She remembered feeling as if she were numb and almost felt like she was having an out-of-body experience then. It was the only way to describe it. She knew what she saw and heard was real. She remembered the police questioning her about Danny’s disappearance because they knew she was friends with him. Her tears and almost hysteria were accepted as young love. They even recommended to her stepfather placing her on Valium for a few days to help calm her.
He actually tried to force her to take them, but she knew if she did that he wouldn’t wait the four months until her twentieth birthday. He also knew she had her menstrual cycle that night. The maids in the house were watching out for him. Nothing was sacred or could be kept a secret from Pierce Mellbrook.
She hugged herself as she recalled the next set of events and knew that it could have been her that lay naked, battered, raped, and slaughtered in Pierce’s bedroom. She saw him having sex with the young redhead. She saw him beating her and calling her Juliana. Juliet witnessed the fear in the woman’s eyes and the anger in Pierce’s eyes as he struck the woman with the knife repeatedly. She had turned to run, freaked out and ready to call the police when she slammed into Robert and his guards. He had gripped her tight, shook her as he warned her.
Not a fucking word or you’ll wind up the same way. You never saw a thing, Juliana. Go to bed.
She ran to her room, hysterical, knowing that she needed to escape now while she had a chance. She grabbed a bag, threw in some belongings and money she’d saved up, and took off out the window and down the latticed arch below. She ran like hell and kept running until she grabbed a bus ticket and headed north. Weeks later she met Susanna, and from there she met the other women. A future seemed possible since Pierce was not on her trail, nor was Robert. They thought she was weak and probably figured she was dead. Juliet had never expected either man to show up. Her luck had run out. Two years. Two nice years of establishing the business, making new friends that she considered family, and now their lives were in jeopardy. She had found love, let herself open up her heart, but in doing so, she’d placed two men she loved in the ultimate danger. She had to get her shit together. She couldn’t be weak anymore. She couldn’t allow Robert and Pierce to take everything away from her with their threats and conditions. She wouldn’t live like this, and God knew she wouldn’t survive under Robert’s or Pierce’s control.
She had to think like Pierce thought. He was a manipulative, sneaky snake of a man. He was lower than the lowest, and if she wanted to ensure her friends’ safety and Carl’s and Richie’s safety, then some self-sacrifice and strategic thinking were necessary. She’d take her own life before she would let Robert or Pierce take it from her.
* * * *
“This is what we’ve got. Pierce Mellbrook owns over thirty different Fortune 500 companies. He has dozens of small businesses that he turned into franchises. He’s worth billions,” Monte stated as he glanced up at BJ, Michael, Chad, Richie, Mason, and his brother, Steven.
“Great, so the fucker is loaded, which means he has resources,” Michael stated.
“Yes, he sure as shit does. Has a few ex-cons on his payroll, some others who were connected to known gangsters, both drug lords and mafia,” Monte added.
“Robert and his three main thugs?” Mason asked as he leaned against the wall in Michael and Chad’s home office.
Monte nodded.
“Let me finish up on Pierce and I’ll tell you all about Robert. Pierce is not under the radar of our friends in the FBI. I called the commander, and he seemed very interested in the fact that your girlfriend is his stepdaughter. Apparently when her boyfriend went missing, he was last seen driving his car out of the community college campus. When the police questioned Juliet, also known as Juliana Saville, she seemed hysterical and could barely control her upset. The FBI and some investigators were looking into the disappearance of three women. All redheads and under the age of eighteen who were found murdered or went missing. As they sniffed around, they planted some inside people and found out that what Juliet told us is true. Her stepfather wanted her. Before the FBI could talk to her about what may or may not have happened to her boyfriend, she disappeared. The medical examiner noted a time of death on the body of Danny, Juliet’s boyfriend, and the young woman found murdered. They occurred within twenty-four hours of one another. That is when Juliet took off. She told us which day and what time in the evening.”
“Holy shit. So do they think Pierce killed the young woman and maybe the boyfriend? They never found the boyfriend’s body?” BJ asked.
“I think either he or Robert committed the murders. I’m just taking a guess here, but perhaps after killing Danny, her stepfather was so enraged he took it out on one of these substitute women he used until he could have Juliet. Then he lost control and brutally murdered her. Maybe Robert helped clean things up and Juliet took off. Then Robert had to get rid of the body faster as he tried to chase down Juliet, and, therefore, this body was found but not Danny’s.”
“That makes total sense, Monte. If Pierce was obsessed with Juliet, then he or Robert could have murdered both in twenty-four hours. Pierce found out that Juliet was sleeping with Danny, lost her virginity, and this enraged Pierce,” BJ stated.
“Then Pierce knows he can’t take Juliet yet but grabs a redhead, has sex with her, then takes his anger and frustration out on her imagining it’s Juliet. That makes sense especially since the local police there have been searching for a killer. All the victims were redheads, right, Monte?” Mason asked, and Monte nodded.
Richie exhaled. “They’re both monsters. How the hell can they get away with killing those people?” he asked in frustration.
“They’re not going to get away with it. I think the commander is going to want to speak with Juliet, Richie. She lived in that mansion. She was exposed to Pierce’s daily business activities. She fears those two men, and she should. Here’s what I got on Robert. This fucker has been questioned over a dozen times in various murder investigations, missing persons cases, and blackmail investigations that people accused Mellbrook of. Each time they drop the case. There wasn’t enough evidence against him. And get this, he was also questioned about Danny Corrano’s murder,” Monte told them.
“Holy fuck,” Richie stated.
“You need t
o talk to her, Richie. You have to make Juliet see that she doesn’t have to be afraid anymore and that we have the resources to help her,” BJ said.
“You saw her today. You all saw the fear in her eyes and the way she closed up and wouldn’t talk to anyone. The fucking sniper shot Carl. She’s scared. I’m scared,” Richie admitted.
“Hey, we’re here, aren’t we? We’re a fucking team. We always have been and always will be. We’ll take these fuckers down, Richie. The moment they took that sniper shot, they sent us all into military mode. We’ve sniffed out moles in foreign governments and held up in dirt holes in the middle of the fucking jungle. We sure as shit can handle some billionaire murderer and his fellow psychopath guard. Robert has no military background. He’s just a psycho who needs to pay for his crimes. Now get it together, and let’s figure out what we’re doing next,” Monte stated.
* * * *
Juliet was exhausted. Her head was pounding as she started to pack more clothes into a suitcase to take to Richie’s. Susanna stood in the doorway. The men were downstairs waiting.
“Don’t worry, Juliet. The guys will take care of everything. One night absent from the club is not the end of the world. London is back and feeling much better, and I have two very good-looking soldier friends of Monte’s covering Richie’s and Carl’s shifts.” Susanna rubbed her hands together and gave a slick smile.
Juliet tossed her hair over her shoulder. She stared at Susanna a moment. “Just in case I never told you, I love you, Susanna, and you mean the world to me. If we hadn’t met on that bus…”
Susanna was across the room and pulling Juliet into her arms faster than Juliet could complete her sentence. She hugged her back.
Susanna pulled back slightly to look down into Juliet’s eyes. Susanna had a few inches in height over her. She caressed her hair.