to hear Brie’s beautiful tone.

“I got your mom to send me some recordings,” Freya said as Brie’s voice fizzled out.

I couldn’t do anything but stare. My blood was rushing through my veins, and my heart was pounding to keep up with it. Elation. It invaded every spare inch of space inside my body.

“Kaleb?” Freya cleared her throat. “Too much?”

I immediately shook my head, a smile breaking out on my face. “No, not at all. Fuck, Freya, this is perfect. Thank you.”

Her shoulders sagged in relief. “I wasn’t sure.”

I studied her gift for another second before placing it on the couch next to me, cupping Freya’s cheeks and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “I’ve never been given something so thoughtful. Ever.”

“She’d be so proud of you, you know? I know you don’t like to talk or think about it, but I know she doesn’t blame you for what happened. She’ll always love you.”

My chest tightened, and I swallowed down the urge to disregard Freya’s words—not because they didn’t matter to me, but because I didn’t agree with her. There was nothing that could convince me I wasn’t the sole reason for Brie’s death, but it was something I was working through in my head.

I would never rid myself of the guilt. That was something I was going to carry with me for the rest of my life, but having Freya by my side made it a whole lot more bearable.

“Are you sure about this?” Brent questioned as he glanced up at the derelict building before us, spitting rain sprinkling onto our hooded heads. “We’re going to be outnumbered in there, and Will could easily kill us.”

I shook my head. “He won’t. He’d be stupid to do that. The chief knows where we are, and it’d be too easy to pin the murders on him.”

Brent hummed in a way that said I’m not so sure about that, but Will was clever and calculating. It was the reason it had taken our organisation years to pile up evidence of his crimes. He wasn’t an open book, and everything illegal he partook in was very much under the radar. Gaining his trust was the reason he’d let things slip, but now that he didn’t believe we were who we said we were, he was going to be hostile.

I wasn’t here to gather more information on his crimes, though. I knew we weren’t going to get any more of that—despite what my chief believed. The reason I was here was to confront him about stalking Freya. To warn him to back off because if he didn’t, there was a fat chance I was going to kill him myself.

Brent and I made our way inside, the aura feeling much more adverse than usual. We were no longer welcome here. Beady eyes lingered on us, following us as we peered around the room casually, cigarette smoke wafting through it and making it a little harder to see.

It wasn’t busy, and the few people who were shooting turned away from us after a couple of seconds, minding their own business as they continued with their day.

“You’re brave, boys.”

I gritted my teeth at the voice, turning on my heel to see Will leaning against the doorway to the hallway in a plain white T-shirt and slacks, his mouth void of a cigarette for once. His hair was messy instead of being gelled back, and the dark circles under his eyes indicated he’d been skipping out on sleep.

His eyes flickered down to my handgun hanging from my waistband, his thick eyebrows raising questionably.

“I’m not here to shoot you,” I said calmly, gaining a chuckle from him. “No matter how much I want to.”

Will scowled, but it was exaggerated, a glint of cockiness and danger lingering in his dull eyes. “Now, why would you want to do that, Kaleb? You were the ones to infiltrate my business in an attempt to frame me for a variety of heinous crimes.”

There was no point in denying it. Will knew what Brent and I were, and I wouldn’t insult him by trying to convince him we were here simply because we enjoyed his company. I just couldn’t figure out how he’d found us out, though. We’d given little away about ourselves, and although some people would see that as suspicious, it was odd that Will immediately jumped to the conclusion that we were here to collect evidence against him after having trusted us for years. Something had changed his mind—I wanted to know what that was.

“There’s no need to lie to us, Will,” I said. “We both know the shooting range isn’t a business. A cover-up is a much more suited word.”

Will’s expression didn’t falter, and he gestured towards the bar where a young blue-haired bartender was working before stepping aside to give us a view of the receptionist tapping away at her old and outdated computer. “I have staff.” He cocked his head as if challenging us to deny the fact. “They work for me and get paid. Therefore, I think we can all agree that the shooting range is very much a business.”

He was deflecting.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Will,” Brent spoke with a tight jaw. “Although judging by the dark bags under your eyes, it looks like you haven’t been getting much. Why is that? Been busy?”

We already knew he had. More handovers regarding the drug ring had been going on over the past few days, according to my chief. They had enough evidence to arrest him on those charges, but it was the murders they really wanted to get him with, and as of yet, that evidence wasn’t strong enough to hold up in court.

“Never heard of insomnia? It’s very common. Look it up.”

“I’m not here to talk about your sleeping habits.” I took a threatening step toward him, my eyes blazing. “I’m here to talk about the guillotine you have hanging over my girl’s head.”

---