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Forty-Eight

Roman

“J ulia took me when I was seven. My mom was a drug addict and didn’t care what happened to me. She just wanted that next fix. At first, I thought Julia was a godsend until I was old enough to know what they were doing.”

“Why didn’t you try to leave and get help?” Quinn asked as she held Rosie on her lap.

“I couldn’t. Every time I tried, they caught me.

By the time I was thirteen, Julia had started showing me the ropes and told me that if I didn’t want that kind of life, then I could work for her.

I didn’t know what she meant at the time, but I knew that I didn’t want the men to touch me anymore, so I agreed.

She started teaching me how to lure children away and said we made the perfect team because I was someone they would trust.”

“That’s why I wanted to help Bree when she lost her puppy,” Rosie said sadly, tucking her head into Quinn’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry about that,” Bree sighed. “I didn’t want to do it.

But I also didn’t have a choice. Julia had changed once Elias came back.

She wasn’t nice to me anymore. I was afraid of what she might do to me after I saw what happened to Ariel.

She told me to lead her away from the house, then got upset after I did because Elias reminded her that it wasn’t the right day. They had been planning it for a while.”

“We’ll need you to talk to the police about this,” Quinn said softly. “I’m here to help you however I can, but we need to make sure that there are no other victims that we don’t know about. Was she working with anyone else?”

“No,” Bree shook her head. “She hadn’t done much while Elias was locked up.

Once he was out, they became obsessed with Rosie and getting revenge on Justin for the accident and then for uncovering their operation.

It was too risky for her to start it up again right away, and she didn’t have all of the resources she needed.

She was told to hire people to take out Justin’s team so there were no traces back to her.

She even hired people for other stuff, like breaking into your apartments.

” She looked between us. That explained the random thug that Quinn had shot in my apartment.

“That’s why everyone on Justin’s team was targeted and murdered,” I commented, not letting on to whether Mike was alive or dead. “Except her.”

She nodded.

“Yeah, but she was so desperate to stay off the radar that she hired someone to attack her.”

That didn’t surprise me any, given how crazy and desperate she had been.

“She hated him for what he did. That’s all she ever talked about.

There were pictures of Rosie on her walls in the other house, and she would talk to them daily.

I started to worry that she was going crazy when she started adding new ones,” she lowered her voice and nodded at Rosie.

“She ended up bringing us to this cabin because she didn’t want anyone to find Rosie and have them take her from them again.

I don’t know how long she was planning to stay here, but my guess is that none of us were ever leaving here again. ”

“Well, it’s all over now,” Quinn said. “The police should be here shortly, and then we can all get the hell out of this creepy cabin.”

We all nodded and sat quietly at the table in the kitchen, one of the few places that didn’t have dead bodies on the floor. Soon, we heard sirens in the distance and knew the police were headed our way.

“Thank you, by the way,” Quinn added. “For stepping in earlier. Rosie told me you had talked to her and told her to fight. Thanks for looking out for her.”

Bree smiled sadly and looked at Rosie.

“I didn’t want this life for her. No one ever fought for me. I wanted to make sure that she had at least one person who would be there to fight for her if you couldn’t get here.”

Soon, the house was buzzing with activity as OMI worked on securing the crime scene.

We stayed long enough for the mandatory interviews and agreed not to leave town.

This was a huge investigation that would span across several agencies, so it was going to take some time before the case was closed.

We said goodbye to Bree, and Quinn promised to check in on her as soon as she was able to.

For now, she would go with child protective services and be placed into foster care until she turns 18.

Since we didn’t want to steal another vehicle or be caught in the truck we had taken to get there in the first place, I called Trevor and asked for a ride.

Max’s wedding was over a few hours ago, and Trevor had skipped out early to check on Mike for me. Instead of taking us to my apartment or Quinn’s, he drove us to another remote cabin and assured me that it was still within the jurisdiction we agreed to stay in.

“How’s he feeling?” Quinn asked from the backseat as we ventured down a bumpy, gravel road. Rosie was buckled in the seat next to her, asleep with her head on Quinn’s shoulder.

“I’ll let you see for yourself,” Trevor said, putting the truck in park.