Chapter 53
chapter
fifty-three
CALDER
One heartbeat.
I opened up Shay’s location.
Two heartbeats.
It was gone, like her phone was off.
Or smashed.
Three heartbeats—
Butcher.
I ran outside, grabbing him by the collar to slam him back against the wall. The cigarette between his lips fell to the ground, smoldering black ash on the pavement.
He laughed, the sound stilted and choking in my hold “Something wrong?”
I fought the urge to slam my fist into his face. “What the fuck do you know?”
He grinned. “That you really aren’t in the position to bargain.”
One deep breath.
Two.
Fuck it.
I slammed him against the wall another time. “You knew she was going to be taken.”
He shrugged. “I knew he was running out of options. This was just a happy coincidence.”
Happy?
I was going to kill this fucker.
After he told me where Shay was. “Where the fuck is she?”
He yawned, like this was just any other fucking day. “Ready to accept my offer?”
Almost a decade ago a man I’d never met approached me. He told me my brother wished he could have come. In his hand was a picture of Stone, sitting alone at a prison cafeteria table, unaware a photo was being taken.
For a brief, shining moment I thought maybe I would get out of this world. I would get the girl.
“Fine,” I spat.
Butcher grinned, teeth white and sharp. “Let’s go save the girl, hero.”