“I will come in there and pull you off if I think you’re going too far.” It wasn’t a threat. Titus was simply stating the way it was going to be. He was big enough that he might have a shot at reigning me in, but he had no idea there was an unholy fire burning in my belly when I imagined Noe being under the smarmy lawyer’s thumb, too young to fight the monsters herself.
He was an average looking guy. Not too big, not too small, but definitely a lot larger than Noe. He had a soft face, a cleft in his chin, and his hair was done in an artfully messy way. He looked media ready and unnaturally confident. He even had the gall to slap Goddard on the back and throw his head back and laugh at something the older man said. There wasn’t anything funny about why they were in that room. I wanted to make him stop laughing. I wanted to break his teeth out and snap his jaw in half. It would be impossible to laugh through a face full of metal. It would be hard to represent anyone that way, as well.
The lawyer laughed again and I couldn’t handle it anymore. I reached out and touched the button that blacked the glass out and turned to look at Titus. “Five minutes. Don’t give me any longer than that.” I pointed to the video feed and told him to turn it off. I wasn’t sure he was going to comply, but even if he didn’t, I planned on going into the system and erasing any evidence of my visit. Nothing needed to tie me to this visit. I breathed a sigh of relief when the cop did as I asked.
Titus finally started to look slightly uneasy. His sharp gaze rolled over the set of my shoulders, my clenched hands, and the fury I was sure was stamped all over my face. “A lot can happen in five minutes, Stark.”
I dipped my chin in a nod. It took both men in that room less than five minutes to change my girl’s life forever. “I know.” I planned on keeping up the tradition.
I stepped around him and pulled open the door to the interrogation room. I was immediately hit with the smell of expensive cologne. Noe had to fight for her freedom, her body, and her mind, and this piece of garbage was all gussied up like he was going somewhere fancy. He’d donned his best to represent a monster.
“Who are you? You’re not with the prosecution.” The lawyer started to get up, but I was on him before he could rise to his full height.
I grabbed the back of his head and slammed it forward, shoving it into the unforgiving edge of the metal table. There was a satisfying sound of bone crunching as his nose took the brunt of the contact. Immediately, the coppery scent of blood overlapped the cologne. It was deeply gratifying. I used my hold on the back of his head to ram his face into the edge of the table a couple of more times, ignoring his shouts of surprise and Goddard’s wails for the police.
I kicked the lawyer’s chair out from under him, landing him and his ass in that fancy suit on the dirty floor at my feet. I glared down at him as he put his hands over his gushing nose. He was clearly bewildered and frightened.
Good.
“Consider me the judge, jury, and executioner all in one. Your sister is someone who is very important to me, so you’ve already been found guilty beyond belief.”
“I don’t have a sister. I’m an only child.” The words were garbled and wet as he spoke them through the blood covering his face.
The fact that he never looked at Noe like family, that he was denying who she was, made me see red that was brighter than his blood. I put my boot into his ribs and while he was curled on his side, whimpering on the floor, I put the heavy tread on his neck and pressed down. He couldn’t breathe. He was clawing at the leather and laces desperately. His watery eyes were bugging out of his head. He looked as frightened as my girl must have been when he caused her to run.
“That was the problem all along. You never considered her your sister. You treated her like property, like she belonged to you. You never thought she was family.” I lifted my foot as he groaned and wiggled under my weight. I bent and picked up his heavy briefcase, pressing the stiff bottom into the center of his chest, pinning him back to the floor. “If you stay on this case, I will find you, and I will end this. I’ll make it so you can’t represent anyone ever again. I’ll rip your life apart from the inside out. Ask your client how good I am at taking away everything that matters.”
My gaze lifted to Goddard who was pounding his fists on the two-way glass. He was screaming that he was going to sue the police department, that he was going to have Titus fired. All that noise and the door remained shut. That meant I had a few minutes left. I grabbed the handle of the briefcase and swung it as hard as I could into Aaron Cartwright’s face. The thud it made pleased me all the way down to my bones. So did the way he slumped to the floor, bloodied and unconscious. I let the briefcase fall and watched Goddard through narrowed eyes.
“That’s how you win a fight? A sneak attack on an unsuspecting man and threatening a helpless old man? Who are you and what do you want?” It was all bluster and bravado. I could see the fear in his eyes and the way he was sweating. His voice was a few octaves too high; my presence was the cause.
I stalked toward him, forcing him to retreat into a corner of the room. “He doesn’t deserve a fair fight. He never gave his sister a chance at one.” And even if the lawyer had a warning, I still would have pounded him into the ground. When we were chest to chest, I wrapped my hands around the lapels of Goddard’s suit jacket and lifted him up so that only his toes were touching the ground and we were almost nose to nose. He wiggled like a caught fish in my hands. I gave him a shake so that his head thudded heavily against the brick wall behind him.
“They call you God, don’t they? The man with all the power? The man who calls all the shots and decides who’s worthy and who isn’t? Why don’t you tell me what happens next?” I got really close to his face so he could see the white-hot rage. “Why don’t you tell me how helpless you were when you raped your stepdaughter and all those girls from the after-school program you set up? Explain to me how weak you were when you kidnapped my girl and locked her up for two weeks while your men touched her, fondled her, scared her?” I shook him again and let him go once he started screaming for the police. “Who do you think told me you were here for questioning, old man? The police who actually give a shit about their jobs and this city aren’t on your side. No one is. I could snap your neck right now and no one would care.” I pointed a finger at the center of his face and growled, “Your life, or what’s left of it, is in my hands. I own you, you sick fuck.” I had all the power and he was nothing but a bug I was about to squash.
Goddard smoothed a hand over his wrinkled suit jacket and shirt. His beady eyes narrowed on me. “What do you want then? Why are you here?”
I put my hands on my hips and looked down at the crumpled form of Noe’s tormentor. “I want to go back in time and give those girls a fresh start. I want them to have their youth and their innocence back. Since that’s impossible, I want you to make all of this going forward as easy on them as possible. Fire this asshole.” I nudged Aaron with my foot, eliciting a groan of protest. “Plead guilty when you’re charged so Julia Grace doesn’t have to look at your wrinkly old ass ever again. Go quietly away, Goddard.”
He huffed out a breath. “Why would I do that? It’s my word against that little tramp’s. I’ll explain that she seduced me, that she was desperate for a father figure. She was the one who instigated it. I’ll find another lawyer.” His confidence was unbelievable.
I shook my head at him. “I already took your money, old man. I took your title away. I dug up each and every single one of your secrets. I’m so deep inside your life, you can’t see me. I know what you’ve done. I know where the bodies are buried. If you don’t go to jail for rape, I’ll send you away for fraud and tax evasion. I have more tricks up my sleeve than you can imagine.” I pointed at him and narrowed my eyes. “And if you think I’ll let anyone take your case, you’re an idiot. He,” I inclined my head toward Aaron, “Was personal. He needed to know what it’s like to have someone bigger than you, stronger than you, someone more determined to get what he wants. I’ll go after any other attorney you hire without stepping foot inside this room. I’ll fuck with their law license. I’ll erase their credentials. I’ll freeze their assets. I’ll have warrants issued for them. I’ll put their houses in foreclosure. There is no limit to what I’m willing to do in order to see you rot behind bars, Goddard.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’ll go after everyone you care about. Your wife. Your siblings, their kids. Anyone who’s still taking your fucking calls. Anyone who visits you in lock up, I’ll check off their names one by fucking one. I’ll ruin anyone and everyone who tries to help you.”
We stared each other down for a long moment. Aaron groaned from the floor again and I heard the door to the small room open. Titus let out a string of expletives and barked that it was time for me to go.
“You think you’re smart, don’t you?” Goddard sounded frustrated and furious. “You think you have all the answers.”