A Tempting Arrangement (Twisted Vows Book 1)

52. Damon

Bash pullsa bright yellow pillow from underneath him where he crashed on the couch and kicked his feet up onto the table next to Xander. “Cute pillow.”

The two of them take up the entire thing, their arms forced to hang over the sides. This is the first time my brothers have been over, and they’re going to have to get used to it.

Matthias leans against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as a muscle ticks in his jaw.

“What’s the update?” I hand him a glass of whiskey, settling next to him.

“You mean since you fell off the face of the Earth, chasing after your girl?” Xander says, a mischievous smirk taking over his face.

I take a long drink, the whiskey burning the back of my throat. “You could always leave.”

“Geez, I was only teasing.”

The sharp click of Matthias’s ring against his glass brings our attention back to him. “Three Unsainted wives have shown up dead. This time, they were mutilated first.”

“What the fuck? I thought they backed off.” Bash gets up from the couch.

“Sit the fuck down,” I say, voice steady against his frantic posture. “Explain.”

Matthias hands me his phone. Sure enough, there are three dead bodies, all cut open from sternum to pelvis. All women.

“All three of them missed their check-in a week ago. They didn’t show up again until last night.” His back teeth grind together, and he takes another long drink before continuing. “They were left on the steps of the Vaults.”

“Jesus Christ,” Xander says, whistling under his breath.

This told us two things. They were definitely members of the Order Of Saints, and they were challenging us directly. That’s not completely true though. You can’t challenge someone if you don’t show your face.

“I don’t get the secrecy though. Why bait us, then hide?” I examine the photos again, looking for anything that would give away which family it is.

Matthias grunts his disapproval, never one to back down. “They’re smart enough to know they can’t challenge us directly. That the other Saints won’t risk it.”

I swipe through the photos again, this time seeing the fourth. With only three dead, I wasn’t expecting the extra photos. My blood runs cold as I process what I’m seeing and flip to the next photo. The same two cuts sliced into the woman’s back.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

The ringing in my ears is too loud for me to make out which brother said it. The cuts are a perfect replica of Misty’s. I drop my brother’s phone as I scramble for mine, immediately pulling up her tracker. She’s moving fast, to the other end of the city. Away from where she was meeting her friends.

My phone buzzes with a number I don’t recognize. I hit speakerphone for my brothers to hear. Piper’s familiar voice fills the room. “I got your number from Lucas. Is Misty there?”

A shudder crawls up my spine. “Is she here?”

“What?” Bash asks tightly.

“What do you mean is she here.” It’s fear not anger that laces her voice, and reality comes crashing down on me.

Piper’s voice turns pleading. “Please tell me you know where she is. She didn’t show up, and at first, we thought you just distracted her again. But then she wasn’t answering her phone…her phone went to voicemail.”

Ice burns my veins, and my fist trembles at my side as I process what this means. What the cuts on the victims’ backs signify.

“They fucking took her.” I’m out the door, running down the stairs and to my car, not waiting a single second.

A hand grips my arm, hauling me back, and Matthias shakes me. “They’re baiting you.”

“I fucking know that. They can take me. Fucking torture me. Cut off my skin while I’m still fucking screaming, so long as they give her back. Now, let me the fuck go.”

Matthias looks to the side, his grip tightening. “I can’t do that, brother.”

He barely dodges my blow as I step in to attack him, all senses gone, leaving me in a vicious state of bloodlust.

“I will fucking kill you and anyone that stands in my way of getting her back. I will set the world on fire to smoke those fuckers out. I don’t think you understand just how far I’m willing to go. How much I’m willing to sacrifice for her.”

“Just wait. We’ll come with you,” Xander says from behind me, his arms binding mine to my side to stop me from lashing out.

My throat grows thick, and my voice cracks around the vowels. “You don’t understand. I told her I’d always find her. I promised I’d come for her. Let. Me. Go!”

Xander drops his arm, but Matthias still holds on to my shirt. “Keep your fucking phone on. We’ll head to the house, stock up on whatever we’ll need, and follow you to the location. Do not go in without us.”

I’m already backing away, breaking his hold on me.

“Damon. Do you hear me? Don’t go in without us. You will fucking die.”

I get into my car and reply as I’m shutting my door.

“Then I’ll kill them as a ghost.”

I’ve nearly caught up with the blinking dot on the tracker app when it stops, and the dot moves from the road and into an outdoor mall courtyard. Fuck. I pull my car onto the sidewalk, not giving a single shit that I nearly hit two people. When the man starts yelling and gets in my face, slowing me down, I push my keys into his chest. “It’s your lucky fucking day. Take it.”

Now that he’s staring at the car instead of me, he’s easy to get around. The second I’m free from him, I run, eating up the feet between me and Misty. My eyes scan the open area, searching for any signs of her lavender hair. She’d worn it up today in a cute little yellow clip.

The muscles tighten in my neck as I look at the app again. She should be right here. I turn, searching each person’s face, scanning for anything that might be out of place.

My gaze lands on a woman, midtwenties, who looks just a little too well put together. I’ve spent my entire life surrounded by women like this, and they wouldn’t be caught dead here. I track her, keeping my distance as she moves through the crowd.

She’s sketchy, eyes darting around the courtyard as she watches for people following her, for me. She’s not trained, though, and never looks directly behind her. I’m surprised when she lines up at the bus stop. It doesn’t make sense that she’d be hiding Misty there.

It’s not until I see the glimmer of metal she slips into an older lady’s pocket that I realize what’s happening. The second the bus pulls away, the tracker starts moving again down the road.

“Fuck,” I want nothing more than to rip her fucking head off and spit down her neck. There’s only one way they got that bracelet off, and it fucking shatters me to think of it.

I push the air from my lungs, fighting every instinct I have screaming at me to attack the woman. But without the bracelet, she’s my only link between me and my wife.

Several minutes later, a bright red car pulls to the side, and she gets in. I curse that I gave my fucking car away, not that I could follow her in it anyway. I walk straight into the road, in front of a mid-class Chevy car. The driver wails on his horn when he slams to a stop, narrowly missing me. I press both hands against his hood for balance, then walk around to his window.

“I’ve got a dash cam. Insurance scams won’t work with me.” He’s looking at the camera mounted to his visor when I open his door.

“Do you know who I am?”

His brows pull together in confusion, wasting precious seconds before his eyes go wide. “You’re an Everette.”

“That’s right. So you know this is real.” I unclasp my watch, handing it to him. “It’s worth at least five times your car. Now, get out of the fucking vehicle.”

He undoes his seat belt, and I grab him by the shoulder, hauling him the rest of the way out. I’m already in the car and racing the way the woman disappeared. My pulse is rushing in my ears as I look down the busy streets, my chest caving in on itself with each moment I don’t see it.

A car revs up ahead, and I spot the red roof, relief flooding through me as I follow her toward an upper-class residential area, red brick row houses with black roofs. I park several cars behind as she gets out and makes her way into the dwelling. I don’t follow the car, spotting the Uber logo. I get out and walk across the street to get a better view. Rushing in hot right away will only make it more likely that they’ll kill her.

My ribs crack in my chest, and I push the thought down before it can incapacitate me.

The woman walks in front of the window, her ear to the phone. Thank God for the rich’s vanity, never missing out on the opportunity to show off. I watch as she pours herself a glass of wine, laughing as she walks around her living room. The realization that Misty’s not here presses on my chest until each breath is a struggle.

Matthias answers my call immediately.

“They took the bracelet off of her and used it as a fucking decoy. I’ve been chasing the wrong person for the last hour.”

He’s silent for several seconds, knowing exactly what it entailed to remove that bracelet. “Do you still have eyes on the perp?”

“Of course I fucking do. It’s a woman. She’s at home. I don’t think Misty’s here.”

“Fuck.” I can almost hear him thinking through the phone. “Fuck.”

“That’s all you got? What the fuck am I supposed to do,” I demand.

“Stay there. Watch her. Hope she meets up with the person that has Misty.”

“Hope? You want me to fucking stay here and hope?” I yell down the line, pushing every bit of anger through it.

“There’s nothing else you can do.”

My heart bleeds as it fills with anguish.

Misty won’t survive on hope. And it’s my fault.