I shiver, not cold, but fearful of the invisible threads in my mind that pull taut at the mere mention of Augustus. Dead or not, his sharp claws remain inside of me.
“Plus, the data I stole from Incendia’s headquarters,” Sadie supplies.
The mental image of the security guard’s final moments jumps into my mind. Sadie doesn’t need to know what me and her brother did to the poor motherfucker. I can still see his throat gaping open in a red, dripping smiley face. Worst thing is, I enjoyed it.
“What did you get?” I ask neutrally.
“Mostly records of stakeholders and shares, basic corporate stuff. It’ll take time to decode it all.”
“I have copies of my father’s files. We should collate the evidence and start from there.” Kade absently cleans his glasses. “If we can trace Incendia back to him and Augustus, we’re in business.”
“I, uh, met him.”
I fight the urge to slap my hands over my mouth. I didn’t mean to say it out loud. Kade looks at me with confusion creasing his brows, like he’s piecing together a puzzle that’s fighting him at every turn.
“My father?”
I manage a jerky nod. An odd kind of darkness passes over Kade, his expression morphing and changing. There are shadows in his eyes that never used to be there.
“When?” he barks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s… complicated. I was on a job.”
His next words become a jumbled blur as ringing fills my mind. All I can do is stare at Kade while acid churns my stomach, noting all the similarities between him and his father. I can almost taste Martin’s warm, sticky blood in my mouth. It soaked my entire body after my bullets tore him to shreds.
I don’t realise I’m hyperventilating until Sadie approaches me. I read the words on her lips. Breathe. In for four, out for four. My nails dig into my skin as I scrub my face, trying to remove the awful feeling. I’m still covered in blood. I can fucking feel it.
The guys helplessly watch me fall apart. It sickens me to leave myself so vulnerable. I’ve maintained my thick shields for months, pushing the hysteria down to stay alive. It won’t stay buried anymore. Sadie’s words finally begin to resonate, and I grab hold of the distraction.
“Repeat after me… what day is it?”
“Tuesday,” I bite out.
“What time?”
Checking the clock above the fireplace, I recite the time.
Sadie tries a calming smile. “Good. What’s your name?”
“I… I… I don’t know.”
Her warm hand slips into mine, squeezing so hard it hurts. I try to ground myself with the feeling, working on taking the smallest breaths to relieve my lungs.
“I know,” she replies. “You’re Brooklyn. Okay? Nobody else.”
“Nobody else,” I whisper in a small voice.
“Brooke, I need to know. Jude… was he with you? On these jobs?”
“We worked as a team.”
“Doing what, exactly?”
I finally meet her bleak gaze. “Whatever Augustus wanted.”
The tension in the room reaches a breaking point. Kade tosses his glasses aside to rub his temples, while Hudson curses and storms into the kitchen. Phoenix is bouncing on his feet like a live wire, in complete opposition to Eli, who silently shuts down in the corner.
I know it must hurt them, the fact I blocked them all out while relying on another man. Desperation is a cruel mistress. It doesn’t bargain or leave you with easy options, only the impossibility of putting one foot in front of the other.
