out he’d been charged with negligent homicide because he’d driven drunk. His family was friends with some high-up officials, and he only got probation and loss of license for a few years.”
Now they were getting to it. “Brad was angry you found out about those charges?” Zachary guessed quietly.
“Oh, no.” She waved her hand through the air. “He isn’t the bad guy here. Well, not the worst of the bad guys. I guess they’re all bad guys.” She took another big drink of wine, and Trent reclaimed the glass, setting it aside. She’d probably had enough.
“Honey, you’re kind of talking in circles,” he said gently. “Could you get to the point?”
“It’s the wine,” she admitted, pressing the heel of her palm against her forehead. “My brain is fuzzy.”
“Hallie.” Trent put more bite into his tone this time.
She blinked several times. “All right. I went to get the tickets and was just leaving my office when all this yelling came from the conference room. I kind of froze, because the voices were so angry.”
“Who was it?” Trent asked.
“It was all three of them and another man who had a really deep voice. He was yelling that he hadn’t shot Bixby just for them to, well, eff up the books with the IRS. That they’d helped him and would all go down for murder if they didn’t straighten the mess out.”
The mere fact that the woman used “eff up” instead of what most certainly had been said sealed her fate. Trent had no clue why the compulsion to keep her was riding him so hard, but it was there, and so was she. The need for her went deeper than he could understand, than anybody would ever be able to understand, but it was soul deep. If nothing else, he now realized he still had a soul, and she was the one to save it. “Tell me you ran,” he muttered.
“Oh, I ran.” She caressed his arm, her palm so soft he wanted to moan. “I ran as fast as I could. Brad caught me at the door, assured the rest of them that it was okay, and hurried me outside to his brother’s car.”
Maybe Trent wouldn’t have to kill Brad.
“Then we drove away, and he was swearing and so mad. I told him we had to go to the police, and he laughed, saying his dad had help in the police department.” She shook her head. “Brad was so upset.”
Poor freaking Brad. “What then?”
“He told me everything,” she said quietly.
Yep. Brad needed to die. “Telling you everything just put you in more danger, sweetheart,” Trent muttered.
“No kidding. The guy yelling was Marc Lewis of Lewis and Bixby, which is a major retailer of sporting goods. He’d been stealing from his partner, had gotten caught, and then had killed him. Silas was in on the theft and helped dispose of the body. And so did his sons.” She whispered the last. “I don’t think it was the first time they’d stolen from people—or killed.”
Probably not. “What then?” Mac asked.
“We were driving, Brad was explaining how I couldn’t ever tell anybody, and his phone rang.” Her voice trembled. “He talked for a while, arguing and then finally agreeing, although he sounded sad.” She bit her lip. “Then he drove the car back to the office and said that I was safe but his dad needed to make sure I’d stay quiet.”
Trent shut his eyes, tightening his hold around her.
His brothers crowded closer as if to provide more reassurance that she was safe. They might not understand his feelings for her, but they knew he had them. As his brothers, as the men who’d gone through hell with him, they’d do anything they could to help him get what he wanted. What he needed. Now that the decision was made, it was surprisingly easy to get rid of the illusion that he’d wanted freedom.
He wanted her.
She cleared her throat. “I knew they didn’t just want to talk, but I pretended to believe him. Then he told me that my name was on many of the papers dealing with Lewis and Bixby, and that I was as involved as the rest of them. He was right, because I did help on that file. But I didn’t know they were stealing.” She sighed.
Trent kneaded her nape, careful to stay gentle. “What then?”
“Brad parked and jumped out of the car, and he reclaimed his keys. So I slowly exited, smiled, and just ran as fast as I