23. The Savior
The Savior
Chapter 23
Alone in the hallway, I took a deep steadying breath. My hands curled into fists at my sides as I steeled my nerves for the fight ahead. I had been in countless dangerous situations before, but this time felt different. More was at stake now—not just my life, but Scarlett’s, Evie’s, Caroline’s…my unborn daughter’s.
Failure was not an option.
After pulling on my black hoodie, cargo pants, and combat boots, I retreated to the weapons room that was separate from the safe room, gearing up methodically as muscle memory took over: bulletproof vest first, then the twin hip and thigh holsters, sheathed knives, and extra ammo. I strapped a SIG Sauer P226 to my right thigh and a Glock 19 to my left. More firepower waited in the duffel bag. I preferred to kill with a blade, but it was always a bad idea to bring a knife to a gunfight. My favorite knife was sheathed at my thigh, so I was not leaving home without it, but I needed to be prepared for anything.
Satisfied with my arsenal, I sank down onto a stool and dropped my head into my hands. Doubt and anger warred within me, guilt overpowering them both. I should have done more to protect my sister. Even with all the new security additions and wiping our identities everywhere I could, she had still fallen into a dangerous situation that she didn’t belong in. How could I have let this happen?
My phone vibrated in my pocket, breaking my spiraling thoughts. Tristan was not far. With one final look back at the door to the safe room, I closed the door to our bedroom and headed outside.
Tristan’s Mustang came down the driveway just as I stepped onto the front porch. When he stepped out of the car, a cat carrier in one hand and a duffle bag in the other, his face was grim, jaw clenched.
“Any leads on Caroline?” I asked before he even reached me.
The shaking of his head sent my stomach tumbling. “Legacy is working on it, but they appear to have taken backroads after leaving town to the west.”
My hands clenched into fists, but I refrained from looking for something to punch. Adrenaline surged so forcefully beneath my skin that I needed to do something quickly or that could change. “I need you to dig, deep as you can. Find anything to give us direction.”
Tristan nodded, determination flashing behind his glasses. “I’m on it, boss. I’ll set up in the surveillance room downstairs, get a dedicated connection running.” Eyes softening, he clasped my shoulder. “I care deeply for Caroline, so the stakes are just as high for me. We’ll find her, boss. We must.”
All I managed was a tight smile in return. Tristan’s skills were unmatched—if anyone could track her down, it was him.
Alone on the porch, I breathed in the fresh mountain air as the peacefulness of my surroundings belied what lay ahead. Things were about to get bloody, because for Caroline, I would tear through anyone who stood in my way.
With one last look at my home, I headed to the barn and slid behind the wheel of my black Lexus, the need to hunt heating my blood. My knuckles tightened around the steering wheel as I pulled onto the road, heading for New Orleans, since I did not know where else they could have taken her. Caroline was counting on me, and I would not fail her. Not again. Never again.
The highway stretched endlessly into the late evening as I drove toward New Orleans, my grip white-knuckled on the steering wheel. Caroline was out there somewhere, her fate unknown, and the not knowing ate away at me.
I thought back to how we had grown up together, two kids against the world. We only had each other for the longest time. Survivors of a brutal world that had little kindness for the weak or wayward. But we persevered, hardened by the flames that had once engulfed our lives after engulfing our parents’ car when we were teens. From the ashes we rose, and there was nothing I would not do to protect her.
A deep ache twisted in my chest at the thought of what she might have been going through. Caroline was strong, but she had already been through so much, and everyone had a breaking point. If Victor’s men had taken her, it was surely to be used as leverage against Scarlett and her father. The thought made my blood boil.
This was all because of my past—Scarlett’s past. Caroline did not deserve to get caught up in the wreckage, innocent Evie either. They were the best parts of my life, untainted by the darkness that had taken over so much. I had always shielded them from it, but they got pulled into it anyway. The farther I drove into the darkening sky, the more fear and rage entwined, twisting into a molten core of steel in my belly. I would not fail. I could not afford weakness, not now when so much was at stake: Caroline’s life. My family’s safety. The security I had fought tooth and nail to build, now crumbling around me.
I pressed down on the accelerator, urging my car to go faster. After hours of driving, streetlights streaked by as I sped toward the city limits, toward the safe house I had used many times before, jaw clenched. New Orleans had taken so much from me already. I would not let it take Caroline too. They would pay for even trying. There would be no mercy, no escape for the monsters that had started this war.
The beast inside me stirred, snarling in fury after being locked away for so long. It strained against its chains, waiting to be unleashed. Let them come, it said. Let them come and I will tear them all apart for touching my family.