Chapter 34 #2
“It’s Beau,” Knox says, his voice flat.
Why would one of Wren’s partners be calling him? Panic claws up my throat. “What happened?”
“The Fox & Fern,” Knox says. “It’s on fire.”
My gasp is sharp. “What?”
“It was set on fire,” Knox says, looking at me. “He says Wren’s mother was there—she went in early to do some baking. She smelled smoke and immediately called the station. They managed to get her out, and they stopped the fire before it spread to the apartments upstairs.”
“Was anyone hurt?” Eli asks, standing up.
“No,” Knox says. “Everyone is safe. Even the cat. Pancake is fine.”
I let out a breath, my hand going to my heart. “Oh, thank god.”
“But,” Knox continues, his eyes darkening, flashing with a lethal light, “it wasn’t an accident. Beau found a canister.”
He looks at Fallon, then Eli, then me. The joy of the last ten minutes evaporates, replaced by the cold reality of the world outside.
“This has to be Luke,” Knox whispers.
“He’s escalating,” Eli says, his voice hard.
“Yes,” Knox says, looking out the window toward the town, toward the smoke that must be rising. “And he just made a very big mistake.”
The plastic chair in the police station lobby is hard against my back, but I barely feel the discomfort.
The air in here is recycled and stale, but mostly, it feels heavy. Heavy with the weight of what I’ve brought to this town.
I sit between Knox and Fallon. Eli is on my other side, his knee bouncing anxiously. Across from me, Jude leans against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, his jaw set so tight it looks like it might crack.
Wren’s sitting next to him, holding Simon’s hand, her face pale. Maisie is asleep with her head on Wren’s lap, clutching her stuffed rabbit.
I look at them—at the dark circles under Jude’s eyes, at the way Wren keeps checking her phone, at the tense set of my Alphas’ shoulders.
This is my fault. All of it.
If I hadn’t come to Fox Hollow, Luke wouldn’t be here. The Fox & Fern would be okay. Wren’s mother wouldn’t have been terrified. Jude wouldn’t be standing guard, terrified for his sister.
A knot of guilt forms in my throat, hard and jagged. I should leave. I should pack a bag, grab Maisie, and just disappear.
I can draw Luke away from here. I can go back to running. It was lonely, but at least I wasn’t destroying everyone else’s life.
“You’re doing that thing,” Jude says softly, not looking at me. “That thing where you decide to take on the burdens of the entire world.”
I jump slightly. “I’m just thinking.”
“You’re thinking about leaving,” Knox says. He doesn’t turn his head, but his hand finds mine under the armrest, gripping it tight. “Don’t.”
“I’m danger,” I whisper, staring at my boots. “Look at what happened. He burned down a building, Jude. Because of me.”
“No,” Eli says firmly, turning to face me. “He did that because he’s a monster. Because he’s losing control. That has nothing to do with you and everything to do with him.”
“He’s escalating,” Fallon says, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “The fire... that’s desperation. He’s not thinking clearly.”
“He’s an addict,” Jude adds, pushing off the wall to pace. “He always was. We saw the reports from the city. He’d get high, get paranoid, lash out. If he’s setting fires, he’s spun out of his mind.”
“If he’s spun,” Knox says, his eyes narrowing in thought, “he needs to score. He’s going to run out of money and drugs soon.”
“So we watch the dealers,” Eli finishes. “We put pressure on the supply chain in town. We starve him out.”
“It’s a sound strategy,” Mayor Brighton says. He looks tired, his tie loosened. “We have units canvassing the low-end motels and the known stash houses.”
The heavy door at the front of the station swings open. A uniformed officer walks in, holding a clipboard. He looks grim, but there’s a set to his shoulders that suggests progress.
“We picked up a female trying to hitch a ride on the interstate,” the officer says. “She fits the description of the associate we were looking for.”
I can’t believe this. “The girl who looks like me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the officer says. “She’s in the back room. She’s... she’s in rough shape. She won’t talk to anyone but she said she knows you. Said she needed to warn you.”
I stand up, my legs shaky. “I want to talk to her.”
“Amber,” Knox starts, but I shake my head.
“No. I need to do this.”
I follow the officer down a long, gray hallway. He opens a heavy steel door, and I step inside.
She’s sitting at a metal table, handcuffed to the bar. She looks up, and the sight is like looking into a distorted funhouse mirror.
It’s her. The woman from the photo. The woman Knox helped out.
My doppelganger.
Up close, the differences are shattering. Her dark hair is lank and greasy, hanging in strings around a face that is gaunt and terrified.
She looks thin—too thin, her clothes hanging off her frame. But it’s her eyes that make my stomach turn over.
They’re empty. Dead.
There’s no light left in them.
“Why?” I ask, my voice trembling with rage. “Why are you helping him?”
She flinches, looking down at the table. She looks broken. Completely and utterly broken.
“Because I’m stupid,” she whispers. “And because I’m scared.”
“He burned down a building today,” I say, slamming my hand on the metal table. “He tried to kill people. How can you help him do that?”
“I didn’t know about the fire!” she cries, tears finally spilling over. “I swear. He just said I had to watch you. Had to tell him where you were.”
“Why?” I ask again. “What does he have on you?”
She wipes her nose on her shoulder, sniffing.
“I used to sell,” she admits so quietly I barely hear her.
“Pills. Oxycodone. Just to make rent. Luke knew. He found my stash.” She looks up at me, her eyes wide with terror.
“He said if I didn’t help him find you, he’d call the cops.
I have a record. I’d go to prison for a long time and then I would never have my son.
Jacob is only a month old. He can’t survive without his mother. ”
Fuck. “Where’s Jacob?”
Her face crumples. “He has him.”
The room spins. “What?”
“My mom... She watches him for me when I’m… um… working. But Luke... Luke took him. He said he’s keeping him safe. That if I run, if I don’t do exactly what he says, I’ll never see my baby again.”
The sheer cruelty of it makes me sick. He used her baby as leverage. He used her fear of prison to turn her into his slave.
“You don’t have to do this,” I tell her, stepping closer. “We can help you.”
The door opens behind me. Mayor Brighton walks in, along with Knox and Jude.
“Ms. Milton,” the mayor says, his voice authoritative but kind. “We know who you are. And we know what Luke has done to you.”
She shrinks back.
“Here’s the deal,” he says. “You tell us where Luke is right now. You tell us everything about his plans. And I will personally ensure that the D.A. looks at your case with leniency. We can argue you were under duress. We can get your son back.”
Her head snaps up. Hope flares in her dead eyes, so bright it hurts to look at. “You can get him? My baby?”
“Yes,” Jude says, stepping forward. “We have resources. We can find him. But we need to know where he is.”
She looks at me, and I see the apology written all over her face.
“I’m sorry,” she chokes out. “He hates you. He hates you so much. He talks about you all the time. How you tricked him. How you stole his life.”
“I didn’t steal it,” I say. “I escaped it.”
“He’s at the Starlight Motel,” she says quickly, eager to make the deal. “Room 104. He’s... he’s waiting for a dealer. He’s got a gun.”
“How long ago did you leave him?” Knox asks, his voice lethal.
“Twenty minutes,” she says. “I took off. I didn’t think he was capable of hurting anyone until I learned about the fire. I knew I had to get out of there.”
“And go where? What exactly was your plan?” Jude asks.
I can see the terror in her eyes as she speaks.
“I don’t know where Luke is keeping my son or who has him, but I thought maybe I could ask around.
I was trying to get a driver out of town.
I have a friend in Chicago. Luke hates him, but he’s also scared of him.
I thought my friend could help me get Jacob back. I just want Jacob back.”
This could easily have been my story. Luke chose a woman identical to me and tortured her for absolutely no reason.
If I hadn’t escaped, I would have turned out exactly like Jessica.
“Do you think Luke suspects that you left?” Jude says.
“He’s probably high by now,” Jessica says. “He took a lot of oxy. He’s paranoid.”
Knox turns to the mayor. “Call the team. We need to move now.”
The drive to the Starlight Motel is silent. No music. No talking. Just Knox trying to follow the police cruiser without drawing attention to us.
The motel is a dump, a single-story L-shaped building near the highway. The sign flickers, buzzing in the cold air.
Knox kills the lights on the truck a hundred yards out. We coast until the tires crunch on the gravel.
We pile out. I stay back near the truck with Jude and Eli, my heart beating so hard I feel sick.
“Fallon, Knox,” Eli breathes out. “Be careful.”
They nod and melt into the shadows alongside the uniformed officers.
I watch. I hold my breath.
Minutes tick by. The wind whistles through the cracks in the motel doors. Then, a shout. A crash of glass breaking.
“Police! Get on the ground!”
Gunshots. Two of them. Loud, cracking sounds that make me scream.
“Eli!” Jude grabs me, holding me back.
They drag him out a moment later.
Luke looks terrible. He looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks. His face is gaunt, his eyes wild and red-rimmed. He’s struggling against the handcuffs, screaming profanities, kicking his legs.
“You bitch!” he yells, his eyes finding me instantly in the dark. “You think this is over? I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you and that bastard brat!”
He spits on the ground, thrashing against the officers holding him.
“Shut up,” one of the officers says, shoving him into the back of the cruiser.
He keeps screaming, his voice muffled by the steel, but the words are clear. “It’s not over! You’re mine! You’ll always be mine!”
They slam the door.
The silence that follows is the loudest thing I’ve ever heard.
The officer in charge walks over to us. He takes off his hat, wiping sweat from his forehead.
“He’s going away for a long time,” he says, looking at me. “Attempted arson. Possession of a firearm. Violation of bail. Possession with intent to distribute. He’s not seeing the light of day for a decade, maybe more.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“He won’t touch you,” Knox says, coming up behind me. He puts his hands on my shoulders, grounding me. “He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
I look at the motel room door, hanging off its hinges. I think about Jessica, sitting in that police station, terrified for her baby. I think about the fire at the café. I think about the years I spent running.
I look at my Alphas. Knox, with his fierce loyalty. Fallon, shaking adrenaline off his hands. Eli, watching me with soft, worried eyes.
And I look at Jude, holding Maisie’s rabbit, standing like a guard.
I didn’t just escape. I landed. And I built a life.
“Let’s go home,” I say, the knot in my chest finally loosening. “I want to go home.”
“Yeah,” Jude says, draping an arm around my shoulders. “Let’s go home.”
The threat is lifted. The monster is in a cage.
I’m safe.