Personal: The Extended Edition (Private #3)

Chapter 19

Wes

Brynley struggles not to groan while adjusting on the gray leather couch I know Park’s been sleeping on since the first incident.

The man – like I used to – prefers to be working rather than not.

I’ve offered multiple times to build him a bedroom add on to this soundproof space he refers to as “the war room” yet he’s always refused.

Fears that the second I do, it’ll seal his worst fear.

That he’ll never have a life outside of what he does.

It’s a valid concern.

One that can be thoroughly discussed after he successfully does his fucking job and figures out exactly who put one of my family members in surgery and gave my wife new bruises, she didn’t fucking need.

“HPD is useless ,” Park announces while resting his ass on the edge of his nearby desk. “Swanson, the so-called lead detective on the original incident case, can’t even remember to delete his browser history most of the time, which is why his wife probably doesn’t feel guilty for fucking their daughter’s tutor twice a week.”

Gently delivering a stroke to Bryn’s shoulder is attached to me growling, “You’re telling me they have nothing.”

“I’m telling you they have nothing about that, nothing about the occurrence at the school , and are even less likely to have something about this. ”

“Then tell me what you have before I buy this entire fucking city, kick everyone out, and wall the shit off like an underdeveloped country being taken over by a warlord dictator.”

“Very Wrath of Khan of you,” the woman beside me snickers. “ I approve. ”

“I don’t,” J.T. swiftly disagrees from where he’s leaning against the wall beside Hill. “And I’m getting less Khan, more Romulan.”

“Whatever you wanna fucking call it,” Finnigan, the P.I. Park prefers to work with, joins the conversation, “sounds like a bad idea.”

“An unnecessary idea,” Park proclaims prior to folding his arms across his t-shirt covered chest. “Particularly because I have a better one. One you’re going to hate, but that’s more cost efficient than declaring war on the government.”

“ Explain. ”

Park motions for Finnigan to begin again, “From what we managed to gather at the scene , everything leads to a dead end. The SUV that was used to orchestrate the crash was stolen this morning, it was then found a short distance down the road, in an empty parking lot, torched, leaving no viable DNA evidence left behind, and there was no traffic camera footage due to the street they were forced onto by construction.”

“You sound like HPD,” I callously sneer prompting Bryn to deliver a chastising swat to my thigh.

“ However ,” Finnigan lifts his palms up in a pleading nature, “when we swept the area of the crash, we found a small GPS tracker that must’ve been knocked off during the attack.”

“Who does it lead to?!”

“No one,” Park immediately replies, inspiring my glaring to return. “It came from a black-market shipment and while we’re tracing the vicinity of where it was reporting too, that’s unlikely to reveal any viable information as they were probably using a public space to further be untraceable.”

“So…we’re dealing with a supervillain?” Bryn playfully pokes, revealing that in spite of the accident, in spite of having to call 911 with bloody fingers, and possibly watch someone we love die in front of her face, she’s not scared.

She’s not going backwards.

She’s not going to retreat and remove herself from this place she’s worked so hard to reach.

That we’ve worked so hard to reach.

I love that.

And I will love ending whoever has been trying to destroy what it is we have.

“We’re dealing with someone who has very close access to you , Bryn,” Park cautiously informs.

“Me?!” She squawks loudly. “What the fuck makes you think it’s me?!”

“ This particular attack,” he retorts.

“When the first incident occurred, I began sifting through the usual suspects,” Finnigan explains between smacks of his gum. “I looked at those that most likely might be holding a grudge for what you’ve done to them and their business-”

“You did destroy the Marks family when you first inherited the company,” my best friend recalls on a large cringe.

“They shouldn’t have been publicly lying about the age of their product or the tainted barrels making people sick.”

“Weeding out those with the amount of means it would take to hire and orchestrate a string of attacks wasn’t difficult nor did it produce any viable leads. Most have rebound in their financial endeavors and have no interest in crossing the man who nearly destroyed their lives once.”

The love of my life theatrically gasps and tosses a hand over her chest. “Are you the supervillain?”

There’s barely time to twitch a glare before Finnigan is proceeding, “I then focused my attention on Penny, the young woman you literally had exiled from the country.”

“For trying to murder the woman that would become her stepmother,” Bryn bitterly bites.

“Tell me Penny is not involved again,” I practically whisper out. “I spared her life once. I will not do it twice.”

“Penny, her husband, and their newborn – who they just brought home yesterday – all came up clean.” Finnigan doesn’t bother hiding his grin. “They’ve sent photos of your nephew-”

“ Ugh, I can’t believe we’re related. ”

“-and digital thank you cards for the gifts-”

“What gifts?!” croaks the feisty female beside me.

“-and look forward to Clark and Lauren visiting next year.”

“ You got them gifts?! ”

“I know you didn’t believe her to be a possibility; however, I had to do my due diligence.” Finnigan offers up a small hand toss. “It’s my job.”

“Correct.”

And my job is caring for our family, which now includes Penny.

Do I know if our children will ever meet hers?

No.

Do I want them to have that option?

Yes.

More importantly, I want Clark to be able to maintain some sort of relationship with the daughter I have no doubt still struggles with abandonment issues.

“Knocking out the next possibilities – bitter employees, PR problems, customer service catastrophes – all went rather quickly once we could narrow it down to female only. Most have either moved or are too afraid to so much as say a bad word about the Wilcoxes due to NDAs.”

“Those are handy,” J.T. casually assures.

“I am hearing nothing that proves this is connected to my wife.”

“Getting rid of all the people it most likely can’t be forces us to look at those it most likely can ,” Park takes over prompting my focus to shift. “Everyone directly involved with you on a typical day to day checks out. Estate staff. Assistants. Employees. Ect. I even used our outside source to confirm it.”

I have many allies we rarely have a reason to use; however, it’s good to know that when we do need them, they make no hesitation to deliver.

“This is what’s led me to believe it’s someone right outside your inner circle.”

“Why hers?” J.T. asks what I’m thinking.

“Because Wes doesn’t socialize with anyone besides you ,” Park purposefully points out, “making Bryn the only option.”

Why would I socialize with anyone outside of our family?

How do I know if they can be trusted?

Should be?

“She has a tendency to be more open with those she sees frequently such as stylists, baristas, designers, parking lot attendants, and so on.”

“You’re telling me not being a raging cunt is getting me attacked?!”

“I’m telling you not being the monster in the castle everyone is terrified of makes you more likely to have had contact with the village idiot that’s orchestrating these assaults.” He doesn’t allow room for a rebuttal. “And the fact that it was the SUV you were traveling in Bryn versus the one Wes and Wyland were in earlier has Finnigan and I agreeing that whoever planted that tracker on your vehicle interacted or had direct contact with you shortly before you left the city.”

Hope has me soaring to the edge of my seat. “That can’t be a long list.”

“It’s not,” Park confidently states, “however the easiest way to discover the assailant’s identity is to set a trap for them using Bryn as bait.”

“No.”

“Wes-”

“ No! ” I bark viciously enough to shut his mouth. “ You’re not using my fucking wife as bait! ”

“Told you, you weren’t going to like it.”

“I fucking hate it!”

“Don’t I get a say?!”

“ No! ” My stare snaps to hers and sharply narrows. “ This is not up for discussion! ”

“This is very much so up for discussion!” she roars in return, body swinging into a more defensive stance. “This is my family too, Wes! It’s our son that’s nearly been kidnapped. It’s our security guard that’s still in surgery! It’s our future that this woman is trying to destroy and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to put a stop to it, just like you are!”

“I’m not risking your life!”

“You’re right, you’re not!”

Her retort stuns me silent.

“Park clearly has a plan of action, and we all know he would never knowingly let anything happen to me! It’s why I’ve got more eyes on me than the goddamn president when I go to the office just to do paperwork.” At that, she tosses him a chastising stare. “And you may wanna train the newbies about ‘believable’ background actions. Reading the aquarium map upside down for two hours, ain’t cutting it.”

An annoyed grumble is accompanied by him shutting his eyes and shaking his head. “I’ve been over that with Zandt so many fucking times.”

“You have got to trust those around us,” Bryn softly pleads, fingers curling around mine. “You have got to learn to trust me. ”

Dread clumps together in the middle of my throat making my words come out in a coarse, gravelly tone, “ I do trust you. ”

“ Then trust me to do this ,” she lovingly implores. “ Trust me to help put an end to this shit. ”

Our eyes lock as the air in the room thickens and churns.

I want this to be over.

I want answers to why this started.

I want retribution and revenge for what this woman has taken.

For what she’s stolen .

For the memories of late-night Star Trek marathons, to picking out memorabilia for the penthouse, to bringing our son home into his room for the first time to the ones we’ll never have with the child who wasn’t even given a chance to grow.

For that… for the life she ended, she will endure the same.

It takes every ounce of energy I can find to nod my submission. “ Okay. ” We shift our stares over to where Park is patiently waiting. “ What’s the plan? ”