Page 6 of The Lies We Believe

CHAPTER 3

BANE

What fresh hell had I walked into today?

The world as I knew it was now changed forever. Irrevocably.

River had already been broken when I met him at the tender age of seven, but the man I saw before me was nothing but ash and smoldering ruins.

I couldn’t be in this room a moment longer without breaking completely. It was impossible to look like I was holding myself together as I fractured to the bone. Sucking in a deep inhale, I grabbed the scattered folders that lay strewn across the floor and hauled my ass out of that interview room, collapsing against the wall as my legs crumbled beneath me.

“What in the ever-loving fuck happened to him?” The folders slipped from my grasp, falling to the floor as I ran my hand over my black hair. I’d walked in there blind, and that was my first mistake. My second was walking away from him again.

Tears burned my eyes like molten lava, eating at the peace I’d spent the last eighteen years trying to make with my life and the events that conspired to take my whole family from me. Even the hours of therapy I’d sat through could never have prepared me for this—for him and the devastation he’d undoubtedly wreak.

River had come back into my life like a wrecking ball that shook the foundations of everything I believed. I’d convinced myself that he was fine and now realized that was a dangerous lie to believe. The world clearly hadn’t finished trying to tear me apart, one brick at a time.

“Oh, sweet Jesus. What’s wrong, Benson?” I’d been so lost inside my head I hadn’t heard Montoya walk down the corridor. I looked up at her through watery eyes and the look of concern that washed over her face as she crouched down in front of me somehow made everything more real. “You want to talk about it?”

I shook my head and bit the inside of my lip, trying to corral the storm raging inside me into a box so I could breathe. I screwed my eyes shut and rubbed them with my fists until colors burst in the darkness. Releasing a shaky breath, I uttered the words that threatened to destroy me all over again. “I can’t do this. I-I know him.”

She tipped her head to the side and assessed me. “You know him?” Confusion laced her tone.

“Yeah,” I rasped. “W-we were in foster care together for a couple of years before the Hendrix family adopted me.” A fresh swell of tears pooled on my lash line, and I fought to blink them away before they fell.

“Ah, that makes this extremely difficult for you, then.” I nodded numbly. “But…”

“No.” I shook my head, my hand latching onto her shoulder, knowing what she was going to say.

“We could use him to help build this case. We could finally catch this ring and take them down for good. Come out with a win.”

Logically, I knew she was right. River could be our in and provide insight we didn’t normally get. In cases like these, the workers rarely talked or gave us anything useful, but Montoyawas proposing I leveraged our history to get what we’d need to finally nail this ring.

“I…” Pain and guilt threaded through me like a poison, infecting one cell at a time. I knew I should do this. This could end up being the bust that makes our careers, but I didn’t know if I could.

Do I want to, though? The answer was a resounding no. I didn’t want to use my former friendship with someone for the sake of a case, someone I’d only ever wanted to protect. All my instincts screamed at me to get him out of here and somewhere safe so he could heal, not leverage him for information.

On the other hand, the trained officer in me knew I couldn’t waste this opportunity. If I could glean some vital information from River, then I could save others from living the life he had. That was worth it, right? The needs of the many outweigh the few and all that?

I was supposed to serve and protect, but if I did this, how would I be protecting River?

“Come on up, ya big softie.” Montoya grabbed my large hands with her delicate ones and hauled me to my feet. “Let’s go talk to Bower.” What the hell could I say to that? Nothing. That was what. I had a duty to do, even if my conscience hated me for it. I heaved a sigh, picked up my files, and followed her like a little lapdog.

Montoya and I met at the academy and struck up a fast friendship. Over the years, she became like a sister to me. I was the annoying, overbearing big brother, and she was the larger-than-life little sister who got up to mischief. She acted like she hated it, but deep down, I knew she loved me for it. She was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of friend, one I knew I’d do anything for.

“I’m still not sure this is the right thing to do, or even ethical, considering our history,” I said as we neared Bower’s office. Tension coiled around my body, making each step harderthan the one before. For all her confidence, Montoya hadn’t considered that we weren’t really part of this case; we were just extra bodies they pulled in for the extra manpower, hence why we weren’t part of the raid last night.

For all I knew, we could propose this and Bower would either turn us away or use one of his guys who was actually a part of the task force to take it on and just pull me in to emotionally manipulate River. And fuck, I hoped against all hope that wouldn’t be the case. I’m not sure I could live with myself if that was what he decided.

“Go on then.” Montoya knocked on his door. The brass name plate glinted in the bright office lights, with his name, Jack Bower, standing in stark relief. I shook my head, my fingers white-knuckling the files I held on to like a lifeline.

“Enter.” Bower’s voice boomed over the hive of activity buzzing around the office. Whiteboards with suspect profiles skirted the room, and my eyes caught on a new one that had Riv on it, along with the other guys they brought in overnight.

“You’ve got this.” Montoya gave me a thumbs up just before she shoved me over the threshold and shut the door behind me.Bitch.

Bower glanced up at me over his laptop, his desk littered with stacks of files that seemed to hold no semblance of order, and made my fingers itch. “What can I do for you, Benson? I thought you were in interview room five, trying to get the kid to talk?” Accusation hung in the air as his stare hardened.

“Ah, yes. I was, sir,” I stammered out. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

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