Darcy's True Intentions

“Brennan,” Caleb said, and I immediately stiffened before turning to glare at him.
“Are you going to lecture me too? Because if you are, you can save it. I don’t want to hear it,” I snapped.
“Dammit, Brennan! She’s right! She’s always right. I have no idea just how bad things were for Maddie during the time that she was gone. She came back and started therapy with Ramira along with attending Caleb’s groups. She has blossomed. The change in her is evident. Do you want to know why? Because I listened to Ramira when she told me stuff. She knows what she’s talking about. Don’t let her easygoing ways fool you. Moms and dads did not spend almost half a million dollars on her education and building her practice if they didn’t have confidence that she could do it. You really should start to listen to her. I know you think that you know her more than anyone else, and you’re probably right, but not when it comes to Leah. Not right now. You know who she shows you. You believe what she says because of how you feel. You want to believe that everything is perfect, but both of you have a lot of growing to do. With or without each other. And if Ramira feels like this could destroy your relationship with her, then you should listen to her. If sex is a trigger for Leah, stop touching her until you are sure she can handle it. If you want her, ignore what your body is telling you to do, and listen to what she doesn’t say,” Joey told me before getting up from his place on the desk. “Now if you will excuse me, I don’t want to be near you right now. I’m afraid your stupidity will rub off on me, and I worked damn hard to build my relationship with Maddie.”
I clenched my jaw tightly as I narrowed my eyes on Caleb. “Do you have something to say too?”
He smirked at me before moving over to the mirror. “Nope. I think they covered it. Man, it’s good to be the youngest. All you old asses fucking up.”
“Caleb!” I hissed.
He shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re in the same boat. Loving a woman that’s out of our league. So just shut up and let's handle this so at least one of us has a chance to be happy.”
He turned his attention back to the other room, making it clear that he was not going to continue speaking. I mumbled under my breath as I got to my feet to cross the room to stand next to him, leaning against the wall with my body still tense. Inside the other room, Patterson was murmuring softly to Darcy whose eyes were hazy and unfocused while she swayed slightly. After a few moments of Patterson’s quiet speaking, he leaned back. He glanced at the mirror and I instantly raised my hand to knock on the mirror. He nodded before smiling at Darcy.
“Good evening, Darcy.”
“Good evening, Patterson,” she responded without hesitation.
“I have a few questions for you if you don’t mind me asking.”
“Of course not. I’ll answer anything for you,” she flirted, making me roll my eyes.
“Do you know William Adams?”
“Yes. He’s my boyfriend.”
“Do you know Leah Adams?”
“Of course I do,” she answered, scrunching up her nose in disgust.
“Why do you dislike her?” Patterson continued to question her.
“Because she has what I want.”
“And what’s that?”
“When Will dies, she gets everything. And trust me, it’s a lot. It should go to me.”
I clenched my jaw again. She was jealous because Leah was legally his wife? I didn’t think Leah cared about his money. She had run for a reason. If money was all that mattered to her, she would have stayed and taken his abuse. I knew a lot of women who chose that option, and I hated it every time. I grunted when Caleb elbowed me.
“Pay attention! He just asked about Eden.”
I rolled my eyes but tuned back into the conversation.
“Will asked me to get inside of Eden to find Leah. He tracked her phone and the signal went dead outside of Eden. That’s why he wanted me to get inside. He wanted me to find her and convince her to go home to him,” Darcy said smugly.
“How did you know how to get inside? How did you know how to act?” Patterson inquired.
“Will said that if Leah was in there then she passed the test. I didn’t know what test she supposedly passed, but he told me that I had to act like her. The night before we went to Eden he beat me, with permission of course. We had to make it look good. And then I just showed up and acted like Leah did the only time I met her.”
“And how’s that?”
“Like the scared little bitch she is,” Darcy laughed.
I rapped my knuckles on the mirror. I didn’t need to hear anything else. Darcy was finished at Eden. And when I could, I was going to get my hands on that fucker that hurt my woman. I walked away from the mirror to pace back and forth.
“Can you find me that bastard's address? I’m going to kill him!” I hissed.
“Of course I can. What are we doing about Darcy?” He asked.
“If she wasn’t a woman, I’d kill her too! Leah said she watched and participated when Will raped her. Woman or man, people like her shouldn’t exist. She reminds me of Amber. Two peas in a fucking pod.”
“I get it, brother. Do you want me to have her killed?”
I spun around to meet his eyes. “Excuse me?”
He leaned against his bookshelf with his arms crossed over his chest. “Do you want me to have her killed?”
“No. But I wouldn’t say no to having her dropped off in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to go,” I admitted as I ran my fingers through my hair.
“I can do that. I can take her to South America and leave her.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “It sounds like you’ve done that before.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“If you told me, you’d have to kill me?”
“Yep.”
“Got it. Yeah, do that. Now, can we go see the bikers? I want to get back to Eden.”
“Are you going to sleep a little before you go?” He inquired.
“No. I just want to go home.”
“I get it. Let’s go.”
We walked out of Caleb’s office, stopping in front of Patterson who held his hand out to me. “Brennan. It’s good to see you again.”
“Patterson, thank you for your help.”
“It’s my pleasure. So, your sister–”
“Is taken,” Caleb interrupted. “She’s happy with Dale. Don’t come and try to mess her relationship up. I think she’d cut you.”
“Yeah, her or Maddie. I hear she takes after Ramira,” I grumbled.
He sighed before nodding. “I got it. Darcy is asleep. When you are ready to wake her up, just snap your fingers and say, ‘Darcy, you’re going to be late for school.’ And she’ll wake right up. Try not to let her sleep for more than 3 or 4 hours, okay?”
“What happens if she sleeps longer?”
“You don’t want to know,” he said, grimacing before strolling off down the hallway.
I stared after him. “What do you think happened?”
Caleb shrugged. “I don’t. Maybe he made someone think they were a banana for the rest of their lives. Who knows. When you play with people’s minds, it's bound to go wrong.”
We hurried across the street to the bar where a few men waited out front for us. I recognized Rhino and Cobra from our previous video call. I had new information for them and I needed to give them the drawing I did based on the description of Miriela that Leah gave me. I really wanted them to find her. She was important to Leah and so she was important to me. I also wanted them to find this Stefan for Leah. I prayed that he could help her while they continued their search for MIriela. It only took me a few minutes to catch them up on the new information I had for them. I had asked Ramira to keep an ear out for any mention of men in black suits. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out that the cult that controlled Leah wore black suits when they went out in public. Now, we were all concerned that the cult had her and that she was in more danger than we initially thought. After handing Cobra the small portrait of Miriela, he studied it for a second before passing it to another boy about his age. I thanked them, shook Rhino’s hand, and started walking silently back to my car with Caleb.
“Hey, Brennan, wait!” Someone called out, making me groan as I turned around.
“Yes, Nathan?”
“This girl, Miriela, if she’s with the cult, does that mean that she will be staying in Eden when we find her?”
“If she needs to. Why?”
Emotions passed over his face as he shrugged. “Just asking.”
I watched him walk back over to the bikers, not missing when he discreetly slid the picture into his pocket.
“That boy was so in love with Maddie,” Caleb told me. “It’ll be good for him to have something to do away from her. Joey’s ready to choke him.”
I chuckled as I got in the car. “Yeah, I can understand that sentiment, especially when it comes to Leah. Goodnight, Caleb.”
“Be safe. Tell her I said hi.”
I nodded as he closed the door before tapping the hood and stepping back. I really was ready to go home to Leah. I missed her something fierce.