Swallowing roughly, I nod as I flip open the phone and dial the number I’ve memorized. It rings twice. “Hello?” The voice is rough and panicked, and I blink away tears before I try to get my words out.
“Dec?”
“Oh, thank fuck. Jo.” Declan breathes a sigh of relief. “Where are you? What happened? You didn’t call me back, and so I checked the GPS and saw Turnip’s signal in the woods. When we got there, we saw the car and I imagined the worst.”
“Do you have her?” I choke out, hoping to hell nothing happened to her.
“I do,” he confirms. “She was buried in one of your sweaters in the wrecked car, but she’s fine. Now…where are you?”
“We got caught by some of the bounty hunters Pierce sent out, and they took us back to one of his vacation homes. The one that was set on fire—”
“You’re in the Emerald Lake Estates?”
I glance at Hayden, who nods in confirmation. “Yeah. Why do you know that?”
“I’ve done my research, Jo. Now tell me, where are you now? Please don’t say you’re using his phone.”
I scoff. “Please. I know better than that. We killed him and set fire to the house.” Well, now that I say it out loud, it does seem a tad more reckless than calling him from the residence. “We hopped the property fence, and my friend Adela happened to be drivin’by—”
“Adela Olivier?”
My brows shoot up. “Holy shit, Dec, how much stalkin’ have you been doin’?” Declan only grunts. “Anyway, she got us outta there, and set us up nice and fancy in her baby daddy’s guest house. We’ll regroup here for a day and then head out tomorrow.”
“What’s the name of the father of the baby?” Declan asks, sounding suspicious.
“Ummm…Vander?”
“Vander what?”
So much has happened in the last twenty-four hours, my brain struggles to remember exactly what Adela said. “Bowen, I think.”
“The guys and I are still driving back from Maine, and we were in such a rush to get here, Aidan forgot to bring his fucking laptop.”
“Aw, Aidan, youdocare.” I grin.
I hear Aidan grunt in the background, making me snort.
Declan sighs. “My point is, I’m going to have him look into this ‘Vander Bowen’ as soon as we get home. Until then…stay aware, yeah?”
I look over at Sam and Kole, who are busy scanning the entire house for bugs and cameras. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem. How’s Mabel doing?”
“...Better, though she might be panicking if she’s tried to call you in the last twelve hours, since I found your phone destroyed in the SUV.”
“Can you find a way to let her know I’m okay? Maybe give her this number?” I feel horrible that Mabel is probably thinking the worst has happened.
“Got it. The number you’re calling from… is it secure?”
“It’s a burner that Adela gave me.”
“Good. I’ll call you in a few hours and we’ll come up with a game plan, okay?”
“Sounds good, Dec.”
We hang up, and my shoulders slump. Fuck. It’s been a week. “Kole? Should you call your brothers?”
He straightens from where he was bending down, running his fingers under the ledge of the kitchen counter, and nods. “Yes, that would be wise.” He takes the phone from me and dials his own number, and I head for the bathroom, ready to shower and get all the grime off me.
thirty-nine
