Chapter Thirty-One
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T ristan’s place was as secure as she’d imagined.
The building itself was only a couple of years old.
His unit was a bright, modern space on the top floor, with ocean views on the west side that weren’t visible right now as the blinds were down and covering the windows to prevent anyone from seeing in.
Coming here was the right move. Any of his or her relatives would gladly have taken them in, but neither of them wanted to risk putting anyone else in danger.
She hated that Tristan was now as much a target as she was.
The guilt was almost crippling. This was her fault. The past she’d thought she’d broken free of had come back on her, and now it was putting Tristan and potentially everyone else she cared about here in mortal danger.
“You guys need anything before we go?”
She turned to face Gavin, who was standing beside Decker in the entry to the living room.
They hadn’t asked any questions or made any comments about what was going on between her and Tristan, but there was no way to hide that they were together.
She’d been hoping to keep it quiet for a while, at least until her current situation was resolved.
Though after all of this, who the hell would care?
“I need clothes. Shoes, a jacket, and toiletries.” Luckily, she was notoriously low maintenance and didn’t require much beyond soap, shampoo, and a razor.
“I don’t want to call my mom or Bristol right now.
” It was almost four in the morning. She didn’t want to have to explain about her and Tristan, for one, but mostly. ..
“I just need a break for a while.”
They loved her, she knew that. Just as she knew they would all want to rush over here and smother her with well-meaning support the moment they found out what had happened tonight. There was nothing they could do at four a.m. that they couldn’t do in a few hours.
“No problem,” Gavin said. “I’ll ask Autumn to pack some things for you.”
“Teagan will be happy to get you some stuff too. And Marley as well,” Decker added.
“The fewer people involved, the better. If you don’t mind.” The constant drama and bad news she seemed to attract was demoralizing. Up until last week, she’d honestly thought her life had turned the corner. Silly her.
“Sure,” Gavin said, then turned to Tristan, standing in the hallway. “What’s the situation with CPS?”
“They’ve got a team trying to locate Quinn. And Walker mentioned that Ivy’s apparently called in a few of her sisters for backup.”
“Really?” Cassie asked, surprised. “That was...nice of her.” She didn’t know much about these mysterious women, other than they were all adopted and badass in every way imaginable. She’d love to meet them when this was all over.
Please, God, let this all be over fast.
“I don’t care who finds him first, Ivy’s team, the cops, or CPS. The sooner we’ve got a location, the sooner we can track that bastard down and nail him,” Tristan said darkly.
Cassie wholeheartedly agreed. And part of her longed for the chance to be the one to take him down.
Her phone rang, startling her. Oh, lord, had Bristol or her mother somehow found out— She blinked at the name on display. “Commissioner,” she answered, taken aback. It was only five his time. “Hi.”
“Cassie. Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m okay.” It was so good to hear his voice. “I guess you heard what happened through the grapevine?”
“I was contacted by the Crimson Point Sheriff’s Office an hour ago. What the hell’s going on up there?”
She shoved out a breath. “I think it’s Rob.”
A beat of shocked silence passed. “Rob Quinn?”
“Yes. Did you know he was released early?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“I didn’t.”
“That...can’t be true. There’s a specific protocol—”
“I’m aware of the protocol. In this case, it wasn’t followed. I wasn’t notified. And now he’s here and burned my house down while I was in it.”
“Cassie,” he said kindly. “While I understand how upset you are—and rightly so—do you really believe he would risk doing this? He’s already been to prison. The last thing someone with his illness would want is to go back to prison.”
His illness. A narcissistic psychopath. “Maybe he wants revenge even more than he wants to avoid going back to prison.”
The commissioner was silent another moment. “Do you have any evidence that it’s him?”
No. Hopefully forensics would find some blood and nail him that way. “Who else could it be?” she asked.
The cops and CPS would be trying to get any security or doorbell camera footage from her neighborhood right now. With any luck, one of them would have caught him in action, and with enough clarity to—shit, the fucking balaclava. Dammit .
He sighed. “It’s a stretch, Cass. But yeah, from where I’m sitting, I have to admit I don’t know who else it could be either.”
“Thank you for that.”
“Of course. This is...highly disturbing, especially since you weren’t aware that he’d been released. Let me work my contacts here and see if anyone can find out if he’s been in your area lately.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“I’ll let you know immediately if I hear anything. In the meantime, is there anything else I can do to help?”
“Not that I can think of for now. But I appreciate the call and your help.”
“Always. You know I’ll always consider you one of mine. And I look out for mine.”
She smiled. That was why he had the top job. His entire career had been built with that same mentality. The people under him loved him for it.
Except the ones he’d helped put in prison. “I know.”
Tristan and his brothers were watching her silently when she turned around. “Who was that?” Tristan asked.
“The new Vegas Police Commissioner. He thought I was aware of Rob’s release. He also thinks it’s a long shot that Rob’s involved in this, but he’s going to try to help find him too.”
“You trust him?” Tristan didn’t look convinced.
“Yes.”
“We’re gonna head out, let you both get some rest,” Gavin said. “We’ll get some things for you and drop them off later, around noon, so you guys can get a decent few hours’ sleep at least. That work?”
“Perfect, thank you.” Her entire life felt like a smoldering heap of ash at the moment. Except for Tristan.
He locked the door behind his brothers, turned around, and came over to crouch in front of her, searching her eyes. “How you doing?”
He was the most incredible man she’d ever known. And he could have been killed tonight. “So tired. Can I take a shower?”
“Yeah, of course.” He tucked a short lock of hair behind her ear. “Use mine.”
Much as he tempted her, she was too upset and too worn out in every way to even think about enjoying him further at the moment. “You’ll crash with me after?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You think I’d let you sleep alone after this?”
There was precious little to smile about right now, but she smiled at that.
He dropped a light kiss on her lips. “Go shower. Then I’m tucking you in next to me and shutting the world out until noon.”