A Debt To Pay

64

LOGAN'S POV:

Archor's trial had been a nightmare. My men were angry. This was something that should've been investigated when the death occurred all those years ago. And because it wasn't, it was my problem now.

I hated how different he acted around his daughters. He was all apologetic with them and yet, while he was being questioned, he didn't act like he cared at all. I was ready to get the formalities out the way and just kill him, he was making life difficult for everyone. He was being tortured in the hopes that he'd admit what he'd done and then, he would be killed. But he refused to say a word.

Finally, I thought he was going to speak up and admit to being guilty when he demanded my presence early this morning. I'd left Mia asleep. She'd been struggling to sleep a lot recently and the last thing I wanted was to wake her. I couldn't stop myself from gently kissing her forehead though before I left.

When I arrived at the warehouse where Archor was being held, I was disappointed to find he didn't want to co-operate. Instead, he told me there was 'something I needed to know' and told me to search one of his warehouses. I was sure it was just a pathetic, wild goose chase but I didn't want to risk it. There was a look in his eye, a challenging glint that I wanted to beat out of him and the sooner I knew what happened the day of Julia's death, the better.

I took a group of men to the address and searched for hours, losing my temper many times when I found nothing. One of my men finally found a loose floorboard and we managed to peel it away to reveal a hollow beneath the floor. I was relieved and ordered them to continue ripping up the floor until they found something when my phone started to ring.

"Hi darling," I said, a smile on my face knowing that she was thinking about me. "Everything okay?"

"Hey," she said, her voice a little softer than normal. I wondered if she'd only just woken up and the thought made me smile. "Everything's fine." I didn't quite believe her but she continued before I had the chance to interrogate her. "I was just wondering where you keep the Christmas decorations. Ash and I thought we'd decorate."

I smiled. "That's a great idea, baby, but I don't have any decorations."

"Why not?" she asked.

I laughed. "I don't usually bother with Christmas," I answered. I never bothered to celebrate Christmas as in my opinion, it was a holiday all about family and spending it alone year after year wasn't worth celebrating. But I knew Mia loved Christmas and the thought of being with her this year made me smile. "I'll send someone to get whatever you need, text me a list, okay?"

"Thank you!" she said excitedly and I laughed before ending the call and turning back to my men.

"What's down there?" I asked them, approaching to see a large gap in the flooring.

One turned to me. "A staircase, sir," he answered.

My phone pinged with a text from Mia and I checked it to see a long list of items. I grinned and forwarded it to some of the soldiers at the house. "Go down and see what's down there then," I barked when I looked back to see all my men staring at me expectantly.

They flinched before scurrying down the stairs and I watched as they disappeared into the darkness before following. I pulled my gun from my holster, wary about what I was about to walk into. I didn't trust Archor in the slightest and I wouldn't put it past him to try and get rid of me so the trial was put on hold or forgotten about altogether.

But I'd made a promise to Mia that no matter what, I'd go home to her and I wasn't about to break that promise.

At the bottom of the stairs was a metal door and I frowned at the sight. Like an idiot, the soldier that had been brave enough to go first tried to break it down but it wasn't even making a dent. "Is there a lock?" I asked, unable to see properly past all of them.