Safe and Sound (Twist of Fate 2)

It was my brother.

Chase held my gaze for a moment, then stepped all the way into the room and closed the door behind him. He was holding a couple of manila envelopes in his hand, one smaller than the other. I knew the smaller one was the envelope the cops had put my personal belongings in when they’d processed me. Chase didn’t speak as he sat down and slid the envelope across the table. It wasn’t often that I saw my brother pissed, but there was no mistaking the look now. I sat back down in the chair across from him.

“For now, let’s overlook the fact that instead of using your one phone call to reach me, you used it to call the hospital, and focus on the fact that you just single-handedly sunk our business by beating the shit out of our most prominent client.”

“How did you find out I was here?” I asked as a sliver of guilt went through me. I hadn’t even given a single thought to what my actions would mean to the business Chase and I had worked so hard to build. But I knew it wouldn’t have changed anything— given the chance, I’d kick the shit out of that fucker every time.

“You mean besides the fact it’s all over the goddamn news?” Chase asked. “My friend, Sam, is a beat cop here. He heard about your arrest and called me. Told me some crazy-ass story about my brother attacking his boyfriend’s cousin, the Bomber Flynn—”

“He’s not his cousin,” I interjected.

“I don’t give a shit what he is,” Chase snapped. “What I care about is that our business is about to go down in flames, and we have one chance to save it.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Chase slid the second envelope across the table. “These are copies. You’ll be officially served as soon as you’re processed out.”

“Copies of what?” I asked as I began opening the envelope.

“Restraining orders. Two of them.”

My hands stilled briefly in the act of working the little metal fastener loose.

“No,” I said quietly, more to myself than Chase. Then I was practically ripping the envelope open. I worked the pages free and scanned the first one, which unsurprisingly had Bomber’s real name on it— William Flynn. I threw the paper aside and searched out the name on the second one.

Ashton Valentine.

“No,” I repeated. I flipped through the pages until I got to the signature page. It had to be a fake, a forgery. But as I let my eyes skim over the signature on the bottom of the page, I knew it wasn’t. I’d seen Ash’s signature enough to know it was his.

“He was forced to sign this,” I said angrily as I shoved the offending paper away.

Chase sighed and said, “Aiden—”

“No, Chase!” I bit out. “He wouldn’t do this. You didn’t see what that fucker did to him!”

“I saw him, Aiden.”

“What?” I choked out. “You saw Ash? Is he okay? He’s awake?”

“I saw him and I talked to him.”

“What did he say? I need my phone,” I said impatiently as I grabbed the second manila envelope and ripped it open to find my cell phone.

Chase’s hand covered mine before I could power the phone on. “He doesn’t want to talk to you, Aiden.”

“What?” I asked, sure I’d heard him wrong. “No,” I said, shaking my head.

Chase grabbed the phone from me. “Damn it, Aiden, will you just fucking listen to me for a second? You owe me that at least!”

I nodded, because he was right.

My brother sucked in a breath and said, “Bomber’s agreed to drop the charges against you, but you have to stay away from him and Ash. No contact.”

I began shaking my head, but Chase ignored me and continued, “He’s also agreed to play down what happened at the hospital. He’ll say it was a disagreement about his cousin’s treatment—”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” I snapped as I climbed to my feet and began pacing again.

“He’ll say he left our firm because of a conflict of interest and that he was happy with our services, despite the personal disagreement about his cousin’s— Ash’s— treatment.”

“No!” I said with a shake of my head. “It’s blackmail! He’s trying to keep me from Ash.”

“Aiden,” Chase said so softly that I stopped to look at him. “Ash is the one who gave me the copies of the restraining orders. He said they were his idea. He also confirmed the beating was a result of being robbed.”

I felt the air leave my lungs at that, but I violently shook my head, still stuck on the idea that Ash had made the decision to serve me with a restraining order. “He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t. It’s Billy—”

“Billy wasn’t even in the room! He’d stepped out to get Ash some water. If Ash was being forced, he had the chance to say something. I even asked him if he needed help, Aiden!”