Briar Valley: The Complete Duet

24. Willow

CHAPTER 24

WILLOW

FORGED IN THE FIRE – CAYLEE HAMMACK

A knock on the cabin door startles me from brushing Arianna’s hair. We both freeze, and my hands quake a little, even though I know I’m being ridiculous.

If someone were here to kidnap me, they wouldn’t knock. But after everything that happened with Tara, I’m feeling more on-edge than ever and unable to relax.

“Mummy?” Arianna whimpers.

“It’s okay, baby. Carry on brushing your hair for me.”

Handing her the brush, I peck her cheek then move to answer the door. I’ve been on bedrest since the incident, letting my concussion heal and the events settle in my mind.

But this morning, I was determined to get up and return to our cabin. The guys are stiflingly protective enough without me laying in their bed all day, being waited on hand and foot.

Swinging the door open, I find Ryder waiting on the other side. “Since when did you start knocking?”

With a sheepish expression, he steps aside to reveal Ethan standing behind him. I immediately go on high alert, taking a step back and preparing to slam the door shut.

“Wait,” Ryder rushes out. “Just let him speak.”

“Why? I want nothing else to do with his team.”

“Willow,” Ethan attempts. “Please, hear me out. I know you’re shaken. We all are. This isn’t us, and I want to make it up to you.”

“Make it up to me? Your employee tried to kill me!” I lower my voice before Arianna follows me out here. “She pointed a fucking gun at my unborn child, Ethan. How can you fix that?”

“We’ve arrested Mario Luciano.”

Feeling like the floor has been swept out from beneath my feet, I almost stumble. Both men wait on the other side of the door, silently pleading for me to let them in.

Mario.

The man who sold me to Sanchez.

It’s been years since I thought of him. The slimy bastard was my first employer for the few shifts I worked at his seedy nightclub, giving lap dances and wearing ridiculously skimpy clothing.

“Fine,” I say stiffly. “Come in.”

Before they pass me, I stop Ryder in his tracks. He instructs Ethan to go ahead and sit in the living room with Arianna.

“I know you love this man, Ry. But do you trust him?”

“With my life.” He nods solemnly. “This isn’t Ethan’s fault. He’s trying his best to fix things and see this case through.”

“You better be right. We can’t handle anything else.”

“I know, sweetheart. If you can’t trust Ethan, then trust me.”

I let him wrap his arm around my shoulders. “I do trust you.”

“Then hear him out.”

Ryder takes me into the living room where Arianna is telling Ethan all about her homework assignment for Miranda’s class. Micah has been helping her sculpt a miniature model of Briar Valley.

“Ari,” I call out. “Time to get going, missus.”

Hopping down from the sofa, she rushes to grab her schoolbag and lace up her boots. I can see Aalia and Johan walking up the snaking path to the cabins through the window, ready to pick her up.

“Bye, Demon.” She scratches her dog’s ears lovingly. “Look after my mummy today.”

My heart squeezes. “Come on, baby. Say goodbye to Uncle Ryder.”

“Bye, Ryder!”

With her passed off to Aalia, I return inside to find Ethan and Ryder sitting on the sofa together. Both decline the offer of coffee, so I sit down in the armchair next to the fireplace.

“Willow,” Ethan begins. “Look, I know that nothing I can say will ever make what happened better. We’re all in shock, as much as you are. I’ve worked with Tara for the last eight years.”

“Yet she still managed to pull the wool over your eyes?” I snap at him.

“Truthfully, yes. We’ve been blindsided by this. No one anticipated Sanchez to target the team in an attempt to get to you.”

“The team? There are others?”

He winces a little. “Two of our support staff were also threatened. That’s how he knew that she was placed on your personal security detail.”

Hands balling into fists, I fight the urge to toss him out of the cabin. Anger is far from my default setting, but my baby’s life was threatened. I have to protect the life growing inside of me at all costs.

“How can I trust any of you again?”

He raises his hands in a placating way. “Because we’re the good guys here. This was a huge slip-up, but it won’t happen again. Please give us a chance to prove that to you.”

I lean forward in the armchair. “Tell me about Mario.”

Ethan sighs. “After hearing your testimony, we worked on tracking him down. The nightclub you worked in was shut down several years ago by the police, so tracing him was a little difficult.”

“But you found him?”

“We did—running in a club in Soho under a new identity. Thought he’d slipped off the radar. He was arrested late last night and brought in to custody.”

Despite everything, I feel a surge of victory. It feels good to know that he didn’t slip through our fingers after what he did to me as a child. If it wasn’t for Mario, Mr Sanchez never would’ve found me.

“What happens now?” I ask in anticipation.

“He’s being questioned by Hudson and Kade as we speak. Mario is facing charges of human trafficking and more. We’ve got our first player behind bars, Willow.”

My heart is trying to break through my rib cage, but for the first time in what feels like forever, it’s for a good reason.

“Oh my God.”

I wish the guys were listening to this instead of working. Even though his team is responsible for the recent mess, I could kiss Ethan right now. Mario is facing the rest of his life in prison, and it feels incredible.

“He will be formally charged and face trial for his crimes,” Ethan continues. “But we’re also going to use him to gain more information on the ring as a whole.”

“You’re not offering him a plea deal, are you?”

“No. He may negotiate for a reduced sentence if he provides helpful intel, but his crimes are too severe to be dismissed. You’re not the first woman he’s sold into sexual slavery.”

Flinching at those words, I wrap my hands around my belly as if I can protect the life inside me from all this evil. I don’t want my child to ever know the pain and suffering that I have.

“This leads us back to why I’m here.” Ethan leans forward, his eyes pinned on me. “We still need your help with the other victim. I want you to meet her and convince her to testify for the case.”

“Seriously?” I scoff. “You want me to involve another innocent person in this after what happened to me? You can’t keep her safe. Hell, you can’t keep any of us safe.”

“The sooner we end this, the safer you will all be,” he contends. “Her information may give us a new lead. Sanchez is gone, and we need to find him as fast as possible.”

“Please, Willow,” Ryder begs. “We’re all here to support you. This is the right thing to do.”

“Don’t lecture me on what the right thing to do is,” I bark at them. “Where were you when I was bleeding on the ground and inches from death, huh?”

Pain lances across his features. “That isn’t fair. We had no idea.”

“Exactly my point! You had no idea. Nowhere is safe anymore, and I can’t risk my life or my baby’s life again. Please… just go.”

When Ethan opens his mouth to speak again, I raise a hand to halt him. His shoulders sink as disappointment visibly slips over him.

“I’m sorry,” he offers sincerely.

“I know you are. But it isn’t enough. I just want my life back.”

“You won’t get it on your own.” He stares at me, hardened determination in his gaze. “You have to fight for it.”

Standing up, Ethan casts me a final look and shows himself out. Ryder pauses on the threshold, looking back over his shoulder at me with furrowed brows.

“He’s right, sweetheart.”

“Just go, Ry.”

He shakes his head. “You have to fight for it.”

Leaving me in silence, I stare down at my trembling hands. Their words still echo in my head, even as the front door slams shut so I’m alone again.

All I’ve ever done is fight. I’m tired. No, I’m exhausted. The constant fighting to survive has taken everything from me, and now that I finally have another chance to live, I’m being pulled in two different directions.

Demon jumps up on my lap and burrows into my body, seeking attention. I stroke her coarse black fur and fight back a wave of tears.

“What do I do?”

Too bad she can’t answer me.

“I’m so fucking scared of losing this chance… of losing my family,” I admit, my cheeks wet. “But if I don’t do this, he won’t ever stop. My family will never, ever be safe. I have no choice.”

Licking the back of my hand, Demon blinks at me with wide puppy eyes. I can see my own reflection in her glossy black irises—tear-stained and rumpled. I look beyond done with the world.

But the world isn’t done with me. Not yet. I still have one more fight left to win, and it’s the biggest fight of them all. I said it myself... There’s no choice but to keep going and bring Mr Sanchez down.

The door creaks, and Killian sticks his head full of tousled, dark-blonde hair in. He sees me curled up with Demon, and his expression softens.

“You alright?”

“I’m okay.”

“I just passed Ethan and Ryder outside.” He steps into the room, his usual jeans mud-stained and messy. “Can’t believe that guy had the nerve to show his face around here.”

“He’s still Ryder’s boyfriend, Kill.”

“But that’s not what he came for, is it?”

I shake my head. “He still wants me to speak to the victim they’ve found. I told him to get lost, but now I’m not so sure it was the right thing to do.”

Moving closer, Killian crouches down in front of me, his huge hands landing on my legs. Conflict burns in his bonfire eyes, twisting and writhing, reflecting back my own inner turmoil.

“Part of me wants to tell Sabre to fuck off to kingdom come,” he admits roughly. “But I don’t know how else we’re going to fix the mess we’re in without them.”

“Yeah,” I say flatly. “I feel the same.”

“As much as I want to make this decision for you… baby, I can’t do that. This is your call to make.”

Staring at him incredulously, I realise he’s serious. Protective, overbearing Killian who forces me to eat meals and makes sure I get eight hours sleep every single night is letting me make this decision.

“Since when?” I laugh.

He shrugs. “Some battles I can’t fight for you, as much as I want to. I’ve realised that hiding you away and pretending this isn’t happening is not going to keep you safe from harm.”

“Jesus. Who are you, and what have you done with Killian?”

“People change, princess.”

“Clearly.”

“After all the shit we’ve been through, I trust you more than anyone else in this fiasco. You’ll make the right decision for everyone. We need to end this.”

Too stunned to speak, I let Killian drop a kiss on my forehead and stand back up to return outside. I’m left staring after him, gobsmacked at the person who’s just given me free rein to make this call.

Shit.

This is exactly what Mr Sanchez wants.

He wants to break my spirit and force me to give up. He wants me to be alone, afraid and too weak to continue. Then I’ll give in. He’ll get what he wants—my submission.

No matter how hard things get, I cannot give that to him. He spent a decade breaking me down into the weak, damaged person he needed me to be, and I refuse to be his broken toy any longer.

“No more,” I whisper to myself.

Quickly chasing after Killian, I stop him on the porch steps and grab his shirt sleeve. He’s wearing this weird, knowing smile, like he knew all along that all I needed was a push.

“Go and get them to come back. Please.”

Killian’s smile broadens.

“That’s my girl.”