Master

Chapter Eighteen

Hi my luvs. How are all of you doing so far this year? I seriously hope it's better than mine. It's just been aggravating, stressful, heartbreaking and my emotions are going crazy. Anyway, the only small ray of sunshine, apart from my Brat Pack, is that my stories are now available on Hinovel as well. I won't be taking them down from Wattpad, but I would really appreciate it if you guys could go show me some love there as well. I should have all of them fully uploaded within the next few weeks and my username is still MMSmit. In other news, I am now almost 10 months free of smoking and it's starting to get a bit easier to cope with. DON't ever start smoking people. It's a terrible habit.

Hayden's POV

Corey cuddled further into my body and I could feel the tension in his body as we sat down and waited for Greg to tell us what he has managed to find out. The grim look on his face didn't bode well, so I held my baby tightly against me. 

I knew he was exhausted after the panic attack he had and all I wanted to do was go to the room and lay down with him so he could get some rest. But that was not an option right now, unfortunately, so I just held Corey close and tried to comfort him as much as possible.

Greg eyed Corey in sympathy, before shaking his head and muttering something under his breath about assholes for fathers, before pulling a file out of his briefcase and dropping it on the desk between us. "It's not looking too good Hayden. This man is pure scum. He's involved in so many illegal activities, made to look like normal transactions. I had to dig deep for all of this, and I have to give it to the fucker, he knows how to cover his tracks."

I nodded my thanks as he finished talking and picked up the folder. Corey turned around so he could look at the folder and I left him to do so, even though I was worried about what we would find in those pages. He had a right to know though, so with that in mind, I opened the folder and my stomach dropped as I read through the information on the first page and I felt Corey tense up and suddenly turn towards me again, hiding his face into my neck.

The first page was a report on an incident that happened at Mark Reylan's company. Apparently a female employee was viciously attacked during the company's annual Christmas party. She specifically identified Mark and a few other male executives, but before anything could actually be done with the charges, she had withdrawn them, stating she was drunk and she had made a mistake. The strange part was that barely a few days later, she had left the company and moved to the other side of the continent. She left behind all her friends and family and dropped all contact with them.

At the bottom of the page were pictures of the woman's face and body, and it was these images that caused my baby to turn away in disgust. She was covered in cuts and bruises. The left side of her face almost unrecognizable with how swollen and bruised it was. Her lips had multiple cuts. Her make-up was smudged across her face and her eyes looked blank as she just stared into the camera, completely numb from her trauma. The rest of her body was pretty much the same as her face, more cuts and bruises everywhere.

Something about the bruise just above her jaw line caught my eye, so I leaned closer for a better look. "Does anyone have a magnifying glass for me?" I asked and Randy pulled open a drawer. He rummaged through it for a few seconds, before pulling out what I was looking for. 

I took it and held it over the picture that had caught my attention and there it was. What looked like a distinct print of a ring, was clear as daylight on the girl's face. I really didn't want to do what I did next, but I didn't have much of a choice. We needed answers and Corey was the only one who could give us those answers.

"Baby, I know you don't want to, but can you maybe look at this picture and tell me if you recognize it?" I asked and I felt him sigh against my neck before he moved, lifting his head. He looked into my eyes and I could see the tears he was holding at bay and my heart broke for him. I really wish this wasn't necessary. I kissed him on his forehead and felt him relax against me, before he pulled away completely and looked down at the picture I was inspecting.