by Tate James
Rather than texting back, I called him as I headed over to the freezer to fetch one of the small ice packs that Zed kept on hand for injuries.
"About damn time," he rumbled when he answered my call. "I was just about to head back to Shadow Grove and teach you a lesson about ignoring my messages, Red."
I shivered at the dark desire his words conjured up, and then shivered again with cold as I wiggled the ice pack into my panties. My swollen cunt needed it, though. Ho-ly crap, it needed it.
"Promises, promises, Grumpy Cat," I purred back at him, a grin on my face. Fuck, I loved hearing his voice. "Did you get the file I sent?"
"Of course I did." He grunted. "Made me want to break his fucking face over and over. I sincerely hope you made him hurt."
I wiggled the ice further into my panties, getting it into the right place to soothe my raw flesh, then slightly waddled through the house to where music poured out of the gym. "Zed certainly left his mark on Chase's face," I told him.
Cass gave a husky laugh. "Good. You were smart, recording him like that. It'll come in useful, even if he did incriminate you at the same time."
My breath hissed from behind my teeth in frustration. "It's a start. How are things on your end?"
"Slow," he replied, sounding irritated. "Much slower than I want. It's killing me to be away from you, Red."
I bit my lip, my heart racing. "I feel the same." I reached the gym door and peeked inside to find Lucas and Zed in some kind of pull-up competition. They were both dressed for a workout and had their hands wrapped like they were about to work on sparring. It reminded me that I wanted to talk to Zed about tightening up Lucas's right hook.
"Hey, I should go," I told Cass regretfully. "Stay safe out there, okay? Stay out of sight." We badly didn't need whispers getting back to Chase or the Reapers that Cassiel Saint was, in fact, alive and kicking.
"Understood," he replied with an edge of amusement. "I'll see you soon."
He ended the call as I narrowed my eyes at the screen. What the fuck did he mean by that?
"Hey, you coming to join us or just standing there enjoying the view?" Lucas called out, swinging down from the bar he and Zed had been doing their pull-ups on.
I pushed the door the rest of the way open and placed my hands on my hips. "Why do I get the feeling you two are working through some macho bullshit that I want no part of?"
Zed scoffed a laugh. "Who are you trying to fool, Boss? You live for the macho bullshit. Come on, show us what you've got." He jerked his head to the pull-up bar in challenge, and I ground my teeth together. Fucking prick knew I couldn't resist showing him up.
Rolling my eyes, I tossed my phone down on the mat and tugged my sweatshirt off. Underneath, I just wore a sports bra and a pair of yoga pants. The tight pants held my ice pack nice and secure, but the fucker was already warming up. I'd need to go and swap it for a fresh one after I trounced both Zed and Lucas in their silly competition.
As it was, we’d barely even gotten started when my phone started ringing again on the mat. I dropped immediately, practically throwing myself across the room when I recognized the ring tone. There were only a handful of people important enough to get a specific ringtone, and the one echoing through the gym above the music was Seph's.
Considering she still thought I'd shot Cass in cold blood and had vowed never to speak to me again, whatever she was calling for had to be important.
"Seph!" I exclaimed, grabbing my phone and answering the call in one quick motion as I hit the mat on my belly. "Seph, hey, I'm here. What's happened?"
For a second she didn't reply, and I worried that I'd missed the call. But then the ragged sound of her sobs caught my heart in a vice and twisted it to the point of physical agony.
"Dare," she croaked between sobs. "I think I'm in trouble."
26
Panic washed through me in dizzying waves as I scrambled to my knees, the phone clenched between my fingers tight enough I was in danger of breaking it.
"What do you mean, Seph?" I asked, keeping my voice totally calm despite fear for my sister making my limbs tremble. "What kind of trouble?"
I needed to keep some focus and perspective. Seph was dramatic as hell and thought I would be mad at her for inviting Lucas over to our apartment just a few months ago. That was her level of trouble. Besides, she was with Archer, Kody, and Steele. She was protected.
She drew another couple of shaking breaths on the other end of the phone, which did little to belie my fear, then let out a small whine. "Dare, I fucked up. I fucked up real bad and—" Her voice was becoming more panicked, more strangled with tears. Lucas crouched beside me, concern etched all over his face while Zed strode across the room to unplug his phone from the sound system.
"Seph, sweetie, calm down," I tried to soothe her. "Take a breath and tell me what happened. I promise I won't be mad." She probably crashed into someone's expensive car or something. Yeah, that's what it was. She was just doing normal teenage bullshit. Nothing a bit of cash couldn't fix.
She was crying again, and I couldn't make out her words. It was infuriating and just added to the gnawing feeling that all was not okay—that this was bigger than dumb teenage shit.
"Seph," I tried again. "Persephone. Put one of the guys on the phone."
"I-I can't," she whispered back.
Her words shocked through me like an electric bolt, and my spine stiffened. "What do you mean? Where's Archer, Seph?" I hit the speakerphone button, knowing the guys needed to hear what was going on too.
Zed let out a loud curse, smacking his fist into the punching bag near him before striding across the mats and showing me his phone. On the screen was a text message from Archer D'Ath, sent just minutes ago. Two words turned my stomach and made me want to throw up from fear.
Archer: Code Red
"Seph, tell me where you are," I demanded, panic rising in my voice as she continued crying.
"I don't know," she admitted finally, her voice small and scared. "I don't know where I am. Dare, I thought... I was so stupid. I thought I could trust him."
"Seph," Lucas spoke up, catching my gaze with a steady, reassuring look. "It's Lucas. Hayden's freaking out a bit, hun. Can you tell us if you're okay? Are you hurt?"
I swallowed hard, trying to get a lid on my emotions. But Seph was my Achilles’ heel... and Chase fucking well knew it.
"N-no," Seph replied. "No, I'm not hurt. Not yet. I'm just really scared." Her words trailed off into more soft crying that tore my heart to shreds.
"Okay," Lucas continued, his tone calm and soothing as he took the phone from my trembling hand. He didn't go anywhere with it, though. He just stayed there on the mat with me as Zed paced the room and sent furious texts on his phone.
"Seph, who are you with?" Lucas coaxed. "What's his name? Where'd you meet?"
My little sister dragged in a shaking breath, and I could almost see her trying to pull herself together. "Um, Paulo. His name's Paulo. I met him l-last w-week when we arrived in Santa Agatha. I thought he was just a normal guy. Fuck, I'm so stupid. No wonder Dare always treats me like a child."
Pain flashed through my chest, and Lucas reached out to grip my hand. He squeezed my fingers with a clear message of support.
"Okay, you're doing good, Seph," he continued, keeping that calm energy radiating through his words. "Can you tell us what happened? Where is everyone?”
"Um," she started, taking another shaking breath. "Something happened last night. We were in Sorrento for brunch, and..." She trailed off, giving a strangled sort of groan. "I don't even know what happened. One minute we were sitting there eating pastries and drinking prosecco, then... I don't fucking know. Someone threw a knife at us or something? But MK jumped in front of me, and it hit her." She started crying again, and I scrubbed my hands over my face in frustration. This was so much worse than teenage drama. So much freaking worse.
"What happened next, Seph?" Lucas prompted. "We need to know everything so we can help you."
My breath rushed out in a long exhale. I knew exactly what she'd done.
"You ran away, didn't you?" I asked in a deathly cold voice. Anger was starting to override my fear, and that would only make me stronger in dealing with this.
"Don't be mad, Dare," Seph whined. "I wasn't thinking. I know it was dumb, but I couldn't risk MK getting hurt for me again. Or Aunt Demi and Aunt Stacey losing their winery. You know how much they love that place." More sobbing, but this time I had a hard time keeping a leash on the caustic reprimand that sat on the tip of my tongue.
Lucas squeezed my fingers again, then spoke up before I could say something I'd regret later. "Seph, how'd you end up with Paulo? Did he help you run away?"
She sniffed hard. "Sort of. I left on my own while everyone was busy yelling at each other and Steele was trying to stitch up MK's arm. Then, when I was walking down the road with no idea where to go, Paulo drove past and offered to give me a ride into Sorrento."
I rolled my eyes at the sheer stupidity of it all. When would she fucking learn?
"And then what?" Lucas pushed.
"And then nothing," she replied, sounding scared all over again. "I don't remember anything past getting into his car. I woke up here, and I don't know how I got here or where here is or—"
"Okay, okay, take a breath," Lucas soothed when she started sounding hysterical. "Describe what you can see."
"Um." She took a few shuddering breaths. "Um, it's just a room, like a shitty motel kind of room but no windows, and the door is locked."
I glanced up, locking eyes with Zed and silently communicating my questions to him. He gave a terse nod and crouched down beside us.
"Hey brat," Zed said, his version of calm a whole lot rougher than Lucas's. "Where'd you find your phone?" He was thinking the exact same thing I was. If she’d been kidnapped, why the hell had they left her phone out where she could call for help?
"Uh, it was still in my bag," she replied, confused. "Is that bad?"
Probably, yes. But she didn't need to know that.
"It just means someone knew you'd call your sister before anyone else," Zed told her with a sigh. "You're gonna be okay, brat. We'll get you out."
"How?" Seph squeaked.
It was a good fucking question.
"What else can you tell us, Seph?" Lucas suggested. "Maybe what time it was when Paulo picked you up or anything you can hear or smell."
"Um, it was around midday, I think. Or earlier? I don't know." The faint sound of her moving around created static, then she sighed. "I can't hear or smell anything. It's like I'm in the middle of a black hole."
I chewed the edge of my lip, pondering whether that was helpful or not, then Seph gasped.
"Someone's coming," she whispered.
"Seph—" I started to say, but there was a bang on her end of the phone call, like a door had just slammed open, and my sister gave a terrified scream.
"I think I'll take this now," a heavily accented man said, and the muffled sounds made me guess he'd just taken Seph's phone from her.
She shrieked in anger. "Paulo, give it back! What the hell are you doing? Let me go!" Her protest cut short with the sickening sound of a fist meeting flesh, then the line went dead.
For a long moment I just sat there, frozen and staring at the phone in Lucas's hand, willing it to ring again. But it didn't, and I doubted a return call would even connect. Her phone had served its purpose; her captors wouldn't keep it around to be traced now.
"He's a dead man," Zed promised me, his face hard and his eyes violent. "We will find him, and you will make him pay for hurting her."
I gave a numb nod. "Yes. But what state will we find Seph in?"
Lucas gave a firm shake of his head, his fingers tangling tighter with mine. "She'll be fine. She's tougher than either of you two realize."
I barked a bitter laugh. "I'm not so sure about that." I'd heard the panic and desperation in her distraught voice. I knew just how easy it was to lose yourself to terror. Even if by some miracle her captors didn't hurt her physically, it would still leave a mark.
"I am," Lucas replied, stubborn as fuck. "She's your sister, after all."
Zed grimaced, checking his phone. "Cass is on it. I've called in a favor with an old connection close to him. They'll fly him out the second nightfall hits, and Demi will meet him on the other end. We'll find her, Dare. I promise you we will find her."
I tipped my head back, giving him a brittle smile. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Zed. This has Chase's fingerprints all fucking over it."
Zed's eyes blazed with determination, and he grabbed my ponytail as he crashed his lips against mine for a bruising kiss. "I swear it, Dare. He won't get away with this one."
He released me and stood up abruptly. "I'm going to call D'Ath and find out how the fuck Seph managed to slip out from under their watch." His hand curled into a fist at his side, and I suspected he was cursing the distance between us and Italy right now. He looked like he would happily take out all his fury on Archer’s, Kody’s, and Steele's asses. Come to think of it, so would I.
Before he could make it out of the gym, my phone rang again, this time from an unknown number. Lucas held it out to me, his head tilted in question, and Zed froze near the door.
A sickening feeling built within me, and I already knew who would be on the other end.
Wetting my lips, I took the phone from Lucas and slid my thumb over the answer-call button. "I'm going to kill you," I croaked when the call connected.
Chase's laughter filled the room, echoing out of the phone speaker. "I love when you talk dirty, Darling. Tell me, did something important recently go missing?" He laughed again, and it took all my self-control not to throw my phone at the fucking wall.
"What do you want, Chase?" I snarled back. As much as it turned my stomach, I knew that playing his game would get me Seph's location a hell of a lot faster.
"Same thing I've always wanted, Darling," he replied, sounding like he was grinning. "You."
Zed started storming back across the gym, but I put up a hand to halt him in his tracks. He'd had his turn at Chase last night.
"Be more specific," I spat. "What will it take for you to let Seph go unharmed?"
Chase made a thoughtful hum, as if he hadn't already planned it all out in his twisted little mind. "Well, you know what? I'm feeling kind today. That little catch-up last night reminded me of the good old days. Let's say... dinner at that adorable restaurant in town. What's it called? Zanzibar? Tomorrow night."
My teeth ground together hard enough to send spikes of pain into my head. "Dinner," I repeated.
"Yes," he hissed. "Just you and me. No weapons, no pretty stripper boys, and certainly no Zayden De Rosa." Chase spat Zed's name with thick hatred. "I'll send a car to pick you up at eight."
"I think I'll drive myself," I snapped back. "And Seph?"
"Pretty little Stephanie will be just fine where she is for another day. If you can refrain from trying to kill me for the entirety of our date, I'll give the order to release her. If not..." He clicked his tongue. "I think you can use your imagination, Darling."
Zed jerked like he wanted to snatch the phone from my hand, but I held my palm up again, stopping him.
"Fine," I growled. "Eight o'clock tomorrow at Zanzibar."
"Come alone, Darling," Chase reminded me, "and unarmed. Consider it a peace negotiation." His laughter seemed to echo through the room long after he’d ended
the call, and I dropped my head between my knees to try and keep myself from passing the fuck out.
When I felt confident I wasn't going to swoon like a damsel, I raised my head to lock eyes with Zed.
"You can't go," he told me, his eyes pleading.
"Then find her," I ordered. "Before eight o'clock tomorrow night. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice. I'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, and you know it."
Zed grimaced, but it was Lucas who said what we were all thinking.
"So does Chase."
And that was the problem. That was what filled me with cold apprehension. Because how far could my strength and my sanity stretch, if pushed? How far would Chase bend me with my little sister's life in his grip?
I had a feeling I would soon find out.
27
Despite the high level of anxiety coursing through me at how painfully helpless I was to save Seph, I eventually fell asleep. The exhaustion from not sleeping the night before combined with the amount of physical activity I'd undertaken with Zed all damn day, it all finally caught up on me, and I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
When I woke, I was less than excited to find that it hadn't all been a nightmare. Seph was still missing, and we were no closer to finding her without playing Chase's game.
Actually, that wasn't true. Cass's transport had arrived in Italy, and he'd linked up with Demi already. Between the two of them, they'd already mapped out a radius that fitted the missing time frame Seph had described. Between Paulo picking her up and her calling me, we had a solid estimate of how far he could have taken her.
"Waiting around like this is going to drive me insane," I muttered into my coffee. Zed had already been out to get groceries and reluctantly handed me the newspaper when I asked him for it. I placed my coffee down and started flipping through the pages, heading for my favorite section.
"Why do you like to read the obituaries, anyway?" Lucas asked, peering over at the page as he sipped his own coffee. He had a stack of textbooks already out on the island counter where we sat and had been up before any of us working on assignments for his classes.