Page 107 of Legacy of Lies
Chapter 25
Hank moaned and rolled over, bloody fingers digging into Sara’s lower leg. What the hell? He wasn’t out? The guy had superhuman strength and endurance. Garrison had never seen anything like it before.
The power flared to life, blanked out all other rational thought, and took over Garrison’s will.
He wanted to kill Hank, but first he had unfinished business with the guy. The unfinished business required the asshole to remain conscious.
Using the edge of his boot heel to encourage Hank to let go of Sara’s leg, Garrison retrieved the pieces of rope and trussed Hank’s wrists and feet.
Sara stared at him with wide-eyed horror. Hank writhed within the bonds and spat curses. Garrison paused, torn.
Son of a bitch. He should get her out of here and to warmth and safety, but damn it, his fingers of truth itched to connect with the man’s head.
In fact, the roar of his power built up to a cyclone inside his skull. The spinning pressure pushed against his mind. Cracks started to form. He’d never experienced anything like this with his gift before. Stress pushed him to a new level. So much did the power consume him, he set her to the side and scooted a few feet away, worried he’d hurt her.
He kicked Hank’s foot.
The hog-tied man yowled. “Fuck off.”
“Good. You’re conscious enough for me.” He knelt and locked Hank’s sweaty, bloody face between his two hands, then released every ounce of power in an arrow of psychic energy, anchoring himself to the other man’s mind. Hank screamed but kept his eyes fixed on Garrison.
“Hank, I’m going to ask you a question.”
“I’m not answering anything, dickhead.”
The building pressure felt different tonight. Maybe he didn’t need Hank to say anything. What if he didn’t need to ask a question to get the answers?
He’d try it the normal way first. “Where is Tiffani?”
Hank’s jaw clamped down. The anger boiling in Garrison’s body ratcheted up his newly hungry power several notches. The ability wanted to be released, needed to be released. The roaring in Garrison’s head would give him a stroke unless he let it out.
So Garrison did something he’d never done in his life. He didn't simply read Hank’s lying aura. This time, Garrison shoved his power into another person and reached inside. Under the invasion, Hank writhed and howled while Garrison’s ability freakin’looked forthe answer to the question. His power had never acted like this before.
Then, like it stumbled onto an idea, the ability shifted, as if it found what it came for and throttled back. He simply read Hank’s memories of Tiffani like a sick, disjointed story.
While working at the county office, Tiffani had found out about the Brands’ mining and property acquisition plans a year ago. Hank at first had tried to sweet-talk her into keeping her mouth shut, but later resorted to blackmail.
So Tiffani had posed for nude pictures in a men’s magazine back in college? For this she bent to Hank’s will?
Not only that reason. There. The truth in Hank’s mind glowed bright orange.
Garrison’s brain pulsed like a bass drum, making it difficult to concentrate, but he pressed forward. He needed to know the complete truth about his wife.
Hank whined like an animal stuck in a metal trap, writhing in pain with nowhere to run. Good. Garrison dug deeper.
Not only had Hank held the specter of public humiliation over Tiffani, he’d found out about her fixation with Vaughn, and then Hank had threatened Zach’s life. Blackmail and threats kept piling up, deeper and scarier. So, little by little, Tiffani had covered up important information about the Brand’s mining operation, helped Hank, and siphoned county funds to him.
When that hadn’t been enough, Hank cashed in all of the blackmail. He wanted to ruin her family, her career, and her reputation.
Similar M.O. to how he treated Sara. At least the asshole remained consistent.
Then, Hank forced Tiffani to become his lover eleven months ago. His sexual tastes were ... uniquely twisted ... but when that relationship didn’t work out, he forced her to empty the joint bank account she had with Garrison.
Then she gave the money to Hank.
That awful day, right after the divorce papers arrived, when Garrison went to withdraw cash and had zero dollars in the account.
He had thought that moment represented his rock bottom. Until today.
