Rio,” Brett said, pulling his phone from his back pocket. “Tell them everything you told me.”
“Rio’s the police detective who interviewed me.” Sarah’s stomach rolled. Probably the one who would arrest her too.
“Yeah,” he glanced at her and frowned. The hand holding the phone slowly lowered. “He can contact someone here—a detective with the local PD. Hayes claimed Dark Falls is their operations base. The locals need to know.”
She nodded. In other words, she’d probably be arrested by one of the local detectives instead.
“Do you think Porter Hayes was right? Do you think Sean’s dead?” Her gaze clung to his face.
His eyebrows pinched together. “Not necessarily. You said you talked to Sean on the phone. From the sound of it, that conversation took place after Mitch took him to Dark Falls. Sean could still be here.” He paused, studied her face. “But you can’t protect him from this. Not any longer. We’re going to the police first thing in the morning. We’re telling them everything. Including what your brother was involved in. You can’t protect him from this.”
“I know.” Tomorrow morning. She blew out a shaky breath. So she had a bit of a reprieve.
“I’m serious, Sarah.” His face went flat and still. “You can’t shield Sean from this.”
“I know.” She knew something else as well. She couldn’t shield herself from the coming storm either. Once her involvement came out, it would blow back on her as hard as it would on Sean and Mitch.
But she’d worry about that tomorrow.
Chapter Fourteen
It was barely 10 p.m., but Sarah was sound asleep in the bed beside him.
She was a dark blur beneath the comforter, her body curled in on itself, her face nestled into the pillow. She’d turned away, given him her back. As though she couldn’t bear to see him lying next to her.
Telling him what she’d gone through over the past two years had exhausted her. He’d watched shadows obscure her face as the long-awaited explanations fell from her lips. With each word, her eyes had darkened and dulled.
On his back, still fully dressed, stretched out across the bed beside her, Tag stared up at the ceiling.
He finally had his answers to the questions that had haunted him since she’d walked away. Two years’ worth of questions answered in a matter of minutes. Why she’d left him. Why she’d gone back to Mitch. Why she’d stuck with Mitch even after—I conditioned her for you. I taught her to shudder every time she’s touched. To flinch. To cringe.
He recoiled; Mitch’s gloating voice was burned into his brain.
Jesus. What she’d gone through was incomprehensible. What she’d borne, to keep him and Sean safe…
He shied away from the ugly images knocking at his brain. Images of Mitch hurting…Mitch abusing her…
He wanted to hate her. Her silence was inexcusable.
Except, he understood her motivations now. She’d held her tongue and accepted everything Mitch had put her through to protect the people she loved. Not just Sean, as it turned out. But Tag also. Somehow that made it worse, harder to swallow, knowing that she’d done it for him too. That her feelings for him had been used against her.
Sure, she’d done it out of love, but she’d still done it. She’d let Mitch get away with it. Two years later, weapons traffickers were still free to sell their wares. All it would have taken to shut down Mitch’s operation was one phone call. She could have placed it anonymously.
Or hell, she could have come to him. Let him take care of it. Let him take care of her.
Frustration swelled, turning his legs jittery—like they wanted to stomp off and kick the hell out of something. Or more like someone. He scowled and ran a hand down his face. The fucking hell of Sarah’s explanation was the timeline. That fucking timeline, which put Tag square in the middle of the whole mess.
You didn’t really think this was about Sarah? Did you? This was payback. Maybe next time you’ll mind your own fucking business instead of nosing into things that don’t concern you.”
Mitch hadn’t put Sarah through two years of hell because he’d wanted her for himself. He’d done it to punish Tag. He’d targeted Sean for the same reason. He dangled a shitload of money in front of the kid, reeled him into the gunrunning trade, and then used Sean’s involvement to control Sarah. And Sarah to punish Tag.
Sarah said the time stamp on the video Mitch had showed her was a couple months before she’d