Hard Rock Unrehearsed (15 page)

Strong arms surrounded her, holding her up as she leant over the toilet while another set of hands held her hair out of her face and kept a cold cloth at the back of her neck.  She straightened slowly and sat back on her haunches, the arms around her belonged to Diego, the hands in her hair to her Dad.

Diego kissed her temple and she reared away from him but he held onto her tightly.  Keeping her locked against him.

“Baby you need to listen to me now.  None of what you just saw was my doing.  It was done
to
me.  It happened just after we met you and Val decided to break it off with Gina.”

Her throat was rough and her voice sounded unlike hers.

“That sure as hell did not look like someone who was breaking it off with his woman, in actual fact it looked like the exact opposite.”

Diego dropped his forehead onto her shoulder and shuddered.

“Baby the night those photos were taken I had been roofied and Val was drunk off his ass and high.  Gina set me up, she set Val up and they took those pictures to blackmail the both of us.  She threatened Val that she would go to the media with the pictures if he left her, he told me not to worry he would take care of it.  I left the very next week on another TOD in Afghanistan and when I got back you and Val were together.  I assumed he had sorted it out and didn’t even ask what had happened, I just wanted to forget that some sick fuck had put me in bed with my brother!  Gina was gone and I banged her sister every now and then but that was all it was, just scratching an itch when it needed scratching.  I joined Val’s security team and kept him safe but I didn’t keep you safe.  I never knew what Marcella had done to you and Val, and I now know it wasn’t just her.  This was her and Gina working together, doing what they do best, which is fuckin’ up everyone’s lives.”  He tightened his arms around her as she shuddered and kissed her neck.

“Baby those photos are fake, that’s not me.  I don’t do threesomes and I don’t do men, never have, never will.  My brother had a kink, I don’t.  You are all I want, all I’ll ever need, nothing and no one compares to you baby.  You are it for me, you have been the one since the first day I saw you but my brother got to you first and I had to step back.  I wish to God I hadn’t!”

He tightened his arms around her even more pulling her deep into his chest as he sat on his knees behind her surrounding her with his body as she shuddered.  Glancing up he looked into Michael Galloway’s eyes where he crouched next to them and answered the question in his eyes with a nod.  Taking a deep breath Michael started talking.

“Princess there is one good thing about this e-mail.  One very good thing.  They made a big mistake to reach out to you.  They have given away their location by sending you that e-mail, it is just what we have been waiting for.  As we speak two teams are on their way to pick up this sick individual and bring him in.  By tomorrow morning we will have all of them and their reign of shit will be over.  It will be their turn to be under the spotlight and believe me they aren’t going to enjoy it at all.”

Jade’s voice was rough and soft as she spoke.  “Please take that stuff away.  I don’t want to ever see it again.”

“It’s already done baby.  Adam took care of it.”  Diego felt like killing someone as he saw the hurt and shock in his woman’s face.

She continued speaking in that soft rough voice.  “I tried so hard to be everything that Val needed, to be there for him, to support him, to believe in him.  Why did he go to Gina the day after we got married?  Was this all she held over him or is there more?  Why Diego?  Why didn’t he trust me to understand?”

Diego didn’t have the answers but he knew who the fuck did and if he had to fuckin’ beat it out of him he would get him to give his woman peace.

“I don’t know baby but I will find out, trust me on that, I will find out and then we will move on.  That chapter in our lives will be over and closed forever.”

He felt her nod and then her sweet voice gave him what he wanted.  What he needed from her.

“Okay babe.  I love you.”

“I love you too baby, always have, always will.”

Diego watched as she washed her face and brushed her teeth then he put her to bed, waited for the cup of tea laced with something to make her sleep to take effect, pulled the covers up and over her shoulder and stood looking down at her for a long time.  He turned and walked out knowing that anything that happened to the Vincent bitches wouldn’t be enough to compensate for the suffering his woman had gone through.  He was joining the hunt for them whether Michael approved or not!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Rage swirled through Diego's gut.  He wanted to know how the fuck they had missed the fuckin’ bitch!  They had Frank Brown the fucker on his team who had sold them out, they had Will Seeker who turned out to be William Moore in his everyday life and they had Marcella Vincent, who it had turned out had been the fuckin’ photographer in the group but they didn’t have the instigator of the whole mess.  Gina Vincent was nowhere to be found and Marcella wasn’t talking!  She was issuing threats that were pissing all of them off, especially Michael Galloway.

The Michael Galloway standing in the basement interrogation room was nothing like the urbane businessman seen in the social pages.  Dressed in black cargo pants, a black long sleeved t-shirt and black combat boots he was a cold-eyed force to be reckoned with.  This man dealt in the dark side of life, he wouldn’t flinch at taking a life.  He would do it with cold precision then move on to the next obstacle to be removed.  He stood in front of Marcella Vincent where she was handcuffed to a chair and looked her over.

“I’m not sure why you would fuck this Delgado.  It’s obviously not in your league.  Was it a mercy fuck or wasn’t there anything better around?”

The men ranged around the room sniggered nastily as Marcella’s head jerked back in shock.  Diego didn’t answer, just shrugged as there was nothing he could say.

“Thought so.”  Michael gave a thin mirthless smile and never taking his cold eyes away from the woman held a hand out towards Steele who slipped the knife at his side free and handed it to him.

“Last chance.  Where is Gina Vincent?”  The question was a whisper in the silent room.

“Fuck you!  You can’t do this to me!  I’ll report you to the cops you bastard!  Don't think your money will keep you out of jail!  We are going to take your whore of a daughter down and you will go down with her!  She will pay!  She will pay for taking them away from us!  Taking our future away from us!  We deserved to be with them!  She’s already got money!  She doesn’t need anymore!  We’re gonna make all of you pay!  You’ll pay!”  She screamed at them with saliva gathering and running from the corners of her mouth.

Michael stood expressionlessly waiting for her to finish then bent over and ran the point of the knife down the side of her face almost lovingly.  But Diego could see the red scratch it left behind on her skin.

“It obviously wasn’t listening to me.”  His voice was so soft the words whispered menacingly around the room.

Diego had seen a lot in his life, most of it in Afghanistan, but he had never seen anything like Michael Galloway.  It was as if he was two distinctly different men.  The one a father and family man, the other the cold-eyed killer standing in front of Marcella Vincent and the slut was too stupid to realise she was running out of time.

“It likes to look nice, it likes having men looking at it.  I will take all of that from it.”  The cold emotionless voice whispered again.  He never said her name, never personalised her.

He moved so fast Diego only reacted after it was done.  Michael stood with a hank of Marcella’s hair in his hand, waved it in front of her face then dropped it to the cold cement floor.

“It needs to tell me what I want to know.”

Marcella looked up at him with shocked eyes but stubbornly kept her mouth shut.

Her hair was being cut in uneven hanks that littered the floor around her.  Sometimes so short the knife scratched her scalp as he cut.  He ignored her tears, her pleading, the fact that she had wet herself and just kept on cutting only stopping to whisper the words that slid like ice up Diego’s back.

“It needs to tell me what I want to know.”

“Diego please!  Help me!  Make him stop, please make him stop!”  Marcella begged him but he avoided her pleading eyes.

“It needs to tell me what I want to know.”  The menacing voice continued as her hair fell to the floor in messy hanks.

“Okay, okay!  Please.......please just... stop!”

He had broken her.  Broken her by cutting her hair!

“I don’t know!  Please!  Please!  I swear......I......I....don’t know!  She never told me!  She........calls.......she calls......to give us instructions.  She’s......she’s......somewhere near.......LA!  I swear that’s all I know!  Please stop!  Please!”

Michael didn’t say anything just handed the knife back to Steele and crouched in front of Marcella.

“No one and nothing hurts my family.  It needs to understand this if it wants to live.”  His voice was like ice.

“I under.....understand!  I will disappear!  I won’t do anything!  I promise, I promise!”

“Good.”  He slowly straightened looked at Diego with cold merciless eyes and walked out the room.

The woman with the butchered hair sat with her head hung low, sobbing.  Snot was running from her nose and her mouth was loose with saliva dripping from it to join the snotty mess on her lap.  Michael had completely broken her.  Steele motioned with his head and two of the men approached, unlocked the cuffs and lifted her out of the chair.  The door opened as they supported her between them and two women with cold hard eyes dressed exactly the same as the men came in and took her from them.

“Clean her up then put her in a holding cell.”  Steele ordered.

The room was quiet as she was led out but the minute the door closed behind them a heavy sigh ran around the room.

“Fuck!”  One of the men snapped.

“Suck it up!”  Steele ordered.

“Jesus Steele that was fuckin’ harsh!”  One of the guys whispered.

Steele whipped around to face him and ground out.  “Was it any harsher than tormenting a pregnant twenty year old young girl and causing her to lose her child?  Because that is what that bitch did!  Not her sister, her!  You still feel it was harsh?  You signed the same contract we all did.  You want out?”

“No!  Fuck!  I just thought it was harsh.”

“Think about what the Princess had to endure all these years and then tell me if you still think that was harsh!”  Steele snapped.

There was silence for a beat and then he growled.

“Fuck Steele! No it wasn’t.”  He finished softly.  “She only lost her hair and a bit of her dignity, the princess lost her child and her man, no comparison.”

Steele nodded motioned with his head and the men left the room.

Steele waited until they were all gone before he spoke.

“You okay?”

Diego looked up from where he had been contemplating the floor and shook his head.

“Hell no!  I’m fucked!  That man’s going to be my father-in-law!  The first time Jade and I have a difference of opinion he’s going to have my balls!”

Steele burst out laughing shook his head and walked out the room with him.  He was still chuckling softly as they walked down the long corridor towards the elevator.

It was Michael Galloway the father and businessman who waited for him dressed in an impeccable suit.  He was silent as they stepped into the elevator to go back up to the penthouse.  Diego stood leaning against the side watching the man standing with his hands clasped behind his back.  Steele stood behind him hands loosely clasped in front of him.

“You have this kind of a set up in all your buildings?”

Michael turned his head slightly.  “Yes, most of them.”

“Why?”  Diego was puzzled.

“Let’s just say that sometimes business is a dirty business.”

Diego knew he wasn’t going to get anymore from the man and kept silent all the way up to the penthouse.  He wanted to see Jade.  After that shit he needed to see Jade.

*****

Jade woke up to a room empty of Diego, his side of the bed hadn’t been slept in.  The curtains were open and the early morning light was filling the room but the sun wasn’t up yet.  And typical of Seattle, or so she had been told, there were clouds in the sky but she could see patches of blue and she sent up a little prayer that it wouldn’t rain tomorrow night.  It was hell performing in the rain.  She felt rested and relaxed and she was looking forward to working on some songs with the guys and forgetting about the show.  They had five shows left before the final show in San Diego, the band’s hometown.  Jade knew the guys were tired of the road and she felt their excitement at being so close to home and it infected her as well even though her home was much further away.  She lay in bed watching the sky lighten even more, rolled over and got out of bed.  She wouldn’t be able to sleep again anyway.

There was no one in the gym, she had it to herself.  Well not completely to herself!  Tank stretched out on the weight bench as she ran on the treadmill.  An hour later she had gone through her routine and stood with her head bent under the shower.  Her muscles held a pleasant little ache that she soothed with the hot water.  She dressed in comfy yoga pants and a tight long sleeved t-shirt clipped her damp hair up and walked barefoot to the kitchen.  The penthouse’s under floor heating was pleasantly warm under her bare feet.

She was in the kitchen drinking coffee and preparing fruit for her breakfast when the elevator pinged and her father, Diego and Steele walked in.  Tag was still a no-show.

The minute she saw Diego she knew something had happened.  It wasn’t visible on his face but it was something that flickered at the back of his eyes as he looked at her.  Her father and Steele looked the same as always, calmly contained.  Diego came directly to her, wrapped her in his arms and bent to rest his face in her hair.

“Good morning baby.”  He kissed her hair, her temple and then brushed his lips softly over hers before he lifted his head and looked down at her in his arms.  “Did you sleep well?”

“Morning, yes I did.  Where have you been?”  She saw something move in his eyes before he answered.

“We’ve been chasing the Vincents all night.  Didn’t get Gina but got the other bastards.”  He growled and she heard the anger in his voice.

“You hand them over to the police?”  She looked around Diego at her dad as she asked.  He didn’t answer her, Diego did.

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Baby we need to find Gina and if we hand them over to the cops we won’t be able to get the answers we need from them.”  Diego’s hands came up and cupped her face, lifting it up towards him and she looked into his warm determined eyes.

Before she could say anything the elevator pinged again and Adam, Mike, Rick and Tag walked into the penthouse.  Jade hadn’t seen her brother Mike in almost eight months and gave a small excited scream as he walked in.  She wriggled out of Diego’s arms and went running across the penthouse and jumped in his arms.

“Hey Princess Trouble.”  Her big brother laughed as he hugged her and swung her around.

“Hey yourself big brother.”  Jade muttered as she hugged him.  “And stop calling me that!”

Mike laughed as he set her down threw an arm around her shoulders gave her another hug and then shoved her at Diego.

“She’s your trouble now Delgado, we're free at last.”  Male snickers filled the kitchen as she huffed indignantly while Diego just smiled and curved an arm around her, drawing her into his side.

“What are you doing?”  Adam frowned as he looked at the mess she had made on the counter.

“I’m chopping some fruit for breakfast.  Do you want some?”

“Hell no!  You destroyed whatever that was PT.  I feel sorry for you D-man, she’s hell in the kitchen.”  He laughed like a loon as she tried to hit him but Diego held onto her, keeping her away from Adam.

“Stop lying!  I can make stuff!”  Jade snapped.

“The operative word there is stuff.  Everything she makes turns into stuff.”

Jade growled at Adam as everyone laughed, Diego included.

“I don’t care if she’s hell in the kitchen, I’ll just hire a cook.”  Diego grinned down at her as she crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at all of them.  He leant down and whispered in her ear.  “As long as I can fuck you on the counter baby I don’t care if you can cook.”

Jade felt the blush slide up her neck as her eyes went wide and she whipped her head up to look at him.  He smiled at her with such devilment in his eyes she felt her insides clench with anticipation.

“What the hell did he just say to her?”  Rick asked with a wicked grin.

Before anyone could reply Michael cleared his throat and silence reigned as all eyes turned to him.

“I’ve ordered breakfast to be brought up from the restaurant.  While they set up I want the band and Rick to stay out of sight.  That includes you Princess.  I’m not taking any chances on your whereabouts being made public.  Diego and his men will stay with you and the band until the servers leave.”  He looked at everyone gathered around and his cold demeanour softened just a little.  “I haven’t had a meal with my family in a very long time and I want nothing to intrude while we enjoy our breakfast.”

His eyes suddenly narrowed as he looked out the large window behind Jade then relaxed.  “Ah, right on time.”

Jade watched as a black helicopter approached and disappeared as it flew over the top of the building.

“That will be Luis and Astrid arriving.  Luis left late yesterday to conclude some business in L.A. and I sent Astrid to collect him on her way here.”