Page 70 of Anything For This Love

It seems like an eternity before Jacob appears through the trees. His shirt is torn and there’s a trickle of blood running down his face, but he’s upright and walking. I run to him, slamming into his chest as my arms come around his waist. My tears soak his shirt, leaving streaks of mascara on the pale blue cotton. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Shhh, I’m fine.”

“Where’s Caleb?”

“It’s going to take him a little longer to make his way out here.”

“What happened?”

“I caught him.” He doesn’t elaborate, but the muscle in his jaw tics and he looks away.

When Missy and the deputy finally make it back to us, I can see why it took so long. Caleb doesn't look much better now than he did when my brother got a hold of him. He’s limping and covered in blood, much of his face already swelling.

“This is the man who attacked you before, isn’t it?” the officer asks. I nod my confirmation, then I’m struck with a feeling that something about him is familiar, a long-suppressed memory trying to resurface. “I had to interview you the last time this animal put his hands on you.” His nostrils flare and his grip tightens on Caleb's arm. His barely contained fury rolls off him in waves.

I nod my head in recognition. “Officer Richardson. I remember now.”

He dips his head apologetically. “I’m sorry you had to go through this again.”

I nod, unable to speak my appreciation through the gravel in my throat.

“Come on, Mr. Carlisle,” he barks, pulling Caleb forward while Missy holds onto his other arm. Whether it’s to keep him upright or keep him from escaping I don’t know, but he wouldn’t make it very far if he tried.

One of the other deputies asks if I need an ambulance, but I shake my head. I don’t have any serious injuries this time. At least none that are visible from the outside. He eyes me warily, his gaze roaming over my bruised face before he finally accepts my answer. “We need to get your statement,” he informs me.

Jacob gives my hand a reassuring squeeze and I soak in his warmth and strength. I’ll need it to relive what Caleb did to me and all the awful things he said. I suck in a deep, cleansing breath and tell the officer everything.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jacob

I’ve never heldAbby as tightly as I did that night after Caleb attacked her. I felt like if I let go, even for a minute, she would drift away and I would lose her for good. But slowly she came back to herself, easing out of her shell and talking to me more. She admitted she’d been terrified all this time that Caleb would come back for her, that somehow, he would escape and track her down. She was also worried he would get a light sentence like last time, but there was too much evidence against him for that to happen again.

I took some time off work to be with her after the incident. She needed me far more than they did at the office. I was able to keep our rental for another week since the area hadn’t seen an influx of tourists and visitors yet. At her grandmother’s urging, Abby found a counselor to talk to, someone who could help her work through the trauma she was left with following Caleb’s actions.

When I returned Abby and Chloe to their home at the end of the week, Ama and Raven descended on her with a protective ferocity only a mother could embody. They’d been reluctant to let her out of their sight when we returned after giving our statements to the police, but Abby was adamant that she wanted to stay with Chloe and me. We made sure to check in with them frequently and visit often.

Raven looks like a different person after spending three months in a recovery center. She’s more reserved and not quite as overbearing, but Ama barely lets Abby out of her sight once she comes back. She insists that Abby rest and not do too much around the house. It drives Abby crazy to be coddled. She finally has to threaten to move out so they will give her a little space to breathe.

Luckily, the press hasn’t caught wind of the incident. If they had, news vans would probably already be camped outside her house. My father has taken the lead in the polls so the public’s interest in him is at an all-time high. A formal nomination won’t be announced until August, but he’s projected to be the chosen candidate.

Media coverage of the election is briefly overshadowed by news of the government take down of one of the biggest homegrown drug kingpins in U.S. history. It’s mid-May, and I’m back in town visiting with Abby when the news breaks. While having dinner with Abby and her family, my father calls to tell me I need to turn on the television. I rise from my chair and go to the living room, flipping on the TV.

“What’s going on?” Abby asks behind me, peering over my shoulder. Ama and Raven join her, all three wearing concerned expressions.

Pressing the guide button, the cartoon playing in the background gets minimized as I scan through the channels to find a news station.

When I find one, I click on it and motion toward the screen. “This,” I answer. Their gazes swivel to the breaking news report.

“After an investigation that has spanned nearly two years and several states, Americans can rest easier tonight after Sebastian Mantel was taken into federal custody earlier today,” the reporter announces. Raven sucks in a sharp breath and covers her mouth as her eyes round with shock. “Mantel runs one of the largest drug trafficking operations in the country. The DEA and FBI have been investigating him for twenty-one months, but until recently haven’t been able to obtain solid evidence linking him to his crimes. A break in the case came just last week when authorities finally located his ‘dumping grounds’. It is believed that Martel and his associates are responsible for the disappearance of over two thousand people, most of whom are presumed dead.”

A choked sob breaks loose from Raven’s throat and tears fill her eyes as the scene changes and the camera pans across an industrial area, focusing on a truck full of blue barrels. She was the one who told me about her suspicions regarding where they’d disposed of Mickey’s body. I passed the information to my father, knowing he could get it into the proper hands. His contacts at the FBI and DEA were practically gleeful when they were given the information. Unbeknownst to anyone outside law enforcement until this moment, they’d been after Mantel almost two years but couldn’t catch a break. The few informants they’d managed to recruit had suspiciously gone missing, and an undercover cop was gunned down in a drive-by shooting late one night and left to bleed out on a snowy, abandoned Detroit street. Mantel was powerful and insanely rich. His reach knew no bounds.

But he messed with the wrong family. He came after Raven, and although her relationship with Abby is precarious at best, there is still love there. There’s still blood. The family ties are tethered and have been stretched almost to the point of snapping in two, but they’ve held on by the tiniest thread. And that makes her my family, too. Sebastian Mantel is powerful, but so is my father. He has connections, people with whom he’s cultivated mutually respectful, professional relationships. He has the ear of a sitting president and possibly a future in the oval office himself. The man who hurt Abby’s family and countless others will reap what he has sown.

I turn to see three sets of wide, glistening eyes watching me and the satisfied grin slips from my face. Abby, Ama, and Raven all stare at me with varying degrees of disbelief.

“Did you-?” Abby begins, taking a step toward me. “Did you have something to do with this? With him being captured?” She knows who Mantel is, that he’s the one who sent his goons to harass her mother and collect the money she owed.

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