Getting the Edge: Betrayed Book 1 (7 page)

How in the world could she think that putting him in prison would do anything but destroy his entire life?

He’d been a damn good cop. That was how they’d met, in fact. She’d been the only witness to a brutal murder. At first, he’d only been concerned with keeping her safe, but all the time they’d spent together and he’d found himself falling in love with her.

Since she’d refused to go into witness protection, he’d insisted that she stay with him. He hadn’t told anyone at work—but at least she’d been safe. There was little doubt that if the man responsible for the murder could get to her that he would.

Now, he found himself wondering if she’d really even been a witness at all.

His mind replayed that fateful day that everything had gone so wrong…

“Detective Walsh, we’ve just gotten a report of an assault on the woman that witnessed that murder six months ago or so.”

Brandon’s heart stopped. “Amanda Wilson?” he asked with his heart in his throat.

The desk sergeant looked down at a piece of paper. “Yeah, that’s the name. She’s over at County right now. The ER called it in.”

Brandon spun around and ran from the building. He didn’t even remember the drive to the ER.

He flashed his badge at the harried nurse at the ER admissions desk. “Amanda Wilson,” he snapped. “What room?”

The nurse looked at him with a frown, but looked down at her computer. “She’s in cubicle six, but you can’t go back there just yet, the doctors…”

Brandon didn’t hear anything else past the room number. He ran through the doors and found the curtained room marked six and yanked the curtain back.

“Oh my God,” he muttered hoarsely. Amanda’s face was swollen; both her eyes were blackened and nearly swollen shut. There was a cut on her lip that a female doctor was stitching closed.

He walked to her and took her hand. “I’m here, love. I’m here.”

“Sir, you need to wait outside,” the doctor admonished. “No visitors are approved at this point, per the police.”

Brandon held up his badge. “I am the police.”

The doctor frowned, but continued with her work. Brandon stood silently holding Mandy’s hand as he waited for her to finish. He knew Mandy couldn’t talk when someone was sewing her lip closed.

His mind was racing. The trial for the murderer she’d identified was due to start in a week. He’d been so careful! How had they found her?

Finally, the doctor put down her instruments. “Keep the questions to a minimum, Officer. It’s going to be quite painful for Miss Wilson to speak.”

Brandon nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. “Tell me what happened, sweetheart,” he said gently.

Amanda looked at him. Her eyes were so swollen, he was surprised she could open see him at all. “Go away,” she said dully, her voice slurred due to the swelling on her mouth.

Brandon shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere, love. I’m so sorry.”

Brandon whirled around when another voice intruded.

“You should be, Walsh.”

Brandon’s head swung around. “Excuse me? Who the hell are you?”

“Detective Henderson. IAB.”

Brandon was confused. What the hell was Internal Affairs doing here? This was an assault on a protected witness. It had nothing to do with IAB. “Why are you here? What the hell happened to Amanda?”

Henderson walked into the small cubicle. “You will need to come with me, Detective Walsh,” was the only reply.

Brandon looked at Mandy. “I’ll be right back, love,” he said. He knew that there would be hell to pay for his becoming involved with a witness, but just then, he didn’t give a damn.

He stood and followed the other detective from the room.

“All right, tell me what’s going on here. Have they caught the assailant? Was it Grogen and his goons?” Grogen was supposed to be locked up, but Brandon wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d somehow arranged bail. He had a lot of friends.

Henderson’s face contorted in disgust. “You know damn well what happened to that young lady, Walsh. You beat the hell out of her.”

A soft moan brought him out of his musings.

“Thirsty,” Amanda whispered.

Brandon grabbed the cup next to the bed and filled it with the ice water the tech had left. He held it to her lips when her hand shook as she tried to grab it. “Just drink,” he growled as she tried to take it from him.

Mandy gave in and took a much needed sip from the straw, glaring.

Brandon waited until she was done, then sat the cup down on the bedside stand. “We need to talk,” he said quietly.

She sighed. “I think we’ve said everything there is to say. I know exactly what you think of me.”

“Why did you say you did it to protect me?” he asked softly.

Amanda’s eyes widened.
What did I say?
“Excuse me?”

“I’m not in the mood for games, Mandy. Tell me what happened. We both know I didn’t beat the shit out of you. I’ve never raised a hand to a woman in my life—but so help me, I’m just about ready to flip you across my lap right now,” he growled.

“So much for not hitting women,” she snapped.

“That’s right,” he agreed. “But I didn’t say I wouldn’t spank a petulant child.”

“I’m not a child!”

Brandon tilted his head and almost grinned. Well, at least she had some color to her cheeks, now. “Then stop acting like one.” And damned if he wouldn’t get that spanking in, too!

She puffed out her cheeks and sighed. “What do you want me to say, Brandon? I can’t talk about it.”

“Amanda, I need to know. More than that, I deserve to know. You cost me my job, my friends and my freedom. Remember?”

“What do you think I cost myself?” she hissed, sliding up and glaring at him. “I’ve been running and hiding. What kind of freedom do you think I’ve had?”

“You haven’t been locked in a damn cage twenty-three hours a day, have you?”

“No. I haven’t,” she admitted. “Look, Brandon, just let me go. I don’t want to fight anymore. I just want to live my life.”

“Yeah, so do I!”

“Then go home and leave me alone, Brandon. There is nothing I can tell you. Don’t you understand? I can’t tell you! Even if I wanted to, I can’t.”

Brandon saw the truth in her words. My God, she’d been forced. All this time, he’d hated her—and she’d been forced. It was his turn to pale.

He’d stood to give her the water, but now, he slumped into the chair next to the bed. “Tell me,” he said softly.

Mandy felt her eyes burn with tears, but she didn’t let them fall. She’d cried enough. Months’ worth. Tears would solve nothing. “Brandon, please. Just go home. Pretend you never found me. It’s safer for both of us.” God, how she wished she’d done something different.

For so long, she’d thought each and every day about admitting the lie—but she hadn’t. She’d had to protect him—and it was the only way she could.

“I’m not going anywhere. At least not until you tell me what’s going on. Someone beat you—who was it?”

“I don’t know,” Mandy whispered.

“Mandy, how can you not know?”

“He wore a mask, Brandon. I never saw his face.” She sighed and ran a shaking hand over her face. “I couldn’t tell you if I did.”

“Why?”

Mandy wanted to scream, but she didn’t. It would solve nothing. “Because, Brandon, if you go after them, they will kill us both. They warned me not to say anything, or more people would die.”

Chapter Nine

Brandon suddenly realized that he wasn’t really surprised by her words. Part of him had figured out already that something had been terribly wrong from the moment that damn IAB ass, Henderson, had accused him of beating Amanda. If only he’d been able to talk to her, maybe this could have all been avoided. “I can protect you, Mandy. You have to know I’d protect you with my life.”

“That’s the problem! If you don’t stay away with me, it could mean your life!”

“Amanda, I can take care of myself—and if you’d trusted me, I’d have told you that two years ago,” he growled. “How could you believe I wouldn’t protect you? Besides, Grogen is dead. He was killed. Weren’t you notified?” He wouldn’t let himself be swayed by the brightness of tears in her eyes. He needed to understand. “I’m going to call Kevin and let him know what’s going on here,” he decided. “He can help us.”

Mandy started to shake her head. “No.”

“
No?
Mandy, we need help. I need to know what’s been going on.”

“You can’t tell anyone where I am! Look, I’ll call the police back home and tell them I lied. But you can’t tell anyone where I am!” Her tone was nearly hysterical and Brandon touched her face.

“Shh. Okay. For now, I won’t do anything. You need to rest. We’ll talk when they let you out of here.”

“I can’t,” she said shakily, her eyes closing. “Please, I can’t. Grogen was only part of it.”

“Just sleep, baby. I promise, it’ll be all right. I’m going to make sure it’s all right.” It was a threat and a promise.

Mandy didn’t respond, and he realized that she had actually fallen asleep. The meds had kicked in.

As Mandy slept, Brandon considered the situation. He still thought that he should call Kevin. If anyone could help, it was his attorney—he had connections. But, he’d promised he wouldn’t do anything until they’d talked.

As he watched her, he wondered yet again why she didn’t believe he’d have been able to keep her safe. It hurt more than he wanted to admit that she hadn’t trusted him to do so. Obviously, someone had to have contacted her that fateful night. He hadn’t been scheduled to work that night; but his schedule wasn’t ever the same. It largely depended on the case he was currently focusing on. He’d been just out driving around—of all things, because he’d been trying to think of a way to ask her to marry him. He’d had no alibi. None at all.

So, why had she allowed herself to be beaten so badly? What did someone think he knew that could harm them? Was it because they thought he’d been getting too close?

He couldn’t remember all the facts from the cases he’d been working, but it had been another murder—very similar to the one she’d seen. Too much had happened—but he did remember that he’d been convinced that the two murders were connected. Both the murder that Amanda had witnessed and the second were execution style. He’d been even more careful with Mandy. All of his off-time was spent with her. He’d insisted she stay with him. She’d been worried that his captain would find out and that he’d get in trouble. Nothing he’d said at the time had convinced her not to worry, but his place was secure. Very few people knew where he lived. Well, at least the house that he’d moved to with her.

After that night she’d been assaulted and had accused him, he just figured it was because she was in on whatever was going on. Willingly. It hadn’t dawned on him that there could have been a good reason. Only he had seen the truth when she’d been testifying. No one else had seen the lies that he’d seen. She’d cried as she’d been testifying. The jury, of course, hadn’t taken any time at all to come back with a guilty verdict. He’d been damn lucky he’d only been given two years.

Why had it taken him this long to remember that Amanda couldn’t lie worth a damn? At least not to him. He’d always known when she’d tried. He remembered the day he’d come home from work. His partner had teased him, telling him that she’d been stopped by one of the street cops. Speeding. Amanda had always liked to speed.

When he’d gotten home that night, she’d acted all innocent. He’d asked if anything had happened, and he’d seen the lie instantly when she had said no. He’d laughed at her and said she was a terrible liar. It had been the first time they’d played with spanking. She’d liked it as much as he had.

Though he now knew that she’d felt she had a good reason for what she’d done, he still couldn’t get over the fact that she hadn’t trusted him enough to come to him.

He closed his eyes, suddenly exhausted.

They’d spent hours in the ER, and it had gotten dark hours ago. He glanced at his watch and realized it was past midnight. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. No way in hell was he leaving Mandy alone even for one minute. If they were truly in danger, he’d have to be on guard, but he could at least close his eyes and rest for a while. He hadn’t slept worth shit the night before—too worried she’d try and escape.

A scream awakened him. He was fully alert and automatically reached for the gun on his hip that was, of course, no longer there. “Mandy!” he said sharply.

He looked at her and she was thrashing wildly about the bed, her eyes tightly closed. She was obviously having a nightmare, he realized. One that had her terrified.

“Stop! Please, stop!” she cried.

Brandon shook her awake—or tried to. She seemed to be locked in the nightmare. “Amanda! Wake up!”

A nurse came running into the room, obviously alarmed. “What’s going on in here?”

“She’s having a nightmare, and can’t wake up,” he growled. “Get someone!”

Before the nurse could leave, he noticed her eyes open, though they were wide with fear.

“Shh, baby, it’s okay. I’m here and you’re safe,” he said softly. He brushed the damp hair off her face. “Come on back, Mandy. You’re safe.”