“Abby.” Rick’s gaze is thunderous as he dabs at his bleeding face. Strands of dark hair falls across his brow, and he jerks his head, tossing them out of his eyes. “Unless you want me to give Charlie a lethal shot, you will get in the fucking car and behave.”
I want to spit in his face, but I won’t lower myself. “I hate you as much as I hate your asshole of a brother.”
“I don’t expect any less,” he says, sighing as his features soften a little. “Just get in the car before we’re all arrested.” He wipes his face with a tissue.
“You can’t leave Charlie there like that.”
“The staff will take care of him.”
“What if they don’t? I’m not leaving until I know they’ve taken care of him.”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. As soon as we’re back on the highway, I’ll call it in. I promise.” I plant my hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes. “The faster we get out of here, the quicker he gets help,” he argues.
I send one last look at Charlie, feeling like a treacherous bitch, as I climb in the back seat alongside the other brother. Rick slides behind the wheel, and the asshole who tried to grab me takes shotgun.
Rick peels it out of here, pointedly locking all the doors and pinning me with a warning look through the mirror. “Message Sawyer Hunt,” he tells the brother sitting beside him, and he nods.
“How did you know where to find me?”
“We were watching the elite, and when Charlie made plans to travel with your father alone, we had a hunch it was to do with you. We staked out Parkhurst until we saw you leaving with him, and then we followed you.”
“Hey.” The guy sitting beside me leans forward, smiling tentatively. I narrow my eyes to slits but say nothing. His hair is as dark as his brother’s, and his eyes are the same shade of brown, but his features are more babyish even if his body is honed to perfection. All four Andersons are hot as hell, and they clearly enjoy working out because this guy is as ripped as his older brother.
“We’re not your enemy, Abby,” Rick says, keeping his eyes glued to the road as we head toward the interstate.
“If this is your attempt at being friends, I pity your enemies,” I retort, ignoring the guy at my side and staring at the landscape as it flashes by through the tinted window.
“It might have started out like that, but things changed once Kai got to know you,” Rick says.
I snort, shaking my head. “Don’t bullshit me. Everything was a lie. Everything was a manipulation to get to my father.” I force my hands to my stomach. “You even used an innocent child as a pawn.” Anger bleeds from my eyes as I stare at him through the mirror. “What kind of sick bastard deliberately sleeps with someone with the sole purpose of getting them knocked up?”
“That’s no—”
“Save it, Rick,” I bark. “I don’t want to hear it.”
At least not from him.
I want to look Kaiden in the eye and ask him if he was the one who messed with my birth control. I have no proof that’s how they did it, but I suspect I’m right, because Kai had no concerns fucking me without condoms. If he wanted to get me pregnant, that was the perfect solution.
Except I’ve had lots of time to think about how it all went down in the ballroom, and I remember the look of horrified shock on his face just before his father revealed the baby news.
My eyes flit to Rick’s through the mirror. I remember him whispering in Kai’s ear just before the baby bomb was dropped, and it’s not a stretch to think it involved Rick.
Someone was in my room that first night in Jackson’s house. The night after I was sexually assaulted. That could’ve been Rick. He has the medical knowledge and obvious contacts to switch out my pill. Or he could’ve put something into the drip.
I’m convinced it went down one of those ways.
But I’m still undecided whether Kai was involved or not.
Which is why I’m waiting until I’m face to face with him to have this conversation.
“Call an ambulance for Charlie,” Rick says, turning to his brother in the passenger seat. He immediately calls it in, and a few of the knots in my stomach unravel.
“Kai loves you,” the guy sitting beside me says. “And he’s going crazy worrying about you and the baby.”
“Sure, he is.” I snort. “That’s why it’s taken him weeks to come looking for me.”
“Harley’s right,” Rick says. “And it’s only taken weeks because we had to wait for an opportunity to get to you. Parkhurst is like Fort fucking Knox, and it was too risky to attempt a rescue.”
