29. Trey
Trey
“How much further?” Niko asked from beside me. The outside world fell away, and everything was a blur as Dominic raced toward the last known location of Ivy. Hunter’s hands were balled into fists on his lap, a sign of how unhappy he was. The atmosphere inside of the SUV was tense, a powder keg ready to go off at any moment.
Caleb’s assessment that the car had a GPS tracker was accurate. At least we knew which way she had gone. Unfortunately, the vehicle hadn’t moved in over five hours. Even though the car would be there, I knew that the girl I loved wouldn’t be.
Dominic drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, eyes trained on the road in front of him. “About fifteen minutes.”
Unlike everyone else in the car, I knew exactly why Ivy had left the apartment in the middle of the night. The word liability jumped out to me the first time I read it, and on the fifteenth, I had questions. I didn’t understand how she had slipped past the security on the first floor. “How? How did Ivy manage to make it past your security that is supposedly airtight?”
Dominic’s lips flattened into a thin line, and then he spoke. “The person responsible has been fired. He fell asleep, and she slipped out past him.”
So much for the idea of airtight. If I had known that, I wouldn’t have ever fallen asleep. I would have drank more energy drinks and watched her every night. Living in Strathmore had made me complacent. Domesticated . It was time to put an end to that.
“What about Rayne’s bodyguard? He is always hanging around the building.” Caleb stated beside me. It was a valid point. Where was the man who was essentially Rayne’s shadow?
When Hunter spoke, his tone was weary, matching how my soul felt. “Since I was there, and so were Dominic and Ethan, we let him go home and get some sleep. He has a life outside of helping to run a criminal organization, guys.”
Dominic pulled into the parking lot of an abandoned gas station. I could almost imagine how busy the place would have been ages ago. There wasn’t another place to refuel for miles. The only thing along the stretch of road was trees and farmland. It was almost eerie how the building was still intact despite years of neglect. The paint was faded and peeling, and a piece of plywood covered one of the large windows, but other than that...
The SUV that he had loaned us sat abandoned in a spot near the building. Looking back, allowing us to borrow anything was probably a mistake. The stipulation had been not to leave trash inside, not get into any wrecks, and always carry a member of their security. Apparently, he should have made us check out the car like a library book, coming to ask for the keys each time. “Why did you loan us the car?” The question was out before I could stop it.
Dominic leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. “Because Ivy is pregnant. If she needed medical care and we were out dealing with something, I wanted to ensure that she could get to Strathmore General or another hospital in time. It’s also why she had Nia’s number programmed in her phone.”
From Hunter’s description, Nia was the doctor half the criminals in Strathmore kept on retainer. She also ran a charity clinic on the outskirts of town.
Dominic’s logic made sense, and I hated it. I would have done the same thing.
“Let’s search the parking lot,” Hunter said, pulling open the door. “Someone, see if she left anything in the car.”
Dominic strode over to the SUV with the extra key in his hand. I decided that my time was better spent searching the parking lot. Trash was strewn in random places, but I didn’t focus on that.
I closed my eyes, trying to imagine Ivy getting out of the car and heading over to the other vehicle. I imagined the trajectory she took as her feet shuffled along the asphalt and how she must’ve felt as she climbed into the car of someone she didn’t know. Walking over to the driver’s side door, I stared at my feet, tracing a path along the trajectory I saw in my head.
I also considered where I would park if I left my vehicle idling. I glanced around, taking in the scenery while everyone else looked at the piles of trash, soda cans, and paper bags left behind.
Even though it had only been a few hours, I felt like time was running out for us. I stared at my feet as I walked along a line to a nearby parking spot. It could have been luck, or it could have been fate, but beside the spot lay a wedding band and a set of keys. I picked both of them up, my finger tracing along the band of metal. It was the one that Caleb had given Ivy.
The problem with finding them wasn’t the ache in my chest. It was the fact that they were here at all. I didn’t know what the next step was. Just because we found them, I didn’t feel like I had any new information. It wasn’t like, by discovering their abandonment, I had magically uncovered where in the world Ivy was.
Jogging over toward Dominic, I leaned inside the SUV while he searched the floorboards for any information. I tapped on the shoulder. When he looked up, and I dropped the keys into his hand, he gave me a small nod, acknowledging what I had done, but stayed silent. I couldn’t find myself to hand him the ring. It’s not like if he held it, all the mysteries of the universe would unravel.
Niko cleared his throat from nearby. He was always the one who said things out loud, the things that no one else wanted to say. “So, where does that leave us?”
Dominic pursed his lips, lines on his forehead deepening. “I don’t know. My assumption is that they were headed back to Clearhaven. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
It was more than just the Order’s location that made him think that. Other than a few small towns, the highway was empty and had only one destination. I glanced over at Caleb, wondering what he thought. He swallowed roughly before speaking. “I can always text my grandfather. I don’t want to, but if it’s the only way that we can find Ivy, I’ll do it. We already know they have her. The only question is where.”
I gritted my teeth, hoping nobody else noticed. If you had asked me six months ago if I cared whether Caleb lived or died, I would’ve laughed. The reality was now he was one of us. Trauma bonded us together. Ivy, Caleb, Niko, and me—we were the same. Somehow, over the course of knowing him, our destinies had intertwined.
I only needed two things. First, we had to find Ivy. The second was that I would kill someone for an energy drink and, at this rate, a cigarette.