Chapter 34
West
Bags packed, I lug them to the car. The party is already starting so no one should notice when Dizzy and I slip away. That agent could be back at any time. He could bring agent friends. The less people can tell them the better we’ll stay hidden.
Who’s to say Agent Lane doesn’t know an agent whose ass I’d like to kick a lot more? An agent who knows exactly who Dizzy is and will put her in the wrong kind of cage with no care for her fractured soul.
I stow the bags in the trunk and slam it shut. Dizzy should wake up enough to travel soon and then we’ll hit the road. Staying off the radar by driving instead of flying. Travelling to the safe house I keep in Kingston instead of back to L.A.
Directly into enemy territory. But it’s the last place our enemies would look for us and that makes it the safest place for her to rest and get better. I need her better, because seeing her struggle breaks me.
My phone chimes as I walk back to the cabin.
Micah: We have a huge problem. Call me ASAP.
The second I step inside the huge problem peels himself from the wall and slides the tip of a knife between my ribs. The point splits my skin as he drives it in deep.
Time slows down as he twists the blade bringing me to my knees. My body floods with epinephrine, cortisol, and a bunch of other chemicals that will give me the chance to fight back.
“Don’t try anything,” the agent orders. “Look at her.”
Sunshine? I search her out, my heart hammering in my ears.
Her big blues are bright and round. They lock on mine. She has been bound with a length of the Shibari rope that was left in the bathroom after Rogue and Ivy cut her down. Torn, black cloth has been shoved between her lips.
Thank God. I exhale quietly, deliberately while he binds my hands with another length of the rope.
The beast in me calms. My chest expands. The darkness recedes. I bide my time.
“Stay calm, my sunshine,” I pour strength and calm into every word. “I will keep you safe.”
This man has made a grave mistake. I will get retribution for the fear in her eyes. “I am going to tear you limb from limb.”
He must know what I’m capable of. After he ties my wrists, he ties my arms together at the elbow and just below the shoulders. He tests the rope until he’s satisfied I won’t be able to use brute force to escape. “I’m going to enjoy watching you try.”
He sits on the bed next to my sunshine and strokes a hand over her hair.
Her scream is muffled by the cloth. She squirms away from him.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” I snarl.
His mouth twists cruelly. “Unfortunately, I’m under specific instructions not to rough her up too much. Pity. She seems like she would be a lot of fun. The way she kissed me… out of nowhere… with no clue who I was… but I knew who you were, sweet Lily.”
A tear trickles down my sunshine’s cheek. I catalogue her pain for later. He’s going to pay for every single ounce he inflicts when I get free. “Let me guess, you’re not an agent.”
“I was, but your father pays better.”
“Of course he does.” It was a given he would catch up with us at some point.
“He asks when you’re coming home.”
I must go back. It was always going to be this way. Unless I want to spend the rest of my life pretending that I’m dead in the hopes I can protect my sunshine, I have to take my place as the Hawthorne heir and take up my legacy.
Maybe it will be sooner, now Dizzy has a sister in her corner that won’t betray us. “That depends.”
“Let me make it an easy decision for you.” He hauls Dizzy up by her throat. “You accompany me of your own volition. Or I’ll take her instead. And you know what he has planned for her.”
I do, because Nicole made it clear to her, Ivy, and Rogue. The beast inside me roars, but I know better than to show how affected I am. A loss of control is a loss of power.
I rifle through everything I have seen and heard this weekend. First, second, and third hand accounts. The pieces have been locking together from the beginning, but we were treating everything as separate events.
The goat. The Devil’s Bend assholes. Nicole.
It’s why I didn’t clue on to the fact he wasn’t an agent. Because he had been one, but the clues he was corrupt were there. Walking away when he’d been certain that Lily was here. The way he handled Kyle’s death. I should have paid better attention. “You weren’t here about Riot’s stalker.”
“I was told you were clever,” He grins. “I was starting to have my doubts.”
“So, I’m right.”
“Your youngest brother having unwanted attention was the gift I needed to get access to your family. A small escalation and the FBI got brought in. I had their location and a reason to be there if they got suspicious.” He’s too cocky.
Chest and head puffed up and full of hot air.
“All that was left was to hijack the agent on the case before he arrived.”
“You planted the knife, didn’t you? Told everyone you found her fingerprints on the weapon.”
“It worked.” He’s cavalier about it as he drops her back on the bed. “Or it would have if that idiot sheriff had done what he was supposed to.”
“Nicole lied.” When she told Dizzy, Ivy and Rogue that she didn’t know about the goat she was playing dumb. I might have realized it then if I had been there. “She had the goat killed.”
“She found herself a pen pal who wanted an introduction to the other families. He did her a favor. And she talked to your father. Your father asked his own price. So no, she didn’t know about the goat.”
“Violet’s confession ruined your plans.” He had to retreat and come up with a different plan.
“Let’s stop wasting time. Everyone is busy. No one is coming, and you’re helpless. Make your choice. You, or the girl?”
I lock gazes with Dizzy. There is no real choice. Leaving her is the only option. Allowing her to fall back into the hands of my father can never happen. But not being able to protect her… that makes her too easy a target. We’re playing a game of strategy.
“I guess it’s you.” He stalks toward her.
Her eyes grow round as she tries to back away in her bound state.
“No.” I bow my head, expanding my lungs and giving me a second to come up with the only plan I can. “Listen, I need to leave a message with Rebel. Otherwise, my brothers will look for me.”
“So?”
“I want to make sure they don’t. Let me call the tormentuous bastard, and then you can take me to my father.”
He walks over to the small two-person table and picks up the Heart Ranch stationary. He tosses at me. “Write something.”
“My hands are tied. How am I supposed to do that?”
“Do you really think I’m stupid enough to untie you?”
“My father does have a habit of hiring idiots.” I bare my teeth in a savage grin.
He puts the end of a pen between my teeth. “You can write it like that.”
I pretend to write a note that means something, knowing that my writing is completely illegible. But it doesn’t matter. My brothers will get the message. And so will Micah. He’ll know what I need from him.
“They’ll stay away now,” I tell him. “And they’ll protect Lily. Because I don’t believe that my father will be interested in whether you keep your word.”
“No, he probably won’t.” He knocks the pen from my mouth, sending it spinning across the floor. “But she will have a headstart. A few hours… maybe a few days this time instead of a few minutes.”
“Fuck you,” I roar as I lurch to my feet.
He crashes the butt of his weapon into the side of my head as I slam him into the wall as hard as I can with my arms still secured. It’s not hard enough. He strikes blow after blow to my skull.
Incapacitated by dizziness and blood loss, my knees buckle.
Darkness swallows me.