Chapter 44 Hawk #2
“I mean, she could have been.” Brandt rubs his fingers over his lips. “But she ended up actually being friends with EvanAnn. I figured she’d eventually sleep with one of you guys and break EvanAnn’s heart, but who knew Mia could be loyal?”
“I certainly didn’t see that coming.” Elizabeth acts like this is some show that she’s chosen to watch.
“Back to Riordan,” I press.
Elizabeth gives me a little smile. “Now that was an undertaking.”
“Almost didn’t happen.” Brandt nods at her.
“We couldn’t have known they had a past. No one did.
” She swirls her wine in her glass. “Riordan would show up to parties and keep to himself. Our schools are close enough that they intermix. I knew he was in hockey, and you guys had already begun moving in on EvanAnn according to Brandt and his network.”
I glance at Brandt and he gives me a cocky grin, raising his glass to me and taking a drink.
“I do so love a good scheme, and it wasn’t hard to figure out Jackson hated Damon Storm.
A rivalry is always good for pushing buttons.
” Elizabeth relaxes into the chair and recrosses her legs.
“I don’t personally follow sports, but once Brandt decided Damon was going to be an issue and Olivia was useless, we had to have something.
So I hung out with the hockey team. And boy, did they have a lot to say about Riordan.
Not sure anyone on the team actually likes him, but he’s too good at hockey to bully off the team. ”
“That’s where I came in,” Brandt says and drinks for a dramatic pause. “I needed a rival for Storm and Riordan seemed like the perfect guy. The dislike went both ways. Setting Riordan up with a few coaches was easy enough payment to get him to notice your girl.”
Fuck. “You bribed him to go after Annie?” He didn’t know about their past at all.
“Bribe? Reward? Po-ta-to, po-tah-to.” He shakes his hand in a so-so movement. “It really didn’t take much and the results...” He kisses the tips of his fingers. “Perfection.”
“Honestly, I think he might actually like her.” Elizabeth smiles. “Maybe you guys can add a fourth to whatever you’re doing. I mean, the girl has extra hands.”
Anger burns through me. I’m almost to the end of my rope, but I want everything.
“The text to Annie’s mom?”
“My idea.” Elizabeth raises her hand proudly.
“We sent some at the beginning of the year to make EvanAnn’s mom start watching.
But then I saw the way Damon looked at EvanAnn at Tom’s birthday party.
I’m surprised their parents didn’t figure it out earlier.
I was hoping he’d go after Chase at the party, but EvanAnn did the honors.
The parents were oblivious, and we needed something after the rose, which Brandt took too far. ” She glares at him.
“I’ll do better next time,” he says, not the least bit remorseful.
“See that you do,” she says haughtily. “It’s no good to maim someone. That’s not our style.”
“But kidnapping is?” I arch an eyebrow.
Elizabeth opens her mouth like she has a snappy comeback, but nothing comes out. Brandt sits forward in his chair. It’s the most attention they’ve given me tonight.
“What?” Elizabeth looks at Brandt with wide eyes.
Brandt presses his lips together. All signs of his smirk gone. So this wasn’t part of their plan.
“I wonder if anyone will believe you aren’t part of it?” I step over to the bar and hold my phone up, showing that it’s recording since I walked in. “After all, you pretty much said you sent Riordan after her.”
“What do you mean?” Brandt is pale now. He jerks a little toward me, like he’s wondering if he can take my phone from me. But come on.
“I came from the school because Annie’s missing. Someone beat the shit out of Chase Chadwick and took her during the break.”
Elizabeth sets her wineglass on the table with shaking hands. “Brandt?”
Good, these fuckers deserve to be nervous. Maybe they’ll learn that they pushed too far this time.
Brandt stands, but doesn’t make a move toward me. “We haven’t done anything illegal. We didn’t tell him to kidnap her.”
“But you basically let a psychopath back into her life. You pushed him to the object of his obsession, knowing it might hurt her, wanting it to, maybe not physically, but emotionally.” My words are cold. The anger burns inside me, but I need them to give me something. “He’s taken her.”
“And how is that my fault? You don’t really have anything on me.” Brandt tries to sound haughty.
I stop the recording and send it to Damon and Cam. I slide my phone into my pocket and step closer to Brandt, looking down on him. “You know fucking everything, so where would he take her?”
He glances at his sister. She wrings her hands together.
“If I can’t find her, I will kill you.” I look at him, waiting.
He lifts his gaze to mine and steps back before pretending to be cocky again. There’s an edge of fear in his voice though. “And get put away for murder? Even you aren’t that stupid.”
“What good is my life without her?” And there’s the truth. Before Annie, I would have been fine heading off by myself to college, but now that’s not an option. Damon, Cam, and Annie are my future. All of them.
“He bragged about a farm his family owned.” Elizabeth’s voice is small, like she’s shed the persona she wears like a shield.
Brandt looks at her. “Liz—”
“No, Brandt.” She stands and pulls her shoulders back.
There’s censure in her eyes. “I saw the way his eyes lit up when we talked about EvanAnn. I’ve heard rumors of how he treats other girls.
This is on us. It’s one thing to try to win by breaking her heart.
It’s another thing to break her. I’ve seen that coldness in his eyes. He could kill her.”
She trembles. So murder is the limit for these two? Or is it because they could be pinned as part of it? How would their father deal with them? How would the media portray them?
I glare at Brandt, waiting for him to break.
I’m not opposed to hurting him if he has information that could help us find her.
Brandt presses his lips together, but he’s not really brave.
Under all that sleek veneer, he’s a coward who doesn’t want to get into trouble.
Which is why he makes others do his dirty work.
“He said we could go ATVing out there sometime.” He shakes his head. “Not that we wanted to go, but he seemed to think we liked him. We had a good laugh about it, and he even sent us directions.”
“I need those. Now!”