Page 74 of Reckless
Something flickered in Kate’s expression before she said, “That is something no one has been able to figure out. Could have been one of the old guard or someone new.”
“Why didn’t they do away with Jazz’s brother?” Liam asked. He sent her an apologetic look, but she was actually wondering the same thing.
“They knew they’d have a tougher time with Jazz by herself. They figured they could use Brody to control her.”
And they had. How many times had Arthur made threats against Brody to keep her in line? How many times had Brody been abused because of something she should have been punished for?
“It worked,” Jazz said softly. “They knew exactly what they were doing.”
“The FBI was looking for you, but Arthur Kelly was not even a blip on their radar. Then, one day, Brody overheard Arthur bragging about how his ship would finally come in when you were eighteen and could be used for what you were intended.”
“What?” Jazz’s mouth felt so dry, she wondered if anyone had even heard her.
A bottle of water appeared in her line of sight, and Xavier leaned forward and whispered, “Take a sip, baby.”
She did as she was told, taking several fortifying swallows before she was able to say in a surprisingly calm and coherent voice, “Kate, how do you know what Brody overheard?”
As if her words weren’t going to cause a massive hemorrhage in their relationship the minute she uttered them, Kate said quietly, “Because your brother has been working with me for over a decade.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Jazz distantly heard Xavier curse, and she thought Serena might’ve gasped. There was a roaring in her ears, though, so hearing anything substantial was out of the question. She even knew that Kate’s lips continued to move, but Jazz had completely zoned out.
Brody had been working with Kate for ten years? Brody had known where she was all along? Kate had known how badly she wanted to find her brother and had never told her?
Trust had never been one of Jazz’s strong points, and right now, she was sure it no longer existed in any form.
“Breathe, Jazz,” Xavier said beside her.
A gasping sob burst from her lungs, making her realize she had been holding her breath for who knew how long.
“I know you’re hurting, Jazz, and I’m so sorry for your pain,” Kate said. “But this was what he wanted.”
“Maybe you should back up a bit, Kate,” Ash said. “I don’t think she heard your last few sentences.”
Kate sent a grateful look at Ash and then turned back to Jazz. “A few years back, I was in Chicago, and I saw a man who looked almost identical to Connor coming out of a restaurant. I knew he had to be Brody. He didn’t see me, but I followed him to an apartment building. He went inside, and so did I. When I knocked on his door, I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t the hard-faced, soulless-looking man who answered the door.
“I introduced myself, and he allowed me to come inside. What he told me I’ve never told another soul. I know for a fact Brody wouldn’t appreciate me telling you now, but if you’re feeling what I think you’re feeling, then you need to know all the facts.”
Kate paused and took a breath. “When you were living in Indianapolis, the Irish mob found Brody and wanted him to reveal your location. He refused. Even though he knew he was abandoning you, he couldn’t allow them to find you and use you.” She gave Jazz a telling look as she added, “They weren’t kind.
“Instead of killing him, they forced him to work for them, but he had no freedom. He was their prisoner, doing what they told him to do, but he had absolutely no autonomy. He managed to sneak away from them one day and went to the apartment, hoping you’d still be there. You had been long gone by then, and the place was cleaned out. He had no clue what had happened to you.
“We had a long talk, and I gave him a chance to escape the mob. His only request was that I find you and give you a home. It took over a year before someone spotted you on the streets in Chicago.”
Jazz remembered that day well. It had been snowing, and she had spent an uncomfortable night in an alleyway, beneath a large rug she’d found in the dumpster. She had been living on the streets for two years by then. Going to homeless shelters or churches had been out of the question. She had still been a minor, and they would have been obligated to report her to the authorities. It had been rough, scary as hell, and often humiliating, but she had survived. Whenever she thought about those days, that’s what she reminded herself: She had survived.
Kate had walked up to her on the sidewalk and introduced herself. To this day, Jazz didn’t know if she’d trusted Kate because she had been so hungry and cold, or if she had recognized that the woman truly did want to help her. Either way, Kate had walked to a car, and Jazz had silently followed her like Kate was the Pied Piper. From that moment on, she had never wanted for anything.
Jazz cleared her throat and managed a raspy, “So the same people who took Brody…they’re the ones who tried to kidnap me in Indianapolis?”
“I imagine there were lots of people looking for you,” Kate said. “Those goons likely got tipped off by the kid in the market and saw some easy cash.”
She could only imagine what her life would have been like if they had caught her. And Brody…sweet heavens, what had they done to her brother?
“Did you order Brody to kill Franco Bass?”
The question surprised everyone, not just because it was a major subject change, but also because it had come from Jules, who was looking at Kate as if she’d never seen her before.