Breaking Conviction by Greer Rivers

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“A visitor?” Wes asked, unable to keep the confusion from his voice as he straightened from testing Andrew Ascot’s zip tie and cuffs. Ascot was out of shape on his best day and there was no way he was getting out of the confines, but it never hurt to make sure a prisoner was secure.

He turned to the open door to see shock and disgust in brown-hazel eyes, singed with fire.

Naomi’s gaze took in the scene, darting her eyes from Hawk to Devil, then to him, and he felt her scorching disdain, hurt, and…

Fuck, is she afraid of me?

Just as soon as he was able to analyze the emotion, she turned to look at the mangled man in the center of the room. Wes had to admit, it looked bad. The man was bent at the waist in the metal chair in the middle of the room, unrecognizable except for the bloody suit with his initials at the pocket. Okay, it looked really fucking bad. But when her gaze tripped over the drain underneath Ascot, her eyes widened in disbelief.

“What is all this? What am I lookin’ at, Wes? Because it looks a helluva lot like a fuckin’ horror movie.”

Wes was too stunned by her presence to answer. She thrust her hand at the bloody pulp that used to be the proud Andrew Wilton Ascot III, seemingly searching for something there.

“Is he dead?” she finally asked, apparently unable to answer her own question.

“No.” His voice sounded odd, even to his ears, almost detached in the echo of the metal bunker. Unable to connect with the reality that he might be losing Naomi right in front of his eyes.

“Is he gonna die?”

“No,” Devil’s deep voice answered when Wes’s voice was again caught in his throat.

She snorted. “Glad to see you have a fuckin’ medic on standby while you torture someone. Who did this?” She was met with silence and finally lost her shit.

He didn’t know why he did it, but Wes looked to Phoenix for the first time. The fucker was pale with bags under his eyes and an unreadable expression on his face, but Wes knew he’d done this shit on purpose. He had to have. The man was always setting fires to watch the world burn. He was probably jealous of his and Naomi’s relationship and decided to light a match.

“Who did this?” Naomi screamed into the room. But she was looking straight at Wes. She obviously already knew the answer. She just needed to hear it.

“I did.” Wes stepped forward, his shoulders back and his face carefully blank. “It was me, Naomi. I-I lost it yesterday on a mission,” he admitted before turning to Ascot. When he turned back to Naomi, he cringed at how she looked at the man. Like he was the victim, instead of the pervert who was helping buy and sell women. “I let my emotions get the best of me and—”

“You… let your emotions get the best of you? What the fuck does that mean, Wes? You let me believe your bloody knuckles were from boxing! But they’re because you were beatin’ a man to death?”

“Not to death—”

“Really?” Her sardonic chuckle slithered over his skin, making his hair stand on end. “Is that the difference we’re gonna argue about? Is it really so much better that you nearly beat a man to death and not actually beat a man to death?”

He wasn’t going to dare answer that. He had a feeling she’d be disappointed in his answer.

“H-help me,” Ascot groaned for the first time since Wes had fireman carried him out of the club. Devil assured them that Ascot wouldn’t die, but Wes had clearly gone too far. They were on a crunch time to figure out who was behind the trafficking and Wes had lost control so badly that Ascot had taken entirely too long to wake back up.

Wes watched Naomi’s face carefully as Ascot pleaded with her, resisting the urge to knock the bastard out again. The light ivory tint to her skin turned green.

“Oh my god, y’all have to let him go. He needs to go to the hospital—”

“Can’t do that, Naomi,” Hawk interrupted. “He looks weak now, but when he has power, he wields it to traffic young women. We need to figure out what he knows.”

“Noth-nothing. I don’t know anything.”

“Oh, god, what if he really doesn’t know anything, y’all?” Naomi asked, her voice watery with emotion.

“Naomi, I love that compassion you have, but you have to set it aside for men like him. He’ll use it to manipulate you. You have to remember why the fuck he’s here,” Wes reasoned, hoping she’d understand. “You saw the women that were saved from that hotel on the buy that he helped organize. More lives than his are at stake. If he doesn’t turn over what he knows, we have to find out the hard way.”

Her angered expression faltered, and her brow furrowed when he was finished, as if she wasn’t sure what to think.

“But… how do you know he was involved to that degree?”

“We don’t,” Hawk explained. “But we won’t know unless we ask him.”

“And he’s not going to answer if we simply ask,” Devil clarified.

“I don’t… know anything… I just fuck them. Wh-when I get them… th-they want it. I s-swear.”

That was obviously the wrong thing for him to say if he was trying to gain sympathy from Naomi. The concern that had taken over Naomi’s face cleared away, like she’d traded her comedy mask for her tragedy one. Her face twisted in scorn and she crossed her arms under her breasts.

“They want it?” She stepped forward, the fire in her eyes no longer turning Wes’s heart into ash. “The women you buy and sell… you’re tellin’ me they want you to fuck them?”

“Yes, I swear!” Ascot raised his face to answer, but Wes kicked him in the shin, not too hard but hard enough that he looked down again before scowling at Wes. Wes just bent forward to meet Ascot’s eyes but not low enough that they were on the same level.

“Don’t fucking look at her. Answer whatever she asks, but don’t ever fucking look at her again. Got it?”

The anger in the man’s eyes stayed, but he gulped as he averted his gaze at another one of Naomi’s loaded questions.

“Did you know I met the women who were saved from that party?”

Ascot seemed to analyze the question before shaking his head no.

“I sat with them as they were poked and prodded, their modesty violated all over again during every rape kit.” —she stalked forward, but when Ascot tried again to look at her, Wes cuffed him on the back of the head, not bothering holding back— “I called their mommas for them, the ones who had them at least. I cried with every one of those women as they gave their statements, and do you know what? Not a damn one of them said they wanted to be there. Not a fucking one of them said they liked being raped or kidnapped or drugged with the constant fear of being murdered or that they wanted to have their futures taken from them by nightmares and PTSD. Not a fucking…one. So forgive me if I don’t believe a damn word comin’ out your mouth.”

Ascot swallowed hard, but Wes could see the sneer forming on his face before he finally replied, raising his head in defiance but still not meeting Naomi’s eyes. “We only ever picked poor sluts lookin’ for a way out. It’s not like they had much of a future to start with—”

Naomi’s slap was loud in the metal room and made Ascot’s head whip to the side. His cheek was immediately bright red and he had tiny cuts from where she’d let her nails scratch as her hand left his flesh.

She pointed at him. “You almost had me. I’ve given my life to a man for the past five years who’s used my emotions to manipulate me. And fuck, you almost had me, too.” Her dark laugh echoed in the room as she crossed her arms again. “Thanks for remindin’ me that some people deserve what they get without me feelin’ sorry for them.” She turned to the rest of the men in the room, carefully avoiding Wes’s eyes. “Carry on, guys.” Her gaze cut back to Ascot. “This man won’t be gettin’ any allies from me. I’m done with all this shit.”

She turned on her heel and Wes looked at the open door for half a millisecond before darting his eyes toward Hawk. At his leader’s single nod, Wes turned on his heel and raced toward Naomi through the short tunnel and up into the war room. When he finally made it, she was already about to walk out and Wes had to shout for her.

“Naomi! Wait up!”

Naomi paused before turning on her heel. “What do you want?”

Her tone had him jerking back. He’d forgotten how scathing her defenses could be.

“About what just happened—”

She held her hand up. “Save it. I’m not ready to talk about this shit with you yet.”

Wes felt his brow furrow. “But… I thought you understood?”

“Understood what? That you fuckin’ torture people in your day job? Is this such a common occurrence that you are genuinely surprised that I’m disgusted with you right now? Or that a lie by omission is still a lie. You let me believe your injuries were from boxin’. You had the opportunity to be honest with—”

“Naomi, you didn’t want to know!” he yelled, reaching for his excuse and hoping it was enough. “Look, I’m sorry—”

The laugh that came from her was so dark, he had to almost do a double take to make sure it was her.

“You’re sorry?” She ripped at her dark auburn hair. “Gah, do you even know how much I fuckin’ hate that word? It’s a pathetic way for someone to feel better about their guilt without doing a damn thing to change the hurt they’ve caused. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Fuck your apologies. Just don’t do the things that you would need to apologize for, how ‘bout that? And what are you even apologizin’ for, hm? Beatin’ a man up?”

“What? Fuck no, I’m not apologizing for getting answers from a monster to save innocents.”

Something cracked on Naomi’s exterior before she huffed. “Good, because honestly, I get that one. After two minutes with the guy, I hope y’all crack him like an egg to get to what’s inside.” Then her shields were back up as she narrowed her eyes again. “But please, tell me then what’re you sorry for, hm?”

“For lying… I should’ve just told you—”

“You’re damn right you should have! How can I trust you now? I told you I needed to know if Thea and I were in danger stayin’ here. If you’re bringin’ high-powered people here to torture them, how can we possibly be safe here with y’all?”

“BlackStone’s the safest place you could ever be—”

“But, what about you, huh? Can we be safe with you?”

Wes felt his mouth open and shut, completely thrown by the question. “Of course, you can. Why the hell would you think you couldn’t be safe with me, Naomi?”

“You said you let your emotions get the best of you, and you nearly beat a man to death. What happens when I piss you off, Wes? Is this what I have to be afraid of? I already left one monster. I don’t want to crawl into bed with another.”

“Naomi, love…” Wes reached for her hand in both of his and he was surprised she let him hold it. “Fuck, you don’t know my history, yet. And I’ll tell you someday, but you have to believe me. I would never, ever hurt you or Thea. I-I’d die before hurting someone innocent, and besides that I… I… care about you guys too much to let anything ever happen to you again.”

Her face softened, but shame ripped through his chest as a drop of moisture trailed down her cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb and continued to rub the soft skin there, pulling her in with her hand in his until they were flush together.

“I promise, Naomi… I will never let anything bad happen to you again. Not on my watch. I’m splitting in half just seeing this one tear. How could you think I’d want to cause another one?”

She sniffed and nodded, letting her cheek nuzzle his palm before finally squeezing his hands and stepping back.

“I… Thank you for sayin’ that. But I need time. I need to think. This is a lot to take in and I have my baby to think about.”

Wes nodded, hope lighting in his chest. “I understand. Take all the time you need. I’ll be waiting. But please, Naomi, consider what we’ve been through together. Really ask yourself if I’m someone you should be afraid of. If you think I am, then I’ll go. If I’ve lost that trust, I sure as hell don’t deserve to be in your life. But you and Thea need to stay so you’re safe.” He stepped forward again, holding her cheek in his hand. “But if you trust me. If you care for me, then please come back to me. I’ll be waiting.”

She sighed heavily before low vibrations entered the metal halls. She took her phone from her back jeans pocket and cursed.

“Shit… it’s Thea’s day care. I’m sorry. I hate to leave like this.”

“Of course, I get it… just… fuck it.” He bent slowly, allowing her plenty of time to bolt if she needed to, but she stayed still until his mouth met hers. Her plush lips molded to his, salty from her tears, but before he could get carried away, he ended it chastely.

“I don’t want to sway your decision, but I couldn’t stand you leaving without your lips on mine first.”

“Thank you…” The phone continued to vibrate and she stepped back. “I have to go.” He nodded as she turned around, walking toward the center stairwell, with each step taking his heart with her.

He’d hoped she’d look back just before the metal door shut, reverberating in the halls and slamming into his chest.

She never did.