Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Rage
The night is long and frustrating. By morning, I’m almost crawling out of my skin. We’ve searched everywhere we can think of, but there’s no sign of Garth. By the time we went looking for him after the fight, he’d already left the auditorium and no one knew where he went.
Thanks to Jonas’s supreme cyber skills, we know where Candy is, and we’re headed there now.
“Where is he?” I demand, pushing my way inside when she opens her hotel room door.
She shrieks, holding a dress in front of her as we push inside. I’ve got Grim and Metal with me, and they block the exit.
“Where’s Neil?” I ask.
“He went out for coffee--what do you want?” There are clothes all over the room, and an open suitcase on the bed. She’s obviously planning to go somewhere, but the only place she’s going is to jail, if I have anything to say about it.
“Where. Is. He.” I repeat myself slowly, in a deep, hoarse voice that brooks no argument. I can see the fear in her eyes, but it doesn’t deter me. Normally, I wouldn’t hit a woman, but I’ll make an exception under these circumstances.
“I already told you!”
“Not Neil.”
“Then who?” she demands, hanging on to the last vestiges of her dignity as she lifts her chin.
“Garth!” I yell his name so loud she jumps.
“I don’t know!” she yells back. “We had a deal—I would get the profit from the fundraiser, and he gets the money from his bets. Then we go our separate ways. Neil and I are flying to New York in a couple of hours.”
Luna’s been missing more than twelve hours at this point, so I don’t give a shit where Candy thinks she’s going or when.
“Where did you last see him?”
“At the auditorium. He was handling receipts from the night. The venue gave us twenty-five percent of money from the bar.”
“Where does he live?” I growl, beginning to lose my patience.
“He’s been staying at a motel in Culver City.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” To my surprise, Metal brushes past me and wraps his fist around Candy’s long hair, yanking it just hard enough for her to yelp. “Give us the fucking address. Now.”
She bursts into tears and starts babbling the name of a place on Sepulveda.
Metal shoves her away hard enough for her to stumble.
“Why are you with her?” she yells at me. “You could have anyone! And she’s this horrible hacker who stole all of Garth’s money!”
I turn slowly, staring at her. “That what he told you to make you go along with this little plan?”
“It’s true!”
I shake my head. “You know who your boyfriend is?” I ask gruffly. “The man who helped create the Assault Academy. You know what that is?”
I see the wheels turning and it takes a few minutes.
Then her mouth forms a little “O.”
“Yeah, and Luna is the one who uncovered that shit and tried to take them down. So check your tone before you talk about Luna.” With that, I turn and stalk out the door with Metal and Grim behind me.
“Chances are, he’s gone,” Grim says as we get back in my SUV and I have to agree, even though I don’t say it.
“We’ll find him,” Metal says from the back seat. “I texted the name of the motel to Silver while we were still in the room—he’s already on the way. If he’s there, they’ll keep him there. If not, we can pivot.”
“The problem is that we don’t have anywhere to pivot to,” I mutter, trying to focus on the road in front of me.
“Oh, yeah we do.” Grim’s looking at his phone with a grin. “Jonas found his phone.”
“Where?” I demand.
“Hang on.” He makes a call and puts it on speaker. “Jonas—where is he?”
“Well, his phone is pinging in Santa Monica. Looks like he’s going south on the 405.”
I swing my SUV around and head for the freeway.
We’re going to find him.
One way or another.
And when we do, he’s going to regret every decision he’s ever made if he’s so much as harmed a single hair on Luna’s head.
“This is too easy,” Metal says as we speed down the freeway. “He got taken down by a hacker once, and we have to assume he hired a hacker to get into Luna’s accounts and stuff. I feel like we’re heading into a trap.”
I’ve had the same thought but this is literally the only lead we have. If it’s a trap, we’re fairly well-prepared to fight back, but all I care about is Luna.
“Do you think he’s purposely leading us to her?” Grim asks. I don’t know if it’s rhetorical or not but I just keep my foot on the gas, eyes on the road.
“I think he wants Rage to suffer,” Metal says.
“For what reason?” I counter. “We never had any beef. I left the fighting world not long after he did, despite the age difference. He had to retire; I wanted to. I didn’t take anything from him.
He was a heavier weight class than me, so we never even fought.
Nor would we have if I’d stayed the course. ”
“No, but there’s something there,” Grim says. “Maybe it’s just about the money. Or jealousy. It could be a million things.”
“Or something as simple as the fact that you love the woman he blames for taking down the Assault Academy.”
“What kind of sick fucks drug the women they’re supposed to love so they can rape them?” Grim mutters. “It’s bullshit. I like sex. I would even venture to say I love sex more than most people—but fucking a lifeless body is no fun. Not even a little.”
“It’s not truly about the sex act,” I say. “It’s about control. Being in charge to the point that your partner cannot say no. And they can’t even protest because they’re out cold.”
“Fuck that,” Metal mutters.
“Assholes.” Grim shakes his head.
“Do you think she’s dead?” I ask after a beat.
“That’s too easy,” Grim says right away. “If he wanted to kill her, he knows where she lives, so he could have done it at any time. He wanted her to suffer, be afraid. So no, I don’t think she’s dead.”
I can’t vocalize my other fears.
If he’s raped her—no, I can’t go there.
My fingers tighten on the wheel.
“The motel room was empty,” Metal says. “Silver and the others just got there. The guy at the desk said he checked out twenty minutes ago—so we just missed him.”
“Dammit.” We wasted so much time last night chasing our tails.
I’ve got Luna’s shattered phone in my pocket—like it’s somehow keeping her close to me.
“We’re going to catch him,” Grim says. “Don’t worry.”
I don’t respond because he knows I’m going to worry no matter what he says.
“Just heard from Daniil,” Grim says. “The police picked up both Candy and Neil and brought them in for questioning regarding the embezzled money from the fundraiser.”
I don’t care about the money.
We just need to find Luna.
I’m sorry, princess—I should have listened.
“Okay, we have something,” Grim says. “Garth’s wife owned a house just outside Pomona. It’s still in her name, but he must own it now. It’s on a lake, looks somewhat isolated.”
“That’s where she is.” I yank the wheel and move into the right lane. I need to get off and whip around, so I can jump on I-10 going east.
“Silver, Motor, and Nitro will meet us there—drop me a pin.” Metal’s on his phone. “And I’ll have one of the guys follow whoever has Garth’s phone, just in case.”
That makes sense so I nod, but I’m not paying much attention to them. I just need to get my girl back. Preferably before Garth hurts her.
The rest of the drive is accomplished in complete silence. By the time we take the road that leads to the house, a deadly calm has settled over me. It was like this in the military, too, when we were heading into a fight. I was always the calmest, hyper-focused on the task at hand.
And this time the task is personal.
We slow down and I spot three motorcycles against a line of trees. No one is on them, but I know Silver and the others are nearby.
“Silver says the house is dark, he can’t see anyone inside but there’s no way to know for sure unless they break in.”
“Do it,” I say, pulling to a stop. “If she’s not here, we get the hell back on the road. But I think she is.”
Silver appears from behind the house and gives us a thumb’s up. I take a quick look around and then get out of my SUV. Since we came up to L.A. for the fight, I didn’t think to bring a weapon and I know Grim isn’t armed either. Metal, however, produces a handgun from his boot and hands it to me.
“Just in case,” he says.
I stuff it in the back of my sweats and stalk toward the house.
Silver has already picked the lock on the front door and is inside.
“Rage—she’s here!” I hear someone yell.
Thank fuck.
I’ve just stepped onto the porch when a car crunches up the gravel driveway. I lift my head and see him.
Garth.
Our eyes lock for a fraction of a second before he puts the car in reverse and his tires squeal as he takes off down the street.
“You take care of my girl!” I hiss at Grim. “I’m going after Garth!”
Before anyone can react, I jump back in my SUV and take off down the street.