Chapter 1 #2
"No, I didn't. But I will find her." He returned to his call, barking orders to someone else, demanding updates on security footage from the area. Cole approached, placing a hand on my shoulder. Ryder joined us, his face ashen, his eyes wild. He put away his own phone.
"I've got Ryan and Owen hacking into all the cameras in the area.
So far nothing, but they're expanding the search.
" The two Covenant housemen weren’t Ryder, but they were the next best thing we had when it came to digital security in our house.
My father ended his second call, turning his full attention to us.
"Sit down," he commanded, gesturing to the abandoned table. "All of you. I need to know everything. Every threat, every enemy, every detail of what happened tonight."
We sat, the four of us around the table that just an hour ago had been the site of a civilised dinner. Now it felt like a war room, the remnants of our meal still scattered across the white tablecloth, a grotesque reminder of how quickly everything had changed.
"Start from the beginning," my father said, his eyes fixed on me. "What happened after Miss Turner left the restaurant?" I swallowed hard, the guilt threatening to choke me.
"I followed her. Tried to get her to come back to the car. She refused. We argued. She..." I closed my eyes, seeing again the hatred in Cade's face, feeling the crack of her fist against my car window. "She was upset. Hurt herself punching my car. I lost my temper and left her there."
"You left her alone?" My father's voice was sharp with disbelief.
"Yes," I whispered, shame burning in my chest. "I left her." Ryder made a sound, half-growl, half-sob, but said nothing. I glanced over at him, but his eyes were firmly on the table in front of him.
"We received a package at Covenant House while they were gone," Cole explained, his voice clinical, detached.
"Photos of Logan and Cade leaving the house earlier tonight.
And a note." He produced the crumpled paper from his pocket, sliding it across the table to my father.
My father read it silently, his expression darkening.
"'You meddled with things beyond you. For that you pay.'" He looked up, his gaze moving between the three of us. "What have you boys been involved in?"
"Nothing unusual," I said, running a hand through my hair. "Just the standard Trivium business. The Blackwood job, but that was weeks ago, and Killingham himself sanctioned it."
"Have there been other threats? Other warnings?" My father pressed, his tone urgent. I exchanged glances with Cole and Ryder.
"Cade received some threatening notes," Cole admitted. "Telling her to leave Regents. We thought it was just harassment, maybe from Julia or one of the other girls who wanted her position."
“Then there was the attack,” I said.
“Attack? What attack?” my father asked.
“At the Halloween event,” Cole started, “Someone tried to…” he trailed off, his voice choking up.
“Tried to what?” My father was insistent.
“Kill her,” Ryder spat. “Someone tried to kill her.” I could feel his eyes boring into me. “And yet despite all this, and the shit with that bitch of a fucking mother of hers, this dickhead still left her alone.” I could feel the hatred as he spat out the words.
My father's phone rang, only slightly breaking the tension, and he answered it immediately.
"Yes? Good. Send it to my phone." He hung up, turning to us.
"They've found footage from a security camera on Water Lane.
It's being sent over now." The minutes that followed were some of the longest of my life.
My father's men arrived in waves, reporting in, receiving new orders, dispersing again into the night.
The restaurant staff had been dismissed, leaving us alone in the cavernous dining room, surrounded by empty tables and half-eaten meals.
I sat motionless, Cadence's broken shoe still clutched in my hand, my mind replaying every moment of our argument.
Her voice echoed in my head, the last words she'd spoken to me: "Drop dead, Logan.
Just drop fucking dead." The look of pure hatred on her face, the blood dripping from her knuckles.
And I'd left her there. Alone and vulnerable.
"Boys." My father's voice cut through my thoughts.
"Look at this." He held out his phone, the screen displaying grainy security footage.
I leaned forward, Cole and Ryder crowding close on either side of me.
The footage showed a section of Water Lane, the time stamp showing it was from just after I'd left Cadence.
She appeared at the edge of the frame, walking quickly, her arms wrapped around herself.
Even in the poor-quality footage, I could see the rigid set of her shoulders, the way she kept glancing behind her.
She was scared. Alone in the city at night, and scared.
I saw her reach into her purse and pull out her phone.
The call from Ryder. A dark van appeared at the top of the frame, moving slowly along the street.
As it approached Cadence, it accelerated suddenly, pulling alongside her.
The side door slid open, and two figures in black leapt out, grabbing Cadence before she could react.
She fought, kicking and screaming, but they were too strong, dragging her toward the van.
One of the attackers struck her across the face, and I flinched as if I'd felt the blow myself.
Her body went limp, and they bundled her into the van, the door sliding shut behind them.
The entire abduction had taken less than thirty seconds.
"Can you enhance the license plate?" my father asked someone over the phone.
"What do you fucking mean, there wasn't one?
Check again." I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen, the image of Cadence being struck playing on a loop in my mind. She’d been on the phone with Ryder when it had happened, I still remembered the scream through the phone.
I should have protected her. Why the fuck did I leave her alone?
"They knew what they were doing," Cole said quietly, his voice hollow. "Professional job. No plates, faces covered, quick in and out."
"This wasn't random," my father agreed, ending his call. "This was planned. Targeted." It was obvious.
My father's phone rang again, and he stepped away to answer it, his voice low and urgent. Cole moved closer, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"There isn’t any way we could have known," he said, but the certainty I'd always relied on from him was missing.
"They were watching us. If it wasn’t now, it would have been another time.
" I knew he was trying to alleviate my guilt. But it didn’t matter.
The fact was, I left her vulnerable. I was the reason she was taken from us.
Ryder had gone silent, his face a mask of anguish.
He'd been the first to fall for Cadence, his obsession with her evolving into something deeper, something that had surprised us all.
And now she was gone, taken from all of us.
My father returned, his expression giving nothing away.
"My men are checking every abandoned building, warehouse, and known safe house in the city. If she's still in the area, we'll find her."
"And if she's not?" I asked, the question like broken glass in my throat. My father's gaze met mine, steady and unflinching.
"Then we'll expand the search. Whoever did this will pay, but you need to keep your head, son. She needs you. Now more than ever."
The adrenaline that had been carrying me suddenly ebbed, leaving me hollow and shaking. I sank back into my chair, the weight of everything crashing down on me at once. The room seemed to tilt around me, the elegant surroundings now feeling like a tomb.
"I did this," I whispered, dropping my head into my hands. "I left her. If anything happens to her-"
"Stop," Cole cut me off, his voice sharp.
"This isn't helping Cade." But I couldn't stop.
The guilt was a living thing inside me, clawing at my insides, consuming me from within.
I thought of Cadence's face the last time I'd seen her, twisted with anger and pain.
I thought of all the ways I'd failed her, all the times I'd put my own pride, my own desires, above her well-being.
"She hates me," I said, my voice cracking. "The last thing she said to me was to drop dead. And now she's gone, and she'll never know-" I broke off, unable to continue.
"Never know what?" Ryder asked, his voice hollow.
I looked up at him, at Cole, at my father watching from a distance, and I couldn't hold it back anymore.
"That I love her," I admitted, the words tearing from me like a confession.
"I fucking love her, and I've never told her, and now I might never get the chance.
" The admission hung in the air between us, raw and exposed.
Ryder's expression shifted, something like understanding passing across his face.
Cole's hand tightened on my shoulder, a silent acknowledgment.
"Then we find her," Cole said simply. "And you tell her."