Beginnings (Brady Trilogy) (23 page)

“I finally dragged myself to call my mom. She found me sprawled on the floor in my cold apartment drenched in my own sweat. I can still remember the sounds of her screams when she walked in and found me. She took me to some hospital out of town. I was too disoriented to understand what was happening. Apparently I’d had a seizure and it was a miracle I was even alive. I stayed in the hospital for about a month to recover.”

“Did you receive any therapy after you were out?” Luke rubbed his hands over his face.

Isabel nodded. “My mom introduced me to Dr. Finch, my therapist. She made sure my whereabouts were covered and I had security tracing my every move. My mother had enough money to hire all the right people and ensure my safety around the clock. My panic attacks and hallucinations had become uncontrollable. I constantly woke screaming in the middle of the night thinking I was being choked. That’s why when you witnessed me having a nightmare I really thought I couldn’t breathe.”

“How often does that happen? You not being able to breathe.”

“Almost every time I have the nightmare. Sometimes I struggle and other times I wake up instantly and realize it was just a dream. I had sessions with Dr. Finch every day until I got better. My mother hired some lawyers who located Marcy. She denied everything of course and said Dean was her lover not her rapist and I had misunderstood what I saw. They couldn’t find Dean. He had disappeared off the face of this planet. But I always felt as though he was somewhere watching me.”

Luke’s jaw twitched. “Does Scotts know what his son did?” Luke asked.

 
              Isabel let out a long difficult breath. Telling the story had given her a massive chest ache. She rubbed her hand between her breasts hoping to ease the growing pain. “I don’t know. He was out of town at the time. If he found out after I was gone I really don’t know. But I’ve been fine putting this all behind me Luke. You can’t understand how much my life has changed thanks to meeting you. You can’t begin to understand how much you mean to me. You filled the empty hole in my heart.” she whimpered.

 
              Luke’s breath hitched. He stared into her swollen brown eyes as his intense green burning into her warm chocolate brown. His heart ached to see her quivering lips and tear stained face. Her eyes no longer holding the secrets he terribly wanted to discover. And now that he knew he didn’t know how to handle it. He wished he was there during her past to hold and protect her. To save her from any demons she was fighting to survive. He stood and pulled Isabel into a tight hold. She buried her face in his hard chest and began sobbing with heavy relief.

 
              “You’re going to be ok sweetheart.” He stroked her hair and pulled her further back forcing her to meet his gaze. “Anyone wants to get near you, they’ll need to go through me first.”

 
              She nodded. He brushed away a tear on her bottom lip with his thumb, lowered his head and took her lips in the most gentle of ways, sending her head over heels in love with him.

That night Luke couldn’t sleep. Isabel’s revealing of the truth had the wheels in his head turning. He had to find a way to keep the woman he loved safe. Just thinking of what she had witnessed and the extent of her struggles was enraging. She should have never suffered to this degree. As he made slow, thorough love to her, his every thrust into her was his way of showing his desperation of keeping her close. He then watched Isabel drift to sleep while his wide awake eyes lingered on her sleeping form till dawn.

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As light broke through his windows, it was Luke’s indication that morning had arrived. He hadn’t had a minute of sleep but his mind was too occupied to worry about the time. He softly kissed Isabel until she stirred awake. Whispering against her lips how much he’d missed her while she was asleep, Isabel smiled and stretched leisurely. The man sure knew how to give a damn good wake up call.

             
“We leave at noon darling. It’s almost eight.” He announced after briefly looking at his watch. “You ok on time or should I delay our flight?” he asked kissing her again.

              “No I should be fine. I’ll go pack now.” She rose from his bed, picked up her robe off the floor and slipped it over her slim body. She slowly opened the door, watched down the hall for any sign of someone seeing her leaving Luke’s bedroom. She turned around and gave him a giggle that made him laugh. It felt like they were teenagers sneaking in and out of each other’s rooms.

Luke didn’t have much to pack so after he showered, shaved and prepared his luggage, he went to the office to gather their files. He made a few important calls regarding Isabel’s situation then walked down the hall towards the front entrance to make sure the limo had arrived to take them to the airport. He spotted Jake walking out of the security room.

“What’s up man? Why are you still in New York? I thought you left last night.” Luke asked surprised.

Jake shrugged. “I had a few things to take care of and just crashed here for the night. You got a minute?”

Luke glanced up the stairs seeing if there was any sign of Isabel. “Isabel’s packing. We’re heading back to L.A in less than an hour. I’ve got some time.”

“Good because I think you’re going to want to hear this first before you head back.” He said as he walked towards the security room knowing Luke would follow.

“What’s up?”

Jake waited a moment before talking. He wasn’t hesitant, he was just trying to mentally prepare himself to how Luke was going to react. “I found a match to the finger prints on Isabel’s kitchen window.”

Luke stilled. In an instant his eyes were raging. “And? Who the fuck is it?” he raised his voice.

Jake scratched his chin. “Dean Scotts.” He waited a moment just in case it hadn’t clicked. “Preston Scotts’ only son.”

Luke stood still. It was as if all the blood had drained from his body leaving him numb. He was aware his breathing had become irregular. Something crawled inside of him scratching away at already marked bruises. Dean Scotts. The bastard that Isabel witnessed raping another woman. The fucker was after her now.

“Luke did you hear me? I take it by your abnormal silence you were somewhat expecting that answer.”

Luke nodded. He placed his palms flat on the desk and heavily leaned in. “This isn’t fucking happening. She won’t survive this if she finds out. I’ll kill that son of a bitch if he ever comes near her again.”

Jake knew better than to ask questions. He didn’t need to. At the way Luke was reacting, he sensed Isabel was in danger from this Dean character. He’d be damned if any harm came to her. Any woman who had managed to get his best friend in this state of mind had his respect and now protection. “That’s not going to happen.” He told Luke. “Neither you nor I will let it. We need to resolve this shit and we will get to the bottom of it.”

“What else did you find on that piece of shit?”

Jake shook his head. “Well not much at first. A few speeding tickets. A DUI. Some public fighting at random bars. A shit load of properties, no doubt that daddy paid for, since he doesn’t have a single check signed to his name. Just a healthy trust fund.”

Luke just nodded.

“But I dug a little deeper.” Jake paused until Luke looked at him. “Something dear ol’ daddy did his best to cover up and hide. I just knew there was more to this asshole than meets the eye. If he’s sniffing around Isabel’s house there’s got to be more to it. I was able to come across some assault charges that aren’t in his police records.”

“Do I need to ask how you came across those files?” Luke shook his head. Jake’s immense amount of connections sometimes astonished him. 

Jake smirked. “No.”

“What did you find?” Luke was almost afraid to ask.

“Ex-girlfriend. Andrea Barnes filed a lawsuit against him for sexual assault and battery.” Jake said.

Luke’s body shook with anticipation while his mind worked overtime at the possibilities of there being another witness against Dean other than a not-so-cooperative Marcy.

“He messed her up really badly.” Jake continued. “She needed stiches on her forehead and surgery for her broken arm and a hell of a lot of physical therapy. I saw the pictures. It sure as shit wasn’t pretty. I didn’t bring copies since it is classified, and when I say I had to do some deep digging, I mean it. Scotts buried this shit so deep it took me a few days to get my hands on it.”

Luke continued to stay silent. Jake knew Dean’s involvement with Isabel ran deeper than any information he could find. But there were no reports on paper. “So you going to tell me what happened and save me the trouble of finding out myself?”

Luke released a heavy sigh. There was no point withholding information from Jake. They both knew in a few days he’d have all the answers. He’d go through a meticulous background check and investigate every person who’s ever stepped foot inside Scotts’ firm. And it would lead him to Marcy eventually. Plus Jake was on their side. He was his brother and would use his connections to help Luke for what he had in mind. The frantic need for retaliation and justice kept boiling his blood. So he told Jake everything, not leaving a single detail out. After the torturous moment of explaining to Jake what Isabel had been through, he was livid with a whole new amount of anger.

Jake stood still as a statue. Tattooed arms crossed across his chest as he listened to what he had already suspected based off of his research. He wouldn’t mind ending Dean’s life with his own hands, but this was Luke’s battle to fight and they would handle it how Luke saw fit. After contemplating his raging thoughts, Jake scratched the back of his neck.

“We’ve got two options Luke. Option one I introduce you to the most aggressive and hostile attorney that ever existed who will ruthlessly rip Dean, his daddy Scotts, and his whole firm apart and Isabel along with the rest of these women get the legal justice they deserve. Option two, you leave this to me and I handle it my way. You just say the word and this fuck disappears by midnight tonight with no trace or trail of him ever even existing.”

Luke stared at his best friend of many years. Though he knew the extent of Jake’s need to serve and protect, at times it baffled him the amount of power Jake had. His offer of option two was wickedly tempting. So tempting Luke almost agreed to it. But he needed to think this through. Scotts wouldn’t be an easy battle to fight but Luke’s desperation for righteousness was greater. “I’m going to need to meet this attorney of yours. As soon as you can make it happen. We’ll talk in L.A. In the meantime, I’m taking Isabel to my place.  There is no way in hell she’s going back to that house.”

Jake nodded.
“Alright.”

As they settled into Luke’s private company plane, Isabel sighed with relief and leaned against Luke’s arm. “I love New York but I’m excited to go back home. I miss it. All of it.” She looked up into Luke’s green gaze and he smiled warmly down at her as he pulled her closer. “I miss my beautiful view of the beach right from my living room windows. I miss the salty sea breeze and burying my toes into the soft sand. I miss answering the phone and saying, ‘Mr. Brady’s in a meeting right now can I take a message?’”

Luke tilted his head back and laughed.

“I’m serious.” Isabel teasingly poked his ribs. “I miss Linda, Ginger, Brian and all of our crazy staff. Even the mail room girl who constantly calls out sick and I have to run the mail down myself. Yup, I even miss her.” Isabel nodded and smiled.

“Babe we’ve only been gone two weeks.” Luke chuckled. “How could you possible miss it to that extent?”

Isabel sighed as she rested her head on his broad shoulder. “I just do. They feel like family. They like me. We’re a team and we work well together.”

Luke stayed silent. He lowered his head and pressed his lips to her hair inhaling her sweet jasmine scent. At times he tended to forget the lonely life Isabel had lived before moving to San Diego. Sometimes he took things like always being surrounded by people who admired him, for granted.
But not Isabel. This beautiful, delicate woman, who should always be cherished, even appreciated life’s most simple moments. He was a better man for knowing her. A better man for loving her. Never in his life had he possessed this immense need to show someone how much love and affection pumped through his veins for them, but he did for Isabel. He wanted to hand her the world on a shiny silver platter, to always love and protect her. Show her how someone as sweet and gentle as her needs to be treated. He didn’t think life had dealt Isabel the fairest of cards and he decided he was going to change the deck, manipulate all the cards until she was constantly served with a royal flush. Isabel would not live in despair and fear any longer. This he vowed to himself.