Page 63 of Rise By Sin

“What the fuck was that?” I snapped at Jack the second we were out in the hall.

“It was being honest. You needed to do it.”

“Not when he just woke up, and not after everything he’s been through, you asshole! I planned to tell him, but not until he was home and feeling better. You just piled more stress on him he really didn’t need,” I growled.

“He can handle it, Ave. He seemed fine,” Jack smirked and I shoved him hard.

“He’s not fucking fine! He was held for over a week by a psycho who gets off on inflicting pain like you cannot imagine. He will have faced a week of torture and being told over and over how evil he is. That monster will be in his head just as prominently as the marks he left on Colt’s body. I bet his body is a patchwork of welts and cuts under those bandages, as well as the three stab wounds! You have no idea Jack!” I pushed him away again when he moved to grab my hands, then stormed past him.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“None of your business!” I said as I walked as steadily as I could away from him. I didn’t have my stick. I didn’t even know where it went when I got in that wheelchair, but walking without it was a nightmare, especially when I was trying so hard not to falter and stumble, knowing Jack would be watching me.

I made it to the elevator without him following me. When I stepped out on the ground floor I called Mason, grateful I had thought to put my cell in my pocket on my way out of the apartment.

“Ava?” Mason asked, sounding worried almost the second I hit call.

“I’m okay,” I reassured him quickly. “Are you still at the crime scene?” I asked.

“Yeah. Colt was definitely here, we found his busted up cell phone and his wallet. How is he?”

“Awake. He was talking to us all. He seemed good,” I told him. “I want to see the crime scene. Can you send me the location?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, honey. There’s a lot of blood and….other stuff. You don’t want to see it,” he cautioned.

“I need to, Mason, please. I won’t freak out. I just have to see it.” I wanted to know exactly what Colt had been through so I could be there for him when the darkness crept in. I knew what he had been through to some extent and I wanted to do all I could to be there for him. “I can handle this,” I added when he still hadn’t replied.

“Okay. I’ll send you a pin, but have Deacon or Jack drive you over here.”

“I won’t be long,” I told him, then hung up. There was no way I was asking Jack to drive me anywhere. I was so pissed off with him. I understood him wanting me to be honest with Colt, but he should have trusted me to judge when it would be the right time. That had not been it and now I had the guilt of knowing Colt was stressed and worrying about me after everything he’d already been through. This was why I had planned to leave the city again once I knew he was safe. All I could bring him was worry and stress and he deserved so much more.

CHAPTER 19

AVA

I was regretting telling Mason I wouldn’t freak out the second I walked into a maintenance room for the subway, where that monster had held Colt. Mason had already explained to me that the maintenance rooms were rarely entered unless there were issues with the track, so it was the perfect place for him to hold Colt, close to the abduction site, for easy transfer and with multiple exits if the psycho needed to flee, which he obviously had one after Colt’s escape.

“I was held in a room like this. Not this one, but it was so similar,” I uttered as I tried hard to not breathe through my nose. The sight of the familiar space was bad enough, but the smell, the smell was what was going to take me right back to my night of torture and have me losing my mind with anxiety and fear.

“I’ll have units start checking subways across the city. It’s unlikely this fucker left evidence, but we might get lucky,” Mason said, and I nodded It was definitely worth a try.

The room was dark, lit by just a single lightbulb that hung above us. It was a concrete room, lined with pipes and wires that obviously serviced the subway and above.

I gasped and covered my mouth as I stepped further in and my eyes adjusted to the darkness. There was a chain hanging downfrom one of the thick pipes above and below it, and spread far and wide across the concrete ground was blood. So much fucking blood.

I had seen gruesome crime scenes before, many times in my time with homicide. I’d seen blood and brain matter and so much more that turned my stomach, but it had never affected me the way the sight of that blood did and that was because I knew that blood belonged to my brother.

“Breathe, baby. Colt’s safe,” Mason said softly as he came up beside me and ran his hand up and down my back.

“I’m okay,” I uttered as I pushed down my nausea and took a calming breath. “What did forensics bag?” I asked. The crime scene had already been photographed and any potential evidence bagged and removed.

“Nothing good,” Mason sighed as he scrubbed a hand over his face. He had changed into one of his trademark suits, but he looked completely exhausted.

“Tell me.”

“Ava…”

“Okay, I’ll tell you and you stop me when I’m wrong.” I turned to face him and folded my arms over my chest. “A whip?” Mason nodded. “A cat and nine tails, barbed, right?” Again he nodded and the reluctance on his face had my resolve slipping. My lip started to tremble and I couldn’t talk to go on. Images of what that kidnapping, murdering bastard had put me through flashed in my head and I felt myself sway to the side as my legs started to shake along with he rest of me. Mason grabbed me and pulled me into his front, surrounding me and shielding me from everything around us.

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