“I’m not staying fucking calm, Ezra. He has them. He told me to be at his office in an hour. To come alone. He said they both were dead if I didn’t. Otherwise, I got to choose which one would live.”
“Shit,” he hissed. “Where are you?”
“On my way.”
“Fuck, Ryder, you can’t take off over there. Pull over.”
I could hear his tires squealing as he turned around, his engine roaring as he rammed on the accelerator.
“You know that’s not going to happen. He wants me there, and I’m going. You can’t call anyone to come in blazing. No sirens.”
“I’m going to be right behind you. Just wait and don’t do anything stupid.”
The laughter that rolled out of me was hard. Close to deranged. Because I’d done a million stupid things in my life. Made uncountable mistakes. Had stumbled and failed.
But this time wasn’t going to be one of them.
My heart battered at my ribs as I came careening to a stop in the alley behind the dry cleaners. I’d forced myself to slow, knowing it would close the gap between mine and Ezra’s arrival.
Now, I felt like I was going to tremble out of my skin. My blood pulsing so hard that it thundered in my ears. Could feel it in my fingertips that raged with the need to end anyone who would ever think about harming Dakota.
About harming Kayden.
But this bastard always preyed on the innocent. Wielded his rancid power over the blameless.
I should have known that he would have been watching closer. That there’d been no way to hide what I felt for Dakota.
Not then and not now.
Should have known he would have twisted it in his favor. Hunted her, used her, shored it away like blackmail until its fitted time.
I was shaking with the weight of it as I tapped at the heavy door at the back.
It cracked open, and Pete peered at me through the narrow slit. Rage clouded my sight, and my fists curled just as a sick, satisfied laugh rolled from him when he saw my busted to shit face. “Looks like you ran into some trouble.”
“Fuck off, Pete.”
He only laughed lower as he widened the door for me to step in. He pushed me against the wall and patted me down to make sure I wasn’t carrying, his voice in my ear when he warned, “If I were you, I would have already left town. Left no trail. Disappeared.”
Yeah, because he was a fucking coward. All of them were. Out for themselves, willing to hurt anyone if it protected their asses.
I bit it back because my issue wasn’t with Pete right then.
My only concern was the torment that rode through the air. Stagnant terror that coursed through the descending night.
I had to force myself to keep my cool and not go rushing the door, and I swallowed around the razors in my throat as Pete led me the rest of the way down the hall.
Two more of Dare’s guards rested against the walls, watching me like I was a dead man walking.
With each step, Kayden’s cries grew louder.
Pete tapped at the door with the barrel of his gun before he cracked it open. “He’s here.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Bring him in.”
The door opened the rest of the way. All the oxygen punched from my lungs as I scanned the room.
Dakota faced me where she was against the far wall, bound to a chair, her arms behind its back and a gag in her mouth.
She whimpered when she saw me, cinnamon eyes flashing in terror.
In pain and relief.
Dare had Kayden sitting on his desk, and he had an arm around him. In his other hand was a knife, and he dug the tip of it into the wood, turning it round and round like he was bored.
Kayden’s little face was soaked with tears, and he flailed when he saw me, stretching his arms out to me. “My Rye-Rye.”
He smacked his chest, giving me one of those emphatic nods, urging me to come to him.
To help him.
Save him.
I toiled in the agony of it, while Dare tightened his arm around him and cracked one of those sinister smiles. “Ah, Ryder, so nice of you to join in on this little family reunion.”
Shifting, Dare took the tip of the knife and barely dragged it down Kayden’s thigh. Not deep enough to cut but enough to send horror ricocheting against the walls.
Dakota wailed into her gag and thrashed in the confines of the chair, making the legs bang on the floor.
I curled my hands into fists, every part of me wanting to fly forward and rip Kayden from his arms. But that was too risky. Too much of a chance. And I had to play this right if everyone was going to make it out of this.
I let a scoff puff from my nose, hoping to draw his full attention to me. “You’re that pathetic that you need to prey on my best friend’s sister? Going to those lengths to coerce me? Seems awful desperate to me.”