Chapter 15
Rhys
Two days later
I had no idea how much time had passed since I left Hannah until I finally hiked back to my truck.
My phone was dead, and when I plugged it in, I saw I’d been gone for close to two full days and my heart sank.
I’d promised Hannah I would be back in a few hours, but I had no idea how complicated this hunt would become.
There was a message from Hannah asking me to call her for something important, and I punched the ceiling and yelled into the car as I realized I had no cell signal where I was.
“Fuck!” I cranked the truck and pulled away from the remote campsite in the North Carolina.
I was at least twenty minutes from an actual road, and as I bumped down the abandoned logging road, I chastised myself for being so careless.
I never took anything on a hunt that could potentially give away my location, so I left my watch and cell phone in the truck as I hiked far into the mountains for the two worthless fuckers I was hunting.
They’d taken advantage of a teenage girl by manipulating her into thinking she was chatting online with a boy her age, only for them to convince her to send them photos of herself undressed.
She’d found out the truth, and when she tried to get them to delete the photos, they mocked her and uploaded them to a revenge site that exploited women who trusted the wrong men.
The two assholes sent a link to the site to her school message board, and by the time she discovered it, everyone had already seen the photos.
She was sure her life was over, so she made the final choice to end it herself.
Her parents tried to have the men arrested, but through a technicality, they couldn’t be charged, and that’s what landed them on my radar. When my source let me know the men had arrived in Atlanta on their way to their mountain cabin, I made my move.
The closer I got to town and a signal to call Hannah, the more I was regretting my decision. I could have tracked them for another few weeks and handled them later, but I was so sure it would be easy that I left Hannah alone when I specifically said I wouldn’t.
The farther down the mountain I got, the more I knew I’d fucked up.
I kept checking my phone, and just before I got to the paved road leading out of the isolated mountains, my phone chimed.
The roads were too windy for me to see what the message was, and just as I was going to pull over to see how deep a hole I was in, my phone rang.
Lucian’s name popped up on my monitor, and I pressed the button on the steering wheel to answer the call.
“Hey, man. I just got back into cell range. How pissed is she?” I asked, pushing my speed a little more than I should for the windy roads.
“Pissed isn’t what I’d say she is,” Lucian began, and I slammed my hand to the steering wheel. “Hurt and conflicted are probably the best terms.”
“I had no way of contacting her, and my target was moving the whole time, so I had to track the assholes for close to two days,” I explained.
“That’s not what has her so upset. She hasn’t come right out and said it, but I think she believes you’re using her to get information on Sergey and your lack of communication just made it worse.”
“I’ve got to call her and get her to listen to me,” I started to say, only for Lucian to interrupt me.
“That’s not a good idea. She called James early this morning, and he made arrangements for her to disappear for a few days. She told him she needed someplace quiet to think, and she specifically asked him not to tell anyone where she was.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled as I got closer to the small town at the base of the mountain. “There’s no way he’s going to keep me away from her. I’ve got to tell her I’m sorry and make her understand.”
“He’s not going to tell you,” Lucian remarked, and I squeezed the wheel tighter until my knuckles turned white.
Lucian was right, and I hated that. James wouldn’t betray his promise to Hannah, even if I threatened him. I’d asked him to keep an eye on her right before I left everything behind in the truck and began my two-day trek through the mountains.
When I finally found them, they were holed up in a cabin that looked like a good breeze would knock it over, and when I kicked the door open, they were caught off guard.
I was so pissed I had to search for them for so long that I used a rusty knife I’d stumbled upon during the long walk and stabbed them both through the heart.
I left the door open, knowing the black bears were looking for food this time of year and they would devour them down to bones.
“I’ve got to at least try,” I said to Lucian before adding, “I’ll call you back later.”
Disconnecting from Lucian, I told the hands-free to dial Hannah and waited for the call to connect. The phone rang one time then went to voicemail, so I listened to her angelic voice asking me to leave a message before I spoke.
“Hannah, baby, I just got back into an area with cell signal. I’m so sorry I’ve been out of contact for so long. I promise, I’ll explain everything, but please, baby, call me back.”
I disconnected, told the system to call James, and waited for him to answer.
“Are you finally pulling your head out of your ass?” he asked, and I shook my head, trying to dislodge all the things I wanted to say to him.
At that moment, he was the gatekeeper to my woman, and I needed to be nice so he’d tell me where he stashed her.
I also didn’t need him to tell me I fucked up by not being more forthcoming with Hannah and not being in contact for days.
I’d gotten blinded by the hunt and lost track of how long I was gone.
“Where did you stash Hannah?” I inquired through gritted teeth.
“I didn’t stash her anywhere. She asked me to help her find a safe and quiet place for a few days, so that’s what I did. It’s not my fault you fucked up and she doesn’t want to speak with you.”
“I know,” I yelled before lowering my voice. “I know I fucked up, but I need to talk to her so I can make it right.”
I heard James exhale as I looked at the GPS map on my truck’s computer and saw I was only three miles from the road leading me back to Atlanta. I needed to get home, check on Regan, and somehow make my asshole cousin tell me where Hannah was.
“She’ll be back sooner than you think, if that makes a difference, but she needs this time to handle some things.”
“What kind of things? Have there been any discoveries since I left?” I asked, hoping they were getting close to the puppet master of this shitshow.
He hesitated before he said, “She found something in her Granny’s stuff the other day, and after she let me know, I did some digging. I believe Sergey was sending money to her Granny to help with her upbringing, only she never spent a dime.”
“What did Hannah find?”
“Forty-two thousand dollars and some change stuffed into envelopes.”
“Holy fuck. James, tell me where she is,” I nearly pleaded and heard him clear his throat.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll send her a message and let her know you’re back, and she can decide if she wants to call you. But I’m not telling you where she is.”
I knew he was going to keep me away from her for as long as she requested, and I hated that he was right to do so.
As wound up as I was, I was afraid I would be unreasonable with her, demanding she listen.
I’d figured out that Hannah was strong willed, much like her siblings, but she was also easily swayed by the little voices in her head.
We all have them, but some are crueler than others, and I feared my absence and her vulnerability had created the perfect situation for them to whisper in her ear, telling her lies. I briefly closed my eyes. “Please tell her I’m sorry and I’ll be waiting for her call, whenever she’s ready to talk.”
“I will. And Rhys?”
“Yeah?”
“Maybe going forward, you should be honest with her about your . . . business. She has no idea where you went or why, and I know that can cause a mountain of questions for someone dealing with all the shit she is. So, for once in your life, tell the truth.” He paused and added softly, “Eventually, you have to trust someone.”
“I’ll think about it. Later,” I responded and disconnected the call.
For the next hour, I wound through the North Carolina roads until I crossed over the state line into Georgia.
I stopped to fill up the truck, and it was when I walked inside to pay that I realized I hadn’t eaten in two days.
I’d found streams to drink from, but food wasn’t high on my list of importance when I was hunting.
I grabbed a few drinks, an assortment of snacks, and one of those greasy roller hot dogs before getting back in the SUV and pulling away from the station.
I wanted to drive to her house and wait for her to come home, but I needed to check on Regan. The drive back to my house on the northside of Atlanta took another hour and a half, and as I pulled through the secured gates and up to the front of my house, I exhaled for the first time in days.
My mind was still all over the place about my epic fuck-up with Hannah, but my house was my solace.
It was where I could go and all the background noise faded away.
It was the place where I’d hidden women who needed help until I could move them to the next stage of their lives.
It was where I kept my sister safe, and it was where I allowed myself enough space to breathe.
Exiting the car, my head of security approached me with an update. He was telling me about the last few days and I was looking over some paperwork when the sound of gunfire echoed around the front of the house. I snapped my head at him, instantly on edge from the sound.
“Regan and her friend are doing some target practice in the back yard if you’d like to join them,” he explained, and I gave him a curious look.