Chapter 44 Hawk
Hawk
“No one saw anything,” I say into the Bluetooth in my helmet connected to my phone. I told them what Sophie said. “Chase wasn’t able to give me anything. The police are aware Annie’s missing. I’m on my way to talk to Brandt.”
“The rose always felt wrong,” Cam says. “From everything the stalker did, the rose was the only thing that hurt her.”
“Apparently whatever game Brandt was playing wasn’t happening fast enough for him.” Damon’s voice is little more than a growl. It’s probably a good thing he isn’t coming with me. Though I could probably use someone to hold me back, I’m not sure either of them would be willing to.
They hit a dead end. The GPS tracker is either lost or outside of service, or the asshole who took her brought a GPS blocker. Meaning, even if Damon had tagged her like a pet, it still wouldn’t give us anything.
“There isn’t much out this way,” Cam says. They’ve pulled up a map to try to figure out what direction the stalker might have taken her. For all we know, he could be driving her out of the state.
I’m sure our parents would prefer us to wait with them and stay out of the police’s way, but fuck that. This is our girl. We’re not fucking losing her waiting on bureaucracy and fucking warrants.
“We need to find out who all Brandt was using.” Damon breathes out. “This could still be Jackson. For all we know, Mia is back and wants to hurt Evan for taking her role.”
“I’ll find out what Brandt knows.” I’m getting close to his house.
“Try to find out before you rearrange his face,” Cam says. “There’s a few old farms around this area. We’ll start there and let you know if we find anything.”
“Good luck.” I disconnect as I pull up to the gated home.
I press the button on the intercom and wait.
Breaking in and holding a knife against his throat until he tells me everything would have been preferable and saved time, but also probably would have gotten me arrested.
I need to be able to help Annie and can’t do that if I’m locked up.
“Can we help you?” The voice in the box is tinny.
“Hawk Wilker. I’m a friend of Brandt’s and need to talk to him.” Keep it simple.
“Just a second.”
I tap my finger while I wait. Every second is wasted unless Brandt gives me information. Hopefully, he lets me in. Otherwise, the knife plan is looking better and better.
The gate buzzes and then opens. I ride up the long driveway to the house. It’s opulent and fancy like any rich kid’s house. Just a little more over the top. I park my bike and take off my helmet. A girl in a dress stands in the doorway. This must be Elizabeth Stanwell.
She leans in the door with her arms crossed and an arrogant, knowing smile on her lips.
“You’re lucky I’m home for the weekend.” Elizabeth smirks. “I doubt Brandt would have let you in. But I’m bored and love a little entertainment.”
I hook my helmet on my handlebar and walk up the steps. “Are you going to show me where he is?”
She smiles and shrugs. “Probably.”
I narrow my eyes on her. “He has information I need.”
“Don’t we all?” She chuckles.
“I don’t have time to play games,” I bite out.
“Pity. I do so enjoy games.” She backs up a step. “I guess I’ll just have to enjoy you tearing my brother a new one. Come on. Mom and Dad are out for the evening.”
I pocket my gloves and leave the knife tucked in my pocket. There’s more than one way to get information. If the nice way doesn’t work, I’m willing to try whatever it takes. Annie is gone. Someone took her, and I doubt they have plans to keep her nice and safe. Time is of the essence.
Elizabeth leads me out to the backyard where Brandt lounges in slacks and a shirt beside the pool. When he sees me, his eyes widen before a smile cuts across his face.
“Are you ready to switch sides then?” Brandt pushes the chair next to him with a nudge of his foot. “I mean, why back a sinking ship?”
I take the chair and lean forward with my hands clasped. I glance at Elizabeth, who watches me with curiosity in her eyes. She wants to know how I’m going to handle this. I doubt she’ll intervene unless things get messy.
“I need your help,” I say, because everything else I want to say sounds threatening. And I can’t do anything to this knob until I figure out where Annie is or narrow down the suspect pool.
“With what? Your lines? Your acting ability?” Brandt chuckles. “I have to admit, you definitely surprised me at the auditions, but this—” he gestures around him. “This is even more surprising. You and EvanAnn seemed pretty solid, so why would you come to me for help?”
“It’s not about acting.” Though I’m sure these two do more than their fair share of lying.
“Okay? What can I do for you?”
“The rose was you.” Fuck this little game. “We have the rose and a witness.”
Brandt smirks and holds up his hands like I caught him. “You’ve got me. What do you want, a confession?” He leans forward and drops his hands. “Actually, do you have me? Or do you just have someone’s story of what they said happened? Because my guess is that won’t hold up in any court.”
He lifts his glass and takes a drink while watching me.
I smile. “You should know by now that we don’t use courts.”
“Oh, I like him.” Elizabeth takes a chair and crosses her legs. “This is the guy who posted the video of Chase, right?”
I glance at her because if I can’t get information out of Brandt, she might know enough to get me where I need to be.
“We don’t have time to play games.” I meet Brandt’s gaze and see the slight hint of fear before he hides it. Good, I want him afraid of what I might do to him. He should know I’m willing to do anything for Annie. “Whatever you set in motion now has legal ramifications.”
Brandt chuckles and leans back in his chair like he has all the time in the world. “What did I set in motion?”
“Jackson Riordan.” It’s not unreasonable to think Jackson was part of Brandt’s game.
Elizabeth grabs a wineglass from the table next to her and takes a sip. “Some people just don’t play well with others.”
“Some people don’t follow the rules,” Brandt says to his sister with a look.
“I mean, Olivia was already a loose cannon.” Elizabeth shakes her head with a wry smile. “She drugged a girl to try to get the guy. What did you expect with someone as unhinged as Riordan?”
“He’s like the rest—easily controlled.” Brandt looks at me like he just remembered I’m in their space.
It’s fake like everything he does. “So what do you want to know? I’m sure you can keep this between us, right?
No need to involve anyone on the rose. It was a little more potent than I was led to believe.
” Brandt glances at Elizabeth with an admonishing look.
She shrugs. “You’re the one that picked a thorny rose. A few thorns would have been enough. Just like I did to Alison. She didn’t have to go to urgent care, but she got the point.” She winks at me like I’m in on the joke.
“I need to know everything.” I glance at my phone. Every fucking second matters and these two will toy with each other indefinitely if I don’t rein them in.
“Okay. Everything.” Brandt blows out his breath. “That’s a tall order.” He stands and makes his way over to the bar. “Do you want a drink? Because this could take a while.” He holds up a bottle of scotch.
I stand and look at the two of them. “You miscalculated.”
“Impossible.” Brandt smirks and pours himself a glass. “I’m meticulous about the details.”
“I need to know who was stalking Annie.” We don’t know who took her. We don’t know who all is involved.
“The list of suspects is long, isn’t it?
” Brandt returns to his chair and looks up at me.
“Is she spiraling yet? Is that why you decided to confront me? Poor little Annie can’t focus on her play?
” He scoffs. “I’m usually pretty good about figuring out what’s going to happen and who to press to get what I want and how I want it, but the Devil’s trio and EvanAnn?
I never could have imagined you’d keep her. ”
“You think all of this is just one huge game?” I’m getting to the end of my rope. He doesn’t know who took Annie. He thinks I’m here to press him for information.
“Isn’t it?” Elizabeth takes a sip. “Chase was supposed to be the thing distracting EvanAnn. A first boyfriend is ever so distracting. And then her first broken heart would have devastated her, leaving her utterly useless for her play.”
Brandt shakes his head. “But he’s almost as useless as Sophie. The accident fucked everything up.”
“You had to try to divert Damon from his revenge. Give him someone else to focus on.” Elizabeth smirks and takes a sip. “Olivia should have been perfect. Except you didn’t count on EvanAnn and Damon moving in together.”
He tips his glass to me. “An unknown variable that caused quite a bit of problems. But I had an ace up my sleeve, because EvanAnn might not have had a boyfriend before, but she also lacked a friend. Who better to play a friend than an actress?”
“Better yet, an actress who didn’t realize she was playing a part.” Elizabeth laughs lightly. “She was so easy to push in the right direction. Shame she didn’t go for your play though, dear brother.”
Brandt shrugs and smiles. “You win some, you lose some. It ended up working in the end though. I met Tanner. Seemed like a decent guy, but he must have pissed off the wrong people.” He shakes his head.
“You told Mia to befriend Annie?” I ask, trying to connect the pieces of what they’re saying.
He smirks. “I didn’t say, hey, why don’t you go be friends with that girl.” He laughs. “No, but I might have given her a good reason to be EvanAnn’s friend. Even if Mia hooked up with her boyfriend.”
“It’s so hard for a new girl to fit in with a new crowd. Especially a girl like Mia.” Elizabeth smiles knowingly. “She knew what was best for her.”
“But she wasn’t Annie’s stalker.” I need to keep them talking, make them reveal the whole thing.