Taken: The MISTAKEN Series Complete Third Season (9 page)

My stomach twisted with guilt. My voice cracked as I spoke. “That isn’t true, Brandon. I didn’t
choose
this. Not exactly. I—”

“Not exactly.” He shook his head, still looking out the window. “Even if you didn’t
exactly
choose them, you
still chose them
. You chose this. Fuck, I’ve been so stupid. All this time, I thought you
couldn’t
contact me, not that you didn’t
want
to. I’ve been a fucking idiot. And now I get to go be kicked in the balls again by your mother…” His voice trailed off and he raked a hand through his black curls. “I’m an idiot.”

“Again?” His words were only beginning to seep into my consciousness. “Again, Brandon? As in, you’ve been kicked in the balls by Marian before?”

N
ine Months
Ago - Brandon

“
D
o
you know how to use that thing?”

Melissa waved the gun at me, lifting an eyebrow. “Do you want to find out?”

I couldn’t believe Ryan had left me alone in a room with her, let alone left me alone with her with a
gun
in her hand. This was the woman who had roomed with Jen for God-only-knew how long, and neither of the women had ever left me with the impression that either of them would even know how to
hold
a gun, let alone use one.

I leaned back in my chair, staring across the table at her. There really was no need for a gun at all—it wasn’t as though I was going to go anywhere. I knew what would happen to me if I did.

We sat there for a long while, staring at each other. I tried to think of how to phrase what I needed to ask her without insulting her—I didn’t want to risk the possibility that she actually
did
know how to use a gun. I didn’t really know her that well. It was certainly possible that I was wrong about her and that she
did
know how to use one.

I finally spoke. “Where did Ryan go?”

She merely lifted a brow again, not answering my question.

My fingernails bit into my palms and I tried not to show my frustration to her. “We’re on the same side, you and me. We both want what’s best for Jen.”

“Oh, really?” She nodded theatrically. “Is she aware of what you did to Amanda?”

“I didn’t do anything to Amanda. I went there that night to
warn
her, not to kill her. If you would have let me explain—”

She shook her head, interrupting me. “I don’t need to hear your explanations, lover boy.” She lowered her elbows to the table, still pointing the gun in my direction. “And I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”

“You betrayed your best friend. And for what? For Ryan? He’s using you, you know.” I knew I had to tread lightly—after all, she was the one with the gun pointed at my chest. “He’s only with you to get to Jen.”

“Right. And you’re only with Jenna to get to her father.”

“That isn’t true.” I shook my head. “There’s a lot to the story that you don’t know, Melissa. A lot that I’m sure Ryan hasn’t taken the time to explain—”

She leaned forward, her voice rising. “I know everything I need to know. I know about
you
. I know that Jenna’s better off where she’s at than with
you
.”

“You think leaving her in a pool of her own blood is the best thing for her? You’re seriously telling me that you think she’s better off being alone in that cabin than she would be with me?” My fists clenched again as my heart began to race. “I’ve only done what I’ve done to protect her. And you don’t know half of what I’ve done.” And I didn’t want her to know
any
of it. I didn’t want Melissa to know, and I definitely didn’t want Jen to know. I wasn’t even really sure what Melissa
thought
she knew, though I doubted she knew much.

“Does she know who you’re working for? Have you told her that much?”

My jaw tightened. Maybe she did know more than I thought she did. “I work for myself.”

She let out a loud laugh. “You expect me to believe that? God, you’re even worse than Ryan said you were.”

My teeth clenched so tightly I couldn’t speak. I gripped the arms of the chair, staring across at her again, wondering how quick her reaction might be if I jumped her—if I went after the gun. If she actually knew how to use it, she’d probably kill me at this close range. It wasn’t worth the risk. Not if she had somehow learned to actually
use
the thing.

“You should have at least told her you’re a double agent.”

I rolled my eyes. “You make it sound like some kind of a dumb movie, Melissa. There are no bad guys in this. There are no good guys, either. No one is going around town with white hats or black hats. Everyone in this story wears a gray hat. Everyone. Even Ryan. Especially Ryan. And you. You’re wearing a gray hat, too, Melissa. Don’t forget about what you did to your friend.”

“You’re so full of shit, Brandon. And if there’s a bad guy in this story, it’s
you
. Ryan never killed anyone.
I
never killed anyone. Jenna is fine, but Amanda … Amanda isn’t.”

I had to close my eyes for a second. I knew I couldn’t convince her that what she believed wasn’t true. I knew there was no way to win this argument—I knew that Ryan had gotten to her and somehow brainwashed her into believing I was some kind of evil-doer. Not that my hands were completely clean, but they were a hell of a lot cleaner than Ryan’s. And everything I had done in the past—
everything
had been for a good reason. The right reason. Not for money or power, but for what was
right
. I didn’t know how to explain that to her
or
to Jen. I didn’t know how to explain to
anyone
that doing the right thing sometimes meant doing a hell of a lot of
wrong
things to get the job done.

I opened my eyes to look at her again. I was going about this the wrong way. I knew I would never be able to convince her that Ryan was something other than whatever it was that she thought he was—a venture capitalist, or whatever bullshit story he had spun for her. That he was the good guy in the story he had told her.

I forced a smile to my face. “We can help her. You and I. We can help her if we work together.” I only wanted to appeal to that part of her that I knew loved her best friend. That part of her that I knew didn’t want to hurt Jen at all. Jen was an innocent bystander in this—at least, I thought she was. She hadn’t done a damned thing but be a pawn in a game that I wasn’t sure that even
I
understood. It hadn’t been fair to her—none of this had been fair to Jen. But leaving her alone in that cabin wasn’t fair, either. Leaving her there with no way to contact me—no way to contact
anyone
—wasn’t fair. There was nothing fair about this scenario at all. And it had been the last thing I had intended. It had been the last thing that I had expected to happen. And I still couldn’t really believe I was sitting across from a woman who Jen loved like a sister and she was pointing a gun at me, ready to shoot.

“I would
never
work with you. Not in a million years.” Her gaze narrowed. “I know all about you, Brandon. I know how you’ll work with
anyone
. Ryan said you’re playing at least three sides against the middle. But I’m thinking there are even more sides than that, aren’t there?”

My heart was thudding hard in my chest, and I tried to keep the look of panic from showing on my face. There was no way she knew what was going on. No way she knew what I had done. No one did. No one
could
.

“Who are you really working for, Brandon? Ryan was sure you were on his side. He said after what he did to you—”

I leaned forward, cutting her off. “You know about that and you think it’s okay? You think Ryan trying to kill me was an okay thing to do? That your precious boyfriend
trying to kill me
makes him a good guy?” I leaned back, tilting my head to force her to meet my gaze. “Because in my book, that definitely makes him a bad guy. If we’re calling people good and bad, that is.”

“It was an accident. We both know that.” I was almost certain I saw tears cloud her eyes and she leaned back, nodding. “It was an accident. And the thing with Jenna—the kidnapping thing—was just a big misunderstanding.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe she was that gullible—that she would just
believe
what he told her without questioning it.
But you did the same thing to Jen
. My breath caught in my chest, my eyes widening. I
had
done the same thing to her. I had convinced her that I was the guy with the white hat—the hero of the story. I had done the same thing to Jen that Ryan had done to Melissa. I’d convinced her that what I was doing was
good
and what everyone else was doing wasn’t. It had just been easier that way. It was so much easier to make her see that other people were villains and that I was the one who was on her side. At least that part of this bullshit was true. I
was
on her side. I always had been. Even before I had known her,
I was on her side
. And that’s why I wasn’t wrong in this. That’s why Melissa needed to believe me—why she needed to stop believing the lies Ryan was feeding her.

I let out a long breath. “What did he tell you?”

She cocked her head, giving me a long stare. “Seriously? What do you think he told me?”

I gritted my teeth, closing my eyes for another moment. Allowing myself to get frustrated with this woman wasn’t going to solve my immediate need to get the hell out of whatever room this was. Wherever the hell they had taken me. As soon as I had gotten into the car with them in Montana, I knew I had been given the same drug Jen had. I didn’t remember them giving it to me, but I knew that had been what had happened. And when I woke up, I was sitting here across from Melissa with a gun pointed in my face. And I had no idea where we were or how far away I was from Jen. I only knew that I needed to get to her. I needed for her to know that I would keep her safe, which I had every intention of doing if I could actually get myself away from whatever the hell this was.

I calmed myself, letting out a long, slow breath. “I don’t know what he told you, Melissa. That’s why I’m asking. Maybe you could just tell me if you brought Jen with us. Is she safe? Is she here?”

Her eyes clouded again. Playing the Jen card was definitely the way for me to play her to get what I needed. Trying to convince her that Ryan was the cause of the problems we were all now facing wasn’t going to get me anywhere—I had to use her love for her friend to be able to get what I wanted. “She’s fine.”

“Is she here? In this building?”

She shook her head, her eyes now swimming with tears. “Ryan said she’ll be fine.”

“I know he
said
that, Melissa. But we can’t
know
that if she isn’t here. We need to get her here to keep her safe.”

She swung her head from side to side, refusing to meet my gaze. “Ryan said she puts
us
in danger having her around.” Her eyes suddenly darted to mine. “You, too. He said she puts
you
in danger, too.”

“That is the most ridiculous thing I think I’ve ever heard.” I regretted my words as soon as they fell out of my mouth.

She straightened in her chair, righting the gun and pointing it at my chest again. “It’s not ridiculous. It’s what he said. It’s because of who she is.”

“I know who she is. We both know who she is. And even if Senator Davis is using her to gain some kind of political advantage—”

Her eyes widened and she shook her head. “Not because she’s
his
daughter.” I heard her breath hitch. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

She sucked in another sharp breath. Her voice dropped to barely a whisper and her gaze dropped to the table. “You don’t know. Holy shit, you don’t know. That means
she
doesn’t know.”

“Doesn’t know what?” My heart was pounding again. There was no way there was something that
I
didn’t know about Jen. I had grown up knowing
everything
about the Davis family, including their only child.

Her eyes darted back to mine and she straightened the gun again. “You’re lying.”

“I swear to God, I’m not. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Who is her mother?”

My brow furrowed. “What?”

Her eyes were wild and the gun began swaying around again. “Her mother. Her biological mother. Who is she?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea. Why would I know that? I thought it was Marian Hennessey until a few months ago, just like everyone else did.”

“You’re lying. I know you are.”

“I’m not.” I didn’t know how to convince her that I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. That revelation had been news to
everyone
, including me. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that Jen’s mother
wasn’t
Marian Hennessey until her father dropped that bombshell. I had been as much in the dark as everyone, but I didn’t see what her biological mother had to do with anything. It didn’t have anything to do with what I knew. It had nothing to do with any of the reasons Jen would hate
me
if she knew the truth about what was going on and what I had done.

“We need to find out.”

I cocked my head. “You don’t know?”

She shook her head, her eyes swimming again. “He wouldn’t tell me. Ryan wouldn’t tell me. He said that it was better if I didn’t know. He said that having that knowledge was like having a bomb strapped to him—as soon as it goes off, everyone is going down. I just thought you knew, too…” Her voice trailed off and her gaze drifted away from mine again. “He said that having her around—if she was around
anyone
—it was like a bomb waiting to go off. A nuclear bomb that was waiting to explode and destroy everything.” She shook her head, returning her gaze to mine. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, Melissa. I think what it means right now is that we need to work together to find out.”

“
I
don’t know
what she ever frickin’ saw in you.” Melissa glared across the table at me, waving the gun in front of me again. “She’s a good person.”

“I know.” I nodded. “And no offense, Melissa, but I don’t know what she sees in you, either.”

Her eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t forget who has the gun here.”

“I haven’t.” I smiled—I couldn’t help it. I knew Melissa was a good person, too. Better than me, anyway. And I knew she had been sucked into this quagmire the same way Jen had—that she was doing what she thought was right.

“Stop smiling. There’s nothing funny here.” She blew out a long breath. “How would it work?”

I tilted my head. “How would what work?”

She waved the gun around again. “This. You and I. How would it work?”

“Oh. That.” I had to wonder if that thing was even loaded. I thought again about just making a grab for it—it wouldn’t be that hard to just grab her wrist the way she was waving the thing around. I would just have to make sure she wasn’t paying attention—the second she stared off again…

She interrupted my thoughts. “Yes, that. Jenna. How would we help her? That
is
what you want, right?”

“First, we’d have to go get her. Assuming she’s still at the cabin.”

She nodded, her gaze just starting to drift. “And what if she’s not? What if it’s too late?”

“Too late?” My breath almost burst from my chest. “Too late? What do you know, Melissa?”

“I know…” She paused, her gaze drifting off again.

I was going to do it. I was going to grab the thing from her and get her to tell me whatever the fuck it was that she knew. Before, it hadn’t seemed like Ryan had any designs on Jen at all, but now … now it did. Now it seemed like there was something she wasn’t telling me. And the way she waved that gun around told me she didn’t know what the fuck she was doing with it. She might have had a few lessons at the gun range, but just the way she was holding it told me I could get it from her without much risk of getting either of us shot.

I had to get her talking again. “You know what?” My hands gripped the arms of the chair. She was close enough that I could just reach out right now if I wanted to.

Her gaze darted back to mine. “This is a trick. You’re trying to trick me into telling you.”

“No trick, Melissa. I just want to know who’s going after her. Who is Ryan trying to have get her?”

“I don’t know.” Her gaze drifted off again.

I steeled myself, almost holding my breath. I lunged forward, grabbing her wrist. She screamed and I could feel her trying to pull the trigger, but I wrenched the gun away from her before it went off.

I let out the breath I was holding, almost on a sigh.

She held her palms up to me. “Please, don’t kill me, Brandon. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

My brow furrowed and I shook my head slowly. “What do you think I’m going to do to you?”

Tears began to streak down her cheeks. “Please. I’ll do whatever you want. Anything—just please.” Her voice was quivering along with her chin. “Please don’t hurt me.”

I lowered the gun, pointing it away from her. I didn’t want to unload it—not with the possibility of Ryan walking through the door at any moment. But I’d never had any intention of
hurting
her. I wouldn’t. I
couldn’t
. And I couldn’t really believe I had somehow come to be in this place in life—that a woman thought I was actually going to kill her. A woman who was the best friend of the woman I had loved for what felt like my entire life. I couldn’t believe I had fallen so far that this was actually happening.

I shook my head. “Melissa, I just want to know who he’s sending after her. And where did he go? And how far are we from her?”

She began to sob hysterically, and I knew there would be no answers from her for now. She was so much like Jen—innocent. My heart was twisting in my chest with guilt in just knowing I’d had a hand in this—in robbing her of that innocence. Because I knew neither Melissa nor Jen had asked for this. Neither of them had
chosen
this life. I had. I had chosen what I’d become, but they hadn’t. And it made me feel like an asshole for dragging them into it. Because I knew if I had never come into Jen’s life, Melissa would have never come into Ryan’s. Even if Jen’s father was a douche bag senator who was a dirty as they came, I knew none of this would have gone this far if I hadn’t been involved. And I needed to help both of them—both Jen and Melissa—to make it right again. If I could even make it right anymore. So much had happened just in the past few months that I wasn’t sure if anything even could be right anymore.

“Melissa. Please.” I didn’t do well with hysterical women. It was one thing about Jen that I respected—I hadn’t seen her have a sobbing fit like this. I was sure she was capable of it, but now wasn’t the right time for this. I needed Melissa to be strong for herself and for her friend if we were going to get through this. “Can you please? For Jen? Fuck, please? Just try to get yourself together.”

Her sniveling began to abate and I breathed out a long sigh.

“Good. Now, please just tell me where Ryan went.”

She shook her head, still sniffling. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”

I nodded. “Okay. Where are we?”

“Idaho. About four hours from your cabin.”

“Good.” Not that it was
good
at all. Four hours was a long way to get back there—and it wasn’t like we could fly there. We’d have to drive.

“I’m sorry, Brandon. I’m sorry that I even got involved with him. Please don’t hurt me.”

“I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to help Jen. Stop with the begging, okay?”

She nodded.

“Good. Now, who was it that Ryan wanted to give her to?”

“I don’t know.”

I rolled my eyes. She had to know. She had to know
something
. “Melissa, why don’t you tell me what you
do
know.”

She nodded again. “I know he’s been talking to people. I don’t know who, though. When he figured out where you were—”

“How did he figure out where we were?” If I knew that, there was a chance I wouldn’t need to drive back there to get her. There was a
chance
she would still be there now.

“I don’t know.”

“Shit, Melissa. Okay, finish telling me what you know. Be very specific. With
everything
.” I didn’t want to have to wave the gun in her face to make her tell me, but I knew I would if I had to. I needed answers, whether or not she felt like I was trying to trick her into them.

“I think he was talking to Senator Davis, but I’m not sure. It seemed like he was.”

“Okay, that’s a good start. What were they talking about?”

She gulped. “Mason. What to do with him.” Tears clouded her eyes again. “Oh, God, I can’t believe I’m in the middle of this. I’m going to jail, aren’t I?”

“No. Please, you need to stay calm.” It wasn’t that I couldn’t handle emotional women if I had to—it was just that this wasn’t the
time
. Right now, we needed to focus on Jen and not on Melissa’s fears about having to serve time. “Where is he? Mason?”

“With his nanny in L.A. He was the last time I saw him a few days ago, anyway.” Tears began to streak down her cheeks again. “Oh, God. I can’t believe this is happening.”

“You’re helping Jen right now, Melissa. Can you tell yourself that? Please? Or whatever it is you need to tell yourself to stop crying? Because now is not the time.”

She nodded again. “Right. Ryan was talking to him—to Senator Davis. I think. I mean, it seemed like it was him.”

“Melissa.” I could hear them again. The tears building in her voice.

“Okay.” Her words came out on a sharp breath. “Okay, I can do this. Ryan told him that he’d get the two of you apart and that he’d take care of you. He said that you had something he wanted, anyway.”

Good—this was good. I did have something Ryan wanted, and now he would have no way of getting it. It was one more advantage I held. And if I could get back to Jen in time, I’d have
that
advantage, too.

“He said that he would have someone take care of her.” She nodded, smiling. “That’s what he said. She’d be taken care of. Something like that. That’s good, right? She’ll be taken care of, so we don’t have to worry.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. That was why they had taken me and left her lying there—he was sending someone in to clean up his mess. He was sending someone to “take care” of her—to dispose of her. My heart stopped beating for a second—it was too late. I knew it in my gut—it was too late. I would do what I could to get back to her and pray that she was still there, but I knew. I knew it was too late.

I looked over at Melissa. “How long has it been? Since you two came to the cabin? How many hours?”

She must have heard the panic in my voice—I could see the tears welling in her eyes again. “A day. Almost exactly a day.”

My shoulders dropped and my mouth hung open. If it had been a day, that meant it was too late. She was gone and I knew it. I only hoped she wasn’t
gone
.

She shook her head. “I don’t understand. Someone’s going to take care of her, Brandon. It means you don’t have to worry…” Her voice drifted off as it began quivering again. “Oh, God.
Take care of
. Oh, oh, God. That doesn’t mean
that
. That doesn’t mean…” Her voice drifted off again and she began sobbing into her hands.

If I hadn’t known what it meant, I would have tried to comfort her. I would have tried to tell her it wasn’t her fault, even though I knew I would
definitely
be blaming her and her asshole boyfriend for this.

I still had a chance. If I got back there in time, there was still a chance. It had been more than a day, though, and I knew I had to get back there
right now
if there was a prayer. I would have to steal a car and speed as fast as possible to get there. I knew exactly what I needed to do. I needed to get the fuck out of there, away from sobbing women and back to Jen before something terrible happened.

I stood up just as the door swung open and Ryan entered, a gun pointed at my head.

He smiled. He glanced down at the gun in my hand. “Drop it. Nice and slow.”