That fucking prick.
I forced a breath in through my teeth, slow and controlled,fighting the urge to put my fist through the nearest wall. “How long ago did she leave?”
“11:07.”
Evan would be precise. I checked the time. 11:32. She had a twenty-five-minute head start, but I could make that up. I had to leave now. “I’m on my way. Don’t lose sight of her. I’ll call you from the road.” I disconnected the call and stalked out of the room so fast the door ricocheted off the wall behind me. My footsteps thundered down the stairs, the banister rattling under the force of my grip as I took the last few steps in a single leap.
Was she headed to the cabin? It was the only place that made sense. She must have found out the same information I had. Had Jesse called her first before he called me? That fucker. I swore, if something happened to her, if he had any part in her taking off, I’d kill him after I obliterated his father.
Raine and Maddox were just stepping out of Dad’s office. They froze the second they saw my face. “What happened?” Maddox asked, sensing something was wrong. My face definitely said it all.
“She’s gone.” My voice came out like gravel.
Raine frowned. “Gone where?”
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t be so fucking calm about it,” I snapped. They both looked me over. I was anything but calm, and we all knew it. “The cabin if I had to guess.” I gave up the pretense of control and slammed my fist into the wall. “Fuck!”
Raine’s eyes drew sharper. “Grab your shit.” He pointed toward the hall, taking control of the situation. “Let’s go.”
Kaylor’s face flashed behind my eyes as I took off after my brothers, the way she had smiled as she told me she loved me, how she looked so serene and happy, tangled in my bed.
She wanted to be part of it. She wanted to see it end with her own eyes.
I’d told her no. I’d tried to keep her out of it, and she found a way regardless. I shouldn’t have been surprised, the stubborn girl she was.Too damn headstrong for her own good, and this time, she might get herself killed.
I couldn’t…I refused to let that be an option.
“Keys,” Raine barked, snatching them out of my hand before I could argue. “And I’ll drive. I don’t need you bleeding out or killing us before we get the satisfaction of smoking this asshole.”
We moved fast. Maddox sprinted for the garage door. Mason appeared out of nowhere with guns and jackets, adrenaline already pouring off him. Jesse stumbled in behind them, pale and wide-eyed but silent. Good. He knew better.
The twins piled into the back with Jesse. Raine slid behind the wheel. I climbed into the passenger seat, one hand pressed against my side, the fresh bandage already seeping warm blood through the fabric of my shirt.
Doors slammed. Seat belts clicked. The engine snarled to life.
Raine tore out of the driveway, gravel spitting behind us as the estate fell away behind us. I caught my reflection in the side mirror, a ghosted image over blurred trees. Storm clouds gathered in my eyes, murder making them bright. My jaw was clenched tight. I looked like every nightmare Kaylor ever had about me.
Good.
Rusty wanted a monster? He was about to meet the version of me people whispered about but rarely got the privilege of seeing.
And this time, I wasn’t coming to talk.
Raine drovelike he owned the road. He drove like me. We ate up distance, making up as much time as we could, white lines on the road blurring into a single continuous streak. There weren’t many cars on the road to contend with, and those in our way quickly moved aside, or Raine just sped past them.
He jerked the car around a corner, and my side ached from themovement, a throbbing pulse. I pressed my palm against it, feeling the raised edges of the bandage through my shirt.
Pain could wait.
Kaylor couldn’t.
I tapped Evan’s name on my phone, my thumb leaving a smudge on the screen, and instantly put it on speaker as I waited for the call to connect.
“Kreed.” Evan’s voice crackled through the car. “I’ve got eyes on her. She left with Carson. They’re heading northeast.”
“Is this your way of apologizing for letting her escape?” I asked.
“I figured you’d prefer to yell at me later, sir,” Evan replied. His voice never wavered. It was what made him good at his job.
