Missing (The Brannock Siblings Book 3) (18 page)

I grinned, because damn if that didn't feel good to hear.
"I'll be there soon."

"I'll be here."

I tossed the phone onto the dashboard and weaved my way
through traffic. Linc was patiently waiting for me to explain why the hell I
was acting like a crazy person and why I was practically sweating fear.

"Eckart said they found the car at that huge parking
garage down the street from my apartment."

"What the fuck?"

"That's what I thought. This is getting too close,
Linc. I've had a nagging feeling about this whole thing and I can't ignore it
anymore."

"You can say that again," he snapped. "Give
me your phone, I'll call Lily and see where she's at. Kristie wouldn't mind
some company today while we figure this out."

"Thanks," I breathed and slid the phone over to
him.

I drove like a maniac and had no hope of calming myself
until I saw for myself that there was no threat to Aiden or her sister. Maybe I
was overreacting, maybe I wasn't, but I was taught to never ignore my instincts
and right now, my instincts were telling me I was missing something important.

By the time we turned down my street, Linc had arranged for
Lily and Aidy to spend the evening with Kristie. It was times like this that I
couldn't be more grateful to have him for a partner. It didn't matter if I was
being paranoid, it was better safe than sorry.

"This is the shit I worry about when Kristie talks
about kids," he muttered. "What happens if I piss the wrong guy off
and he goes after my family? This world can be evil, man. How do we avoid that
kind of consequence for what we do?"

I didn't have the answer, but it was becoming clearer to me
that there was no way to avoid it. My whole life had been affected by the shit
Dad went through as a cop. Hell, Ash had very recently been affected in an
extremely personal way. We
all
had.

"It's terrifying," he added quietly.

It wasn't something I wanted to think about when all I
wanted to do was get to Aiden.

I pulled into the parking garage, the tires screeching as we
wound our way up to where Pax and Eckart were waiting. "I'm leaving you
here. I gotta-"

"Go. Do what you gotta do, Gus."

As soon as the car stopped, I exploded out of it and bolted
to the stairs. I would leave it up to Linc to explain. Aiden was only a couple
blocks away, but it felt like miles.

I was panting by the time I made it to the building and up
the stairs. I checked the doorknob. Locked.
Good girl
.

"Aid, it's me, open up," I called and knocked a
few times. Movement sounded from the other side a second before she appeared.

It took me a long moment to get my bearings when I got a
good look at her. Her hair was pin straight and held back by a bright white
headband. Her flushed cheeks were smudged with paint, her fingers covered in
it, but that's not what made me draw in a sharp breath. She was wearing a man's
button up shirt and cut off shorts, the bottoms of which you could barely see.
At first glance, you
wouldn't
see them.

She was a walking wet dream and I prayed to God I would
never wake up.

Then it registered.
Where the fuck did she get that
shirt?

"Are you going to tell me what's going on that has you
so upset?" she asked when I just kept staring at her.

My fingers twitched at my sides and it took every tiny ounce
of restraint I had not to pin her against the door and take her right there. I
focused on her cautious gaze and remembered why I was there in the first place.
The original owner of that shirt wasn't important right now, but it
would
be later.

"Something came up and I just needed to make sure you
were safe."

Her expression went from caution to concern and she stepped
closer. "Is everything okay? What's happened?"

I took her hand in mine, pulling her with me into the
apartment and shutting the door. "I don't think you want the details, but
it's got to do with this case."

"I
do
want the details. If it will help,"
she said gently and squeezed my hand. It's amazing what a simple touch can do.
Her offer of comfort made me feel like a selfish ass because I took it
desperately.

I pulled her into my chest, needing to hold her if only for
a moment, and kissed the top of her head. Her arms wrapped around my waist and
she buried her face against my shirt. It felt like a missing part of me was
finally connected every time I held her and I wanted to tell her right then and
there that our friendship was over. I wanted so much more and there was no way
I was going to let her argue with me.

But the timing wasn't right. I had to get back to Lincoln
soon and I knew I needed more than just a few minutes to convince her.

"We got a car down the street that had been stolen.
It's what this prick has been using and it was just too close for comfort. I
had to make sure nothing happened to you."

"And Aidy? Is she okay? They were here earlier."

"Yeah. Evan arranged for her and Lily to spend the rest
of the day with Kristie until we make sure everything is secure. I might just
be paranoid but-"

"No. Not paranoid. You're good at your job, Gus. I'd
rather you be paranoid than ignorant. Thank you."

Even though her words were reassuring, I could still feel
the stiffness in her body. I shouldn't have made such a big deal about it. This
was exactly why she was so guarded with me. My job worried her and already it
was spilling into her peaceful life.

I pulled away and kissed her forehead. If I didn't leave
soon, I wouldn't at all. "I'll sort this out. I'm sure there is nothing
for you to worry about. Go back to your painting and I'll check on you tonight,
yeah?"

She smiled, a genuine smile. "Yeah, okay."

"Okay."

I stepped away - an agonizing, impossible step to take - and
left after she agreed to text me when she was heading back to her apartment.

Linc's words swarmed my head as I jogged back up the street
to the parking structure that I hoped to God had security cameras. Having a
family was possible in this line of work, but it
was
terrifying. I was
no longer sure it was something I could handle and there was one person on this
earth that held the slightest ability to make me feel better about it.

I needed to talk to Dad.

***

"I don't have an answer for you, son. I'm sorry."

A wave of disappointment crashed through me even though I
already knew I wouldn't get a straight answer from him. How could I when the
questions were so jumbled together and I had no idea what ones I needed
answered in the first place?

"Maybe I just need to move on, be grateful for the
friendship I have with her and not push it any further. At least until I can
sort myself out."

"Maybe," he replied. "Or maybe you just need
to make a decision and stick with it for good. If she means that much to you,
son, she's worth whatever battle you have to fight to keep her, even if that
battle is against her. Don't make the mistake of taking away her choices
either. If she wants a life with you, let her decide if she can handle the life
you can give her."

"Is that what Mom did? Did she even know she would be
able to handle it?"

A chuckle came over the line before he said, "I didn't
give
her the choice. I wanted her and there was no way I was letting her go. I told
her if it ended up that she couldn't deal with my job, then I would find
another one. Over the years, we both had to learn to adapt. If I could do it
again, though, I would probably ask her what she wanted." He outright
laughed before he added, "Still wouldn't have let her argue, though."

Hearing him talk about my mom was always a bittersweet
moment. Liam Brannock wasn't the most sensitive man with his sons, but when it
came to his wife, he could only be described as reverent.

"Your mother and I had a rough start. You all know the
short version of how we met, but there was a lot more to it." He cleared
his throat before he continued. "She was engaged to an evil man and it's a
damn miracle she ended up in Ireland at all. The engagement wasn't necessarily
arranged, but her parents put a lot of pressure on her and the little shit for
a man manipulated them every step of the way. He had hit her shortly after they
got engaged and she tried to leave him, fought back, did whatever she could to
get away, but it didn't work."

I had never heard this story before and the thought of my
mother being treated so horribly made my chest burn with rage. My grip on the
phone tightened until the plastic started to creak.

"He beat her again for fighting back, thought he needed
to force her into submission. Controlled when she went out with friends, what
she bought, what she ate. Her parents were completely oblivious and she could
never sit down and talk to them because he was always around. She realized that
the only way to survive it was to comply. She knew she would live the rest of
her life never doing anything she wanted to do and she had always dreamed of
traveling to Ireland, so she made a deal with him. If he let her take that one
trip for only a month, she would come back and give up everything else. She
would submit to whatever he had planned for her.

"I don't think she actually planned on going back to
him at all, but it was a deal made out of desperation. He agreed and let her
go, but kept close tabs on her. We met the day she arrived and were inseparable
for the four weeks she spent there."

I could hear the wistfulness in his voice as he remembered that
month with her. She had spent hours telling Ash how romantic Dad had been when
they first met, how they fell in love with each other so quickly. Con and I
heard the stories, too.

"What happened?" I asked, knowing this was the
point in the story where the other shoe dropped.

"She got scared and tried to leave me. Said she didn't
want to drag me into her mess and needed to take care of it herself before we
could be together. I gave her enough space to take a deep breath and get her
head straight, but that was it. She didn't like it, but I didn't care. It was
worth the risk if I had any chance of keeping her. Then the bastard came for
her. She'd called him and told him they were over, didn't realize how crazy he
actually was. No one did. He showed up out of the blue to take her home. I'd
gone to her hotel to beg her to stay and all her things were gone. Long story
short, I got to her just in time and put the asshole in the hospital."

"And?"

"It was worth it."

I smiled at the thought of Dad avenging his woman, but that
wasn't what I wanted to know. "Where is he now?"

"In prison for almost killing another woman. I kept
tabs on him when he got out of jail for all the shit he did to your mother.
He's going to rot in that cell and he deserves to."

Relief washed over me knowing the dickhead got what he
deserved. You would never know that Isabelle Brannock had been through a hell
like that. She hadn't really been close to her parents, but she talked to them
often and loved them. None of us had ever suspected something like that could
have happened. She was pure steel and never in a million years did I ever think
someone could control her. No wonder she loved Dad so much.

From what I gathered over the last few weeks, pushing Aiden
would only make her run. The flirting at the park could have just been her
having a good day and relaxing completely, but I couldn't know for sure unless
I asked. She was apprehensive about the risks I took with my job and I didn't
blame her. Waiting for her to decide she wanted more than friendship was
killing me, but I could endure it. And when she
did
decide, I wouldn't
let her go.

"Do you love her?"

I dropped my head back on the couch and shut my eyes,
calling up the image of Aiden in that button up shirt with paint all over her.
"Yeah. I do."

"Then why haven't I met her yet?"

My chest ached pleasantly at the image that popped up in my
mind of her interacting with my family. They were going to love her.

"You will."

Aiden

Someone was watching her again. Aiden could feel it the second
she started back across the street to her apartment. She'd spent the morning
working on a new piece that Marjorie had requested for her own home and hadn't
been able to get out of her mind the panic she had heard in Gus' voice the day
before.

Now she was panicking all by herself. She thought it was
just nerves, but when she was hit with those same vibes she had felt so
potently at the park with Gus and Aidy earlier that week, she couldn't be so
sure.

Every time she left her apartment, she felt a heaviness that
just wouldn't go away no matter what she did. Being in the studio helped. She
could distract herself with painting, but the minute she left, it started all
over again.

She needed to talk to Gus even if doing so might cause the
whole situation to possibly blow out of proportion.

Lily was waiting for her when she walked into her apartment
and Aidy flew into her arms before she even had a chance to shut the door.

"Hey, sweetie. You ready for lunch?"

Aidy nodded excitedly and stared up at her with wide,
innocent eyes. "Gus Gus is at the store buying ice cream right now. I told
him to make sure he got my favorite, but I think he got your favorite instead.
But that's okay because I like all the flavors."

She spoke so quickly, it took Aiden a second to realize what
she said. "Gus is coming over?"

"No, we're going there," Lily answered. "He
insisted on having lunch with us since he's home today. Said something about a
Skype call with his family, too."

Her heart stopped with a loud thud and the blood in her face
drained away. Lily noticed.