Page 9 of His Witness To Have

She followed closely behind Bryan as he led her in, his hand in hers. As soon as they were in, they were directed to the Violent Crimes Department where she was asked a few questions about her ordeal in the hands of the Brotherhood of Blood. She braced herself for every question they asked, and she did a pretty good job answering them.

As soon as she was done with the first round of questioning, she was told to wait at the lobby before they proceeded with the next. She sat patiently beside Bryan in the waiting area, and her nerves started to get the best of her. She was fidgeting, and Bryan slipped his hand into hers. "It's going to be fine," he whispered before pulling the corners of his mouth in a smile.

Suddenly, a voice was heard in one of the rooms, and Brie had to be sure she didn't hear things.

"I told you! It was there!" came the voice. It sounded like it was coming from one of the rooms down the hallway.

"Yes! Yes! I saw it with my own two eyes. There was a shrine there, and it had pictures of the kidnapped women!" came the voice again. This time Brie instantly recognized who the voice belonged to…

CHAPTER NINE

Brie was frozen to her seat. That was Mack's voice. She was sure of it. She remembered that same voice when he was in her bed–softer, whispering sweet nothings into her ears and breaking out in sensual moans when they made magic. The voice now had a harsh tone — a tone of frustration.

"You think I'm crazy, right?! I'm telling you that I saw this! You have to believe me!" it came a third time. Brie wanted to run into the room to see his face. His face that she had missed so much, but she was being held down by Bryan, whose hands were still in hers.

The door to the room suddenly darted open, and Mark appeared, storming down the corridor in a rage that could melt iron. He didn't seem to be paying attention to anything else around him until he saw her at the end of the hallway, holding hands with someone totally unexpected.

He stopped in his tracks and stared at Brie and Bryan. Thelook on his face couldn't be tied to one emotion. He was confused, though.

Brie broke free from Bryan's hold and stood up, staring back at Mack with the same intensity. There she was, standing face to face with the man who had run away from her after confessing his love to her. The man who left her all alone when she needed him the most, and she could feel the tears building up.

Mack just stood there, dumbfounded. Unable to speak or react to Brie's presence. It felt like forever, and he missed her so much. He felt a wave of relief wash over him, seeing that she was hale and hearty, but also a spark of rage when he saw she was with Bryan.

He took a few steps forward, and Brie stepped back as if warning him not to come any closer. She was scared. Scared that she would melt to the ground if he touched her. Scared that she wouldn't want to ever let go if he held her. All she could bring herself to do was to stare back at him.

"Agent Mack!" called out a voice from the room he just darted from. "The chief of police wants to see you in his office immediately."

Mack didn't take his eyes off Brie, and Bryan stood up to lead Brie out of the hallway to the interrogation room for her next round of questioning.

As soon as Brie and Bryan were gone, Mack felt broken.Why was she with him? Were they back together again?

He couldn't feel his heart beating anymore. It felt like all the life had been sucked out of him the moment he saw them holding hands. He felt defeated that his plan to protect Brie only led her to the hands of another.

He took a step back and heaved a heavy sigh. Forcing his legs to move towards the Chief of Police's office.

Brie was shaken. She didn't expect to see Mack here, not like this. Not when she was with Bryan. She could feel the hurt that showed on his face when he noticed that her hands were in Bryan's.It wasn't what it looked like.

She wanted to run back to the hallway and run to him. She missed him a lot, and she wanted to see him again, but she was led into the interrogation room before she could even have the chance to collect her thoughts.

The day was a long one, but she felt a little fulfilled. She had managed to brush the thought of Mack that constantly found its way to her head and focus on the interrogation.

Bryan escorted her out of the police station, where she stood staring at the slightly less busy Chicago evening road. She was about to board a taxi back to Rachel's grandparents' place, but she was stopped by Bryan.

"Brie… I.." he started, trying to force the words to fall out of his mouth.

Brie just stood there. "What is it?" she finally managed to say.

"I just wanted to apologize to you in person for everything I had put you through all those years when we were together."

"I have forgiven you already, a long time ago," she responded, turning back to walk towards the direction of the taxi she had stopped.

"Please, listen to me." And Brie came to a halt, slowly turning back to face him. "Brie. I have been nothing but an asshole to you all these years," he began, "causing you nothing but pain and sorrow, and I want to truly say I'm sorry for everything."

Brie remained silent.

"I have been doing a lot of thinking recently after my divorce with Paula, and I realized that I was truly an idiot to let a sweet soul like you go…"

Brie didn't like where this was going.

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