Burn With Me

Chapter 19

Damien

"He's not my husband. He's my stepfather."

My head was ringing from her revelation. The whole room went silent. Not a word was said.

"Please say something," she begged me.

I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

"Damien..." she whispered pleadingly.

I tried again. "I don't understand," I said, still dazed from her admission. "Marcus is your stepfather?"

She nodded.

Then Ty and Michy... oh god. Fury raged inside me.

"Your stepfather is the father of your kids?"

Hallie paled.

"Son of a bitch!" I growled.

"Damien..." she tried to say.

"He fucking touched you? Sick fucking bastard. I swear to god, when I get my hands on him, I'm going to kill him," I vowed.

"Damien..." she sobbed.

I immediately forced myself to calm down.

"Hey. You're safe now. He's never going to hurt you again. I swear it. You are all safe with me, sweetheart," I promised.

She nodded against me.

I looked over to Nate and silently sent him a message, which he got. He nodded, his face hard. Men who abuse women are worthless piece shit.

"Hallie..."

"I don't want you to go after him. I just want him away from Ty and Michy."

"Give us a name and we will do everything we can," Nate promised.

"Marcus. Marcus Barnes."

"Can you send the name to Joaquin so he can get in touch with his guy in the FBI?" Nate asked.

Jake nodded. "On it."

"Can you tell us what you know?"

"He's in an auto-dealership business. It's just a front for a small part of all the illegal things he does. He's involved in prostitution, drugs, and human trafficking. Months before I escaped I was able to get confidential files on all of his illegal operations. It contains all of the names of government and police officials, known businessmen on his payroll."

"Were you able to get a copy of it?" Alan asked.

Hallie nodded. "I have it on a flash drive. I figured I needed it as collateral just in case he gets close. I can give it to you if you'd like."

Nate nodded. "You have no idea how useful it would be. Does he know you have it?"

"I don't think so."

"How did you even discover it?"

"One night I overheard a conversation between Marcus and one of his men. One of the names on his list was threatening to expose him, so he asked his men to send a message letting him know of the files he has on all involved in his illegal operations," she explained. "One night, he threw a party, I was able slip away and quickly search for it in his computer. I had a friend who was good at hacking computers. He helped me."