“NICK!”
I surfaced with the sound of a scream. Darkness stole the edges of my vision. I blinked and tried to understand what had happened as agony roared through my side.
“What did you do to him?”
“Ryth?” I stared into the murky warehouse, finding her. She was bucking and kicking, her arms gripped by two assholes as they dragged her inside.
In an instant, it all came rushing back to me. Dad’s car outside her school. The attack…the knife. I let out a moan and looked down. Fuck. My pulse sped at the sight. Blood…so much blood. My shirt stuck to my side, wet and crimson. The metallic scent filled me like a rag shoved down the back of my throat. I forced myself to look away, to the only thing that mattered to me in this moment.
Ryth.
Voices murmured as I shoved up from the ground.
“No, you don’t.” The asshole from the van stood over me and pushed me back down, the taser in his hand. I winced at the sight. Cold, savage anger roared through me as I met his gaze.
“Can’t have you messing up our plans.” Elle Castlemaine’s voice drew my focus as she stared at her daughter.
No…not Castlemaine, not anymore. Banks, right? A goddamn Banks. I shoved up from the ground again as those words echoed.
“Take her…” The bitch motioned to the two other guys who’d abducted me. “Take her to the Order…keep her away from the truth.”
“No!” I roared as the warehouse swayed.
Ryth’s eyes widened as her mother’s words hit her. She stumbled backwards as those bastards closed in, grabbing her arms again.
“Nick!” she screamed my name, thrashing and fighting their holds. “NICK!”
I braced my hand to my side and surged. “Get your fucking hands off her!”
But the asshole with the taser grabbed me, shoving that thing at my face, sending bright sparks dancing across the probes. Adrenaline drove me forward as they dragged her back. She wrestled and shoved, fighting like a damn wildcat, giving it all she had.
I spun, gripped my fist with my other hand against my chest, and drove my elbow outward and up, slamming the piece of shit in the face. He stumbled sideways, dropping the weapon. It landed against the concrete with a thud. It was all I needed. Pain cut through me as I turned and lunged, radiating through my stomach like something stabbed me all over again.
Still, Ryth’s screams cut deeper than the pain ever could. I leaped, but they moved too fast, lifting her feet from the ground as they carried her out. Her skirt rode high, exposing her bare thighs. Those assholes looked…
They fucking looked.
Creamy thighs, black lace panties.
Panties she wore for me.
For…me…
I lunged again as my father yelled out. “Nick, NO!”
I made it halfway across the warehouse, driving myself toward the sunlight, screaming out her name until I didn’t just smell the blood…I tasted it.
“The fuck you do!” The bark came behind me. An arm wrapped around my throat as someone yanked me backward.
Heavy steps invaded. “Stop fighting, Nick!” dad roared. “You’re making this worse than it is. Jesus Christ, you’re fucking hurt. Get him to a goddamn hospital, for Christ’s sake!”
Get me to a hospital? While they hauled Ryth away…his own stepdaughter…HER OWN FUCKING BLOOD!
I twisted, ignoring the roaring agony that ripped through my side and caught dad striding toward me. “Stop this…you can stop this!” Arms restrained behind my back, I slammed into him. “Stop this now!”
He grabbed me, pulling me away. Blood smeared all over his shirt, so much fucking blood. I stared at the mess on his hands, then the haunted look in his eyes.
“Stop fucking fighting, and we’ll get you taken care of!” The bastard who wielded the taser came for me.
The warehouse blurred, jerking and jolting with my hard breaths. I moved, trying my best to dodge the blows when they came. But he moved fast, grabbing me around my arms and yanking me backwards. I hit the floor hard, knocking the air from my lungs. His hand ground my head against the floor. Car doors slammed in the distance. The sound pierced the gaps of his fingers and the sound of a car roared to life.
Footsteps rushed close, heavy, frantic, before they stopped.
“Nick…Nick, I’m sorry—” dad started.
“Get the fuck off me!” I bucked, twisting to stare up at him. “Stop this…you can stop this now. Give her back to me…Dad, give her back!”
A glimmer of sadness rose in his eyes before that bitch said one word. “No.”
He lifted his gaze to her, and that sadness disappeared, leaving coldness behind. Then he left, his long strides leaving me behind with my head held hard against the filthy concrete floor and the ratcheting snap of handcuffs around my wrists.
No…
I bucked hard, yanking my wrists until the steel gnawed against bone and a radiating wave of nausea hit me. “No…” I turned, the edges of my world graying. “No.”
“Get…the van,” the bastard commanded above me, sucking in hard breaths as he lifted his gaze. “And let’s get this bastard out of here.”
Footsteps thudded as the other asshole left.
“Ryth,” I moaned. “Ryth…”
The hand against my head shoved, grinding my ear against the floor as he rose. “She’s fucking gone and she’s not coming back. Not anytime soon.”
Her screams still rang in my head, the terrified sound like a nail in my coffin, hammered home with the brutal thunder of my heart. Car doors closed. My father’s Mercedes roared to life, then the sound drifted away.
“Gonna play nice now, asshole?” The bastard sucked in hard, savage breaths.
Gonna play nice?
How about…no. I jerked my body around, crushing the steel cuffs against my wrist and swung my legs out, catching him around the ankles. He buckled, crashing to the ground beside me with an unmerciful thud. I wasted no time shoving forward, even as a sickening wave of agony radiated through my stomach. I lifted my knees to my chest and fed my feet between my arms before lunging upward.
The sound of the van’s engine started as I wrapped my cuffed hands around his throat and my legs around his body. He hit me, throwing his arm behind my head as I yanked. I dodged his blows, wincing as his fist caught me on the cheek. Pain followed, drowned out by her screams in my head.
I squeezed, muscles straining, jaw clenched.
NICK! Ryth’s scream filled me. Not the sickening wheeze of the man against me, or the whine of the van’s engine as it came closer. The bastard stilled against me. His hands hit the ground and there they stayed. I relaxed my hold, listening to the slow hiss of air.
My heart thundered, still I didn’t slow long enough to realize what I’d just done. It was nothing compared to what I would do…to them. My father’s face burned in my mind. But Elle’s voice filled my head. Her icy fucking tone.
Hate seethed inside me as I unwound my hands from around his neck. His mouth gaped open and his eyes were lifeless. I didn’t waste a second, shoving my hands into his pockets, searching for the handcuff key, and felt the bite. I yanked them free. But they weren’t the keys I was expecting.
My pulse thundered as I stared at my own keys. I jerked my gaze to the road…my Mustang. A moan tore free as I shoved upwards, jammed my keys into my pocket, then grabbed my attacker and yanked, pulling him out of sight. Brake lights flared as the rear of the van came into view.
I hid behind towering pallets, searching the guy’s other pockets and yanked his phone free. Tobias…I jerked my gaze up as the van stopped and the other guy climbed out. “Okay, let’s get this asshole to the hosp—”
He never made it to the end of the sentence, or the back of the van.
I lunged, grabbing him by the throat with one hand and pummeling him with my elbow, pulling away to drive the heel of my hand against his nose. The crunch was sickening as he slumped. Still, I kept him upright, shoving him against the van as I searched his pockets.
The small key was wedged in tight. My pulse boomed. Every second was pure fucking torture. I let him go, leaving him to drop hard as I twisted my hands, then unleashed a roar when I couldn’t reach. My hands shook as I pushed the key between my lips and bent, guiding it into the lock before I gripped it with my teeth and turned.
I ran, leaving the cuffs to drop from my wrists, and grabbed my keys from my pocket as I stumbled into the glaring sun, catching sight of the Mustang in the distance. A surge of adrenaline hit me. I grabbed the bastard’s phone and pressed the button, praying like hell it wasn’t locked…
It wasn’t…
But it wasn’t exactly a phone, more like a tracker. A map filled the screen, a blinking red light moving. I didn’t need an explanation to know what it was…it was Ryth.
I pressed the button, then punched in Tobias’s number, listening to the damn thing ring…and ring…and ring. “Fuck!” I raced for the Mustang, yanked the door open, and slid behind the wheel, then punched the key into the ignition and started the car with a roar.
I checked the map, that blinking red light teasing me. You won’t catch her…you won’t — “Like hell I won’t.” I shoved the car into gear, wincing as agony ripped through me. Still, I yanked the wheel and punched the accelerator.
The V8 engine roared and the tires screamed as I spun the wheel and the beast surged forward. I divided my focus between the road and that blinking red light. They drove south…I tried to think of what was there. Nothing but emptiness. That I knew of, at least.
I risked losing them, grabbed the phone and stabbed the numbers for Caleb, listening to the goddamn thing as it rang.
“Yeah?” My brother sounded breathless.
“It’s me.”
“Nick? Where the fuck are you?” The squeal of tires echoed in the background and the high-pitched whine of his Lamborghini nearly flatlining told me only one thing…he knew.
“Doesn’t matter. Tobias…” I grunted. “He with you?”
“They have her, Nick! They fucking have her.”
“I know.” The road blurred in front of me as I gripped the steering wheel. “I’m putting you on speaker.” I pressed the button and looked down at the mess on my shirt, and my head spun.
The car swayed across the white lines. I yanked the wheel, pulling it back. “I need you to listen to me. They’re taking her somewhere.” The bitch’s words came back to me…take her to The Order. “The Order. Some place called The Order.”
“The Order?” Caleb muttered. “I think I know of that place.”
“The goddamn Priest,” Tobias snarled, his low tone savage.
I hung onto his rage, needing it to drive me. I glanced at the blinking marker. “Head south. Past Caverns Corner…” the tires squealed as the car swerved.
“Nick?” Tobias barked my name.
“Caverns Corner…then keep…”
“NICK!”
I snapped back to reality and yanked the car across the lane, pushing the accelerator harder. “I’m here…I’m fucking here.” The red light flashed…but it didn’t move.
I blinked and shook my head. “Shit.”
“What?” Caleb roared. Gears shifted, the Lambo screaming. “WHAT THE FUCK IS IT?”
“They stopped.” I stared, squinted, and aimed the Mustang straight.
What the fuck happened? Was it Ryth? Did she make them pull over? Christ, I hoped so. I prayed she fought them, giving it all she had. “Come on, baby,” I whispered. “Please come on.”
But the road was hazy in front of me.
“Don’t…think I can make it…” I slumped forward, gripping the wheel.
“What the fuck do you mean?” Tobias barked.
“Nick…” Caleb’s cold, careful tone came through the speaker. “Talk to me, brother. Are you hurt?”
Am I hurt? I looked down at the sodden shirt stuck to my stomach, and a chuckle spilled free. Even though nothing was funny. My lips were dry, my thoughts weirdly hazy. But I held onto Caleb’s voice. My brother…no, my big brother. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Where the fuck are you?” Concern etched his voice.
On my way to save her…
“Nick…Nick…” Tobias roared, his voice booming through the speaker.
“I’m here.” I forced the words through clenched teeth, glancing at that map and the blinking light that moved.
“We’re right behind you,” Caleb called. “Look in the rear-view mirror.”
I lifted my gaze, finding nothing more than the empty road behind me, until I caught the sight of a dot in the distance. A dot that grew bolder by the second. My sluggish pulse kicked hard.
“You see us?”
“Yeah.” I pressed my boot harder against the accelerator and looked at the map. They were up ahead…on the other side of the trees in the distance. We were out of the city now. A long way out. Green overtook concrete buildings, stretching as far as I could see.
The Lamborghini gained on me. I pushed the Mustang harder, but I couldn’t feel my foot on the accelerator, or my leg. Just an aching numbness.
“We’ve got you,” Caleb urged. “Nick…buddy, we got you.”
But I didn’t care about myself. I cared about her…Ryth. “They took her.” Agony roared through my chest with the words. “They fucking took her.”
“I know, buddy.” Caleb’s voice was stony.
Blue filled my rear-view mirror. I didn’t focus on them, only on the sweeping bend of the road up ahead…and the towering black wrought-iron gate on my right and the massive Private Property – Trespassers will be Prosecuted signs everywhere.
I jerked the wheel, kicking up dust and dirt as the Mustang left the asphalt and headed straight for the gate. But there were men waiting, a Humvee parked across the entrance with four men standing in front, wearing black fatigue suits and armed with military weapons.
I left the Lamborghini behind, unleashed a battle cry, and aimed the Mustang for the gate.
Crunch.
Metal shrieked on metal.
I flew forward and slammed against the steering wheel.
“NICK!”
Faint screams pierced the void as the Mustang’s engine gave a splutter and died. My brothers’ screams invaded. But I was already slipping, fading away. The darkness that had threatened my vision swiftly moved in. But not before I lifted my head and stared through the buckled, but still padlocked, gates.
The pungent stench of heated brakes drifted into the car. I blinked and tried to focus on the distance, looking for that fucking van…and her. But my vision swam, narrowing in on one of the guards as he stepped forward, slid the end of the semi-automatic rifle through the bars and took aim…at me.
