Chapter 14
RIVER
Noah and I make it to the airport hangar in record time, but when we arrive at the garage number that Grey texted me to go to, no one is waiting for us there. This has me slightly worried.
Noah eyeballs the shut garage door from the passenger seat of my car. “Why is no one here?”
I thrum my fingers on top of the steering wheel. “I don’t know. Grey didn’t specify a time to be here. He just said get here as quickly as I can, so maybe he hasn’t gotten Maddy and Finn yet.”
If that’s what he’s even doing. He was so vague about it.
“I don’t like this,” Noah mumbles as he peers around at the runway and at a few people wandering around in the area. “It doesn’t make any sense why he’d ask us to come here. Unless he’s planning on flying us somewhere.”
I slump back in the seat. “I hope not. I don't want Lily to be alone.”
Noah glances at his watch. “I should call my mom and ask her to go to the hospital and wait for her, just in case she does wake up. Unless you don’t want me to, then I won’t.” He waits for me to respond.
I watch a small airplane land on the runway in the distance.
“You should call her. It’s not like I can call my dad since he…
.” I swallow down the blinding rage that sears at my throat, but not well enough, and it explodes out of me.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” I scream, slamming my hand against the steering wheel.
Noah watches me without reacting and waits for me to calm down. “Are you good now?” he asks.
I shake my head and shrug. “No, but I won’t punch anything for now.”
He nods, then retrieves his phone from his pocket to call his mom, and she agrees to rush to the hospital, the worry in her tone making it clear she has no clue what’s been going on, which is good. I do need to give Lily a heads-up somehow so she’ll stay away from my father…
Thinking of him causes anger to prickle at the surface, and I open and flex my fingers, trying to push it back down.
“My mom’s headed to the hospital now,” Noah informs me after he hangs up the phone.
“I know. I could hear her.” I rub my lips together, considering my next words carefully. “I really wish you’d tell me whatever it is you’ve been keeping from Finn and me. I feel like with everything going on, we need to trust each other, but I can’t do that unless I know all of the details.”
He doesn’t immediately argue, instead gazing out the window with a frown on his face.
“Your dad’s been blackmailing me. It’s why I was selling steroids to make money.
He found out some stuff about my father and his business that threatened to tell it to the tabloids if I didn’t start giving him money. ”
My brows furrow. “Why would my dad want money from you?”
“Power and control.” He lifts a shoulder. “That’s what I’m assuming, anyway. Plus, he hates my dad, so this is a win-win for him because he either gets to make my life miserable or my father’s.”
“I’m sorry,” I say quietly. “I didn’t realize that’s what was going on.”
He stiffly shrugs. “Why would you realize it? I didn’t tell anyone.”
I waver. “Except for Maddy.”
“I didn’t tell her all of the details.” He reclines back in the seat. “But not for her lack of trying, though.”
A small smile pulls at my lips. “She really is persistent when she wants to help someone, isn’t she?”
He crosses his arms and nods, his attention wandering to the side mirror. “She really is…” He straightens and then spins in the seat. “Is that Maddy’s father?”
I crane my neck to look at the massive SUV parked behind us that has tinted windows. I stiffen, worried that it isn’t Maddy’s father, but then relax when Grey climbs out and shuts the door.
He has two bulky bodyguards with him as they approach my car. I get out, and so does Noah, both of us meeting him at the back.
“Where’s Maddy?” I ask, glancing at the SUV, assuming she’s inside it.
The muscle in Grey’s jaw ticks. “We don’t know yet.”
“What? I thought you knew where she was?” The loudness of my voice carries around the hangars, and I promptly lower it. “I thought you were able to get her location from her watch.”
“We did get it from there,” he assures me, then smashes his lips together and shakes his head. “But your father must’ve found out the watch was trackable, because we found it in an old, abandoned building on northside. And there was no sign that anyone had been there.”
I clench my hands into fists at my side, struggling to maintain my composure, which might be a first for me. “So where’s Maddy? Do you have an idea?”
“No, but I think you might be able to help me.” Grey collects his phone from the front pocket of his suit jacket. “Your father has an airplane here, I believe, anyway. I was wondering if you could check and see if it’s still here.”
I trade a look with Noah, who’s gone as pale as a ghost.
“You think he flew her out of the city?” Noah asks, his voice strained.
His reaction is justifiable, though. If he took Maddy and Finn out of the city, finding them will be extremely difficult.
“I’m not sure, but we can start by finding out if his plane is here.” Grey looks at me. “That is, if you’ll help me.”
I nod, but my worry is so thick inside me, I’m struggling to think clearly. “Of course. Is that why you asked us to come here?”
“No, I was going to ask you to go with my daughter to a safe place,” Grey explains as the wind picks up around us.
“She needs protection, and I know she trusts you two.” He nods at me and Noah.
“I also know she trusts your brother.” His gaze hardens.
“However, I’m concerned that he may have been in on your father capturing Maddy. ”
“No way,” I dispute, shaking my head. “Finn hates my father.”
“Are you sure about that?” he questions, glancing at some people walking by.
I nod without reluctance. “Trust me, Finn would never help my father with anything. Plus, he likes Maddy.”
“He has a thing for her,” Noah adds, causing my attention to dart to him.
“What? How do you know that?” I ask, turning to face him.
He shrugs, then offers me an apologetic look. “River, I think you know he does. Finn hasn’t spent this much time around one woman like ever.”
“True…” I guess I’ve wondered this too, but since Finn turned down my suggestion that he fake date Maddy, I assumed I was wrong.
“We need to find out if that plane is here,” Grey interrupts impatiently. “Now.”
An airplane engine roars in the background as I spin around. “It’s over here. I have the password to the door, so we should be able to open it.” I gesture for everyone to follow me as I stride toward the hangar that’s a ways down from where we’re standing.
It takes us a few minutes to arrive at it, and then I punch in the code in the security box. Waiting for the door to open is almost painful. But nothing can prepare me for the sight of the empty hangar.
“Fuck, he took the plane, which means he’s taken her to a secure location,” Grey bites out as he turns on his heels and storms back toward where our cars are parked with his bodyguards rushing after him.
Noah and I glance at each other, then chase after him.
“Where are you going?” I demand as I reach his side.
The wind is howling, the sky is getting bleakly dark, and the lights in the private airport flick on as Grey slows to a stop and faces me.
“Your father has found out Maddison is an Everford and taken her somewhere out of the city, and I need to find her.” Grey slams to a stop and faces me.
“I’m not entirely certain what he’s planning to do with her, but I’ve gotten a bit of information that I know he doesn’t plan on killing her.
I also believe that he’s planning on finding a way to connect her bloodline with the Aversons, so that he can inherit everything the Everfords own. ”
I nearly trip over my own feet at what I think he’s implying.
“How would he…” Noah starts, but then trails off, pressing his palm to his head, his eyes wide. “Is he going to like…” He can’t even say the words aloud.
I feel sick to my stomach as a dark loathing simmers in my veins. “No… my father wouldn’t do that...” A rage so purely venomous sears through me.
“I’m not sure if your father is going to be the one to do it.
” Grey stares out at the runway. The lights around us reflect across his face, revealing the anger burning inside him.
“I’m wondering if he’ll have your brother do it.
If that’s why he took them both. I’ll be able to find out soon, because I’m assuming that he’ll marry them first, and he’ll have to file those with the Royal courts. ”
“Marry them?” I choke out. How is this happening?
I know my father is a terrible man, but this is so much worse than anything else he’s done.
Then again, I don’t really know him, so I can’t say that for sure.
“Why would he do this? What inheritance is tied to the Everford bloodline that would be worth so much effort?”
Grey’s quiet as he studies me with a contemplative look. “The world.”
“What?” I whisper with wide eyes. “How is that possible?”
“The Everfords technically own the world. They used to before they allegedly became extinct. Except they didn’t.
” Grey gives me a pressing look as he loosens his tie.
“A few went into hiding. I’m not sure how your father found Maddy or her mother, or who he found first. Ellie went into hiding to try to protect Maddison, but I’m not sure where she is.
Your mother helped her, though. I don’t know if they’ll come out of hiding now that your father has Maddison, but if you know of any place at all that your mother would go to lay low from your father, that will help us track them down. ”
“I honestly don’t know.” Shock seeps through me. “I wish I did.”
“What about your father?” he asks as his bodyguards nervously peer around at a vehicle passing by. “Do you know where he’d go?”
“He has a lot of places he’d take off to,” I inform him as a nearby door hangar raises. “I can give you a list.”
“Good.” He reels around and strides toward his SUV.
“Where are you going?” I shout out after him as I reach the driver’s side door of my car.
“I’m going to get as many guards as I can.
” He yanks the SUV's back door open. “I never should’ve let Maddy leave my house once I found out she was my daughter. I didn’t realize that your father had found out about her.
Letting her leave was a mistake I made, and also leaving her too unprotected.
It won’t happen again. When I find her, she’ll be protected at all costs.
” He moves to duck in. “I’ll be in touch soon, and we can meet up somewhere to see if tracking your father’s location works.
Probably my house, since it has a ton of security.
” With that, he gets into the SUV and slams the door shut.
I want to ask him how he found out my father had Maddy.
I want to ask him how he knows that the Everfords technically owe the world.
I want to ask him so many damn questions, but he drives away before I can.
“That was intense,” Noah states as he looks at me from over the roof of my vehicle.
I nod in agreement as I open the door. “This entire situation is.” I lower my head and climb into the driver’s seat while Noah slides into the passenger side. I push the button to start up the engine, then reach for my seatbelt. “I hate that it’ll probably take us a while to find them.”
“Not necessarily.” Noah fastens his seatbelt.
“What do you know?” I wonder as I reach for the shifter.
“I don’t know where they were, but I can track your dad’s phone if it has a signal, so—”
“So if he’s with them, we can find them quickly,” I finish for him, wondering how he can track it, but not caring at the moment.
I’m just relieved he can.
“Do you think your dad is with Maddy and Finn, though? Or is he having his guards keep an eye on them?” he asks as I slam my foot on the gas and crank the steering wheel, turning the car around.
“If Maddy is the heir to the world, then yeah, he’s for sure with them,” I say as I shift gears and drive toward the exit. “Because there’s no way my father will leave something that powerful alone.”
The engine roars as I peel out of the air hangar parking lot and steer onto the road.
“Do you think he’s already made Finn and Maddy get married?” Noah asks. “Because I’m worried he has, and I’m worried what he’s made her and Finn do.”
Again, my stomach tightens with knots that ache so badly it’s complicated to breathe evenly.
I want to believe my father wouldn’t follow through with forcing Maddy and Finn to get married and procreate, but I’m walking proof that he would.
He forced me into a betrothed marriage. He also forced my mother to stay with him for years, and he forced Noah to pay him hush money for his own father.
Finn has also been suspicious that he’s been involved in human trafficking. I didn’t want to believe it, but now…
Well, I’m pretty sure my father will stop at nothing to get what he wants.