“It’s his mother’s handwriting,” I said as I looked at the check again. “When I was researching Nathan, I saw a handwritten letter she’d sent the press. They posted a picture of the letter. It was in response to Nathan switching parties. She was telling the press how disappointed she and her husband were in losing both of their sons to the devil, and she was asking people to pray for them.”
I found my phone on a small table next to the cache of weapons Ronan’s men had found on Clint. But as soon as I turned the phone over, I saw a flurry of notifications for missed calls…all within the last five minutes.
They were from Cain.
Panic went through me as I scrambled to unlock my phone. Gage’s phone rang just as I was starting to dial.
“It’s Cain,” Gage said as he put his hand on my arm. He hit the speakerphone.
“Cain, I’m with Vincent,” Gage said.
“What happened?” I asked, my heart in my throat, because there was only one reason Cain would be calling me so often.
“I’m sorry, Vincent. Nathan’s gone.”
Chapter 29
Nathan
“Get up!”a voice snapped as I felt a hand dig into my hair and yank me to my feet. Pain ratcheted through my body as searing agony fired up my arms which had been bound behind my back for hours. I stumbled as my numb legs tried to hold my weight. The hold on my hair was unforgiving, and I winced when I received another sharp yank. Then, blessedly, hard fingers closed around my upper arm instead.
My vision was fucked up because I’d been punched repeatedly on the right side of my face. My assailant was definitely a leftie.
I wanted to spit out the blood that had collected in my mouth while I’d been passed out, but I couldn’t find the strength to do even that, so I had no choice but to swallow it. My captor dragged me maybe a hundred feet or so before he shoved me to the hard cement floor. My knees buckled as soon as I hit the ground, and with my hands bound, I had no way to break my fall. I tried rolling on my shoulder and barely stifled a cry of pain as a booted foot hit me in the middle of my back.
“Not so tough when it’s not an innocent girl you’re toying with, huh?” another voice said as heavy footsteps headed my way.Thatvoice I did know. I’d heard it for the first time several hours earlierwhen I’d answered Brody’s phone while he’d been asleep. I’d been in his room talking to him while he’d waited for his pain meds to kick in. I’d grabbed the phone to put it on vibrate when it had started ringing, but when I’d recognized my mother’s phone number, I’d answered it instead.
The memory came back in a rush.
“Brody?”
My mother’s voice was uncharacteristically shaky.
“No, Mom, it’s Nathan.”
“Oh, Nathan, thank God,” she said, and then I heard a muffled squeak just before a man’s voice had come on the line.
“Mr. Wilder, for someone who likes the cameras so much, you’ve proven awfully difficult to find lately.”
I stiffened as I realized who I was talking to. And what it meant that he was talking to me using my mother’s phone.
“Please don’t hurt her,” I said softly so Brody wouldn’t wake up. I took the phone and went into the attached bathroom.
“Your parents will be just fine if you do what I say,” he said.
Parents.
Jesus, he had both my mother and my father? If he was with my parents, who the hell was Vincent questioning?
“Mr. Wilder,” the man repeated impatiently, and I realized I’d been quiet for too long.
“Yes, okay, anything,” I quickly said. “I’ll do anything.”
As much as I hated my parents, I still loved them.
“Your one job, if you want your parents to get through this thing in one piece, is for you to make it to the mainland. Alone.”
The fact that he’d referenced the mainland had me guessing he knew exactly where I was. I could only assume he’d tracked Brody’s phone or something.
