CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Quiet Mustang
HOURS LATER, I’M standing in the cabin’s living room, staring out the window into the night, when my phone rings and the screen flashes a blocked number. I’ve been waiting for it, and as I put it to my ear, a man on the other end says, “I underestimated you.”
His voice is deep and lacks the Montana drawl. Whoever he is, chances are he isn’t from around here. First hint. Then, “And I estimated you just right.”
“You cost me three men,” he says, his voice sounding amused.
“Reckon you’ve got plenty where they came from.”
“I thought instructions were clear,” he states in that amused tone but with a hint of threat.
“They were. Even though you changed ’em at the last second.”
What I told her a few hours ago was the truth.
I always knew whoever these people were, they weren’t going to play by the rules.
Giving me my sister back would be relinquishing control, and from everything I’d learned about them, all the secrecy and making sure they had the upper hand and the fact that I haven’t been able to find out a single thing about them, that’s the last thing they’d do.
It was confirmed when they moved the location at the last minute, asked me to deliver the “cargo” before and get what I wanted afterward.
While I let them believe I was playing their game, it was never my intention at any point to abandon her at the warehouse or hand her over to them.
If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s if I want my sister back, safe and unharmed, giving them the thing I stole for them is not the way to go.
“Only because I couldn’t trust you, and I was right,” he states.
“So was I.”
“You seem to be forgetting we still have your sister,” he reminds me.
My gut burns, but I keep my voice calm. “And I’ve still got what you want.”
This time his inhale is sharper, angrier. “And from the way you behaved today, it doesn’t look like you want her back.”
I fist the phone tighter as fury explodes in my stomach.
Fury and fear for my Lynnie. Fear that I’ll fail her.
Like I’ve failed her for the last sixteen years.
Not only with the accident but also after, for years on end.
By punishing her for wanting to move on, to live her life, to not be stuck in the past like me.
By wanting the same thing for myself. So much fear that it’s too late, that I waited too long to make amends, to apologize for being the worst brother who ever lived.
Somehow managing to keep my voice steady, though, I reply, “And again, with the games you’ve been playin’, don’t much look like you want what I’ve got for you either.”
“Seems like we’re at an impasse then,” he says after a few seconds.
I keep staring into the dark as I drawl, “How about I make you a deal?”
“A deal,” he repeats, his voice deceptively mild. “All right, let’s hear it.”
“You tell me who you are and why you want to kill the Turner Princess, and I’ll bring her to you wherever you want.” I couldn’t have stopped the growl in my chest even if I wanted to before I go on, “That’s what you want, don’t you. That’s why your cockroach of a man shot at her.”
I remember that. The exact moment it happened.
The exact moment when I looked up and realized she was going to be shot. That there was a gun pointed at her.
It seemed like my whole world was going to explode and go dark.
Just like it did sixteen years ago. Only back then, I didn’t realize it was going to happen so all I remember was shock.
Not this time, though. This time, I could see and feel every single second it took for me to dive at her, to cover her with my body so nothing could touch her.
Every single second of panic, terror, the absolute fucking horror that I was going to lose her.
That she was going to… I remember living a hundred lifetimes in those seconds and dying a thousand deaths.
I remember feeling, for the very first time, like a true monster.
I call myself that because I believe I am one, but I don’t think I’d ever felt more monstrous than I did in those few seconds.
Monstrous enough to torch the world and destroy it for a princess.
My Princess. Because that’s what she is. Not the Turner Princess, but mine. And I’m not going to fight it anymore.
“I must say,” his voice comes through, and I breathe deep. “For someone who hates the Turners, you’re a little too concerned about the Turner Princess. I thought they killed your family, or at least that’s what the rumors say, and you’d only be too happy to watch them burn.”
So he knows.
It’s not a surprise. I figured he did, figured that’s why he picked me to do his dirty work instead of anyone else.
He probably thought I had the strongest motive, and I will admit he wasn’t wrong.
Everyone in the town knows how the Turners killed my parents and gave me my scars, on both the inside and the outside.
While people speculate on Lynnie and her whereabouts and whether she’s alive or dead, they know I’m the living reminder of that tragedy.
The fact that this man, whoever the fuck he is, thought he could use that against me, use my family’s destruction to get what he wants, means I’m going to have to get very, very creative with how I destroy him.
How I make him wish he never knew about it or me.
“Not to mention the Grayson–Turner rivalry that no one ever seems to shut up about in this town,” he goes on. “You can’t even get a decent cup of coffee without hearing about it. So I thought we could be friends.”
“You know so much about me already,” I reply, “it feels unnecessary to point out, but here goes: I ain’t the friendship type.
I don’t like people. I like it even less when they think they can control me, tell me what to do and where to go like I’m their personal lapdog.
So here’s what we’re gonna do: You want the Turner girl, you bring me my sister.
Safe and unharmed. To my place and time of choosin’. Is that clear?”
He takes in a sharp breath, but his tone is deceptively calm. “Are you making the rules now?”
“Don’t feel too good, does it?”
He breathes for a few seconds. “Again, I underestimated you.”
“Too bad for you. You want what I have, you’ll do as I say.”
“How do I know you won’t screw me over?”
“You don’t,” I say. “But it looks like you don’t have a choice.”
Again, he’s silent for a few beats, and my body is locked tight.
What I’m doing is risky. As risky as calling his bluff back at the warehouse.
But if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that this man wants something and wants it bad.
And the fact that he’s jumping through all these hoops to get it means he’ll do as I say.
After all, he could’ve picked any thug out there to do this job, to steal the Turner Princess, but he picked me.
There has to be a reason for it. There has to be a reason for why this pissant tried to kill her.
And I’m proved right, my body flooding with relief, when he bites out, “Fine. But don’t make me wait too long. Patience isn’t my strong suit, and I’ve already waited over a year for this. So I hope to hear from you. Soon. Or you won’t like the consequences.”
With that, he hangs up.
And I dial the number I should have a long fucking time ago. The phone hardly rings before my cousin and best friend’s voice echoes through the line.
“What the fuck, Rad?” Arsen booms. “I’ve been fuckin’ callin’ you all day.”
Before I can answer, another voice comes on. “What the fuck are you thinkin’, boy? Where are you?”
Even though I dialed Arsen, who has been calling me all day, I knew I’d hear from Mars as well. And I knew he’d be pissed. What I’m about to say will piss him off more, and I’d care about it, I would, if I wasn’t pissed off at myself too. If I didn’t hate myself for what I did.
Once again before I can answer, though, a new voice breaks through the line. “Where’s my sister?”
Even though I’ve never interacted with him, I still know this is Brecken Turner, Peyton’s brother.
We recently came in contact with each other because of Arsen’s plan, but before that we never had any occasion to run into each other.
All I know about him is that he’s my age and he left Black Rock pretty much when he was a kid to go to various posh boarding schools.
Apparently, Daddy Turner wanted to teach him how to run the business.
It’s not a surprise that he’s at Rawhide right now.
He was supposed to come pick his sister up earlier this morning, but I’d already stolen her by then.
I’m sure, like my family, he has made his own conclusions.
He probably thinks it’s all a big Grayson conspiracy and that this is a hostile move against the Turners.
Whether he thinks my family is involved or if I’m working independently isn’t clear.
All I know is he’s probably ready to declare war on us.
But just like Mars’s disappointment and anger, I don’t give a flying fuck about what Brecken Turner is thinking.
He can burn me at the stake if he wants for taking his sister.
But first, I need to figure out who these people are and why they want her.
Maybe it’s a good thing he’s here because to that effect, I say, “I need your help.”
“Help,” Brecken repeats.
“Someone wants her,” I say next.
“What?”
“Someone…” I breathe through my nose, getting myself ready to say the words again. “Tried to kill her.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”