Page 11 of Corrupted Lies

That fire wasn't an accident.

Someone must have told the childcare worker to leave with the children because they hadn't been in the basement along with her and Jake. Then that person had barricaded the door to her office, set the basement on fire, and then locked the door at the top of the stairs.

Whoever that person was had wanted her and Jake to die.

Had actively tried to kill them.

Shivering as the full impact of the last several minutes settled down upon her, Alannah shot a grateful smile to Jax when he tucked a blanket around her, and then she let her gaze slowly travel to the six men surrounding her. They were all watching her with a mix of concern, guilt, and regret on their faces.

“I think you better tell me what the heck is going on and why I almost died today.”

Chapter

Three

October 14th

3:33 P.M.

“Pretty sure you were supposed to be taking it easy today.”

Jake flicked his gaze off the computer screen to see his brother standing beside his couch. Because of the smoke he’d inhaled in the fire the day before, the hospital recommended that he not remain alone overnight. Smoke inhalation could be tricky and appear as though you’re okay at first, only to then devolve. While he hadn't thought it was necessary to have a babysitter, his little brother Jax had insisted.

Since he was sure that the fire at Alannah’s gym was because of him and the danger haunting his family, it was a logical assumption to make that the final rapist and his stepsister’s biological father had moved on to targeting him and the people he loved. That should mean that, for now at least, the heat had been dialed down on Cooper and Willow, Cole and Susanna, Connor and Becca, and Cade, Gabriella, and Essie.

As much as he was glad for his stepbrothers and their girlfriends, he was afraid for Alannah. They'd told hereverything, holding nothing back. If the fire was because of him, then she deserved to know why she’d almost died. She’d known the background, of course, lived a lot of it along with him, but she hadn't known what they’d learned the last three months because he’d been trying to keep his distance and not allow her to be dragged into his mess.

Too late for that now.

Alannah was part of this, and he wouldn't let his best friend be hurt again because of him and his family and their quest for answers.

They were so close. They knew three of the four men who had been involved in his stepmom’s rape, and as soon as they had the final name, they would be able to prove that his father and stepmom weren't responsible for the assault that took out his dad and stepbrothers’ father’s team. They would be able to prove that his dad and stepmom weren't traitors and they’d been murdered, not committed suicide.

Jake craved those answers and had dedicated the last almost twenty years of his life to seeking them.

He couldn’t give up.

But there was also no way he could allow his personal quest to hurt his best friend.

“You're not supposed to be overdoing things,” Jax said again when he gave no response. “Did you even go to bed last night?”

“Grabbed a couple of hours’ sleep,” he acknowledged. Not that he’d wanted to, but by the time they gave statements and were examined and released from the hospital, then he’d failed to convince Alannah to stay with him or one of his brothers for safety reasons and instead dropped her off at a friend’s house, he’d been exhausted. Crashing in his bed as soon as he’d taken a long, hot shower to rid himself of the stench of smoke, he’d lasted only a couple of hours before the need to keep his bestfriend safe had driven him downstairs to his living room and his laptop.

“You need more. You could have died yesterday.”

There was a starkness in his little brother’s voice that Jake hadn't heard in a long time. Not since they were kids and Jax used to sneak into his room at night after their mom died because he no longer liked to be alone in the dark.

Back then, it had just been the two of them, clinging to one another because they were the only constant in each other’s lives. At just six and four, they were too young to be left alone, but with their dad’s career in Delta Force, there were lots of times when he traveled, and how long he would be away changed with every mission. Since no family member wanted to care for them permanently, they were bounced between grandparents and aunts and uncles. The lack of stability had made Jax clingy, and Jake had gotten used to taking care of his little brother.

But that was a long time ago. They were in their thirties now, and they’d long since learned how to survive without parents hovering over them.

For months they’d watched as their stepbrothers were targeted one by one, and while they loved Cade, Cooper, Connor, and Cole as though they were blood, Cassandra too, it didn't change the fact that they were close and for so many years they’d only had each other to rely on.

“Hey, I didn't die. I'm fine. Smoky and sore but perfectly fine. Fine to work. Okay?” he barked.

Not because he wasn't sympathetic to what his brother must have gone through the day before when he heard the news from Cade about the fire, but because gruff was the only way he knew how to handle things, even with his brother. Jax knew he loved him, so Jake didn't need to convince him with a sugary sweet tone.

“I could have lost her yesterday, Jax,” he said, allowing a sliver of the emotion boiling inside him to seep into his tone. “She’s my best friend. I promised her when she was four that I would never let anyone or anything hurt her ever again. I’ve failed a lot of times over the last almost thirty years, but never was her life in danger because of it.”

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