Page 27 of Broken Promises
“What about the man with the black hair from the house?” she asked softly. “He was there when I first arrived, but I didn’tsee him the day of the initiation.” I turned to look at her as Devlin and Lucian leaned closer.
“Tell me about him,” Devlin requested as James turned his computer and began typing away.
My system was still searching for the keywords I’d entered, so I focused completely on Hannah and her recounting of her days in that house. “It was the first day I was there. They drugged me, and when I woke up, I was in one of the bedrooms of that house. After I was given the rules to follow, they allowed me to roam the house. I ran into a man, maybe a few years younger than me, black hair, green eyes, wearing an expensive suit. He had an air of superiority to him that was off-putting.”
“Can you explain?” James asked as he looked over the top of his laptop.
“It seemed like he was enjoying an inside joke at my expense, if that makes sense. He wasn’t threatening, but he strutted around like he owned the place. Hell, it could’ve been his house, for all I know. But there was something about him that screamed danger.”
“And you’re sure he wasn’t at the house that night?” James asked, and Hannah shook her head.
He cast his eyes to me then back to his computer, and when he looked back at me again, I gave a subtle nod. The night we rescued Hannah and Rylee, every man who took his last breath in that house was photographed. James typed something and then looked at Hannah.
“Will you look at some pictures and see if you recognize him?”
She twisted her mouth but nodded her agreement. I took her hand into mine as James spun the computer and pushed it closer to her. She reached out and pressed the space bar as she went through fifteen or so pictures, pausing only on the photo of the man who took from her and was ended by Rylee. Devlinhad snapped it when he was face down on the table where he’d hurt Hannah, and she briefly closed her eyes before pressing the space bar again.
When she got to the end, she pushed the computer back and said, “I didn’t see him.” Pausing, she asked, “Does that mean there’s still someone out there?”
“At this point, we don’t know what it means. What I can absolutely say is this. No one will hurt you again. Not only do you have Rhys, but now you have us, and we protect our family with everything we have. I know this is all so much to take in, but I promise, you’re safe.”
Lucian’s words seemed to calm her slightly, but I could see the stress still on her face. “Can we take five?” I asked, and the three men nodded.
Standing, I guided Hannah out of her chair and into the house as James kept working and the brothers spoke quietly. My laptop had thousands of pages to go through, so it could take a while. Hannah looked at me when we reached her bedroom, and I urged her to sit on the edge of the bed. Kneeling in front of her, I took both her hands in mine as I spoke.
“How are you holding up?”
“I don’t know, honestly. It’s all so much to take in,” she responded.
“If you’ve had enough for today, I can make them leave.”
She shook her head. “I want to help. I want this to end, so no one ever has to worry about them again.”
I pecked her on the lips as she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me closer to her. Ending the kiss, I softly said, “You’re so wonderful.” She blushed, and I asked, “Are you ready to go back out there?”
“I guess.”
Chuckling, I stood and held my hands out to help her stand. Keeping her close to me, we went back outside, and I helpedher sit down before retaking my seat. My system was still running, pulling pages and throwing them into a file so they’d be compiled when finished.
Devlin spoke first. “Do you know what happened to your mother?”
Shrugging, Hannah answered, “Granny got a letter from her about a year after she left me, postmarked from California. I think I have it inside somewhere, but it may take me a day or two to find it.”
“So, she’s still alive?” Lucian asked.
“As far as I know. She hasn’t made one move to try and contact me in the years she’s been gone, so I have no idea about anything where she’s concerned.”
“If it’s okay with you, I’m going to have my system start looking for her. If we can establish some facts about her, like where she worked, where you lived, where she went after she left, then maybe we can piece together how she met Sergey and where she’s at now,” Devlin explained.
“As long as I don’t have to speak with her, you can do whatever you want,” Hannah uttered.
“You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Devlin replied.
“All I want to do is finally put an end to the Syndicate and the vile things they believe to be their birthright,” Lucian stated, and I saw Hannah turn her full attention to him.
James lifted his eyes from behind the computer and gazed at me. He could see the wheels spinning in Hannah’s brain as much as I could, and I’m sure, to some degree, he’d been listening in on our conversation this morning. I hated that he probably heard personal things about Hannah, but he was doing everything he could to figure out who was behind all this. He raised his eyebrows at me, and I subtly shrugged.
“Can I ask you some questions, Lucian? That is, if you don’t mind,” Hannah started, and I saw Lucian turn his full attention to her.
