Hunting Truth (36 page)

I said nothing. I couldn’t
think of anything worthwhile to say. She did have a point, after
all.

Chad jumped on the
bandwagon. “I could’ve been shot! So even if they’ve got Scott
back, the tour would’ve been fucked.” He turned to Angel. “This is
your fault too. You let her persuade you to come back here. I left
it up to you. I didn’t want to come back.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault. Yet
again, you just go along with things then turn on me afterwards,”
she cried, her face matching her taunting tone.

That was it. They bickered
like school kids. I’d had enough—of them, of the whole emotional
rollercoaster day, and of being kept in the dark. I wanted to get
away. I was desperate to see Lucas. To know that he was safe and
what the outcome of Joel’s blackmail attempt would be. I knew it
wouldn’t be as simple as rescuing Ava and Scott. Joel had material
evidence as well as anecdotal evidence that could still ruin Lucas.
I wondered what Lucas could do to Joel to ensure that the threat of
ruining him never came to fruition.

I crept away from them.
They never even noticed me leaving; they were too intent on scoring
points off each other. Once I was out of their line of sight, I ran
along the thin grass verge that bordered the gravel path. I soon
reached the graveled yard that Chad had seen. It was lit only by
the dim light emitting from the draped windows of the house. I
could see it now contained several vans, but I couldn’t see whether
there was anyone around. I didn’t dare use the flashlight, so I
skirted around the outside, keeping to the grass to minimize the
sound of my footsteps.

The front porch was
deserted and, as I crept closer, I could see that the door was
closed, so I decided to take a look around the back. It was eerily
quiet until I turned the rear corner of the property. Then I heard
faint voices but couldn’t see where they were coming from. My heart
rate accelerated as I steadily edged forward. I noticed that the
voices were growing slightly louder as I went, but they were still
too muted to make out what was being said.

I stepped away from the
building in an attempt to make out where the voices were coming
from. Halfway along there was an open door with light spilling out
onto the ground outside. I stepped back against the wall and
continued forward, scarcely daring to breathe when I got close to
the door. I stopped for a second to attempt to get my rapidly
beating heart back under control, and forced myself to take several
deep breaths. As I wiped my clammy palms against my jacket, my ears
pricked up.
Lucas!

Just the sound of his voice
had an instant calming effect on me. I resisted the temptation to
close my eyes and let that deep, velvety voice wash over me and
cleanse my tense, tired mind. Instead I slipped a little closer to
the door and strained to hear what he was saying.

“. . . ends now. We’re not
leaving until the guys have searched this place from top to
bottom,” he said. He sounded calm and confident.

“Yeah and a lot of use
that’ll be to you. You don’t think I’d keep everything I have on
you here, do you? Just how stupid do you think I am?” Joel’s voice
sent shivers down my spine.

I heard Lucas laugh.
“That’s no problem. I have a team on the way that can get through
your security in seconds. Your phone and laptop will soon give them
the information they need. They’ll track and trace all your
activity and then follow up all the leads. I’m more than confident
that we’ll find everything we need, regardless of how long it
takes. After all, you obviously have no problem holding people
against their will until you get what you want. I’ll just return
the favor.”

“I was never going to hurt
them. I was simply making sure that you’d comply with my
instructions. They were insurance, that’s all.”

“And I won’t hurt you. I
won’t even imply threats as you did. I’m no monster. I don’t
approve of using violence to get what I want. I doubt you’ll enjoy
being detained indefinitely in very basic conditions and, as you
won’t comply, it could be for some time. In some ways, that’s a
good thing. At least I won’t have to look over my shoulder if I
know you’re out of circulation. That’ll be a novelty.”

“Oh, come on, Luke. It’s
because of you that I lost my mother. The loss of her drove my
father to his death. I’ve paid the price for your existence all my
life.”

“
I paid the price too. I
never knew
our
mother. Her death was
not
my fault. I didn’t ask to be born.” Lucas’ voice
was thick with emotion and my heart went out to him.

Joel continued, “You ended
her life. You ended my father’s life. You ruined my life when I was
just a kid. No, you don’t use violence, what you do is much worse.
You ruin people’s lives.”

“That’s not fair and you
know it. The sequence of events was unavoidable. You chose to adopt
the same stance as our father. And you chose to inflict as much
pain and suffering on me as you could, both before he died and
after. I accept that as a child you didn’t necessarily know any
better. But even as an adult, you made a conscious decision to try
to break me at every turn. You couldn’t even cut me out of your
life and let me get on with mine. You had a choice to face the
facts and be a better man than our father was.”

“My father was twice the
man you’ll ever be!” He laughed. It was a nasty, taunting cackle.
“And who are you to talk about being a better man? You weren’t man
enough for Ava. She needed a real man. I obliged, willingly—what
red-blooded, real man wouldn’t?”

What the fuck? Joel and
Ava?
There
was silence. My blood boiled in anger as my mind whirled in
confusion.

“Yes, that’s right,” he
continued, his tone smug and mocking. “I fucked her as a real man
should. I can satisfy her needs. More than satisfy her. I’ve pushed
her past her deviant limits and haven’t left her wanting or begging
as you did. I’ve made her use her safeword and beg for mercy on
more than one occasion. She’s the lucky one. Thanks to me, she
lusts and longs for you no more. What have you got to say about
that?”

“That doesn’t make you a
man. You’re even more of an animal than I thought. Pushing a
submissive past their safe limits is dangerous. It’s an abuse of
their trust . . . no, more than that, it’s abuse, plain and simple.
No woman should have to beg for mercy.”

Joel laughed. “Oh, but she
loves it. Don’t you, darling?”

Darling? Oh
fuck!

Without thinking, I found
myself inside the doorway. My feet seemed to move of their own
accord. Thankfully, it was a long hallway and was empty. I heard a
female voice that must have been Ava’s, but the blood was pounding
in my ears, making it difficult to hear properly. I couldn’t even
tell where the voice was coming from, except that it was somewhere
ahead. Somewhere close by.

I realized that it would be
dangerous to go blundering in. Carter’s men were armed. I stood
still and carefully studied the hallway. There were doors off the
hall on both sides. Closer examination showed that most were
closed. The voices I’d heard when standing outside carried clearly
so I doubted they were emanating from one of those rooms. It all
went quiet. The first door off to the left was open.

I had to assume they were
in that room. I’d have to pass it to get any further in anyway so I
kept my back to the wall and slid slowly towards the door. I’d
almost reached it when I heard Lucas shout, “Don’t!” Instinctively,
I froze.

Who the hell’s he shouting
at? And why?

Then I heard a female voice
again. It was definitely Ava. “If anyone so much as twitches, I’ll
bury a bullet in his skull. Got it?”

Whoa! What the fuck?
Bullet? Whose skull?

“Do as she says,” Lucas
replied quietly but clearly.

My chest constricted and my
breath caught in my throat as I realized whose head she’d referred
to.

She’s got a gun to Lucas’
head! I fucking knew something was wrong. I should’ve known that
bitch was up to something. She’s in on it with Joel. They’re lovers
after all.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuuuck! Why
the hell didn’t I tell Lucas about seeing her? Because I’m a
fucking idiot and now she’s got a gun to his head!

“Release him,” she said
confidently. I knew she was talking about Joel.

Oh fuckadoodledoo! You’ve
ballsed up big this time, Issy, you prize prick!

“Put your weapons down,
boys,” came Joel’s sneering voice. “And make sure you step away
from them. Nice and slowly now. Ava’s got a very itchy trigger
finger.”

There was a pause.
Silence.

“I said put them down!”
Joel cried.

“Do it,” Lucas ordered. I
could tell from his tone in just those two words that he was
totally defeated. The fight was over.

“
Thank you very much for
your proffered hospitality, Luke, but I think I’ll pass. Let’s get
down to business. My terms haven’t changed but you’ve raised the
stakes. I have the necessary paperwork prepared, I’m sorry but you
won’t have the opportunity for your legal team to look it over but
then again, why would you need to have them check to see if I’m
screwing you over? I
am
screwing you over. No . . . I’m breaking you. Finally, I
get to break you. I get to take everything you value just as you
took everything I valued away from me.”

“Why should I sign
everything over to you? You’ll still have the evidence about
Odyssey and my business dealings. You’ll go public with all that
after I sign. I’m not stupid enough to think you don’t have copies
of everything. I may as well hang on to everything and let you do
your worst.”

Go Lucas! You tell that
little creep!

“Because now, with the
barrel of a gun pressed to the back of your head, you’re in no
position to refuse. It’s no longer an option. You sign everything
over or Ava will end your miserable little life.”

Oh fuck! Do something,
Issy! You can’t lose him. Not now.

Get out and call the cops.
Fuck the district attorney’s reputation . . . this is Lucas’
life!

But they won’t get here in
time. And even if they do, what will Joel do if he hears
sirens?
I
couldn’t even contemplate that.
Fuck! The only person who can help Lucas
is me!

Desperation forced me to
edge right up to the door. I crouched down and attempted to peep
into the room. Fear made me freeze before I could see anything. I
pulled my neck back and took a couple of deep breaths.

Come on, girl, Lucas needs
you . . . And you need Lucas.

I took a deep breath and
steeled myself before leaning forward again. I was petrified that
Joel or Ava would see the top of my head poking around the doorway.
I leaned out a little more, oh so slowly, trying to resist the
almost overwhelming urge to pull back.

“
So this is how a real
man succeeds in business, is it? Or is it only
real
men who’ve
inherited a successful business but have no business acumen so they
run it into the ground and have to use bully-boy tactics to acquire
a new one?”

“Shut your fucking mouth!
You finished my business. Your dirty tactics enabled you to own
what’s left of it. And for that, you pay the ultimate commercial
price: Giving me back my business plus your own. Let’s call it an
interest payment for the time you’ve had mine. Or if you try to
play hardball, you’ll pay the ultimate price and will be carried
out of here with a bullet lodged in your brain.” He sounded truly
pissed off now. I wondered what the hell Lucas was playing at,
winding him up and taunting him when Ava had a gun pressed to his
head.

I could finally see into
the room a little. I couldn’t see anyone, just an empty couch
against the far wall. Summoning all my courage, I leaned a little
further. I saw part of an arm and a leg, both clothed in
black.

Lucas?

The urge to see him made me
push out a little more. As soon as I did, I realized it wasn’t him.
Thankfully, it wasn’t Joel or Ava either. Then my heart thudded
loudly when I realized who it was. It was the guy who’d tried to
force me to go back home.
He’s one of Carter’s men. And he knows who I am.
That I’m on Lucas’ side!

As I wondered how to catch his
eye without attracting anyone else’s attention, I saw his head move
slightly. Nothing more than a twitch, really.
Has he seen me?

“
Ava, you don’t want to
hurt me, do you?” came Lucas’ voice, surprising me because it was
so loud although he was only speaking softly.
He must be near the
door. Which means Ava and the gun are close to the door too.
I tried to picture
it, to help to orientate myself.

I realized that Lucas and
Ava would surely be facing into the room. That meant that they’d
probably have their backs to the door. But that meant that Joel
would be facing them and so he’d be facing the door.

“
You love me, Ava. You
know you do. I love you too. I never stopped.”
What the
fuck?
I
found myself scowling at Carter’s man and quickly relaxed my facial
muscles. My mouth dropped open when he gave me a sly wink. If I’d
blinked, I’d have missed it.
What does that mean? Is he trying to tell me
something? Issy, you’re fucking useless at this kind of
shit!
Think,
woman, think!