“No need,” Zeke says as he shows me his phone and the Google search he has pulled up. There was drone footage of a sprawling mansion and an address underneath along with the hefty price tag that the home had come with. Like her apartment, it was that fucking easy to get her location, and learning that after hearing she was attacked today—or I guess yesterday—puts me in an unbearably black mood.
“Let’s go.”
Even with a map, we have a hell of a fucking time finding the place since the GPS stops directing us about a mile away from where the home is actually located. And blocking our way in is a guarded gate. We find somewhere discreet to park so we can remain inconspicuous while surveying the area.
I can see several homes in the distance scattered around the rolling hills, and my gaze snags on the highest one. I can’t make out the details from here, but I know in my tightening gut that it’s hers, sitting above all the rest like the king of the hill.
Getting in won’t be easy, and while that eases some of my agitation, I’m still restless to get inside and find her.
“All right, so how do we do this?” I ask.
“We kill the guards.”
Khalil and I startle at the telling shift in Zeke’s voice, and he grins as we gape at the man now in the driver’s seat. “What the hell—Seth?”
He shoves Zeke’s hair out of his eyes and winks. “In the flesh.”
“When the hell—howthe hell are you awake?” Khalil demands.
Seth wiggles his fingers and says, “Magic.”
“What happened to Zeke?”
“He said he wasn’t ready to see Sunshine, so he bailed.” Seth playfully rolls his eyes toward the roof of the car. “What a pussy.”
I snort, but Khalil says, “Leave him alone, Seth. You weren’t there when she left.” And then he turns his head to direct the last part at me. “And neither were you, Thor, so cut him some slack.”
I nod and clasp Khalil on the shoulder.
“So are we doing this or what?” Seth asks as he pats Zeke’s body down in his seat, looking for his favorite knife.
“We’re not killing them, Seth,” I decide. “They’re the ones keeping people out. That’s a good thing.”
“Sunshine doesn’t need them. She has us.”
“We’re not killing them.”
Seth glares at us both before muttering under his breath. “Pussies.”
Ignoring him, I climb out of the car to get a better look at the surrounding area, and my gaze snags on the mountains behind the entire community and the smaller hills at the base. “That’s our way in,” I say. “They didn’t bother to block it off because no one will be crazy enough to try to climb down from there.”
“No one but us,” Khalil agrees.
The sky is a soft blue and pink, and I can even see the bright dot of Venus winking at me when the three of us creep toward the patio doors overlooking the pool. My legs twinge in pain since I pushed myself too hard climbing up and then downthe mountains nestled behind the community. And because Aurelia’s house—a classic château that reeked of old money—sat on the highest hill, we had to hike up the pretty steep incline.
By the time we reached the property, we were covered in sweat and dirt and scrapes and bruises. Khalil was bleeding near his elbow where he’d lost his grip and subsequently some of his skin, but he paid the wound no mind as he picked the lock on the door.
I’m ready to say fuck it and just knock out a panel of the glass when he pushes the door open and walks inside like he owns the place. I’m right behind him, with Seth taking up the rear.
“This is niiiiice,” Seth says as we all look around. The cavernous room we entered bounces his voice around, and I cringe.
“Keep it down, Seth.”
“Why? She’s going to know we’re here soon enough.”
“Because we don’t know who else might be here,” I tell him.
We dip in and out of all the rooms on the ground floor, looking for signs that anyone else is here before we make our way to the second floor, where we do the same thing, stopping in front of a set of ornate double doors cracked open, but not enough to see inside.
