Legend’s voice cuts through the room.“Already called.Boys are on their way.”
I inhale once.Slow.Then turn toward the hallway like I’m fixin’ to walk it off.
But I don’t walk.
Remembering she tried to reach out, I take out my phone.Unblock her number like a text from her would magically come through.Nothing.Of course.
I slam my fist into the wall so hard the wood snaps behind the paneling.The noise cracks through the clubhouse like lightning.Everyone jumps.
The pain is nothing.A spark.A reminder that my body still exists when everything else feels like smoke.
“She is not just gone,” I say.“Someone took her.”
Legend ain’t arguing.“Yeah.That’s what it looks like.”
Oaks mutters, “Or something.”
“Same pattern,” I say.“Ex-Pearly Gates.Young.Troubled.Beautiful.Blood left behind.”My mind moves fast.Too fast.“Same as Marlena.Same as the other girls.”
Whiskey curses under his breath.“You think it is the same guy.”
I look at him.“I think it is exactly the same guy.”
A predator working in the dark.A man who knows how to move women without being seen.A man who leaves just enough behind to make sure we know he was there.
Becki’s face flashes in my mind.Confined to my room.Barefoot.Smart mouth.Secrets in her bones.The Reverend’s daughter.But the Reverend had names on his wall.A chain in his basement.
The pattern hits me like a brick.The girls he takes ain’t random.They are connected.They are chosen.Maybe by the Reverend.And I have one of them downstairs.Locked away.Locked away on purpose.
Legend stiffens when he sees my expression.“You figured something out.”
“Maybe,” I say.“Maybe not.”
“Royal.”
I drag a hand over my mouth.“Could’ve easily been Becki.”
Oaks frowns.“If she wasn’t your prisoner.”
“Joey was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Whiskey says.“Could mean nothing.”
“Or it could mean everything,” I say quietly.
Legend steps closer, lowering his voice.“If Becki knows something, we will get it out of her.”
I shake my head.“She is not lying to me.”
Whiskey snorts.“She lies every time she breathes.”
“No,” I say.“Not about this.”
A girl goes missing.Becki’s daddy’s church smells like rot.And the walls in that basement have names carved into them.Joey’s name is not there.
Not yet.
And Sherrif Dix will come question the Kings.The thought ignites something violent inside me.
Legend crosses his arms.“What do you want to do?”
