Shattered

5

Savana takes the clothes and goes to the bathroom to change. "This is going to be the longest day of my life, I think. What is my schedule like? Any changes?"

"Yeah, the sheriff after the first meeting."

"I thought Davison was next?"

"He called and rescheduled. Had some trouble with the feds that he has to take care of today. Apparently he was one of the ones at the auction and he wasn't as easily able to talk himself out of something."

"I see, after that?"

"Apparently Davison wasn't the only one that had trouble with the feds last night. Your schedule cleared up after the sheriff. I don't like that he has your name and number. He's from clear across the states."

"Yeah, me neither. I'll need to talk to my contact at the FBI, sounds like there might be a leak on their end. Still, how did he know to call me?"

"You know that only the feds were aware of you being the one to take the girl in. They are aware that you were the one to buy the girl. None of the others knew."

"I know. I don't like it. Alert the men that there could be a possible attack in the next few days. I want that sheriff taken care of. I think that I'll let the FBI deal with arresting him."

KK looks at Brice in shock, "You aren't going to punish him further?"

"I said that I would let the FBI arrest him. The people from that town need to know just what a nasty man they elected as sheriff. I'll have him dealt with afterwards."

KK smiles nastily, "Yes, let them know just what kind of man they elected as sheriff. You think that he's guilty of other abductions?"

"You can damn well bet on it. If he was willing to kill his brother over Savana. Also, Savana wrote that her boyfriend confronted his brother and said that she was off limits. Sounds to me like little brother was also in on it."

"Perhaps, but it sounds like he tried to save Savana at least."

Savana had come out of the bathroom in time to hear that last bit and gasps in shock. The men look at her guiltily.

Savana shakes her head no. She races over to the pen and paper. "He was a player, but he never kidnapped any of the girls." Savana writes and hands it to Brice.

"Perhaps, but he might also have been scouting them. That's what my father would have his men do. Send one in, have him date her and then break up with her and take her at a later time when our man wouldn't be associated with him."

"Grant could have taken me at any number of times. Times when my parents and others didn't know I was with him. He was always respectful to me, treated me like a lady."

"Perhaps he was truly trying to save you, Savana, I don't know. Perhaps he truly liked you enough to fight for you. He did die for you, so he was willing to fight his brother, but I have no idea if it would have been enough even if his brother had respected his request to leave you and your family alone. We'll never know at this point. Take hold of the fact that he was fighting to keep you away from his brother.

"Did your boyfriend and his brother have a close relationship?" KK wants to know. They need to know just how far the sheriff will go to get Savana back.

"From what the town saw, yes. The two spent a great deal of time together doing things. When Grant's parents died his brother took him in and kept him from going into foster care. Grant thought the world of his brother." Savana writes and as she does she realizes that Grant must have known about what his brother was doing.

"Grant knew, didn't he?" Savana puts the paper down as tears start to fall.

Brice pulls her into his arms. "I'm pretty sure that he did. But that doesn't mean that he didn't honestly try to save you. If he didn't care for you at least some he wouldn't have fought his brother to save you." Brice says awkwardly trying to comfort the broken girl.

KK slips out. He is beyond uncomfortable dealing with crying females. He has some phone calls to make and investigations to get started. The whole situation stinks. But if the sheriff is willing to kill the brother he helped to raise then there is a distinct chance that he'll be stupid enough to try raiding them to get Savana back. He'll find a whole lot of death if he does, but it could cause them trouble with the feds if they don't get their side of the story to them first. Like now.

Brice holds Savana in his arms until he feels her calming down. "I'm sorry. You are thrown into a den of wolves and you have no way of telling which direction you should go."

Savana shakes her head at his words. She finds the paper and pen once more. "You aren't a wolf. You'll protect me, won't you?" Savana writes then looks at Brice anxiously. He was willing to help her before, but that was before the sheriff came along posing a threat to him and his.

"I'm the worst of the wolves, Savana. You are under my care and protection. MY wolves and I will protect you from the sheriff and his thugs. You will be safe here. It is even more imperative that you stay with the guard that I assign you, more now than ever.

"We'll be showing you some safe rooms in case we are attacked. These rooms aren't even known by most of my men. Only KK and I know their location. If we are attacked I want you to make your way to one of them and lock yourself in. Only KK and I know how to open them. You will be safe. There are supplies in there so you will be fine for several days. It shouldn't take that long to deal with things, but sometimes things delay us. We might get delayed having to deal with other law enforcement units. Just keep calm and have patience, we'll get back to you as soon as we can. That is a promise from me to you." Brice tells her and she nods reluctantly with tears in her eyes.

"Time for breakfast, then I have a meeting. I can't reschedule and you can't come. It's about mafia business and if you were to come the man would make overtures that I won't let pass. I'll either start a war with him or kill him."

Savana looks horrified at his words. She shakes her head.

Brice does his best to reassure her. "If he doesn't see you everything will be fine. After the meeting the sheriff from your hometown will be calling. You can come for that, but you must be quiet. I'll be getting information from him and telling him a shit load of lies. If he hears you in the room he'll be far more likely to attack to get you back." Brice doesn't like how white she looks.

"I'll have KK stand by you, if you look like you can't take it I'll have him take you out." Brice tells her then offers her his arm. "Would you like to go down to the dining room with me or eat here?"

Savana grabs hold of his arm, but Brice can feel her shaking. "No worries Little one, I have instructed my men that they aren't to bother you. They will respect you or be punished for it." Brice says that last in a very hard voice. That causes Savana to look at him.

"Disobeying a direct order from me is punished severely, Savana. If they disobey often then they aren't allowed to stay with me any longer." Brice tells her and doesn't realize just how scary he's become when he says this. Yet, far from scaring her, this actually reassures Savana. She trusts Brice and feels safe with him even when he tells her himself that she shouldn't.