Page 30 of Hell of a Mess
“I’ll just follow you into that room,” I warned her. “Walking away from me isn’t going to help. I want to know who beat you, who has been hurting you. I can’t let Thaddeus leave with you if you don’t tell me.”
Her shoulders rose and fell with a heavy sigh, and for a moment, I thought she might test my threat to follow her into the bedroom. But finally, she turned back around to face me.
“The answer isn’t one and the same. I am a pawn in my father’s plan and have been since the age of eight. In many ways…” She paused and shook her head, as if changing her mind on what she was going to say. “You have to let me go.” There was a sad smile lifting the corner of her lips. “Linc wants me to go. It’s best for his wife and daughter. He’s the boss here, and I know you have to obey him.”
Yeah, well, she was wrong. I wasn’t going to do what Linc wanted. Blaise would have to send the direct order. He knew that my willingness to obey Linc went only so far. I’d made that clear to Linc and Garrett when I moved here. We had been born and raised to obey the Hughes in command. We hadn’t been born to obey the guy we grew up with, trained with. Unless you were raised in a branch like this one. We had been raised in Ocala. Linc could rule over the men here, but he wasn’t going to tell me what the fuck to do if I didn’t want to do it.
“Not exactly,” I replied. “Our situation is a little different than most. And I can help you. I just need you to tell me who beat you. Give me reason to stop Thaddeus from taking you back to your father. Without your word, I can’t do shit.”
We stood there, staring at each other silently. I’d give anything to know what was running through her head. Mostly because it would give me the information I needed and I could stop fucking pleading with her for it and do something.
“I want to leave. I want to go home,” she said in a firm voice, then began walking toward me instead of away.
She was lying, and she was also avoiding my gaze because she knew I could tell when she wasn’t telling the truth.
“Where are you going?” I asked as she walked past me.
“To the great room to wait on my ride home,” she replied.
The wordhomesounded bitter and hostile. As if it were a place she abhorred. Which only made this harder.
But how was I supposed to help someone who didn’t want my goddamn help?!
I glared at the wall and fisted my hands, fighting the urge to put my fist through the Sheetrock.
“When you leave, I can’t help you,” I said through clenched teeth.
She didn’t respond, and she didn’t stop.
Turning my head in her direction, I watched until she disappeared around the corner. I could go after her. Lock her in a room and not allow her out. But again, if she didn’t tell me who had beaten her and give me cause to keep her here, I already knew Blaise would be sending word for me to let her go with Thaddeus, and that was a command I wouldn’t be able to ignore.
I should go drink. Get so damn trashed that I didn’t care. Live my life without concern for someone else. It was a much easier choice in life than this shit. Just keep doing what I’d been doing for years. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to not be there whenThaddeus arrived to take her. Just in case she had a change of heart and decided to trust me.
Taking a few more moments to calm down, I unclenched my hands and took several deep breaths, then headed in the same direction she’d gone.
Every step I took, the voices got louder. If Locke was here, then I assumed Mal and Gathe probably were too. I doubted we’d be seeing Than, but then Ransom and Hale might be here. The voices seemed to quiet, and I realized that Lace had entered the room. Most of them hadn’t met her. I was sure they were all making assumptions about my reasons for wanting to help her.
I scowled as my strides became longer, not liking the idea of her facing them alone. Especially Linc and his ornery ass. I wasn’t in the mood for his opinion of Lace or her being here. If he said the wrong thing to her, I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t take a swing. It wouldn’t be the first time. Although the last tie-up we’d had put us both in hospital beds in the basement.
Just as I stepped into the room, I heard the alert that someone was coming through the security gate that surrounded our property.
Motherfucker! How fast did he drive? I’d thought it would be at least another hour before Thaddeus showed up.
Panic began to stir in my chest for the first time in my life. I’d had guns pointed at me and never flinched, yet the idea of Lace leaving to go back to the people who had hurt her or allowed her to be hurt was about to send me over the edge.
“Doc is here,” Linc announced.
I immediately eased. That wasn’t Thaddeus. There was still time to fix this.
Jayda was handing Lace a glass of water and talking to her near the patio doors. I watched them, wondering if maybe Jayda could talk some sense into her. Fuck knew I had failed at every turn.
“You gonna make this difficult?” Mal asked, and I tensed. I knew that question was directed at me.
And that cleared up why so many of us were here. Linc thought he needed backup in case I decided to stop it. I should find humor in the fact that he thought it would take almost all of them. Normally, I’d make a quip about his being afraid he couldn’t handle me alone. But I wasn’t feeling like it. Not today.
I slowly swung my gaze from Lace to see Mal sitting on the far-left end of the sofa with a cup of coffee in his hand, studying me with amusement.
“I’d hate to make it easy after Linc went to all this trouble to call in the calvary.” I smirked.
