Page 55 of Lake's Legacy

“Max is sending patrol officers to the garage. He promised only to send those he knows he can trust, along with our brother, who is also a detective. These guys won’t get away with it.”

I don’t respond. Hex is giving the cops a chance to clean up this mess, and I know he’ll take care of the kidnappers if they fail.

While we wait for her brother, we watch two men rush into the hospital. They’re frantic as they ask about their pregnant wives.

I move toward them. “You’re married to Letitia and Jasmine?”

“Yes,” both men respond together.

“They are both with a doctor now. They took them up to obstetrics to check on the babies. You can head up there. There is a nurse on staff, Sylvia. Let her know that Olivia sent you up. The cops are on their way and will need to speak to them.”

The two men rush to the elevator while I return to Rey. We barely have time to take seats before another man rushes in. He has Rey’s bronze-colored hair and green eyes. However, he’s also a foot taller with broad shoulders—the material of his suit strains against his arm muscles. Rey disappears in his embrace.

“Thank god you’re okay,” he mutters.

“Thanks to Olivia and her friends,” Rey responds before pulling away. “Olivia, this is my brother Maxwell. Max. Max, this is Olivia.”

He motions for me to take a seat across from him. Rey sits next to me while he takes out his notebook. “Okay, hit me.”

I give him my story, leaving out the Demon Dawgs. If Rey wants to rat them out, then she can, but I’m not volunteering any information. He raises an eyebrow but says nothingwhen I mention Talia going missing and how I thought her disappearance connected to Dr. Carver’s.

“You know we found Ms. Bonaparte’s body in the river?”

I nod before continuing with my story. The detective stops me when I mention my car breaking down and losing my phone.

“You were here at the hospital when you lost your phone?”

“I didn’t lose it. I think someone took it and dumped it in the hamper since I never went near it. I never use it. Someone came in while I was taking a shower and took my phone. I think it was the same person who took my keys and sabotaged my car.”

“You’re certain it was sabotage?”

“Yes. My boyfriend had someone check it out, and I saw the feed showing a man doing something under the hood of my car.”

His head snaps up. “You saw him? Did you get a good look at him?”

“No, because he wore a skull cap and a surgical mask. He was also wearing scrubs. Just like the men who later pulled up behind my broken-down car and who kidnapped Rey.”

“So, you don’t know who sabotaged your car and who kidnapped Rey?”

“No. I know. Now. I recognized the mannerisms of the man who tried to kidnap me. After he realized I wasn’t in the car, he punched his right hand into his left. He did the same thing when I saw him at Francois’ and earlier today when I saw him here in the hospital.”

“Wait, what?”

I continue with my story and tell him everything about running into the men at the restaurant, the extortion they’re running, and how we came to be following them when they kidnapped Rey. Detective Montague doesn’t interrupt me again. “You might want to talk to the nurse he was meeting here. Her name is Joyce Eloise. I told her about almost being kidnapped and asked her to warn the staff. She didn’t.”

“Okay, how did you overpower the three men we found at the garage?”

“Oh, well, that wasn’t me. My brother and his friend were with us. We called in my boyfriend and his friends to help since we didn’t know how many men were inside the garage.”

“You didn’t think to call the cops for help?”

I look at him until we make eye contact. “No. Because I know these men have cops in their pockets.” He gives me a disbelieving look until I tell him about the extortion and how the cops didn’t believe or chose not to help the victims.

Before he can ask me further questions, my phone rings. Lake’s name shows on the display.

“Olivia? Are you still with Rey?”

“Yes. I’m talking to her brother right now.”

---