“What else was in the storage unit?”
“A bunch of baby stuff. I called Fish and Aries to get it all moved to my house. Brooklyn picked that stuff out for her baby, so we were going to use it for her baby,” Ulrich said, lifting Baby Brooklyn from her carrier when she started to fuss. She quieted as soon as she was in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Y’all didn’t open it?” I gestured to the big envelope.
“No, not without you, though Ulrich has been chomping at the bit to get into that file. It may explain what exactly Brooklyn was running from, and give the police somewhere else to look besides at you for her murder.”
I ran my hand through my hair and cast a glance toward the two way mirror where someone could be observing us. If the other officers were here, I would have told Zodiac to take it home and open it for me. I didn’t trust Hollender as far as I could throw him, especially after the way he put his hands on Juliette. My blood still boiled when I thought of his hands wrapped around her slender neck.
Juliette was honorable. I didn’t know much about the sexy deputy, but I knew that. I also knew that she hated her co-workers as much as I did, so she showed good judgment. Deputy Rooker would never spy on a conversation between an attorney and their client. The other guys I wasn’t so sure about, but she wouldn’t.
I took a deep breath and ripped open the top of the envelope and dumped the contents on the table in front of us. There was a smaller white envelope with my name on it, so I went for that first, thinking maybe it would help solve the mystery that was Brooklyn. I slipped my finger under the glued edge and tore the seal, pulling out a piece of folded paper. Tess leaned over reading it upside down as I read it silently to myself.
Hey Scorpio,
If you’re reading this, then someone found the key I planted in the lost and found and it led you to the storage unit. It also means something bad has happened, and chances are, I’m gone. I honestly don’t even know where to start, Duncan. There’s so much to say, but I guess I’ll start with I’m sorry.
I’m sorry because I know I made you feel guilty for not loving me when I didn’t really love you either. We were friends, and I valued that friendship. The only reason I pushed for more was because for the first time in a long time, I felt safe with you. I hadn’t felt safe in so long, but being with you and the rest of the club made me feel lighter. Thank you for that, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for the pressure I placed on you.
In this envelope you’ll find my journal. It contains my notes of everything I learned when I was living back east. The contents of the journal and the thumb drive are dangerous, not only for you, but for her as well. I’ve done everything I can to protect her, Duncan. I didn’t know who to trust before I came to Rising Star, and when it comes to the contents of this package I still don’t know who to trust.
The girl, she’s safe now, and I still look in on her when I can. Please make sure she stays safe. I risked everything to get her out, and if they find her–-she will go back to living in hell. Everything is in the journal and on the thumb drive. Be careful who you show it to, and be careful who you trust with it. This goes deeper and is more connected than you realize. I’m so sorry to bring this to your doorstep and to the doorstep of the club. I did what I had to do to keep her safe.
Please, Duncan, keep her safe.
Brooklyn
P.S.
Tell Tess to look inside the stroller.
I looked up at Tess who was leaning against Zodiac for support, tears streaming down her face as my own emotions clogged my throat. The guilt I felt over not loving her the way she should have been, eased a bit, knowing that the love we shared was nothing more than friendship on both sides.
We all sat in silence for a moment digesting the letter she left for me. Whatever Brooklyn had been running from was big--bigger than any of us realized. I tucked the letter back into the white envelope and set it aside before reaching for the journal. I read silently to myself the first few entries. Bile rose in my throat and I swallowed it, the acid burned its way back down my esophagus as I kept reading her entries–each one was worse than the last.
I read the first couple before I flipped to the back of the journal. The last entries are what gutted me most. God, Brooklyn was one of the bravest fucking people I’d ever known, and I had no freaking clue. Anger vibrated through every cell in my body as I continued to read what she’d experienced–what they did to her and to the kid. She lived in utter hell for years to protect her. The kid deserved better, and so did Brooklyn. So much better than what they got. I wouldn’t let her down. Not again.
Tess and Zodiac were watching me as I closed the journal and put it back on the table. I stood up, barely able to contain my rage. The metal table was cold as I placed my heated palms on it’s flat unforgiving surface.
“Get me the fuck out of here, Tess.”
Chapter Eight
Scorpio
I couldn’t focus. For the last two days I’ve sat in this cell, living in my own tiny version of hell. Hollender told Juliette she needed to take a few days off, so I was basically sitting in my cell with nothing pretty to look at, lost in my thoughts that kept cycling back to Brooklyn. Tess was doing everything in her power to get me out of here, but it didn’t seem soon enough. Hollender put some fat, dumpy old guy on “babysitting” duty, as he liked to call it, and he refused to talk to me. God, how I missed that sassy mouth, those beautiful emerald eyes that made my dick go fucking crazy, and all the beauty that came with my little woman with handcuffs, because that’s what she would be eventually--my little woman.
Painfully, I closed my eyes, getting lost in the images that were building inside my head. The woman I knew as Brooklyn went through fucking hell to get to Rising Star, and the shit she did to get here, made her a hero in my book. She wasn’t looking out for herself… she was looking out forher…and just thinking about what those sick fucks did, made my blood broil underneath my skin.
The few entries I read were enough to create a target on my back as well, and that was only because now I knew too much. Way too fucking much.
My eyes pinched shut, trying to fight the anger that was quickly spreading through me like a wildfire. I wasn’t guilty of anything that had to do with Brooklyn’s death, but if I ever met the men responsible for bringing her to my doorstep, I may just slit their throats and not think twice about it. Those fuckers deserved to die, and then be resurrected just so I could spill their blood again.
Three of the entries I had laser memorized into my brain, and I couldn’t let it go. It was one time where I wished I didn’t have a semi eidetic memory.
May 14, 2019
It happened again. Valentina woke up crying with bruises up and down her body. I know someone is doing something to her because the slightest touch makes her cower and shy away. I can’t prove anything, so I’m taking matters into my own hands. I’ve purchased a nanny cam that looks like a pink teddy bear. Valentina loves it, and no one knows that it has a secret recording device inside. I’m going to protect this little girl at all costs, and if I find out that some fucker in this household is abusing her, I’m going to take them down. You don’t mess with Meg Mezano’s kid and get aeay with it. Not that she’s really mine, but she might as well be. I’ve raised Valentina since she was six, and now that she’s ten, I feel even closer to her than I ever had before. Whoever is hurting her is going to end up dead, even if I have to drive the knife into their belly myself.
