“Did you not check him out when I gave you his information?” I asked, clenching my hands at my sides. I was trying to stay calm, but the rage was building inside of me. I hadn’t been able to do much after she’d gone missing because I’d needed to stay underground, so I’d trusted them to check everyone out. I didn’t think I’d have to double-check who they’d checked out. They were experienced agents and had worked for law enforcement for over thirty years. So why the hell did they not know she was staying with Curtis?
“I did,” Ryan said, and I turned my attention to him. “He graduated, worked in the local bar.”
“And…” I waited for him to expand, but when he was silent, I growled. “That was all you found out? I could have told you that my goddamn self.”
“I didn’t think he was relevant,” Ryan said, his eyes flaring. “I didn’t think he mattered.”
“You were wrong,” Brody interjected, his voice nearly a growl now. “Curtis admitted to killing her roommate, Stella, and the boyfriend, Justin.”
My nostrils flared; my anger a living, breathing thing. “What the fuck?” I sneered. “So he kidnapped her, then?”
Brody shook his head and leaned back in his seat. “No. She went willingly. From what she told us yesterday, and the little she told Lola and Asher, he was helping her.”
“So they were friends?” Jord asked. “And then he flipped on her?”
“Looks like he wanted to be more than her friend,” Brody gritted out, and I swore I could feel steam coming out of my ears. “He said he was protecting her, and that was why he’d killed the people who tried to keep her away from him.” He shook his head and banged his fist on his desk, causing papers to scatter. “She’d been in danger, and we’d skimmed over him and not thought twice about it.” He stared at me, and the look in his dark-brown eyes told me he knew I wouldn’t have skimmed over it. But I’d had no choice. I’d had to leave to get the cartel off our backs. I had to protect the entire family, and that should have included Belle.
“What happens now?” Ky asked, leaning forward on the sofa and placing his arms on his thighs. “You talked to the DA?”
“Yeah.” Brody pushed his hand through his hair. “He said he’s logging it as self-defense. But I want us to investigate it more. My gut tells me none of this is over, and—” His office phone ringing cut him off, and he plucked it off the h
andset. “Easton.” He stared down at his desk and then looked at the watch on his wrist. “In thirty minutes?” He waited while the person on the line said something else, and then replied, “I’ll meet you there.” He placed the receiver back on the handset, closed his eyes, and inhaled a breath. “I need you all to read over the case, add your statements, and then file them.” He opened his eyes and met my stare. “You add a profile of Curtis.”
“On it,” I told him, already ready to get started on it. My entire attitude since I’d entered the building had changed. I was good at my job, and I knew I wouldn’t leave a single thing out.
Brody stood. “I need to leave the office for a couple of hours. Lola got Belle an appointment with the OBGYN.” He turned and plucked his jacket off the back of his chair. “I should be back before lunch.” I tried to drown him out, not prepared to listen about Belle’s baby. I had to concentrate on the task at hand and not get distracted.
“Tell Belle we said hey,” Jord told him. “And bring pictures back of the baby.”
Brody halted next to his desk. “I need to ask you all a favor.” He stared at us each in turn and then said, “Would you help us turn Asher’s old room into a nursery? Belle told us she’s eight months pregnant yesterday, so we have a month to get everything ready, that’s if…”
His voice faded away as I took in what he said. It took me a minute to process his words. She was eight months pregnant. She’d been gone with Curtis for six months. That meant when she’d left, she was already pregnant.
My breaths sawed in and out of me as I tried to remember what she was doing two months before she left, but I knew the answer before I thought it through. She was with me two months before she’d left. She’d been with me four months before she’d left. She’d only been with me, which meant—
Brody left his office with the guys on his heels, but Lottie sat in front of me, staring up at me with her beautiful brown eyes. She could sense something was happening, and she was ready and waiting to step in if she needed to.
My body was frozen in shock, my heart beating a crazy rhythm in my chest, but as soon as my instincts kicked in, I ran out of Brody’s office and toward the elevator. The numbers above the door were going down, and I knew it had to be Brody leaving.
Instead of waiting for it to come back up to me, I darted toward the door for the stairs and then took them two at a time. My arms pumped faster down the several flights, and once I was out of the building with Lottie next to me, I spotted Brody’s car moving toward the security gate. I didn’t have time to catch my breath as I rushed toward my car. Lottie was there, ready to get in, knowing we had to be quick.
I started the engine and peeled out of the lot, cursing the gate as it closed behind Brody. I watched him turn right and hoped I could catch up with him because I had no idea where exactly he was heading, but I had to be there. I had to know if the baby was mine, and one look at Belle would solve that.
The gate finally opened, and I sped out and to the right, not seeing Brody anywhere. I continued straight and then saw the back of his car at a set of lights. My hands shook as I gripped the steering wheel and followed him. Lottie barked a couple of times, almost as if she was telling me we found him in time.
For fifteen minutes, I followed him, and then finally he took a left and turned into a lot which had several buildings in front of it. I parked a few rows back from him and stared as he got out of the car and walked into the second building.
I swallowed, trying to calm myself down, and turned the engine off. “Stay here,” I told Lottie, leaving the passenger window partly open for her. I didn’t know how long I would be, and if I’d really thought about it, I should have asked one of the guys to watch her, but I hadn’t been thinking. Just like I hadn’t been yesterday.
I’d assumed the baby was someone else’s. I hadn’t even entertained the idea that it was mine, but now that I really thought about it as I walked toward the building, I realized how big the bump actually was.
Pulling in a breath, I opened the door and stepped inside. The small hallway led to another glass door, and I could see Belle, Brody, and Lola sitting toward the corner of the room. Belle’s head was down, her hand on her stomach, and Brody and Lola were talking. None of them knew I was here. They didn’t know what had happened between Belle and me, but that was about to change.
When I’d walked away from Belle, it wasn’t because I didn’t love her, it was because I was doing what I thought was right. But now…now I knew I’d walk through fire to get to her and the baby.
Baby. She was having my baby. My gut knew it. I just needed the confirmation.
I pulled open the door, causing a small bell to ring out, and then stepped into the waiting room. None of them looked up, not until I was about ten feet away. Then finally, Belle glanced at me. Her eye was still swollen shut, the bruising on her neck darker now than it had been yesterday. The anger bubbling inside me at what Curtis had done to her couldn’t be contained, but one look at her stomach and it faded away.