Finally, halfway through the second bucket, the bitch uttered through blue lips, “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! Just please stop!”
“You have two minutes to get it all out or we start again,” I said in a tone that even unnerved me.
“My sister is missing. She came out this way looking for Duke. She’s getting married and she needed him to sign the divorce papers. She was afraid they would get lost in the mail or that he wouldn’t sign them so she came in person. About two weeks ago, I got a letter in the mail that said if I wanted my sister back I needed to come to Croftridge. I was given instructions once I got here. They wanted me to take the baby and trade him for my sister. I was just trying to get my sister back,” she cried.
I wasn’t buying the bullshit she was selling. “Why didn’t you call the police?”
“The letter said not to tell anyone. It said if I did, my sister would die,” she explained.
“Do you have any proof that someone actually has your sister?”
She nodded frantically, “Yes, I talked to her on the phone.”
I arched a brow and looked at my brother. He was right there with me. I turned back to the psycho. “She was allowed to talk on the phone?”
“Just the one time. It wasn’t for very long, maybe not even a minute,” she rambled.
“Where were you supposed to trade my son for your sister?” I asked in a calm voice. I was on to this bitch. I was casually propped against a table, well out of spitting distance. My brother was circling the room slowly, a predator ready to pounce.
“I - I - I don’t know. They gave me an address, but I have no idea where it was. I was just following the GPS directions,” she stuttered.
I turned and caught Copper’s gaze. He was beaming at me proudly. I mouthed the word phone to him. His smile widened and he stepped forward, placing her cell phone in my hand. I knew one of them had it. They would have searched her car and taken anything that might be useful.
I kept my back to her and turned on her phone. The idiot didn’t even have it password protected. Byte could have bypassed it anyway, but that wasn’t the point. I opened up her text messages and only read one message before rage consumed me.
Her phone fell to the floor. I whirled around and let my fists fly with everything I had. I couldn’t hit her very hard with my left arm, but I did what I could. My right hand, however, was fair game. The impact of my third punch tipped her chair backward, sending her crashing to the floor. I was mid-leap when Carbon snatched me out of the air. I struggled against him, clawing and hissing like a feral cat, but my strength was no match for my monster-sized brother. “What the fuck, Reese?”
“She was taking my son to the Manglers. Her sister is Boar’s Old Lady!” I screamed.
“Carbon, get her out of here. Duke, lock that bitch down. Everybody upstairs. Church now!” Phoenix bellowed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Duke
What the fuck? Shannon was Boar’s Old Lady. How did that even happen? Don’t get me wrong, I never gave a shit about Shannon, but I didn’t for one second believe this was all a big coincidence.
“I think we know why we haven’t been able to track down Duke’s wife. On the bright side, now we know where she is. This would also explain why we haven’t seen or heard much of Boar either. What I don’t get is why they would want Duke’s son,” Phoenix said.
“Could be any number of reasons. Maybe she can’t have kids. Maybe she just wants to hurt Duke. Maybe she’s jealous. Maybe this is all Boar’s doing. Don’t forget, James is also Reese’s son and there’s a history between Boar and Reese’s mother,” Badger mused.
“I’m going to tear that fucker apart, limb by fucking limb,” Carbon growled. I didn’t even hear him come in.
“You’ll do no such thing until I say you can,” Phoenix ordered. “Did you get Reese settled?”
He grinned, “Yeah. Put James in her arms and she turned into a different person. Got to say, I’m damn proud of my little sister. Waterboarding a bitch with ice cold water,” he shook his head and his smile grew. “Didn’t know she had it in her.”
The brothers laughed at that. Shaker threw in, “You sure you know what you’re getting into, Duke?” Their laughter grew louder.
I smiled. “I sure do. I’m damn proud of her, too.”
“All right boys, let’s get back to business. I want Reese and James moved to the clubhouse until further notice. We need to find out how that sister got onto the farm property and got to the Martins’ house-”
Byte interrupted, “I can answer that. I checked the camera feeds. She pulled up and the gate opened. She had to have a chip in the car to open it, but I can’t figure out how she got one.”
“Fuck! Can you get that damn system deactivated?”
“Yes. When do you want me to do that?”
