She tried his phone, but it went straight to voicemail.Tessa tried again, but there was nothing.By the third call, her hands were trembling.
“Tessa, slow down,” her colleague murmured gently from across the office.“You said he’s been unstable.Sometimes they run.That doesn’t mean anything.”
“I told him to call me,” Tessa whispered.“I told him if he felt scared, if the Iron Serpents MC contacted him again, or if he felt even a little unsafe.He was supposed to call me.”
And he hadn’t.The guilt came fast and vicious.She’d promised him he wasn’t alone.Tessa told him the MC would keep him safe.She assured him that Brick would know if something was wrong.
Brick.Her chest tightened painfully at the thought of him.She pulled out her phone and dialed his number without thinking.
It rang once, twice, then three times.Then it went to voicemail.Her heart sank.
She tried again.Nothing.Texted him quickly, tapping her fingers across her screen.
Dillon is missing.I can’t reach him.Please call me.
The message showed delivered, but went unread.Fear shifted in her gut.She tried the clubhouse.No answer.It went straight to voicemail.
Tessa sent him another text, then she tried Dillon’s guardian but was told Dillon hadn’t replied or answered any of his calls or texts either.
Then Tessa remembered something vital.Brick had told her he might be out of contact today.The Devil’s Crown MC had a run that couldn’t be postponed.He told her the job was dangerous and he might not be able to get back to her right away.The word echoed now like a curse.
She stared at her phone, willing it to light up.It didn’t.Her instinct screamed at her to go to the prospects.Brick and the club had helped her before and they would again.
But the idea of dragging more people into danger also made bile rise in her throat.If Dillon had been taken because of her...
No.She couldn’t think that way.Still, the truth pressed in anyway.The Iron Serpents hadn’t been subtle.The threat at the school.The look in that man’s eyes when Brick pinned him to the wall.
They hadn’t pulled anything but they didn’t back off.Instead, they just waited.Tessa grabbed her bag and her keys, pulse hammering as she headed for the door.
She decided she couldn’t sit and wait.Not while a scared boy who trusted her might be alone with men who trafficked in violence.
She started where she always did, with Dillon’s last known route.Tessa took the bus.From there, she walked to his school.
The walk from school to his bus stop, however, felt longer tonight, every shadow stretching thin and predatory beneath flickering streetlights.She forced herself to breathe evenly as she retraced his steps, checking behind dumpsters, peering into alley mouths, calling his name in a voice that sounded too loud in the quiet.
“Dillon?”
Nothing.She reached the convenience store on the corner where he sometimes bought cheap soda and candy with crumpled bills.The clerk recognized her immediately.
“He was here,” the woman said softly.“About two hours ago.Looked scared.Kept checking the door.”
Tessa’s heart skipped.“Did he say where he was going?”
The clerk hesitated.“Two men came in after him.Rough-looking.They wore leather jackets.He bolted out the back.”
Ice flooded Tessa’s veins.
The Iron Serpents had finally made their move, using Dillon to lure her in so they could hurt Brick.She thanked the clerk with numb fingers and stepped back into the night, breath shallow now.Tessa followed the alley behind the store, shoes crunching softly over gravel as she searched for any sign of him.
“Dillon?”she called again, louder now.“It’s me.You’re not in trouble.”
Her phone buzzed in her trembling hand.Hope flared so fast it hurt.For one breathless second, she believed it was Brick.That despite being busy on club business, he was checking in on her.That everything was about to be okay.
Then she saw the unknown number.Her stomach dropped so violently she nearly gagged.Tessa’s fingers shook as she opened the message.
We have Dillon.
The world seemed to tilt.The Iron Serpents.It had to be them.There was no one else who would use Dillon as a weapon.
