Zoe put away her washcloths and towels and cleaned up the bathroom. She didn’t want to appear like a poor guest. Her mama had taught her better than that. With a last glance around, her dirty clothes in her bag, she stepped into the main suite.
Harrison leaned against the entryway to her room, his arms crossed over his chest. He glanced at her bag and said, “If you want to pick up the rest of your luggage, you can do laundry here.”
She twisted her lips. “I’ve no idea what I’ll be doing, where I’ll be going.”
“You should do something with your life.”
“Not until I get a few things settled.”
He shifted away from the door and walked toward the stairs. “You also should pick something in life that you can fight for. But fight smart.” He stared straight ahead as he spoke.
She studied his profile. What was going on behind that flat gaze? Then she got it. “Did you read my file?”
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t lie. “Of course I did. And your brother, mother and father’s.”
She hunched her shoulders. “Of course you would have.”
“Your father is dying. Your mother’s been badly beaten. In addition, your father is a senator, in a prominent position. You really think everyone is not trying to find out what happened and catch the person responsible?”
“You didn’t have to dig into my background. Pry through the details of my private life.”
“Would you have told me?”
At that hardened tone, she winced. “It’s personal and private.”
“There’s nothing personal or private about it now. You survived against all kinds of hell, and that’s a matter of record. Everyone knows you are angry. That you want justice for your friend.”
“It didn’t do one damn bit of good,” she said bitterly.
“Tell me, how can you be so sure she was raped?”
She winced, his words confirming her worst fears. “Because I knew her. I knew the assholes too.”
“And yet, had no way to prove it.”
She shook her head. “Only that they’d done it before.”
He stopped and turned to stare at her. “Are you sure?”
“We met with several other women to get them to join together and have a lawyer represent them all in a class action lawsuit. But in the military, it’s not that easy. The women were terrified.” She shook her head. “I could hardly blame them. What they’d gone through was already traumatic enough. But it had to end somewhere. Unfortunately, Tamara chose her end, and I wasn’t fast enough to stop her.”
“And you can’t let it go?” Harrison sent her a sidelong glance. “Are you still fighting her fight? Are you hunting them?”
She faltered. When she regained control, she asked, “Hunting who?” From the look he gave her, she understood just how much he knew her already. She raised her hands in the air. “Not really. I want to make them pay, but legally. Yet I can’t find the way to do it, which is why I’m so angry—and frustrated. I can’t stand to let those assholes get away with it.”
Harrison nodded. “What are their names?” He pulled out his phone.
She contemplated that for a long moment. Could he do anything to help? “Paul Canley, Jeff Jorgensen, Lawrence Hitchcock, Randy Maguire, and Lee Wilson.”
He typed in the names as she said each one and sent them to Levi.
“Do you really think Levi gives a shit?”
Harrison gave her a hard glance. “Levi gives a shit about a lot of things, and there are a couple that none of us tolerate, and rape is one of them. Wife-beating is another.” He speared her with an intense glare. “We will do our best to make sure these men are held accountable for what has been done.”
She snorted. “You think I haven’t heard that from three dozen military men over the last two years?” She shook her head. “None of them meant it.”
“Well, that’s them. Not us. And maybe we can make a difference.”
She broke out laughing but with a hard edge to it.
“Shit.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. “Do any of these men have anything to do with the attacks on your father and mother?”
“I wish I knew,” she cried out. “I really want those assholes to go down. And I want them to pay for all they’ve done.”
“They ever attack you?”
She shook her head. “One of them tried. I broke two of his fingers.”
“Good for you.”
She shook her head. “I should have broken his boner.”
“Ouch.”
“It’s what he deserved.”
Harrison shrugged. “Maybe, but as a male, I can’t say I like the sound of that.” They walked through the living room.
“Where the hell are we going?”
“Richard’s office.”
“Why?”
“Soundproofed and debugged. It has security to stop anybody from hacking in and hearing our conversations.”
“Okay, the superspy stuff. It’s kind of freaky for a doctor. Why the hell does he have any of this?”
“Because he talks with Ice all the time. Father and daughter don’t want to watch every word they say to each other.” He shrugged. “I set it up for him. It’s still very convenient for us when we visit.”
“I’ll say.”
At the office, she found Dakota and Saul waiting. She nodded at them. “Is this a conference call?”
Levi’s voice filled the room. “Zoe, Ice is on the phone here with me and a few more of our men. What exactly did you see that night you saw your father? And share anything you may have heard.”
She glared at the speakerphone on the middle of the big desk. “And if I don’t want to share?”
Levi’s response was total silence.
“She will, Levi. She’s just throwing up her defenses to figure out what to say without saying anything,” Harrison snapped. “Come on, Zoe. Enough of this crap. We were shot at yesterday, and your father’s dying. Your mother has round-the-clock security at the hospital, but what if that’s not enough? What if whoever attacked her wants to finish the job?”
She slumped into the nearest chair. “Fine.” She closed her eyes, sorting through the crazy thoughts in her head, took a deep breath and began. “I was home for the weekend. My parents had an argument over dinner. My father is an arrogant, egotistical man who doesn’t believe women have a place in this world except in bed.” She took another deep breath and continued in a flat monotone voice. “My brother was there that day, and so was I. The two of us never really got along. But at dinner that night, maybe because of what had happened to Tamara, or seeing my mom once again take my father’s abuse, I snapped and told him to shut the hell up and leave Mom alone.” She reached up and rubbed her temple.
“And?” Levi asked. “What happened after that?”
“There was an odd silence at the table. My father turned red, furiously angry. But instead of blasting me like he normally did, he got up and left the room. My mom rushed around to sit beside me. She put her arms around me saying, ‘You have to run. You’ve crossed the line. You must go. Leave now.’” Zoe’s voice faltered. “My father returned in a few minutes with a gun in his hand.”
She refused to look at anybody as they listened to her. “All I could think then was he would shoot my mom. But now I think it was me that he wanted to put down.”
“What did your brother do?”
“When he heard what Mother said, Alex laughed. He’s no better than my father. He could be the next political asshole who takes bribes and picks up women, uses them thoroughly and spits them back out again.”
She tried desperately to rein in her emotions. She locked her hands together in her lap, taking several deep, controlling breaths.
“When your father came in with the gun, what did your brother do?” Levi asked.
“He got up from the table and backed away. My father pointed the gun at me, but of course, my mother stepped in front of me. She was forever trying to save me from my father’s blows.” She shook her head. “Until I got strong enough to fight back. He stopped hitting me then, and with my threat to expose his actions, my mother as well, at least when I was around. But when I was absent …”
She stared at her hands to see blood in her palms from her nails fisted so tightly inside. She shoved her hands under her thighs and raised her gaze. “You have to understand what it’s like to live with that kind of abuse. It’s a day-in, day-out conditioning. I was raised with it from a toddler. By the time I understood how very wrong it was and how much my mother took from him, I could do very little. I left the house as much as I could because my presence made my father even worse. I hated boarding school, but if it made mine or my mother’s life easier, then I went gladly. I took martial arts, and archery, shooting, and as much self-defense training as I could get my hands on. But none were very appropriate for a young lady, according to him,” she said in a caustic tone. “No, we were supposed to do ballet, fencing, and Hostess 101. None of that prepares you for a father who breaks bones and damages so much more than skin and muscles.” She shook her head. “The world didn’t want to know about him. School didn’t want to know about him. Nobody in my circle of friends wanted to know what he did behind closed doors.” She gave a laugh. “My brother knew. He just didn’t give a shit.”
She hadn’t meant to say all that. Once the dam opened, it all seemed to rush out.
“What happened when your father came into the room with the gun? After your mom stepped in front of you?” Ice asked.
“He waved the gun around, yelling at us both. My mom tried to calm him down. But he wasn’t having anything to do with it. My mother told me to leave. My father told me to get the hell out and to never come back. I figured I was the fuel on this fire, and I needed to leave, so I did. I got up from the table, grabbed my purse and walked out.”
“And again where was your brother?” Levi asked.
“He was in the dining room as far as I know.”
“What the hell happened? What did you see? That wasn’t the end obviously,” Saul asked.
“I think my father probably put the gun down and used his hands to beat my mother.” She shook her head. “You have to understand, he used her for a release of his temper. But he liked it. He loved to see her cower and cringe, broken and bleeding on the floor. She was his punching bag. You all know what it’s like to work out and feel that power in your arms, fists, and legs as you kick and beat something to a pulp. That was my father. My mother and I were his punching bags. After just one of Father’s beatings, Alex was forever saved. And I think that’s because he had a penis, and the rest of us didn’t.” Her tone turned mocking. “I don’t know if my mother shot my father. Honestly, if she did? Kudos to her. She should’ve done it a long time ago. Maybe she snapped and finally did it.”
“And yet, he was shot at the front door,” Harrison softly added.
Zoe leaned back. “Maybe? Or it could be a fabrication somebody made up to fit the circumstances. If this was my mom, I’m all for it. That bastard should’ve died thirty years ago. Hell, he should never have been born. As for my brother, he’s just a weasel. Weak, but I don’t think he’s ever hurt anybody. He did try it on me once. When I was little. My mom stepped in and stopped him.”
“He never tried again?” Harrison asked.
She shook her head. “No, he didn’t. His torture became more subversive. He was much more cutting verbally. He liked emotional abuse and loved psychological games. He used to come into my bedroom at nighttime, stand at the end of my bed and tell me my father was coming soon. I was a bed wetter until I was well over twelve.” She shook her head. “The nightmares that I went through—knowing he was hovering just out of sight—they were brutal.”
“Your brother is a sadistic asshole.” Saul jumped to his feet. “It would be my pleasure to beat him to a pulp for all that shit.”
She snorted. “You’d be the only one. He’s the golden child. He could do no wrong, and my father wouldn’t hear a word against him.” She groaned. “But that doesn’t mean Alex had anything to do with this either. He’s not someone to get his hands dirty.”
*
Saul might’ve liked a few minutes alone with her brother, but Harrison knew—if he ever got his hands on her father—the guys would have to make sure Harrison didn’t kill the senator. And her brother? … Any guy who would do something like that to torment his little sister—who was already beaten and battered from their father—well, that proved Alex was broken inside. Apparently the men in her family had some major problems.
Harrison had seen families like that. He’d seen a lot of people spend their lives forgetting or hiding what they were. But eventually their masks slipped, they got cocky and relaxed. Their egos were big enough they believed they were safe. The trouble was, her brother was young. He had years and years and years where he could abuse other women. If he had kids, what would stop him from beating the crap out of them, like his father beat the women in his family? Not much.
He glanced around the room and said, “We need to find where Alex is and dig into his past a little more. He came and went at his parents’ house, having his own room there, but we need more. We should talk to his associates, his neighbors, people he works with and for. And where else did he stay when he wasn’t at home?”
Ice’s voice came through loud and clear. “We can handle a lot of that from this end. You guys need to physically track him down.”
“You’re not listening to me,” Zoe said. “I don’t think he has anything to do with the attacks on my mother and father.”
The men turned and stared at her.
She raised her hands in the air. “What? What is it you think I’m not seeing?”
Harrison shook his head. “He could be doing all kinds of things and not getting his hands dirty. Something inside could easily have snapped, and he could very well have been the one who carried out both attacks. But we won’t know until we do some digging. Also what about the live-in staff at your house?” He looked at her. “We still can’t get any answers from your mother.”
Zoe reached her hand to her temple again.
He watched, seeing the fatigue, worry, and pain cross her features.
“Johan is the chauffeur and looks after the gardens and the yard. He also handles any tradesmen who come and go. Angelina works in the kitchen and around the house. She manages the extra staff who come in once a month to do a full clean.” She frowned, wondering where they’d been when her father had been shot. “The two are married and have worked for my father for a long time.”
“Children?”
She nodded. “Boys. Two of them. Fifteen months apart, both adults now. Neither live there anymore.”
“How well do you know them?”
“I used to know them very well. But my father didn’t think that association was a good thing. At that time, he sent them away to school. I’m sure it was to keep them separated from us. Even though we were in boarding school ourselves, our days off, holidays, never coincided. So I don’t know where the boys are now.”
“We’ll add them to the list to check out,” Ice said over the speakerphone.
Harrison gave her a few minutes while the rest of them set up schedules—who was going where, what they were to do. He turned toward the speakerphone. “Levi, did you get a follow-up from the cops?”
“Yes. A .22 handgun. Single shot to the head. The senator had an unregistered gun, but they haven’t located it yet to confirm if it was the weapon used. And no staff was home to question. Harrison,” Levi said, “get to the senator’s house and talk to the staff. See if they can confirm any of this. And see if they have any idea where the brother is, what he’s like.”
“They’re very loyal to my father,” Zoe said. “They won’t say anything unpleasant of course. They have a house on the property. They won’t say anything that would cause them to lose their jobs and their living quarters.”
“Because they still need the paycheck?”
She nodded. “Yet their relationship with my father was solid. But Angelina…there was something about her. She wasn’t as friendly to me as she was to the rest of the family.” She shook her head. “Still I had little to do with them, so I’ll keep my mouth shut and let you form your own opinions.”
“We will,” Saul said. “But anything you can tell us will help.”
“What if the senator dies?” Levi asked. “What was the relationship between the pair and your mother? Is she likely to keep them on?”
Harrison watched Zoe wince.
“My mom is very generous and very easily taken in. She’s already come from decades of abuse. Honestly, I don’t think Johan or Angelina would be physically abusive. But they may be very manipulative to make sure they stayed where they were.”
“They sound like real winners. What would you recommend your mother do when she gets home?” Harrison asked.
“I’ll tell her to sell the house, get rid of the staff, move to a climate she prefers and start all over again.”
“Is she likely to listen to that?” Saul asked.
She glanced at him and shrugged. “That is really hard to tell. My mother is very intelligent, but after thirty years of living with that level of fear, I don’t know if she’s strong enough to change.”
Dakota asked, “Does she have any family? Anybody who could help snap her out of it?”
Zoe smiled. “Aunt Betty lives in Germany. She told my mom to get the hell out a long time ago. She’s married to a German, and he told my mom to get out a long time ago too.”
“But obviously she didn’t listen. Any other family?”
“All four of my grandparents have passed away.”
“Do you remember them?” Levi asked. “Did they have any relationship with the senator? Did you with them?”
She shook her head. “Formal dinners where I wasn’t allowed to speak. I was only permitted to be seen at the occasional cocktail party where my paternal grandfather would show up. He didn’t have any time for me either.”
“I thought rich kids were to be envied,” Dakota said. “But it sounds like it’s a real shitty life.”
She glanced at him. “You know what it’s like playing in a playground, right?”
He nodded. “Sure, of course. Every kid does.”
She shook her head. “I don’t. I was never allowed to. I was never on a swing. I’m nearing thirty years old, and I’ve never been on a swing. I know that’s a foolish comparison, but it should give you an idea. I’ve never been on a picnic. There were no sports days for me at school. There were no sleepovers at friends’ houses or anything fun like that. It was all about academia, and, of course in the off-hours, it was all about drugs and sex. Because if you think boarding schools are anything other than the wealthy having easier access to all the above, you’re wrong. Because they have oodles of money, are arrogant and egotistical, and really, if there is trouble with the school, the parents buy off the headmaster. Or pay a fee and the kid continues on his merry way. I used to sit and wish and wonder why I couldn’t be in a public school where kids get to play hide-and-seek and tag and kick a ball around.”
Finally, she held out her hands. “My father took my baseball and glove out of my hands. It wasn’t ladylike enough.”
Harrison sat back after exchanging a quick glance with the other men and realized he’d had no idea. “It’s not something any of us thought about. We all had more or less normal upbringings. We did sleepovers at friends’ houses. We did the usual Saturday morning play in the ballpark, rode bikes and generally hung out.”
“Ride a bike? No.” She chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve never ridden a bike.” She opened her arms. “Not that I can’t learn. But there is something very defeating about learning to ride a bike when you’re almost thirty. I missed so many things growing up. And yet, I had everything I could possibly want in many ways. I had the electronics. I had big fancy toys. I had a bedroom probably bigger than most people’s top floors.
“But I was alone, and never allowed to have a friend sleep over because my mother was always traumatized. I could never have any friends in the house because my father was beating her up or in one of his moods, about to verbally attack me. Then, as I grew older, I didn’t want anybody to know about my family. My house wasn’t a home, it was a prison in which I chose to be alone because to have somebody there would be worse.
“If you really want to tear my family apart, expose all our secrets. Announce it on the news as ours being one of the worst families in the area. When I said, I don’t know anything else, I meant it. I didn’t have anything to do with my brother or father, and the only person I ever stayed connected with was my mother. And even that was very hard to do because she just wouldn’t leave him. So I couldn’t see her at home very often, and when I did, things like what happened the last time were always the result.”
“That was not an unusual occurrence for you?” Levi said. “He would have these kinds of outbursts all the time?”
“Yes, but he never went so far as to bring out his handgun. I tried hard for my mother’s sake to be the obedient daughter. Because if anybody paid, it would be her first. I made a point of always meeting her out of the house, even for coffee. But if he knew where she was going, it wasn’t allowed either.”
Harrison froze and said, “Then we really have to ask why you were there that night. You were actually staying at the house?”
She took in a slow jagged breath. “Yes. I was hoping to gain my father’s cooperation.” She rolled her eyes. “Foolish of me. I wanted him to help me with Tamara’s case. So I was spending some days at home, looking for an opening to talk to him.”
“You meant to use his power and authority as a senator to open a case or to have somebody take another look?” Harrison asked.
She nodded. “I was willing to take that chance to get justice for Tamara, but he didn’t believe she’d been raped in the first place. I was hoping he would use it as part of his re-election platform. I needed somebody with power. Somebody who gave a damn, even if it was for the wrong reason.”
“Did you contact the media?” Levi asked.
She nodded even though Levi couldn’t see it. “A small story published soon afterward in the local newspaper. Then I got an email about two days later, saying how the reporter had been fired and for me not to contact him again.”
“Sounds like we have two very distinct issues here,” Levi said. “Whether they actually cross, we can’t tell yet. Harrison, I suggest you spend the day doing as much legwork as you can. We will conference again tomorrow morning, but I want an update tonight before all of you go to bed.” Levi rang off.
Harrison asked Zoe, “You ready to go to the hospital?”
She stood, but he could see the fatigue pulling at her. The stress. She wrapped her arms around her chest and said, “Yes, let’s go.”
As they walked toward the front door, he asked, “Do you really think your mother would sell the house and leave town after your father dies?”
“She’s hated that place since forever. And, yes, it’s possible. I just don’t know for sure. My mother has never been on her own in her life. I don’t think she’d take to living alone easily.”
“She must have friends.”
“One of them is Richard.” She smiled at Harrison. “She’s talked about him a little. I have vague memories of meeting him. But never when my father was around.”
Harrison nodded. “You never know. Maybe she’ll end up seeing a little more of Richard when she heals.”
“At least he’s a nice man. He’s looking after her. Instead of being the man who put her where she is.”
*
Once again Harrison parked behind the hospital, leading her through a secure rear entrance. He punched in the code, and she asked, “How is it you know them?”
“Richard texted them to me this morning. I was instructed to use this during the day only. We will be on camera from the time we enter, and before we get to the top floor where your mom is, they will have confirmed we’re the only ones who came in and that we’re going straight from here to there.”
She shook her head. “I should be happy to hear she’s under such intense security, but it’s kind of unnerving.”
“Unnerving, yes. But not a bad thing. Richard is making sure she’s safe. And for that, you should be grateful.”
“I am. That you are all ex-Navy is a huge help too.”
He gave her an odd look. “Levi and his unit were betrayed on a mission. They were quite badly injured and were in the standard naval hospital. But we suspected somebody there was still trying to get to them. When the hospital was attacked, Ice quickly arranged for them to be airlifted out and had them moved here. So security is always tight now.”
“Nice to have Ice to call on. Most people can’t afford a medical facility like this.”
“Exactly, but Richard is Ice’s father, and this involved Levi. Ice and Levi have been together for a long time. Not an easy road, and at the point where this all blew up in their faces, they were on and off. However, as Levi healed, they got over their differences once and for all and are together now.”
“Nice to see a light shining at the end of the tunnel for them.” The elevator doors opened in front of them, and they stepped out.
Two security guards waited for them. Harrison nodded at them. “Any change in her condition?”
They both shook their heads. “She wakes and goes under.”
As they walked toward Trish’s room, the door opened, and Richard stepped out. He smiled at them. “Good timing. She’s awake. I’ll come in with you and see how her reaction is toward Zoe. See if there is any lucidity in her gaze.”
Worried that her mother might not know her, per Richard’s words, Zoe stepped cautiously inside her hospital room.
Her mother turned her head and gazed at her, and tears filled her beautiful blue eyes. She lifted her arms, and Zoe ran toward her. Crying, she dropped to the side of the bed and gently laid her head on her mother’s chest. “Mom, oh, my God, you’re awake.”
Her voice slurred, she whispered, “I’m here, Zoe. I’m here.”
Zoe’s heart was overwhelmed with relief. She lay for a long moment, loving the solid thump of her mother’s heartbeat, knowing she was now likely to make a full recovery. And, even if there was physical damage, chances were good that her mental faculties would return to normal.
When Zoe could, she sat up, snatched a tissue off the bedside table and wiped her eyes. She smiled at her mom and asked, “How are you feeling?”
Her mother smiled and let her eyes drift closed. “Like I’ve been run over by a cement truck,” she whispered.
“Well, that’s close.”
Her mom’s eyes opened. She stared at Zoe with a confused expression. “Was there a car accident?”
Zoe glanced at Richard, still standing in the room. She didn’t know if she should say anything or not.
Richard gave her a slow shake of his head.
“No. We’re not exactly sure what happened,” she said, patting her mom’s hand reassuringly. “All that’s important is you’re getting treatment, and you’ll pull through.”
She watched as her mother’s eyelids closed again. She leaned down and kissed her mom’s cheek. “I’m so glad to see you awake.”
“So…tired,” her mom whispered. Her voice drifted off, fainter and fainter.
Zoe rested her forehead against her mom’s for a long moment, realizing that, as she did so, her mom had again been lured under into the peace and silence of slumber. She picked up her mom’s hand and gently brought it to her lips. She looked at Richard. “She’s gone back to sleep.”
He softly patted Zoe on the shoulder. “But it’s a healing sleep. She’s been awake. She’s managed to talk. She recognized you. Those are huge milestones.”
Zoe smiled at him, tears once again forming in her eyes. “Please look after her.”
He gave her the sweetest smile she thought she’d ever seen on the man.
“Of course I will. We’re old friends.”
Zoe stepped back, glancing at her mom. “Maybe when this is all over …” She left it at that. For once her mother had to decide for herself. But it would be a long road before that happened. Zoe just hoped, if her mother ever found another man, it would be someone nice, like Richard. Nothing like her father. She glanced toward Harrison, standing at the closed door, waiting for her. She smiled and said, “It’s okay. We can leave now.”
He nodded toward her mom. “Richard, how long is she likely to sleep this time?”
“Most of the day again.”
“May we stop by this afternoon?”
“I can’t guarantee she’ll be awake. I do understand you need to ask questions, but she doesn’t appear to remember what happened at this point.” He held up a hand. “And before you ask, her memory will come back most likely, but it could take anywhere from a few minutes, days, or even weeks. Most of the time the brain blocks the trauma so patients have an easier time surviving. And right now, healing is what’s most important.”
Richard’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out, and the color washed from his face. He turned a hard glare at Harrison. “Someone just tried to come through the same entrance you did.”
“Saul or Dakota?”
Richard shook his head. “No idea. He wore a mask at the entrance but tossed it somewhere.”
“How far in did he get?”
“He didn’t. But he’s searching for a weak entrance around the perimeter right now.”
“Stay here,” Harrison ordered Zoe. “I’ll be back after I check it out.”
“Really?” she snarled. “Remember who I am as well.”
He turned to her in surprise before a look of understanding crossed his face. He leaned down and said, “I do. That’s why I’m leaving you to guard your mother.” He tilted up her chin and kissed her mouth. Hard.
Before she had a chance to react he was gone.