Lost In The Dark (‘Lost’ #1)

CHAPTER 2

ADDY

“Adeline Brooks. Your under arrest for the murder of senator Leo Hilton.” The police detective kept on talking, but I couldn’t hear the words. My heart was pounding too hard, so hard I couldn’t hear anything over it. I started to tremble with adrenaline as I broke out in a sweat. How was this happening to me? I was the most boring woman in the whole state, maybe even the whole country. I had never even struck a person, let alone killed someone. I couldn’t even kill a spider in my tub, even though I was terrified of them. It wasn’t the spider’s fault he was a terrifying looking creature, after all.

This had all started a week ago, when I woke up with an EMT fussing over me in the back of an ambulance. He told me I had been hit by a car on the highway, and I definitely felt like that had happened. But I couldn’t remember it happening. I couldn’t even remember how I got to the highway. Then I found out I was in Las Vegas, and I had no clue at all how I had gotten there. The last thing I remembered was leaving the library I worked at, late one night. I remembered getting into my car, and that was it. There was nothing else.

The doctor later told me the date, and I realized with horror that there were two years I could not account for. Two years had passed since that last night that I remembered leaving the library and I had no memory of any of what had happened in that time.

The doctor explained I had taken a severe hit to the head in the accident, and memory loss could be a symptom of the head injury. I also had a broken wrist with four shiny pins now holding it together, and several broken ribs. I was choosing to ignore what she had also said about the areas around my wrists and ankles that showed signs of being shackled. As I was also ignoring the pain in my back where there were apparently long deep welts consistent with me being struck with a whip of some kind. The doctor and the police had clearly told me I had been held at some point and hurt, but I couldn’t focus on that. I couldn’t allow my mind to conjure up what could have happened to me in the last two years, or how I had even gotten there. I couldn’t because I knew I’d fall apart, and right now I had a whole other battle to fight with the police.

Strong hands grabbed me and pulled me from the bed. My wrist was wrenched behind my back, causing so much pain, tears filled my eyes and I could barely hold in my cry.

“You can’t cuff her. She has a broken wrist,” the nurse in the room with me cried as she looked to me with concern.

“We’ll keep the cuff loose around the cast,” The detective assured her, like that would stop the blinding pain throbbing up my arm.

I wasn’t even wearing clothes. Just a thin hospital gown that flapped open at the back, but that didn’t seem to concern the very overzealous detective, who was now passing me off to a uniformed officer. The room around me was spinning and my legs would barely hold me up, but still they ushered me from the room and down the hall, my bare feet slapping against the cold linoleum.

I was bruised all over, apparently a mixture of injuries I sustained before and during the car accident. Every panicked breath that I took caused agony to shoot down my right side, where I had broken ribs, and I was just so shaky and weak. I hadn’t seen myself in a mirror, but I knew from how thin and bony my arms and legs were, that I had lost a huge amount of weight during the time I had lost.

“Th-this is a mistake,” I finally got out as tears poured down my face.

Leo Hilton was dead. He was a senator, or so I’d been told. He had been found in his home with a bullet in his chest. A bullet that matched the gun I had been told I was holding when I landed on that highway. I was also, apparently covered in this strangers blood when I was found. That was why they had arrested me. That was why they were taking me from the safety of the hospital and into the jail system.

But it couldn’t be right, could it? I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t hurt another person in that way. I had been a good girl my entire life. I had never ever put one foot wrong, always so diligent when it came to sticking to rules. I would not take a life. I couldn’t.

Except I had no idea what had been done to me for the last two years. The nurse had tried to encourage me to let them do an examination for signs of rape. Apparently injuries on my thighs were consistent with that, but I had refused. I didn’t want to know. My world was falling down around me and I didn’t want any more terrifying facts to add to the horror. But if I were raped and held against my will for the last two years, would that be enough to change who I was? Would that be enough to make me kill a man? I was so scared and so damned alone.

As I was thrust into the back of the police car, sobbing and cold, terrified of what would come, and in so much pain, I found myself wishing my mom were still alive. And wasn’t that the most ridiculous thought? Even if she were still alive, she wouldn’t have come to my aid. She never had, not once. Not when bullies at school were making my life hell. Not when our social security payments were stopped and I had to work two jobs to cover the rent when I was fourteen years old, as well as taking care of her every need. Not when my first ever date had gotten too pushy with me, parked right outside our trailer, and I had screamed for her to help me. She had never been there for me. I had always been alone, just as I was in that moment, but I had never in my entire life wished more for someone to come and save me. I was so very scared and all out of fight to even begin to find my way out of this new hell.

***

“Let’s go,” the officer said as he roughly handled me. I struggled to keep up as he dragged me down the hall, then shoved me into a huge cell. I stepped in and froze as three other women also in there, looked to me like a lamb to the slaughter. I was still in my thin hospital gown, desperately trying to keep it clutched together at the back as I stood frozen and trembling, terrified these woman were going to eat me alive.

I had been in the interview room with the detective, who had arrested me, for hours. They had left me sat in there for so long at first, that I had fallen asleep, despite my fear. Then he walked in and started asking me everything he’d already asked me several times during his visits to the hospital, where he’d also had me cuffed to the bed. I pleaded with him to believe me. To believe I didn’t remember a thing. I told him about my life. I was a librarian, for goodness sake! In a tiny town where nothing ever happened. I told him over and over I didn’t do it. I didn’t shoot that man. Then he started yelling at me and I just closed down, curling into myself and cowering, fear racing through me until finally he left me alone. I’d broken down when he was gone. I had never known a fear like the one consuming me, and my stomach would not stop churning. I didn’t know what I should do. I’d never been in trouble before. Did I need an attorney? But why would I, if I didn’t do anything wrong?

Then, a couple of hours later the detective had come back and tried all over again. Finally he seemed to give up when I was curled into myself as much as I could with my injured ribs, on the chair, my hands over my ears, unable to take anymore. I was exhausted and in so much pain without the pain meds the hospital had been giving me. I was terrified too, and I just needed it all to stop.

That was when the uniformed officer had come for me, and how I now found myself like a deer in the headlights, trapped in that cell with three extremely pissed off and intimidating looking women.

Unable to stand any longer I sidestepped to the corner of the cell and allowed my exhausted body to slip down the wall and to the floor. I tucked my knees up against my chest and tried to breathe through the agony it caused in my right side and in my wrist, as I fought not to cry any more. How did this happen? How did my life bring me here? All I had ever wanted was a quiet, safe existence. After the hell my mom put me through growing up, I was happy to live that way, but it seemed life had other ideas for me. Now I was going to live the rest of my life in a maximum security jail!

I don’t know how long I stayed there, just praying I was invisible and wouldn’t be bothered by any other women, but eventually I heard the cell open.

“What on earth is this? Where are her clothes? It’s freezing in here?” A deep voice demanded. I looked up and found a middle aged man, dressed in a very expensive suit, glaring at the police officer who had opened the cell.

“She was brought in from the hospital, and her clothes were taken as evidence,” the officer replied.

“This is unacceptable. I’ll be a making a formal complaint for starters,” the suit threw back. He was older, his dark hair greying slightly at the sides, but he had a kind looking face as he turned to me and his features softened. He held a briefcase and his shoes were so polished and neat. “Adeline. I’m your attorney. Can you come with me so we can talk?” he asked more gently.

“My attorney?” I repeated. “I…I didn’t know I asked for one.”

“A friend sent me. I’ll explain everything if you can just follow me?”

A friend? I didn’t have any friends, unless you counted Mrs. Withers who came into the library twice a week and chatted with me. She’d brought me cakes and cookies she baked before, but she wouldn’t send an attorney. Certainly not one as expensive as this one looked. Still, I struggled to my feet, stumbling a little as I moved towards him. My body was trembling. He was right – the cell was freezing.

“This is ludicrous. Miss Brooks clearly still needs medical attention. She should never have been taken from the hospital,” The attorney ranted as he set his briefcase on the ground beside him and started to unbutton his jacket.

“The doctor approved her discharge. It’s in the paperwork,” the officer told him.

When I reached the attorney, he had removed his suit jacket and he made short work of wrapping it around my quaking shoulders.

“Oh, I…I’m okay,” I tried to reassure him, but when I moved to take it off and hand it back, he stilled my hand and shook his head.

“You must be freezing. Keep it for now,” he told me. I nodded. It did feel so warm and comfortable against my frozen skin, but I couldn’t stop the worry that I might ruin the expensive item, merely by touching it.

The officer led the way down the long corridor and opened a door, holding it as the attorney walked in. I hurried to follow, knowing my best chance was to stick with him, whoever he was.

The officer closed the door and the attorney was there, right beside me. He held my elbow and helped me across the room, leading me into a seat at the table in the middle of the room. His touch set me on edge, but I needed the help. I was barely staying upright.

“Adeline, can I call you that?”

“Addy,” I whispered. “I prefer Addy.”

“Addy,” he nodded. “My name is Max Kline. I’m an attorney with Kline, West, and associates . I’m here to help you,” he told me.

“Who sent you?”

“This is where things get a little complicated. Asher Lyle wanted to be here to tell you the details himself, but his flight is still several hours away.”

“Asher Lyle?” I didn’t know that name. I was pretty sure. Had I met him in the last two years?

“Asher and Elijah Lyle are brothers who now own the controlling interest of Lyle Industries . Their father, Joseph Lyle, died two weeks ago. Do you recognize that name?” he asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “Should I?”

“Maybe not. Addy, Joseph Lyle was listed as your father on your birth certificate, and his sons, Asher, and Elijah, believe they are your half-brothers. They have sent me here to help, and they’re also on their way as we speak.”

“Brothers?” I gasped. None of this made sense. My mom had always told me she didn’t even remember my father’s name. She said it had been a one night thing round the back of some bar. Why would she have told me that if she took the time to list him on my birth certificate? And how had I never seen my own birth certificate?

“Yes. They want to help you. I don’t know them personally, but I know of them and have been told they are good men.”

“Wh-what’s going to happen? The police…they think I killed that senator?” I asked. It seemed more pressing than the bombshell of my father and potential brothers in that moment.

“Have you been questioned?”

“Y-yes. Twice since I got here.”

“What did you tell them?” he took the seat opposite me and pulled a notebook and shiny silver pen from his briefcase, as well as what looked like an old style tape recorder.

“Just that I…I don’t remember anything. I don’t know the senator. I’m not even from here. I’m from Ohio,” I told him shakily, tears filling my eyes once again.

“I have my own investigators looking into things right now, and I believe they will find something to have you freed. Leo Hilton is a member of several BDSM clubs and he has been rumored to attend illegal sex parties for years. If we can prove he bought you and held you against your will, the police have nothing to hold you on. Even if you did shoot him, it would have been in self-defense.”

“B-bought me?” Oh God! This was too much.

“I’m sorry Addy, but I believe from what I know already, that you were taken by sex traffickers and bought from them by the senator. I believe he is the one who held and abused you,” Max explained.

“Oh God!” I slammed a hand over my mouth as my stomach revolted. I tried to stand, but Max was already rushing towards me with a trash can from the corner of the room. I grabbed it with my good hand and retched violently. Nothing but bile came up because it had been hours since I last ate, but the retching wouldn’t stop and it caused unspeakable pain to shoot up my right side every single time.

Sex traffickers? I had been sold? Could that be right? It definitely lined up with the injuries I had, as detailed by the doctor. BDSM? I wasn’t even sure what that was. Was it like that movie? Did it involve pain and whips? God, that made sense with the marks on my back.

“Here Addy. Rinse your mouth then just take small sips,” Max told me as he handed me a bottle of water.

“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice shaking and my throat feeling scratchy and painful.

Once I had rinsed my mouth out Max placed the trash can near the door, then returned to his seat. He was looking at me like a concerned parent and it helped. At least he wasn’t screaming at me like the detective. At least he seemed to be on my side.

“Are you in pain?” he asked as he nodded to my wrist.

“Yes,” I admitted. I’d usually have down played it, but it hurt way too much to downplay. My back, ribs, and wrist were agony and every part of me ached.

“Have they hurt you since they took you from the hospital?”

“They c-cuffed me…behind my back. That hurt, and they…they push me around a lot. I…I’m really bruised and m-my ribs…they’re broken, so it hurts. I just…I’m so scared. I don’t know what to do and that detective…he was yelling s-so much. I just w-want to go home,” I squeaked weakly through my tight throat.

“It’s okay, Addy. I’ll get you out of here and your brothers will be here soon too.”

God, that sounded so strange. Brothers. Did I really have brothers? I had to admit, the idea appealed to me. I had been so alone for most of my life. My mom was there, but she was always in pain with her illness and that made her bitter and angry. I only ever heard from her when she needed me for something, and she loved to lash out at me physically and verbally when she was angry. She’d always told me there was no more family, and at school I’d been the girl from the trailer park who got bullied and ostracized, so there had never really been friends either.

Brothers would be nice. Just someone to send me a card on my birthday maybe? Maybe they would call me now and then too. Maybe I’d be able to call them after a crappy day. Just to have someone who cared if I was alive was all I had ever wanted.

“I’m going to stay with you for now. I don’t want you going back to that cell. We’ll wait for my investigators to call with news, okay?”

“Thank you,” I told him again. He had been so kind and patient. I didn’t want him to leave me and I definitely didn’t want to go back to that freezing, terrifying cell.

He handed me some Tylenol from his briefcase and I took them, desperate for some relief. I drank the water he had handed me, but declined the food he offered to go and get for me. My stomach was in knots as the words he had said spun round and around my head. I had been kidnapped and sex trafficked. I had been abused and likely raped. Why couldn’t I remember any of that? Surely that was something you would remember? I tried hard to recall something, anything, so much so that I ended up giving myself a pounding headache, but still no memories came back.

Eventually Max encouraged me to lie across two chairs and try to rest. I didn’t argue, since I was exhausted and so sick of running those damned words through my frazzled mind. I just needed some peace for a while. I curled up on my side, on the chairs and wrapped myself in Max’s jacket, cradling my tender wrist and praying for sleep to take me away from this living nightmare.

ASHER

It was late morning by the time we had landed in Vegas and gotten to the police station. Eli had been anxious the whole way, staring at his laptop as he researched sex trafficking, trauma, head injuries, and how he could help this Adeline with all she had obviously been through. I had reassured him by telling him the attorney was with her, and with the prices he charged, he would definitely be working to have her freed.

“This way please,” the officer from the front desk said as he appeared at a door and allowed us both in. I’d reached out to my fathers contacts on the flight to ensure we would be given access to Adeline once we got to the station. Thankfully, they had come through and the police chief had called me personally to assure me I had his cooperation.

I hadn’t yet spoken with the attorney I had sent, so I had no idea what was going on, but I had to admit, I was worried for this poor woman, especially if she did turn out to be our blood. I had read the file, which Kane had put together, on the plane, and the injuries detailed in the medical report told a story of long term physical and sexual abuse. How could she move forward from a trauma like that? How could we do anything to help her when we had no understanding of what she had been through?

We were led to a door and as soon as the officer opened it, another man appeared and ushered us back into the hall.

“Sorry. She’s sleeping and I don’t want to wake her. It’s taken her hours to drift off,” the guy, who I assumed was the attorney, explained.

“Max Kline?” I asked, and he nodded.

“How is she?” Eli asked, his voice lowered so the people milling around us wouldn’t hear.

“Not good. The police brought her here from the hospital, still in the damned hospital gown. Her injuries are extensive and she’s in a lot of pain without real pain meds. Mostly she’s just terrified. She doesn’t belong here. If she did shoot the senator she must have had no choice. She’s just not that kind of person. She seems so innocent and na?ve, almost a little childlike,” he explained.

“Can we get her out of here?” I asked.

“I believe so. I think my investigator has compiled enough evidence to get a warrant for the senators house. He found proof of dealings with the owner of a strip club known to be a front for sex trafficking and prostitution.”

“You think the senator held Adeline in his house?” I asked with shock.

“I do. He lives alone and Addy clearly ran from there. I want the place taken apart,” he answered.

“And if they find proof he held her there, will that free her of these charges?” Eli asked.

“I believe I can have the charges dropped if they discover what I think they will.”

“What do you think they’ll find?” Eli asked.

“A dungeon. Whips with Addy’s DNA and blood on them. A cage or a cell? Maybe even tapes or photos. A man like Leo Hilton thinks he’s above reproach. I think there’s a good chance he recorded his ill deeds.”

“Sick sonofabitch,” I hissed angrily. Whether Adeline was our sister or not, she was clearly a good person who didn’t deserve all that had happened to her. How could a man do that to an innocent woman like her? How could any human treat another in such an abhorrent way? It made me feel ill.

“So we wait to hear about the warrant?” Eli asked.

“It won’t be long. I already put a call in to the judge. He and I play golf together, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Can we see her? I’d like to explain who we are,” I asked.

“I had to tell her who you are. She wanted to know who had sent me.”

“How did she take it?” Eli looked nervous about the answer.

“I think she’s too terrified of facing jail right now to really take it in. The police have not treated her well and she’s been manhandled a lot, causing her pain, and terrifying her. Right now, I think she just needs to hear soft voices and see friendly faces. She told me herself she’s scared.”

“I want complaints made about the handling of her. She shouldn’t have even been taken from the hospital. I’ve seen the injuries she has right now. She’s not strong enough to be here,” I hissed angrily as I glared at a uniformed officer coming down the hall.

“No, she’s really not,” Max sighed. “Complaints are already in motion, and I’ve put a call in to the commissioner too.”

“Good. Let me know what happens. I have some contacts of my own that I can involve if necessary.” I was so angry that Adeline had been treated that way. The doctors had made it clear she was a victim of prolonged abuse and had likely been held against her will. Why, just because this asshole was a senator, did the cops feel they had the right to treat her like trash? I would not stand for it. For once I was going to use the power my father had handed to me. I was going to make sure every damned officer or detective who had laid a hand on her, lost his job.