Aaron's P.O.V.
I cut the meeting short and hurried back into the house and looked around. Thea must still be gone.
Kevin walked over to us, "Aaron, I have a bad feeling about this. I think maybe you should hold off on tomorrow's take down."
"We were just talking about that. Something isn't right, that's why I sent more men to Thea. We're heading over now, you want to come?"
"Yes."
We were about to head out when I got a call from one of the guards. "What?"
"Boss, we got company. It's Mrs. Hales' boss and Captain Gray."
What the fuck were they here for?
"Thea said there's a lead that Gray could be crooked. Let them in but be advised."
"Yes sir."
I hung up and turned towards the girls. "Sofia, take Noah and Annie to my safe room."
"Dad!"
"Go, Sofia." I demanded.
Derek and Kevin went over, trying to get the girls to listen. They kissed them before the three ran over to the safe room.
We all grabbed our weapons and had them visible as Briggs and Gray walked in the house, surprised to see Kevin.
"Why are you here?"
Briggs stepped forward, "We need to speak with Thea."
"She isn't here."
Gray came forward with a folder. "You need to get back here as soon as possible. She's not safe."
I walked forward until I was standing in front of Gray, doing everything in my power to kill this man. "That's funny. She left here to follow up on a lead proving you're a dirty cop."
"What?" Gray looked genuinely confused... and my heart fucking started beating faster. I could read people and something told me Gray had no idea what I was talking about and Thea was walking herself into a trap.
"I'm not dirty. I swear. We came here as soon as Torres called me. Miguel escaped custody a few hours ago. When they checked Miguel's bunk they found this..." he handed me a picture. "He was etching Thea's name into the wall next to his bed."
I clenched my jaw as he continued. "And the prison where the men that murdered Thea's family were being held. The guards did a sketch of the woman that used Thea's ID badge a few days ago." He flipped over the picture. "That's Margaret Scott. One of her homicide partners."
I was numb.
"Where is Thea?" Briggs asked again.
"That woman's house." I turned around and was about to call Beck but he called me first.
"Please tell me you are on your way home with Thea!"
He was breathing heavily. "Aaron. She's gone."
I took a chair and whipped it across the house, shattering it into pieces. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SHE'S GONE?"
"She had an earpiece in, when she said Miguel's name we all rushed in but it was too late. They took the roof and got into a helicopter."
"GET YOUR ASSES BACK HERE NOW!"
I hung up the phone and looked back at Briggs and Gray. "You might want to leave because you're not going to want to see what I'm capable of."
"If it's possible, we'd like to stay."
I nodded and headed into my office.
Soon, everyone was back here and I had Tristan following the helicopter through satellites.
"They landed in a field and got into a car. From there we lose them through this tunnel."
"Where the fuck did they go?"
"Zac and Mike are heading back to us now. They found the car abandoned in the tunnel so they switched vehicles. Watch as this random car enters." He paused and fast forwarded the video... "about two minutes later, they exit. This is with normal traffic, so if it takes this car two minutes to exit... when Miguel parks, they all get out and into a different car. Depending how Thea cooperated, I'd say three to five minutes for them to get through."
He messed with the video and backtracked to when they entered again. "See all these vehicles that enter." He fast forwarded slowly, "this silver one never enters. This one is them, the timing is perfect and that one didn't enter the tunnel since I started watching. They head east, then I lose the signal."
"They're in the valley. It turned into a ghost town after that mine shut down. It's where I would go."
"Aaron, Thea gave this to me before she went into Maggie's house." Justin handed me Thea's wedding ring.
I've never been so happy that she took it off. "Good. That means they don't know we're married... that's a good thing."
I looked up at Derek's and my men. "Change of plans. We're going in tonight."
****
Thea's P.O.V.
My head hurt.
My body ached.
"Wakey, wakey." He gently lifted my chin so I was looking at him.
"Fuck you!" I spat at Miguel.
Wiggling his eyebrows, he smiled. "Gladly."
Miguel tucked my hair behind my ears, removing it from my eyes. His finger outlined my jawline, down my throat to the tops of my breast.
"Stop!" I warned behind gritted teeth. He pulled back with the smile still plastered to his face.
I looked over to see Maggie sitting on a chair by the table. She played nervously with her fingers and was avoiding all eye contact, like students do to avoid being called on by the teacher.
I followed the two men that walked into the room, also smiling as they eyed me. I recognize them as the Rojas brothers.
"La vas a compartir con nosotros, Miguel?" (Are you going to share her with us, Miguel?)
"Ese es mío, amigos." (That one's mine, fellas.)
"Sé lo que me gustaría hacerle." (I know what I'd like to do to her.)
"Ella puede hablar español, imbéciles." (She can speak Spanish, you morons.)
"Can she now?" Luis said in his thick Spanish accent. "Cariño, di la palabra y te llevaré a la otra habitación y sacudiré tu mundo." (Baby, say the word and I'll take you into the other room and rock your world.)
"Vete a la mierda, idiota." (Fuck off, dipshit.)
His smile faded and he stood up straight. Winding his hand back and hit me across the face, hard.
Fuck that hurt but I did everything in my power not to show them it hurt.
Miguel got in Luis' face. "I said this one's mine."
Luis backed off and went and sat down next to Tomas.
"One thing I love about you is how strong you are. You're not some damsel that jumps when some man says." He glared at Maggie before looking back over at me. "But don't piss them off, Thea." Miguel warned.
"Aren't you supposed to be in jail? How the hell did you get out?"
"I told you I wasn't going to let that happen."
"So what's the plan? Huh?"
"I'm not going to give you all the details but I'm putting a bullet in Aaron's fucking head. Then you and I are getting on an airplane and we're going to my father's estate."
"Together?"
He smiled and winked at me.
I chuckled under my breath, "He's going to find you and when he does... I wouldn't want to be you."
"He's never going to find us here. Trust me, I've planned this a very long time down to every death. My arrest. My escape. Getting you. Everything has gone as planned and so will this. Aaron thinks Gray is a leak, pretty sure that will keep him busy for a while."
I wouldn't underestimate my husband, you asshole.
He smiled as he messed around on his phone and turned it back towards me seeing it was a New York news clip.
'A highly respected man. Captain Anthony Gray was shot outside of the New York Police Department just moments ago.'
"I see that look in your eye, you thought he was coming to save you. Aaron is probably being questioned as we speak. Maggie called Ethan all worried about what she saw on the news and he told her Aaron is the number one suspect. So if you think he's looking for you, he's not. Now he's pretty swift so he will be released and that's when it will happen. Don't worry though, I'll take good care of you."
This guy was off his rocker.
"Would you like anything to eat?"
I didn't answer him.
He grabbed my cheek, "Would you like anything to eat?"
I gritted my teeth. "No!" I pulled out of his grasp and looked away.
"Fine. We'll be back."
The Rojas got up and followed Miguel out, showing me it was Miguel still pulling all the strings here.
I was having a hard time believing that the article was real. Surely after I wasn't at Maggie's, everyone would know Maggie set me up.
I still had hope.
"Are you going to say anything to me?" Maggie finally spoke.
I sarcastically chuckled. "I have absolutely nothing to say to you."
"I'm sorr-"
"DON'T! Don't you dare. You don't get to apologize and I definitely don't want to hear any more lies coming from you."
"Andre was my cousin."
My eyes widened but I didn't look at her.
"Nobody obviously knew. I didn't even know he was here in New York until I saw him one night at the bar with Miguel. I confronted him and told him to leave but he wouldn't. He promised me he wouldn't get in my way at work. As time went on he kept his promise to me and I kept working. Then I ran into Miguel again and..." she started crying. I looked over as she continued. "I fell in love with him. He used me, Thea. Had me doing all this shit and then you got fucking involved from there. After Andre died that's when I saw how obsessed Miguel was with you. He never even loved me... Believe what you will but I am sorry."
"Thea?"
I jumped.
"What happened?" Maggie asked in a high pitched voice.
"Thea, baby it's me."
Aaron.
My earpiece. I still had it in.
I let out a sigh of relief. I knew they would find me.
"It was nothing. I thought I saw a rat."