Traded (Blood Ties Book 5)

I crossed my legs and swallowed the taste of blood in my mouth from biting my goddamn tongue. The detective sat across from me, the other two stepping in and out of the room, no doubt trying their best to find something on me, like they’d been doing for the past six fucking hours.

Six hours I’d sat here.

Six hours without her.

Vivienne must be going out of her goddamn mind.

I clenched my jaw as I imaged the kinds of fucking hell she was enduring right now. First Colt was gone, and now me. I only hoped Carven and Guild were there to protect her, even if it was from the torment of her own damn mind.

“So, you’re trying to tell me that you’re acquainted with Killion Dare but not in a business sense, nor are you friends?”

Six hours for this?

Where the fuck was Major?

“Trying being the operative word there, detective,” I responded as I uncrossed my legs, only to slowly recross them the other way.

There was a flicker of annoyance in his eyes. They didn’t have a fucking thing on me and they knew it. Meanwhile, Hale was enjoying picking me apart, thread by fucking thread.

“I’m still not getting the big picture here, London.”

I winced at my name on his tongue and my mind drifted to another tongue. The one I’d cut out of the bastard who’d used it to hurt someone I love.

“How on Earth are you connected to Mr. Dare?”

There was a sharp knock at the door. This one sounded different, more urgent. It better be you, Major, or I swear to God…

“As I’ve said countless times now, detective, through a mutual associate.” The same fucking dead man who’d put me here.

And they knew it, too.

Not once in the last six hours had Hale’s name crossed their lips. Not fucking once.

That alone spoke volumes.

The detective rose, slowly pushing out the chair with the backs of his legs as he took the opportunity to look down at me. Twitch. The nerve jumped at my temple as I forced the words through clenched teeth. “If you’re looking for a motive, detective, you’ll find none here. I have about as much to gain by Mr. Dare’s death as I had when he was alive.”

Knock!

I glanced toward the door as the detective took a step. He knew. The motherfucker knew and he was drawing this out for as long as he could, hoping to find any dirt he could.

A look of annoyance crossed his face once more, no doubt from the ass chewing he was getting in the earpiece he wore. With a snarl, he crossed the rest of the room and opened the door, to find my very pissed off, highly expensive attorney waiting impatiently on the other side.

Major Copeland pushed into the room, his eyes flashing with fear the moment ours connected. The purse of his lips said it all, but I wasn’t in the fucking mood to hear excuses.

“We’re leaving,” he announced.

I was already rising. “Yes, we are.”

The detective said nothing, just watched as I tugged the cuffs of my shirt, then strode over and stopped beside him. “Tell me, detective, what on Earth made you look at me for this?”

His brow pinched before he looked away. That was all the confirmation I needed.

“I apologize that this has been a waste of your entire night. I do hope you can track down whoever caused it. Sounds like a perfect deflection on their part.”

A bitter curl of his lips followed. His eyes flashed with a look that said more than his lying tongue ever had.

I turned and followed the lawyer, who cost me seven figures a fucking year to waste my goddamn time with this bullshit, out of that foul fucking room. Other detectives waited, one dressed in a uniform and wearing more medals than I’d ever seen even on a soldier, and I’d seen a lot of soldiers.

He stared at me and gave a slow nod as I passed.

I knew him instantly.

My pulse pounded as I barely nodded in return, then kept walking.

He was the reason I was here, and why Hale’s name hadn‘t even been mentioned once. The fucking bastard was yanking on the collar around my neck, determined to make me heel. I strode along the hallway beside my attorney all the way out into the large expansive foyer of the city’s police headquarters.

The only problem was, if you didn’t know the beast on the other end of the leash, it might just turn around and tear you to fucking pieces. Daniels’ face came back to me, with that empty, shattered stare.

They had no idea who I was…

But they’d soon find out.

I reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone as I strode out the door of the headquarters and into the faint yellow light of the rising sun.

“Mr. St. James!” someone called from a small crowd waiting at the foot of the concrete stairs.

“This way,” Major called as the reporters rushed forward.

Major did his best to step in between us, guiding me toward his waiting midnight blue Mercedes, before he turned, his arms stretched toward the onslaught.

A flurry of movement followed from the scavengers. Phones were shoved into my face as desperate questions followed.

“There will be no questions answered by Mr. St. James,” Major declared forcefully. “No charges have been made by the police and we are doing all we can to help—”

The door unlocked with a loud click. I had already pressed the icon on my phone as I yanked the passenger door open and climbed inside.

Goddamn motherfuckers!

Two rings later, the call was answered. “What do you need me to do?” Carven’s words were chilling.

I glared at the fucking reporters as they swarmed outside like vultures, turned my face away, and kept my voice low. “I want you to send a very clear message with Mr. Daniels, one that says I don’t fucking heel for anyone, especially not Hale.”

“My absolute fucking pleasure,” Carven answered instantly.

I could hear the brutal delight in his tone, the excitement that the beginning of the end was here. Only it had to be Hale’s end, because there was no way I was dying for that piece of shit.

A woman headed toward the car, her head down, her hair flowing behind her. I turned my attention back to the only important thing on my mind. “Vivienne?”

“You might want to get yourself home…as fast as you can.”

He said nothing and everything all at once.

I winced at the image that arose. She’d be pacing. She’d be pissed. She’d be tearing herself apart.

“I’m on my way,” I answered and ended the call as the approaching woman came closer, then lifted her head.

Brown eyes met mine through the windshield before they turned away and she melted into the cluster of reporters.

I flinched.

My heart hammered.

Blood drained from my face.

Those brown eyes stuck in my mind…ones that were eerily familiar.

I wonder if you’ve found the third yet?

Jack’s words resounded.

A third sister, older, if I remember correctly.

Then it hit me like a blow. I jerked my gaze past the crowd of reporters as the driver’s door opened and Major climbed behind the wheel.

“London?” Major called behind me as I left the passenger door open and lunged out.

Those eyes called to me, ones I knew better than anyone, ones I’d lost myself in over and over again.

Those were Vivienne’s eyes.

I rushed and slammed into the waiting reporters who shoved their phones into my face as though I’d somehow changed my mind and was ready to bleed all my fucking secrets out to anyone who’d listen. The hard brunt of the collision knocked me sideways before I straightened.

A roar of protest came as I pushed forward, raced up the first, second…and third stairs. My pulse pounded in my ears as I searched for her. By the time I hit the top, I was sucking in hard breaths as I scanned the foyer of the police station…but she wasn’t there.

There was no one in the foyer. The glass doors were still closed from when I’d walked through. She had to be here…somewhere.

King’s third daughter.

The one who would lead me right to him.

I unleashed a roar as I charged toward the side of the building. Shadows waited for me. Shadows, but nothing else.

“What the fuck is going on?” Major called, breathing heavily behind me. I turned, and found his panicked stare. “Are you fucking falling apart on me?”

I scowled as I stared at him, then slowly shook my head.

He lifted his hand. “Then let’s get the fuck out of here before those assholes decide they want another fucking bite, shall we?”

He was right.

I knew he was right.

But that didn’t stop me looking over my shoulder one last time before I followed him, scowling the whole time at the reporters, who stared back at me with wary, confused expressions as I strode to the open car door and climbed back inside.

My damn hands shook as I fastened my seatbelt and stared up at the darkened building.

“Christ, you look like you’ve seen a goddamn ghost,” Major snapped as he started the engine and shoved the car into reverse.

But it hadn’t been a ghost that had just revealed itself.

It was the connection I’d needed…

To save myself…

And my family.

Exhaustion hit me as I leaned back against the headrest and my stomach churned with pent-up rage. “Just get me home, Major,” I murmured, knowing what was waiting for me. “Just get me home.”