Burn (Steel Brothers Saga 5)

She had a point. “All right. I will. I’ve tried a couple times to tell Bryce, but we’ve always gotten interrupted. But you’re right. Talon is my brother, and he suffered at this man’s hand. But all I have as proof is the birthmark, which I haven’t even seen.”

“Then how do you know it’s in the right place?”

“Marjorie saw him at the gym. She said it was right there on his right upper arm, under his armpit.”

Melanie’s peachy cheeks went pale. “Oh my God.”

“I know. There are so many loose ends in this situation, and they just become more and more unraveled the deeper we dig.” I thought back to the words that Larry Wade had said to Bryce and me the last time we saw him.

The truth is overrated. Once you open the door to that dark room, getting out is damn near impossible.

The man was a lying psychopath, but maybe he had a point. We were all healing now. Was it really necessary to open all the doors? So far, every door we had opened had led to more doors. Answers had only posed more questions. We seemed further away from the truth now than we had been when we’d started this journey.

“Jonah, the mayor bought duct tape and rope. The day I was taken.” Her lower lip trembled.

“I know. You told me.”

“I was bound with duct tape and rope later that evening. By a man with blue eyes.”

I tensed, running my fingers through my hair. “You don’t think…”

“I don’t know, honestly. But it’s possible. If the mayor is the psychopath you say he is, he would be capable of anything.”

Could there be a connection between Melanie’s abduction and our situation? My God, if that crazed lunatic had not only molested my brother but had also abducted my woman…

Couldn’t go there yet. Too farfetched.

I needed a break from Tom Simpson and what he’d done to Talon. I stopped pacing and took Melanie in my arms. “Sweetheart, it’s possible. Anything is possible when dealing with a psychopathic criminal.”

“It just seems a little too coincidental, don’t you think?”

I nodded. “It does. But he could have been buying those things for any number of reasons.”

“You’re right.” She sighed. “It is definitely a long shot. And lots of people have blue eyes. If I could have seen the mayor’s eyes that day, I could tell you better. The guy who attacked me had really cold blue eyes. Icy cold. Almost unreal looking.”

Tom Simpson’s eyes were definitely cold. But had I noticed how cold they were before I knew what he was? I wasn’t sure.

“I’ll tell you what. Let’s go see Dr. Cates tomorrow and get some information on Gina’s uncle. I need to focus on something other than Steel family drama for a little while.”

She snuggled her head into my shoulder. “I do think it would be a good idea for you to take a step back for a day or two. But don’t feel like you have to dive headfirst into my ashes.”

“Melanie, I want to help you. And I will not let you go see that man alone.”

“Good,” she said, “because I don’t want to go alone.”

She wouldn’t go alone. I would do all I could to help her, to protect her, while I had the chance. Because as soon as I told her the truth about the evening she was attacked, she would leave me.

My brother had left me that day twenty-five years ago.

Just like my mother had left me two years later.

Just like every woman I had been involved with—and there weren’t many—had left me because they couldn’t deal with what I truly was…or was not.

I buried my nose in her blond hair, still damp from her shower, and inhaled the coconut scent. “I love you so much, Melanie. So fucking much.”

I felt her smile against my shoulder. “I love you too.”

I only hoped her love for me was enough to survive what was coming.