Asher glances at him. “Do we really have to go back for her? She made her bed,” he snips unimpressed.
“If you want answers then yes, before she fucks us over again. We need to know what we’re up against,” Jagger growls, but his anger isn’t directed at his brother. I wouldn’t want to be Olivia when we get back to her car.
Asher continues off down the road, and we move past the first car they shot down. It’s off to the side of the road in a fiery mess, with the tree behind it also now up in flames. I know I shouldn’t care, but sickness overwhelms me thinking of whomight have been in that car. The thought that my brother might actually be dead is too horrible to imagine, even after what he did to me.
“You’re all going to get killed because of me,” I whisper, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. They might be okay with car chases and getting shot at, but they’re not going to escape this shit forever. Eventually they will make a wrong move and then… I can’t even think of then. They can’t get hurt because of me, I won’t let them.
Cruz’s arm snakes around my shoulders, and he pulls me into his solid chest, kissing my forehead. “No one’s going to die.”
“They won’t give up till they have me, and you will get caught in the crossfire. You can’t win every time,” I cry back, wishing they would listen to me. I know my family, they won’t stop.
The car goes deadly silent, not even Cruz has a comeback for me. They all know it’s true. And that makes me want to cry even more.
Asher pulls up to Olivia’s car. She’s in the driver’s seat staring out the windshield.
My blood goes icy when I see why. There’s a bullet hole between her eyes and a trickle of blood running over her pretty face. I cover my mouth as my stomach rolls.
“Motherfucker.” Jagger smashes his fist into the dashboard. “Get us out of here.”
Chapter 17
Against All Odds
“BacktoBlack”playsthrough my headphones. I have been lying in my bed staring at the ceiling since we arrived home, a million thoughts rummaging through my head after that terrifying car chase and what we witnessed after. I can’t believe Commissioner Sedgwick is dead. Did my brother do it? Or was he in one of the cars chasing after us and is now dead on the sideof the road as well? It’s all too awful to process. I don’t want to see him again after what he did to me, but I don’t want him dead either.
The car ride home was deadly quiet. I was dying to ask Jagger if he was okay, but Asher attempted and got his head bitten off, so I guess the answer was a big fat no. As much as he tried to deny it, in the past Olivia meant something to him. And when he left her there stranded on the side of the road, there was no way he thought he would find her dead when we got back to her. He was shocked and hurting.
There is one thing for sure, after what Dante has gotten up to the past twenty-four hours, if he’s not dead, my family isn’t going to give up on getting me back. I have tried running, tried hiding, so there is really only one thing left to do. Give in and go home before anyone else ends up with a bullet between their eyes. I can’t let the boys die because of me. I’m not worth it.
A heavy tap comes at the door. I reluctantly glance over to find Cruz leaning into the doorway, his hair swept off his face, still wet from a recent shower. “Food,” he mouths.
I shove my headphones down to my neck, not bothering to switch off the song. “I’m not hungry, you guys eat without me.”
He moves into my room and plonks down on the bed beside me. Taking my hand in his, he laces our fingers together. “Hiding away from us isn’t going to make you feel any better.”
I chew the dried skin on my bottom lip. He’s right, nothing will make this pain better. I’ve seen too much. I was a sheltered little princess, and now I’m nothing, no one, a dead girl who’s not dead. Everything is upside down and inside out, and I can’t face them.
He brushes my hair out of my eyes. “You haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
My stomach grumbles, telling me it’s true. “How can you eat after today? I’m sick to my stomach.”
He lifts a shoulder. “We’re all still here, what is there to feel sick over?” He seems genuinely perplexed by my question. A detachment only a true psychopath could have.
I move to sitting up, cuddling my legs into my chest, an emptiness sinking its way under my skin. “But an innocent woman died.”
“Was she innocent, though? Your family wouldn’t have been able to blackmail her if there weren’t a few skeletons in her closet. She did something she was trying to cover up, you know it as well as I do.”
“She didn’t deserve to die,” I whisper, my eyes filling with fresh tears.
He stands and scoops me up in his arms like a baby, pulling me in so close to his chest I know there is no escaping him. I’m too weak to even try. Then he marches from the room on a mission.
“What are you doing?” I complain.
“You won’t hear reason, so I’m making sure you eat.”
“Just leave me be, Cruz,” I mutter, my body practically turning to jelly in his arms.
He glares down at me, a look of determination on his face. “No, if you have too much alone time you’ll start to overthink everything. This shit will eat you up inside. You need us to lighten the load, even if you don’t think you do.”
