I basically just cheated on him. Kind of anyway. We never really established a real relationship in our fake one. That doesn’t excuse what I did.
He reaches out and brushes his knuckles across my cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Kind of.” I let a gradual exhale release from my lips before I inch away from him. “I don’t like how you’re acting like we’re going to die here. I won’t let that happen.”
“I won’t let that happen to you either.”
“See, then we’re both protect?—”
The door opens. Finn immediately goes into protective mode as he leans in front of me as a man walks in.
Finn stiffens as the light casts across the man’s face. “Dad?”
The man gives him a cruel smile. “Hello, son.”
CHAPTER 9
RIVER
It’s been almosttwenty-four hours since the accident happened, and Finn and Maddy were taken. I haven’t heard anything from the police or Maddy’s father, but I did get to see Lily, and she’s doing much better.
When I tell her what happened, minus the details about Maddy’s real last name, she blames herself.
“This is all my fault,” she whispers, teary-eyed as she lies in the hospital bed hooked up to monitors and an IV. “If I had never gone to northside, the accident never would’ve happened. And Finn and Maddy wouldn’t have been taken. Although I still don’t get why they took her. I’m guessing Finn was taken because the kidnappers want a ransom.”
“I’m not sure yet, since the police haven’t given me an update. But Lily, this isn’t your fault.” I take her hand in mine. “If they weren’t taken tonight, these people would’ve found another way.”
She sniffles. “I still should’ve never gone to northside.”
“I know. And I never want you to do that again.” I slide forward in the chair to grab a cup of water off a table. “Drink some water and try to get some rest. I know it’ll be hard, but youneed to focus on getting better right now, and stress won’t help that.”
She grabs the water from me and takes a sip. “I’ll try, but no promises.” She hands me back the cup, and I set it down on the table.
I’m about to get up and call Grey again when my phone rings with a call from him.
“I have to answer this,” I tell Lily as I head out of the room.
She eyes me dubiously as I do, probably since I’m acting kind of sketchy by leaving the room. But I don’t want her to hear the conversation I’m about to have. It’s too risky for her to know about Maddy’s bloodlines.
“Hello?” I answer the phone after I’ve stepped into the hallway. “Please tell me you have an update.”
“I have a few,” he tells me. “I’ve found the locations of where Maddison and your brother are being held, and I also found out that your father is the person who took them.”
“What?” I say loud enough that the doctors nearby throw me dirty looks. I turn my back toward them and lower my voice. “My dad did this?” No, there’s no way.
And yet…
Part of me knows there is, that he could’ve had something to do with my mother’s disappearance as well. If so, though, what’s the fucking connection, because there has to be one.
“He did,” Grey says. “I’m positive he’s going to try to kill Maddy after he gets her to sign a paper that will give him her inheritance.”
I prop my shoulder against the wall. “What inheritance? Like yours? Because that doesn’t make sense. You’d have to die, too.”
“No, not mine. Her Everford inheritance,” he explains. “Look, I can’t get into all of the details right now because I need to rescue my daughter, but what I can tell you is that Ellie got a hold of me and has told me some information that might protectMaddy from getting killed. She also told me she’s found out the real reason behind the hunt for the Everford bloodline. It’s why she took off. She’s been on a search for a way to protect Maddy.” He briefly pauses. “Your mother has been helping her, too.”
I straighten, my pulse racing. “Is she okay? My mom, I mean.”
“She is, but she’s in hiding because your father found out what she was doing,” he tells me over the sound of an engine roaring. “Ellie and your mom have been working together for a long time, but when Maddy got the scholarship to The Royal Academy, they realized that the wrong people were suspicious of her and that they needed to find a way to protect her and to avoid people finding out that Ellie is Maddy’s mother. Your father is the reason Maddy got that scholarship. Apparently, he got suspicious that she could be an Everford, and so bringing her to the Academy was his way of keeping an eye on her while he looked into it. Tonight, though, he found out she was a match for the Everford bloodline. He won’t kill her, though, until she signs those papers, so I need to get to her before she does.”
