Page 99 of Love Bleeds Red
Her eyes narrow and dart between me, Jasper, and Damon. I guess I get it. We’re usually the problem.
Blake raises her hand, cutting off another round of overlapping conversations. “Okay, let’s all take a step back here. We’re jumping ahead without knowing the full picture.” She looks around the table. “I think we need to get on the same page about everything before we start planning anything else.”
The kitchen falls quiet, and I find myself looking at Bailey again. She’s finished her croissant but hasn’t moved to get another. She’s just sitting there, watching our chaotic family try to figure out how to fix my mess.
“Bailey,” I say gently, “are you ready to share anything? About what happened to you? We need to understand what we’re really dealing with here.”
“And what about you?” Jasper asks, looking directly at me. “Are you ready to share with her?”
I sigh and pull out a chair. “We talked this morning. Briefly, but she knows about Alfred.”
All eyes are on Bailey as she wraps her arms around her chest. “I’m okay. It’s just a lot to take in. I don’t need your pity looks though. Especially you, Jas.”
Jasper raises his hands in front of him. “Sorry, I just can’t help it. It’s all so fucked up.”
“Yeah, well, I hate to say it but Alfred wasn’t the worst of them.” She clears her throat. “There were the two that took me from the club. One of them… he hurt me, hurt all of us. He called himself King. Russian accent.” Her fingers are gripping her arms hard enough to leave a mark. “He’s a monster.”
I glance at Jasper, who looks like he wants to kill Alexander Orlov all over again. He opens his mouth to chime in, but Bailey continues.
“The other one was different. Still bad, but more... businesslike about it. He never touched me… not like King, but he sat by knowing what was going on. He’s the one who handed me over to Alfred. Sweeper.”
Blake goes completely rigid in her chair. “What did you say?”
“I don’t know their real names. Sorry I can’t be much help. But I can give some descriptions. Sweeper had dark hair… maybe like, mid-thirties?—”
“Oh my God,” Blake gasps and sprints from the room out the front door.
Damon follows. “Be right back.”
Bailey’s eyes widen. “Did I say something?”
The three of us exchange looks across the table—Jasper looking like he swallowed poison, Falin wide-eyed, and I can’t see myself but I’m sure my own expression shows the weight of what we just found out.
Bailey catches on immediately, her gaze darting between us. “What’s going on? Why did Blake run out like that? What aren’t you telling me?”
I look at Jasper, raising my eyebrows in question.Should we?I know it should come from Blake, but I don’t think she’ll be able to speak on it. Not soon enough, anyway.
He nods slowly, his jaw tight. “She needs to know.”
I lean forward, choosing my words carefully. “Bailey, Sweeper... His real name was Brennan Whitaker.”
“Okay,” she says, still confused. “I mean, I figured he had a real name, but?—”
“He was Blake’s brother,” I say quietly. “Her older brother. She had no idea what he was involved in. Thought he worked for a shipping company.”
The color drains from Bailey’s face as the pieces fall into place. “How? This doesn’t make any sense. Is that how you met her? Did you find Sweeper?” She claps a hand over her mouth. “Oh God, I just told her that her brother stood by while King…”
“It’s a long story, but King was after Blake too. She only found out the truth about her brother when we rescued her,” Falin says gently. “Before that, she had no clue about his double life.”
“What happened to him?” Bailey asks quietly.
Jasper’s voice is grim. “King shot him. During the rescue. Blake watched it happen.”
Bailey stares at us for a long moment, processing what she just heard. “So he’s dead?”
I nod. “Yes. We were able to get into some of his files after. Without them, we might not have found you.”
“You said King shot him? That means you know who he is? Is he still out there? Still hurting people?”
