16. Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen
Reed
As we pull up to the old Drendel barn, I decide to check in on the boys and Ali. I pull out my phone and send a message to Grandmama. I wasn’t shocked to see her standing at Ali’s front door this morning because, thanks to my digging and stalking, I knew she was the person who was watching the boys already.
Me
How are my little men doing?
Grandmama
Great. What are your plans with Ali? Is this serious, Reed?
Me
Have you known me to be anything other than serious?
Grandmama
No, but I don’t want to see her, or these boys get hurt more than they already have.
Me
I don’t plan on hurting them. I plan on giving them the world like they deserve.
Grandmama
Good.
“He’s here,” Max says, shutting off his truck and pocketing his keys. As I leave the back seat, my phone alerts me that someone is at the gate. I open the app, ignoring everyone around me, and see a delivery truck. I watch as the man leans out the window and presses the intercom button. I don’t have anything set to be delivered this morning. Everything I ordered for the boys is coming later this evening. I pray that Ali denies entry to whoever this is but in horror I watch the gate slide open.
I switch the camera and watch as the man drives up and stops in front of the house. When he steps out he keeps his head down. I can’t hear what is being said because I haven’t engaged the speaker on the app. But I don’t need to because soon my front door slams shut, and then the guy pulls off his cap and looks up to where I can see his face.
“What the fuck?” I say. My heart slams against my ribs and my vision tunnels as I stare at the video feed.
“Reed, what’s wrong?” Gabe asks, coming to stand next to me. He looks over my shoulder as we watch Dean get out of the passenger side of the truck, and together, they kick in my front door. “We have to go now,” Gabe yells to everyone around me.
Demon, the guy we are here to meet, comes to stand next to me as I switch to the inside cameras. “How the fuck is he in my house if you killed him?” I ask, pushing my phone toward him. It’s a struggle to keep myself from lunging at the guy standing next to me but I do it.
“Come with me, and I’ll explain on the way,” he says in a deep tone. Gabe, Nick, Max, and Ash get into Max’s truck, but Jessie pivots and follows me.
I get in the front seat, type in my address, and stare at my phone. So far, all they are doing is talking. I better get there before anything bad happens to my girl or someone will pay. My muscles tense with the need to fight someone. Anyone at this point. “Fucking drive fast and start talking,” I growl at Demon.
“I thought Dennis was dead,” Jessie says from the back seat. I don’t need to turn around to know he is now tapped into my security feed and is seeing what I am.
“He is. That is his fucking brother Linus Calder. His twin brother. I have been keeping an eye on Dennis and Linus for two years. Ever since Kate—or Ali—left town. I wanted to make sure that they never found her or hurt another person. I found out that it wasn’t always Dennis that was raping her. Sometimes, it was Linus. I was on another job when Dennis found an article printed about the boys’ birth,” Demon says, his hands gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turn white.
“Reed!” Jessie yells from the back seat, and I look down at my phone. I catch a glimpse of Ali running out of the room and my stomach drops. Fire licks up my spine threatening to consume me whole. If something happens to my girl I will burn this world down. “I’ll follow her movement,” Jessie says. I watch Dean’s body fall to the floor with my fireplace poker resting against his face. Ali must have hit him with it hard enough that it went into his skull by the looks of it. I’m sure pride would be filling my chest right now if terror wasn’t taking up all the space.
“Talk faster and drive even faster,” I say, slamming my hands on the dashboard.
“She made it outside, but we won’t be able to find her if we don’t get there soon,” Jessie says.
Demon steps on the gas, causing the engine to roar to life. “Some friend of Dennis’s found the article about the boys’ birth and sent it to him. They noticed Ali and thought her father would want to know he was a grandpa. When I returned from my job, he already had all of this in motion. Linus has been living in the same apartment building as Ali. When she got evicted and moved, so did he. They contacted Dean, offering him money, when they overheard him talking about how he raped and killed a girl a couple of months back. I found Dennis and took care of him, but that made Linus go underground. I was trying to find him when Ash found me.”
We are almost at the turn-off for the gravel road when I remember the email I had Nick send out this morning. He was able to attach a virus to the email that allowed us to start tracking Ali’s phone. I ensured it would allow me to track whoever opened the email because there were a few guys I wanted to keep my eye on. “Call Nick and ask him if Linus and Ali opened the email I sent this morning,” I yell at Jessie. If Linus was living at the old hotel then I could track his phone as well. I should have looked at the list of tenants before then maybe I would have known who Linus was. Demon takes the turn-off faster than he should, and we fishtail, but he quickly gets everything under control.
“Yeah, they both did. He’s sending you the link,” Jessie says, hanging up on Nick.
I pull my phone back up and click on the link. The map shows that they are on the west side of the woods, not far from the house. Now that I have a way to track them all my emotions shut down besides pure rage. “Jessie, tell Gabe, Nick, and Ash to go in the house and check on Dean. Max is coming with us. We will split up and come up on them from both sides—you with Demon and Max with me.”
The gate is still standing open when we approach it. Thank God; I don’t want to waste time. The two dots start to get closer. I have to find her before Linus hurts her. Everyone jumps out and falls into place. “We will take the left side. You take the right,” Demon says.
“If you get there first, don’t kill him,” Max orders, keeping in step with me.
“No, that honor lies with me,” I say, nodding to them as we reach the woods. I pull the gun from my waistband that I grabbed before we left Jessie’s house. I’m fucking glad I thought to grab it, although I would love to kill this fucker with my bare hands.
I can’t tell which dot is Ali and which is Linus. The only sound is our breathing and twigs snapping below our feet. As we move closer, we start to hear Linus talking. “Stop making this harder than it needs to be. I promise if you come out, I will leave the boys alone. I’ll take what I want from you again and leave you here. Dead, of course. I’m sure that old woman would gladly take care of the boys.”
His words cause my vision to narrow and the beast inside to roar. “Over my dead body,” Max whispers beside me. I nod because the only one being left out here dead is that sick fucker.
I turn left, and Max follows. Again, Linus’s voice rings out, and I have to bite my lip from yelling out for him. “Come on, Kate. We had so much fun back in the day. You laid there acting like you didn’t want me to touch you. But your sweet, tight pussy always told the truth. I made you come so fucking hard. God, how I’ve missed that.”
His words are like oxygen to the fire raging inside me. They feed it until I’m consumed by it.
“There,” Max says, pointing to our right. Finally, I see her, my Ali. Her face is red, wet with sweat and tears. She is gasping for air but is holding her hand over her mouth to try to keep quiet. The knees of her pants are ripped, and I see blood from where she must have fallen. Her blonde hair is caked with leaves and dirt. She looks like she is seconds away from collapsing on the ground.
I move as silently as I can. When Ali sees us, her eyes widen, and she sprints toward us. Over her shoulder, I spot Linus. He is standing still looking around but not paying attention to anything behind him, so he doesn’t see Demon and Jessie heading straight toward him. I open my arms in time for Ali to barrel into them. She starts to scratch and claw at my back, and I pull her tighter against me.
“Shhh, Little One, I’ve got you,” I whisper.
“Reed,” she whimpers in my arms. I watch Demon launch his massive body through the air and tackle Linus to the ground.
“Take her to the house,” I say to Max, trying to move her into his arms.
“No,” Ali screams and squeezes me harder. “Please don’t leave me.”
The word please coming from her kills me. I pull her back just enough to see her beautiful face. I don’t hide the darkness swirling around in my eyes from her. “Little One, I’m about to kill that motherfucker. I don’t want you to see that,” I say. I will never lie to her about this. I want her to know that he is no longer alive. That he is no longer able to torture her. But that doesn’t mean she needs to see it happen.
“Good, but I’m staying,” Ali says before she slams her lips against mine.