CHAPTER 42
I can’t focus on anything Caden is saying, not when Knox’s words are on repeat inside my head. My defenses are up, my instincts on high alert.
“You with me, princess?” Caden speaks from the other side of the table, the shitty cup of coffee in his hands curling steam into the air in front of his face.
“Stop calling me that,” I snap. “It’s condescending.”
He shrugs. “It fits.”
“Fuck you!”
In my periphery, I see movement, too much movement for a quiet Sunday morning, and it steals my attention. I look over in time to see Knox being dragged over the back of the bench, four guys surrounding him.
“Knox!” I call out, scrambling up from the table, but Cade is quicker. His palm slaps over my mouth, silencing my scream.
“Let it happen,” He says by my ear, “Just let it happen.”
But I won’t just let it happen. Not to him. Not to Knox.
I call his name behind the palm silencing me. I scream, and I cry, fight, but Cade keeps me contained.
“Trust me.” He says, “Just trust me. This needs to happen.”
I watch in horror as Knox fights and loses. He kicks, and he punches, but a well-aimed strike knocks him out, leaving him defenseless on the floor. My heart shatters.
It feels like a physical blow, as if the organ in my chest is shattering into a million tiny pieces, each shard sending a searing pain through me. I scream his name behind Caden’s palm, fight to get free, but I am fucking useless. I can’t get to him, I can’t help him.
Watching in horror, he’s dragged toward a waiting SUV, his body thrown like a piece of trash into the trunk, and then the car is pulling away, leaving just a cloud of dust in its wake.
He set me up.
Caden Blackwood set me up!
He finally releases me, and I break away, sprinting for the door. I hit it so hard the glass rattles in the frame, but I don’t stop, not until I reach his truck and tug on the handle, hoping he left it unlocked but knowing he didn’t. I have to go after him.
“Elena.” Caden purrs behind me, voice calm, easy, like he didn’t just fucking stab me and Knox in the back.
I spin back to him. “I am going to fucking kill you!”
He chuckles lightly. “Easy, princess.”
“You set us up!”
I see it now. I see how his head works. He knew Knox would follow, especially after he told me to come alone. He knew, and it’s what he wanted. But why Knox? Why not just deliver me to my uncle himself?
“I did,” He agrees. “Now what are you going to do about it?”
“I’m going to slice your throat,” I growl.
His eyes lick down me. “And then?”
“I’m going after him.”
He nods, “Good.”
My head snaps back. “What?”
“You were afraid, Elena.” His arms cross over his wide chest. “No matter what I did or how I made it happen, you wouldn’t have left this little town. All I’ve done is give you some motivation.”
“They’ll kill him!” I scream.
“They won’t; I have your uncles’ word.”
“His word means nothing, Caden!” I feel the hot sting of tears at the back of my eyes, fear choking me. “They’re going to kill him! Why, Caden? Why did you do this to me?”
“Listen to me.” He closes the gap between us, his voice stern, eyes hard as he grips my chin between his fingers, hard enough there’s a bite of pain, “I did this to save you.”
“Save me!?” I choke. “Knox is my salvation, Cade.”
“He is,” He agrees, “And now we’re going to get him back, and your uncle will never see it coming.”
“What the fuck are you talking about!?”
“I won’t lie, I gave you up, Elena. I told your uncle exactly where you were, and what to do to make it hurt. I spun the tale, fed his ego and his thirst for control. I told him exactly what to do to get you to come to him, to end this once and for all.”
His words settle in my stomach, feeding the monster I hadn’t realized had been slumbering since I fell into Knox’s arms and the safety he promises.
“I told him I knew you weren’t dead, that you had reached out for my help, but I was instead offering my assistance to him and all he had to do was draw you out, and the only way he could do that was by taking the man you had fallen in love with. He won’t kill Knox, he needs him to call for you.”
“It didn’t have to be this way,” I whisper.
“Yes, Elena, it did, because you would have stayed in that safe little bubble until the fight came to you and then you would have lost. Now it is in your hands.”
“But he’s expecting me.”
“Yes, but he isn’t expecting me.”
My heart is in pieces, my stomach in knots. They have the man I love, the only man I have ever loved. They’ve taken everything from me, every fucking thing I’ve ever loved, they’ve stolen my happiness, my freedom, and I am going to get it back.
I am.
“If they hurt him, Caden,” I hiss at him through gritted teeth, leaving the threat open.
“I will hand you a loaded gun myself,” He promises. “You called for my help, and I am here giving it, you just have to trust me.”
“Hard to do when you’ve given me no reason to.”
“You want to hear the plan or not?” He steps back. “Or are we going to stand and argue for the next hour while Knox waits for you?”
“This better fucking work, Cade.”
“It will,” He grins.
I drive the Chevy toward the city, toward the house I grew up in but no longer feels like home.
I thought that place would be where I lived the rest of my life, where I’d die but the closer I get, the more I miss the quiet peace of the ranch, the sounds of the cattle and the horses, and Ralph’s tantrums. I miss the rattling pipes, and the water that takes a few minutes to heat all the way up.
The rolling hills and sprawling forests turn to skyscrapers and smog, the mountains growing smaller in the rearview mirror.
I bring the Chevy to a stop in standstill traffic on the main road into the city; the sun beginning its descent in the sky. The sounds of horns and irritated, angry shouts surround me in the quiet cab of Knox’s truck, but I take a deep breath, grounding myself.
I’m trying real hard not to think about how all of this can go wrong. How I could turn up and see him dead.
Cade assures me it won’t happen, but I fear he is underestimating my uncle.
I wish he would have told me.
But I also understand I never would have allowed it to happen.
I move forward in the traffic, using the time to steady myself, to push back on the fear and trepidation that tells me this is never going to work.
It has to work. There is no future without Knox.
I cannot live without him. Not anymore.
Finally, I turn away from the traffic heading into the center of the city, and the road opens up, allowing me to press on the gas of Knox’s Chevy. The old truck roars and vibrates beneath me.
I’ll deal with the tickets when this is done.
The city I grew up in and know like the back of my hand, passes by in a blur of muted greys and blacks, a place I once thought spectacular and awe-inspiring, lacking compared to the rich greens and vibrant yellows, reds and oranges of the ranch.
These buildings, which stretch toward the sky, seeming to touch the clouds, are nothing to the mountain peaks and the reaching evergreens.
Finally, the house comes into view. Set atop a hill and gated with tall black iron fences, the white, Mediterranean inspired mansion stands proud, with its lush and pristinely tended lawns, several expensive cars parked in the courtyard in front of the house, a fountain spraying crystal clear water toward the sky.
As if expecting me, the gates open to allow me through.
It’s finally here.
The end of the war I never started.
This is the final battle, and only one of us will come out on top.