Revelation (The Protectors 7)

“You are nothing!” she returned as her fingers wrapped around the wrist holding on to her. “No one gives a shit about you anymore, Eric! They’ve forgotten all about you! But they’ll have a field day when they find out you’re a fucking queer who’s been lying to them all this time!”

“Fuck you, Patricia,” Eric said, his voice deadly. And with one hard shove, the woman flew backwards over the railing. The video jerked as her scream was abruptly cut off after a second or two. I heard what sounded like a muffled cry and assumed it was Lucy. The video cut off at that point.

I sent the video to Ronan and then sent him a message telling him to have Daisy find the PI Patricia had mentioned. If we were lucky, the man knew about Ethan. If we were really lucky, he’d have witnessed Ethan’s bruises. It wasn’t a guarantee that it would clear Ethan’s name, but it would go a long way to proving he hadn’t been stalking Eric or that he’d abducted Lucy because he was obsessed with the man.

I sat there in the dark for a while as I considered the turn of events. Having the video was good news, but I knew it wasn’t enough.

I dialed Vincent’s number.

“Yeah,” was all he said.

“I need a favor,” I said quietly. I didn’t wait for Vincent to answer. I just sent Ethan a silent apology and then told Vincent what I needed.

Chapter Twenty

Ethan

You’re mine, Ethan. Do you hear me?

I jolted awake as if the words had just been whispered into my ear instead of two weeks earlier, just before Eric had shoved his dick into me.

“No, I’m not,” I said out loud. I hadn’t been able to say those words back then, but I could now. Even with Eric still hunting me, I was free.

I looked behind me to see if I’d woken Cain, but he wasn’t beside me. I saw a figure sitting at the table in the corner, but there wasn’t enough light from the laptop he was looking at to see his face.

But I knew it wasn’t Cain. Panic tore through me, but before I could do anything, the man said, “Easy.” I recognized the gruff voice instantly and managed to suck a deep breath into my lungs.

Vincent.

“What are you doing here? Where’s Cain?” I asked. Since I was naked beneath the blanket, I couldn’t get out of bed.

“He had some stuff he needed to do.”

I flicked on the light next to the bed. “What stuff?” I asked. I saw my clothes sitting on the end of the bed. Not caring if Vincent was watching or not, I grabbed them and began tugging them on. A glance at the clock showed it was just after one in the morning.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” the man said.

“You’re lying,” I said as realization began to dawn. There was only one reason Cain would have left me without saying anything.

My accusation had Vincent sitting back in the chair. His hard eyes swept over me and his jaw tightened. But I didn’t give a shit that he was trying to intimidate me. When he didn’t respond, I went around the bed and reached for the room phone.

“He left his phone here for you,” Vincent cut in. “Said you’d need it to call the girl.”

I followed Vincent’s gaze and sure enough, Cain’s phone was sitting on the dresser.

“He said you knew the passcode.”

I went to the phone and entered the code. Cain had changed it a few days earlier…to the day we’d met.

I scanned his text messages and felt my heart lurch when I saw the most recent one that Cain had sent to Ronan.

“You fixed Lucy’s phone,” I murmured. I was tempted to watch the video, but I had more important things to deal with.

Vincent didn’t answer. I turned to look at him. “Where is he?” I asked.

“I think you know the answer to that.”

Fear spread through my chest as I lowered myself to the bed. “He went after Eric.” I shook my head. “Why?” I whispered. “We have the proof.”

Confusion went through me as I tried to make sense of Cain’s actions. He’d been so adamant that the phone would be fixed and I’d finally be free. So why had he left to go after Eric?

Things became clear as I thought back to the day before. I shook my head in disbelief. “We have to find him,” I said as I stood up and searched out my shoes. “Cain’s going to kill him.”

“Seems to me the fucker needs killing,” Vincent drawled.

His lack of concern pissed me off. “Eric won’t be alone, you asshole!” I shouted.

“Your man seems pretty capable of handling himself.”

“Fuck you, Vincent!” I yelled as the panic began to consume me. I snatched Cain’s phone off the dresser. If the asshole wouldn’t help me, I’d find someone who would.