My jaw rattles as I keep my eyes on Saint. A physical hand wraps around my nape this time, tugging me backwards.
Hard.
“Don’t touch me, Barry,” I bite out, hand itching for the gun in my jeans.
“I know you’re fucking lying about where she is,” he hisses in my ear, his grasp on me getting tighter, enough that I know I’ll have fingerprints.
My heart thunders in my chest, and I fight the urge not to lose it, to not panic, and tears burn behind my eyes with the fear raising its ugly head at who’s holding me like this.
His breath brushes past my ear, and my entire back feels like it’s being set on fire. I fight to keep my voice steady, but it wavers ever so slightly at the end. “I don’t know what you’re—”
He yanks me to his chest again, and I arch so I have space.
Fuck, I can’t even break his arm to get out of the hold. How the hell do I explain that to my own mother?
“Your sister might think you’re innocent in all this. But I know you’re protecting Regina because of what she’s fucking done.”
I freeze.
What the hell?
“You have precisely one second to get your hand off me,” I snarl.
His gritty laugh brushes against my cheek. “Regina teach you how to talk like that?”
The fuck is going on here?
“What is your problem with Gina—”
“Listen to me, and listenverycarefully. When you get back to that little fortress in the woods, I want you to tell Saint and Regina to hand themselves into the manor within a week. I won’t be expecting any delays, seeing as both of them were strolling through it not too long ago.”
I catch the precise moment Saint’s slow, rolling gaze travels from his phone screen to the window, meeting my eyes.
My earpiece.
The guys have messaged him.
Shit, I can’t have a gun fight in front of my mom.
Saint slams the trunk door shut with a force that shakes the car, abandoning her calls, and Barry releases me with a shove.
My eyes snap to my brother-in-law as I twist. I might as well give up the act; he knows.
Before I can get a word out, he steps into me, dropping his voice low and dangerous. “And if they don’t. Well, let’s just say we’ve got some plans…you’renot gonna like them.”
He steps away from me, sliding his hands in his pockets as his voice morphs back into his usual dull tone. “You should come around more often, Indie. You’llalwaysbe welcome here.”
Saint appears in the doorway the minute Barry disappears into the study. His white-hot gaze follows him, and I clock the moment his hand reaches for my waistband as I jerk out of his hold. “No, Saint.Please.”
His gaze snaps up to mine.
I’ve never seen him look like this.
Rage vibrates off him like a roaring inferno, his chest rising and falling as he fights to control the anger.
My mom appears in the doorway the same time Morgan makes his way down the stairs.
I can’t think, never mind standing smiling in a photograph next to a pair of fucking serpents. “Sorry, Mom, we’ll need to leave. I-I really don’t feel good.”
