Feeling at the back of my blue jeans, I send a thank fuck when my hand touches the outline of my phone. With unsteady fingers, I open the flashlight app, breathing with relief that my phone still works, and use it to look around the car, searching for my girl. When I find nothing, I shine the light all around me and on the ground. Not a goddamn thing.
“Alexandria!” She hates being called that, but I’ll do whatever it takes to get her to respond to me, even if it’s to curse me out.
I almost drop my phone when it starts to vibrate.
“Tessa—”
“Hey. I’m so sorry about the delay, but things have been crazy here. I got an alert several minutes ago that the airbags went off in the car. Is everything—”
“I can’t find her!” Swinging the phone back and forth, I search the area around the crash in a circle, foot by foot.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Liam. Are you drunk?”
What? No. Am I slurring?
“Accident. Can’t find Andie… get Declan. Now!”
She must’ve understood that because the line goes silent for a second and then Declan barks, “Where’s my daughter, Liam?”
The haze lifts from my brain, and everything suddenly goes crystal clear. Right before we rolled, I heard the rev of an engine and remember catching the sight of a black Escalade in my peripheral before impact.
I’m not going to find Andie, because she’s not here to be found.
“Jesus, fuck, Declan. They took her.”
Chapter 27
Keane walks into the living room where I have my laptop set up and Kellan’s journal in front of me.
I look up, but my fingers continue to hit the keys as I code in the last sequence that will gain me access to a new monetary account that was set up under Andie’s name a few days ago. “Did you find it?”
He tosses a thumb drive at me, and I catch it one-handed.
“Unfortunately, yes,” he replies, taking a seat on the coffee table next to me.
Kellan, you unforgivable bastard. The more I decipher in the journal, the angrier I get. Not only had Kellan been skimming from Ortiz’s drug shipments that’d come into the ports we controlled, but he’d also sold those drugs and put all the cash into an account under Andie’s name. An account that was suddenly and recently shut down. It took me a while to ferret where all the money had gone. Looks like Declan, Liam, or Tessa got wind of it and moved the money into another account. But that’s not the worst part. Kellan knew that Andie wasn’t his sister.He goddamn knew. When he found out, I have no clue. But it’s the USB drive that has me worried the most. Kellan wrote in vivid detail how he videotaped Max beating Andie with a belt, while his men held Rafe down and made him watch. Then he raped her when she passed out. Rafe went rabid. It took four men to finally knock him out. And Kellan stood by, hiding in the shadows with his phone recording everything—and he didnothing.
Why? That’s what I want to know. He could’ve used what he had and taken Max down with it. He could’ve come to us and told us what was going on. We would have protected Andie. There wouldn’t have been anything anyone could’ve done that would’ve stopped me from killing Max after that. Instead, Kellan kept detailed records of it all in his journal. Again, I ask why? I’m only halfway through it and already dreading finding out the other half.
“Where’d you find it?” I ask Keane, who looks absolutely devastated.
“His old hiding place behind the loose brick. She can never know about it. Max is dead. There’s nothing good to come from her knowing.”
In total agreement, I stand up and walk into the kitchen, open the microwave door, and toss the thumb drive into it.
“Won’t that make the microwave blow up?” Keane asks from the entryway.
“It shouldn’t, but you may want to stand back.”
I set the microwave going and immediately, loud crackles pop and tiny sparks appear making the small device look like the earth at night seen from outer space. After a half minute, I press stop and use oven mitts to take it out. The plastic case that encloses the electronics and miniature circuit board inside is melted and warped. The video it holds in its memory should be completely unreadable now. For good measure, I snap off the connector head and toss both parts into the industrial-strength garbage disposal.
Keane’s chuckle has me grinning. “We could just burn it in the fireplace.”
“What would be the fun in that?” I ask, flicking the switch and wincing slightly at the harsh grinding occurring.
We would always do shit like this as teenagers. We were nothing but trouble and bad news, but it didn’t stop Andie from following us around, wanting to be a part of our hellraising.
Taking two beers out of the fridge, I slide one over to Keane, who catches it before it drops right off the counter island. He’s been uncharacteristically quiet since Andie and Liam left.
