“Kill them and get rid of them,” I say. “They’ve got nothing else to give us. I need to get to my house. I have to find out where they took my girl.”
Capone is right on my heels as I hop onto my bike, and I race to my house. If Scotty’s still alive, he might know where they took her.
I have to get to her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Pacino
My house is further away from town than most, and I curse being so isolated. If I lived closer to town, maybe I would’ve noticed something off. Something wrong. Had more time to react.
Driving through the broken gate, I curse my brother. I fucking hate him, and when I get my hands on him, I’m going to break his goddamn neck.
He fucked up doing this to me a second time.
Right now, I need to check on Scotty. Make sure he’s alive, and, if he is, find out what happened. He may be my only chance of getting to her before it’s too late.
My heart races as I nearly drop my bike and run up the front steps of my house. Smoke fills the air as the sounds of motorcycles follow me, and I have to fight through thick smoke to punch in the security code to stop the blaring.
“Thank God,” Scotty groans. “That was driving me nuts.”
I run into the kitchen to see the oven as the source of the smoke while Scotty lies on the ground halfway underneath the table.
“What happened?” I ask as Capone grabs a towel and removes whatever was in the oven.
“Your brother took her. I’m sorry, Pacino. I tried. But there were three guys with him. And your brother hit me with something.”
Pulling him up, I see the blood behind his ear, and I want to punch a hole through my wall. This is why I hate my fucking family.
“Did he say anything?”
“Just that he wouldn’t kill me if Phoebe went willingly. I told her not to. I hoped she’d run, but she played it safe. Then it was lights out, man. I’m sorry.”
That explains why she didn’t try to get away. It was too easy for Ryan. Anyone who has met Phoebe, even in passing, knows she’s more concerned for others than herself. And my brother fucking exploited that.
Zep grabs a chair and yanks the smoke detector from the ceiling. My world spins, and I head to my office to pull up my other cameras. Maybe they said something. Something I can use to find her.
Capone and Jethro follow me, and I see red as I pull up the footage.
“He’s got guts. I’ll give him that,” Capone says. “Not that it’ll save him.”
Ryan turns to the camera after shoving Phoebe inside, smiles, and waves before he gets in behind her. He’d planned this for a while. What I thought was reckless and poorly thought out was actually strategic. He knew I’d be distracted long enough to take Phoebe.
“Go back,” Capone says. “Right before the door closes.”
I do, and I crack my neck. Her hands get zip tied, and a hood is thrown over her head. Wherever they’re taking her, they don’t want her to see.
“That’s good, right? It means that they plan to let her go if they don’t want her to see where they’re going,” Jethro says.
Swallowing, I push the panic down. “No. They don’t want her to know where she is. To have any idea where to go if she manages to break free.”
“They won’t let her go. Not alive,” Capone says. “They plan to kill her.”
“Won’t that backfire? That would ensure you don’t do what they want.”
“She’s a message. They’re going to wait to kill her until Pacino can watch it. Just like last time.”
Closing my eyes, I try to think. Breathe. Figure out how to outsmart my family. How to save Phoebe.
