Break, page 16
He’s staring at me, slowly shaking his head like he’s never seen me before. “So, you’re going to stand there and tell me you’re refusing to help me? Your best friend? Just because you’re worried about your precious business?”
Standing taller, I face him, planting my hands like him and glare back. “And you’re going to stand there and ask me to risk my livelihood because you can’t wait a few weeks? Trust the process to get you out of this if you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“If?” he snarls.
Huffing out a laugh, I let my fury at him filter out of my system. “Are you kidding me, Danny? That’s all you heard? Trust the process, man. Do this right and keep yourself out of trouble. That’s what you need to do right now. Not running around and trying to hunt her down simply to clear the air. Talk with a lawyer and set up a mediation between the two of you if they’ll allow it.”
“Fuck you and fuck all of this shit! How can you stand there and let me go through this when there is a simple solution? I just need to talk to her.” He’s fuming. His face is turning red, and I can see the tendons bulging from his neck.
Is this the Danny that Mina has had to face for the last five years of her life? And what the fuck is this shit about her father?
Pointing at him with a piece of wood, I say, “You need to calm down. Think this through. If you want to talk afterwards, you know my number.”
He doesn’t say another word as he spins on his heel and storms out of my workshop, slamming the door behind him. I don’t move from my spot until I hear the engine of his car start, followed by the sound of gravel kicking up and hitting the garage as he peels out of my driveway.
I need to go inside and find out what the hell this woman went through before she ever said ‘I do’ to that monster.
Chapter 21
Paper
Ethan
When the front door opens and I only hear one set of footsteps, I let my body finally relax. I heard a car a few minutes ago, but I didn’t want to let my guard down until I knew for sure that he was gone.
Max is seeing red as he walks past the door without looking at me. Once I hear his foot hit the bottom step to head upstairs, I’m up and circling the desk to follow. I don’t walk; I run up behind him, ready to stop him since I’m unsure what happened while he was talking to Danny. The last thing we need is a confrontation between him and Mina when she’s already feeling like an exposed nerve with Danny showing up unannounced.
“Max,” I whisper. He’s already reaching to grab the handle to the door of her room, and I put my hand on his wrist, stopping him. “What are you doing?”
When his gaze connects with mine, I’m taken aback by his tortured expression. He looks absolutely wrecked. His breaths are shallow, battling whatever war is raging inside of him. I furrow my brows in confusion, wondering what happened outside for him to have a reaction like this.
“Did you know her father abused her?” he chokes out and my head rears back in shock. My hand falls from him as I take a step back. He’s let go of the doorknob for the time being.
I run my hand over my chin before crossing my arms and widening my stance, processing his question. “Why do you think her father was abusing her? What did he say to you?”
Letting out a humorless laugh, he holds his arms out to the side like he has no idea how to handle more shit in her already fucked-up story. “Some fucked-up shit about how he saved her from her parents. They were strict, but he made sure to let me know that her dad was beating the shit out of her. Said that there’s no way we didn’t see it or hear it or some shit.”
I look to where I know Mina is sitting behind the door, worrying for what she’s had to endure at the hands of her parents. Christ, she was just a little thing back then. Why did she never say anything to us? Ask for help? We were right there almost every day.
“And you were going to what? Charge in there and confront her about it?” I press my finger to the space between my eyes to relieve some of the tension building there.
Max opens and then shuts his mouth. Watching him think over what he was intending to do would be comical if this wasn’t such a nightmare. Sighing, he looks at me helplessly. “I have no idea. I think I just needed to see that she was okay. Maybe?”
“So do that. Don’t press her about her parents right now. She just had a shock with her ex showing up unannounced. Timing is everything. It’s either your best friend or your worst enemy.”
His body relaxes, and he gives me a slight nod. “Alright. I’ll just… check on her. Let her know he’s gone.”
I move to stand behind him while he knocks on the door. We both wait silently for a moment, hearing nothing from inside the room. Max knocks one more time a little louder. He shoots me an unreadable look when she still doesn’t answer, then goes ahead and turns the knob.
As the door swings open, I see Mina in the middle of the room, surrounded by white. Her back is facing us while sitting cross-legged, hunched over to work on something in front of her. Quickly, I scan the space around her and try to understand what I’m seeing.
It’s a fucking town… of paper.
Her sling is balled up and resting next to her, I assume so she can use both hands to create the intricate buildings. There are buildings with windows, doors, steeples, and chimneys. How the fuck did she have time to make all this?
The ream of paper I gave her earlier this week is to her right, the pile of unused sheets running low. Making a mental note to grab her another one, I take a look at Max and see his face has gone slack. My elbow makes contact with his side, and it’s enough to jerk him out of his stupor.
Shaking his head, he takes a step forward into the room, giving me enough space to follow him in and step around to get closer and see her better.
“Mina,” Max calls out to her. I’m sure she heard us enter her room, but she doesn’t respond. Instead, she holds the piece she’s currently working on up closer to her face. With a pair of tweezers, she starts cinching the edges together to create the shape that she needs.
Moving further inside so I can see her profile, I watch her hands as she works on the paper structure. Her movements precise and delicate. She’s completely lost in her creation, oblivious to Max and me standing in her room.
“Mina,” Max repeats, louder this time. She startles at the sound of his voice, dropping the tweezers and knocking over a small building in the process. Her eyes flick up to us, and for a moment she looks bewildered, like she’s forgotten where she is.
“Danny’s gone,” Max tells her, his voice gentle. “You don’t need to worry about him anymore.”
Mina blinks, her eyes darting between us before settling on the town of paper in front of her. “Oh,” she says softly, adding nothing else.
Max takes a few steps closer to her, his eyes scanning over the paper structures with fascination. “This is amazing,” he says, sounding genuinely impressed. Emotion is clogging his voice, and I don’t think it’s because of what happened moments ago with Danny. This is something else.
She frowns down at her miniature city and straightens the building that was knocked over. She adjusts it until it’s back in the perfect position.
Then it all clicks for me.
The paper. The zoning out. The attention to detail.
This is her coping mechanism. This is how she deals with feeling out of control in her surroundings. She comes here and absorbs herself into a model world of perfection and beauty to escape. It’s her habit and I’m so fucking thankful I thought to give her that stack of paper.
Squatting down, I take a closer look at the buildings and a sense of awe rolls over me. Damn, she’s really fucking talented at this. Creating some of these structures must have taken years of practice to perfect, and it’s fucking impressive.
The noise of blood rushing through my ears grows louder and the word ‘years’ plays on a loop through my head. Years of learning this skill, years of coping. Which means Danny probably wasn’t full of shit when he shared what her home life was like with her parents. And that makes my heart ache for the woman sitting in front of me. She’s focused back on finishing her task, ignoring the fact that the two of us are next to her and watching.
I reach out a hand to touch her shoulder, but hesitate, unsure if I should disturb her. Max is still standing near the door, uneasy about how we’ve found her, but I don’t focus on that right now. Mina is the one that needs my full attention.
Speaking softly, I ask, “Can I help you with anything?”
Her eyes are filled with uncertainty when she looks at me, then back down at her town. “Help me?” she repeats softly.
“Yeah, if you’d like me to,” I reply with a small smile. “You’ve been helping around here enough times. It’s the least I can do to return the favor.”
Darting her eyes back to Max, she looks hopeful for a brief moment before doubt clouds her features. She shutters whatever thoughts she had back inside, deep where I can’t access it.
“I don’t think there’s anything I need help with right now, but… umm, thank you for the offer.” She looks nervous as she flicks another glance at Max. There’s something there that’s making her uneasy, and I want to unpack it to see what it is.
“Do you mind if I sit with you?” Waving my hand toward her structures, I add, “Will you tell me about all of this and what you’re doing? It’s very impressive.”
She sucks in a breath, surprised at my question. “N-No… I don’t mind if you stay.” Staring at what I can now tell is a tree in her hand, she holds it out so I can see. “It’s just a tree. I’m going to put it in front of that house.” She nods her head toward a Victorian looking two-story that actually has decorative mill-work under the roofline.
“I, uhh… I’ve got some phone calls to make. I just… Fuck. Mina? Are you okay?” Max fumbles through his question.
Looking back at him, she keeps her face blank when she asks, “He’s really gone?”
Giving her a sharp nod, he assures her. “Yes. He’s most definitely gone.”
I hear a small, breathy sigh of relief from her slightly parted lips. “Good.” I wince when an awkward silence ensues between the two of them; her ignoring his question of wanting to know if she’s okay, and him waiting for the reassurance she won’t give him.
Scratching the side of his face, he takes a step back toward the door. “Right then. I’ll leave you to it. Let me know if you need anything at all.”
He doesn’t wait for her answer, turning quickly and striding out the door like there’s fire licking his heels. I need to know what that was all about, so I stand up rather quickly, drawing her attention to my movement.
“I’m going to go get another thing of paper for you. I’ll be right back.”
She attempts to smile, and I feel relieved that I’ve done something right for her. Hurrying out the door, I follow the sound of Max through the house. I head in that direction after making a stop to grab more paper from the office.
As I walk, I can hear Max muttering to himself in frustration. Making it to the kitchen, I see him with both of his hands planted on the counter, fingers spread wide, and head hanging low.
“Talk,” I grit out. He knows what I’m asking because he doesn’t look confused by my demand.
“The town. The houses. You know what all that is, right?” he asks me without looking up.
Huffing out an unamused laugh, I cross my arms and legs after leaning back against the counter. “Oh yeah. But that’s not what’s bothering you.”
Lifting his head, he gives me a pained expression. “It is, and it isn’t. I realized something when we were up there and it’s fucking killing me right now.” Waiting him out, he lets out a groan. “Do you remember when we were in middle school, and I got in trouble for bringing that knife to scare the shit out of that kid that was running his mouth about my mom? Danny and I both got suspended.”
“Yeeeaah.” I draw out my response because this is a random time to bring up some crap from over a decade ago.
“Yeah, well, she’s the one that reported us. We were pissed at her, and thought she deserved a little revenge.” His laugh is borderline hysterical. “We sneaked into her bedroom while everyone was at school to teach her a lesson. I don’t remember much of her room, but what I do remember is that when we looked around, there was barely anything in there. Bare walls, bare shelves, bare floor.”
Dread fills me, even though I don’t know where he’s going with this. I know it’s bad, though. “I’m not following.”
“What she did have in her room was this massive house.” Holding his hands out, he shows me roughly the size and shape. My eyebrows lift in surprise at how huge the thing must have been. “It was as big as a dollhouse, all made out of paper. Newspaper, colored paper; some she’d even drawn and decorated herself with pencil to add details like wallpaper and outlets and stuff. Clearly, this thing was important to her because it was the only thing in there aside from a stuffed animal on her bed.”
My shoulders tense and I growl out, “What’d you do?” I don’t remember either of them telling me about this when we were younger.
He looks tortured as his eyes beg me to understand. “We destroyed it. Cut it up with the knives we got in trouble for having, dumped water on it to ruin the paper. We left that fucking thing in a pile of mashed pulp.”
Taking a deep breath, I control my anger at the younger version of Max and grit my teeth so I don’t say something I regret. “Man, that… I don’t even know what to say!”
“Walking into her room just now, seeing what she’s been doing in there and FUCK. How much she’s gotten done since she’s been here? It hit me like a fucking train when I realized why she does it in the first place and I… I took that away from her when she was a goddamn child.”
Closing my eyes, I think through our next steps. It’s no wonder that this woman sees us as her enemies. As her fucking bullies. “Look. I’m not excusing what you did because Christ, Max… that’s some next level psycho shit right there. But you were a stupid kid. Talk to her about it and apologize. You can at least do that.”
Nodding, he looks back down at the counter. “Yeah, I know I have to do that, at least. I’m going to give Vince a call, let him know Danny showed up unannounced after I call Coop.”
“Vincent needs to move here for a bit. You’ve got another room, and I’d feel more comfortable with extra eyes. Especially now that we know he could come sniffing around,” I tell him. Bouncing the package of paper against my thigh, I catch Max looking.
Pointing his chin at it, he asks, “You gonna take that up to her?”
“Yeah, she’s almost out.”
He quirks his lips at me. “I’ll make sure she gets more. Some real pretty stuff.”
Snorting, I decide I’m done with this conversation and head to the door. Over my shoulder, I call out to him. “You should do that. Small first step toward a bit of groveling.”
Chuckling, he agrees. Then stops me before I’m out of the room. “Hey, Ethan? I don’t think we should pretend with Danny anymore. I can’t do that again. I’ll fill you in later on everything he said, but his entire purpose of showing up was to ask me if I can find her location from my contacts at the station. He’s absolutely looking for her.”
“I have no problem with that. Let’s push to get her stuff from their house and be done with his bullshit. He’s dead to me in my book already.”
“Let him dig his own grave and all that?”
Striding out of the room to head back to Mina, a dark feeling passes over me. “I plan to dig it for him.”
Chapter 22
Making my Move
Vincent
Sitting in the meeting room while Coop briefs the whole station about the last weeks’ worth of cases, I pull my phone out when I feel it vibrate in my pocket. I slide my finger across the screen and notice I have two missed calls from Max. Knowing I’ll be calling him back as soon as I get out of here; I read the short text from Ethan.
Ethan: We’re going to need you to move in here while Danny gets sorted out.
Me: I can do that. What’s going on?
Ethan: Danny showed up at the house today.
Gripping my phone in my hand, I snarl my lip at Ethan’s message. Fuck!
Me: Goddamnit! What did he do when he saw her?
Ethan: We saw him coming, so she hid upstairs. Didn’t let him in the house. Max is going to call Cooper and you if he hasn’t already. He’s looking for her.
Me: I missed the call, but I’ll grab Coop after the brief and we’ll call Max. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll run home after my shift and grab some shit to stay there.
Ethan: Also, change in plans. We’re not pretending with Danny any longer.
Me: Thank God. We’ll call soon.
Turning my phone off, I tuck it away and wait until the brief is over before flagging Cooper down. He looks exhausted and I hate to give him one more thing to do, but he’s got to know Danny is on the move.
“What’s going on, Mercer?” he asks as I approach the front of the room.
“Just got a text. Reed showed up at Max’s place this morning. Figured you’d want to be in on the call.” I wave my phone at him.
With irritation lacing his voice, he groans, “Damn it. Let’s go to my office. Grab Singh and Harrow.”
“Why Harrow?” I understand grabbing my partner, but Andy Harrow is newer in the department. He’s not new new to the job, but he transferred in a few months ago right before me, after spending ten years at his previous place.
“I assigned the Reed investigation to him. He’s good, and I figured we could use someone who doesn’t know any of the parties involved.” He arches a brow to remind me I’m one of those parties.
After grabbing my partner, then stopping by Harrow’s office next, we all cram into Cooper’s office, taking seats around his desk. He dials Max’s number and puts the call on speaker.
