by Tijan
She rocked herself, her sobs shattering me. It was the sound of true agony, as if someone had torn her soul from her heart, and he’d stared at her. One blink. His face had shuddered. Then his father had called him from inside the car, and the emotion was gone. Anything he’d felt had vanished. His face was devoid of all emotion as he’d sat inside.
The door closed.
His guard returned to his seat in this third SUV, and at once, all of the remaining guards returned to their vehicles.
There was a second’s pause before the caravan moved forward.
One by one, the four SUVs had left, and as soon as they were gone, I’d sprinted for Brooke. My heart was in my throat as I slid to my knees beside her, wrapped my arms around her.
Her hand had fisted my shirt as she spoke. “He said—he said. Ka—he killed my brother.”
Kai had killed him.
CHAPTER FOUR
There was a creak from the floorboards outside my door, and I looked up.
It’d been two days, but Blade still had concern in his eyes. Not that I could blame him.
This wasn’t me. Not usually. Not anymore.
I’d been in a stupor since the news broke about Brooke being missing. There’d been no new reports, just speculation that it had something to do with the Bennett family. I knew that family was big news, but they resided up in Vancouver—Canada, where we were. Still, when news broke about Brooke, Blade monitored the stations in the States, which had learned who exactly Brooke was related to. Images of Kai Bennett, along with Tanner and Jonah, flooded the networks. It was the biggest news story down there, though the local news channels around here were more subdued. They were aware of how the Bennett family worked. If they said anything too outlandish or hinted that one of the Bennetts had something to do with Brooke’s disappearance, they would feel the full force of the Bennetts’ power.
It had happened before.
A reporter produced a full-hour show about the Bennett family, and she was fired the day it aired. There was no word about where she went. There were pictures of her later on blogs, but all with her shielding her face and hiding from the camera.
I never heard a peep about that reporter after that, and she never worked as a journalist again—I knew that much because a Google search of her name brought up nothing, not even from the channel that fired her.
“You going to work tomorrow?” Blade asked.
Shit. I jumped where I’d been sitting at my desk.
He leaned against my doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest. Today he wore a black tuxedo vest, still no shirt, and his dreadlocks were pulled back in a loose ponytail.
“Um…” I groaned. I’d had the last five days off for what the nursing home thought was a family vacation.
“You might want to get a spray tan, since, you know.” He smiled.
Since they all thought I’d been in Florida visiting a grandma who didn’t exist.
He was right. I had a tan from being outside and doing what yard work I could between our “errand” and my time watching the news, but it wasn’t a Florida tan.
I sighed. “I should go now. It’s my turn to cook tonight.”
His eyes got big. “Spaghetti? Please spaghetti?”
Blade enjoyed the gluten-free vegetable meatball spaghetti with zucchini noodles I made, and so did I. We worked to keep our bodies in the best shape for work reasons, but Carol wasn’t the same.
Carol was wild, adventurous, and a bit quirky.
She loved junk food and every new fad. Eggwhite Chips were the latest in a bunch of new creations she’d brought home. Her stomach was a block of cement. Put anything in it, and she’d crush it and ask for seconds. On the other hand, Blade’s stomach rebelled against processed food. I wasn’t as exciting; I just didn’t like it.
I only liked a few things: bread, some form of protein, and anything the world naturally kicked up. I usually filled up on berries or things I grew in the garden. So no, I I had not consumed the Eggwhite Chips the other night.
“Oh, and hey…” His voice dropped to his serious tone.
“Yeah?” I straightened up.
“I got a call this morning.” His eyes bore into mine. “You need to get off work this weekend. We have a pick up in the States.”
My mouth dried.
I nodded. “I’m on because I was off last weekend, but it won’t be a problem. I’ll take a holiday.”
Holidays were good bargaining chips, at least for me—for us. Normal people wanted their holidays off. They wanted to spend time with friends and family, but not us. It was the time immediately after a holiday or right before a holiday that we needed off.
People tended to have emergencies at those times, but not usually on the actual day.
He nodded as one of his alarms started beeping, and he headed for the living room to check it out.
I had to stop what was going on in my head.
I had to focus again.
Brooke Bennett was no longer my roommate. She wasn’t my best friend anymore. That had ended thirteen years ago. A lot of other crap had gone down in my life, changing the direction of everything.
I was no longer Bruce Bello’s daughter.
When my mom had died, so had his daughter. My death just took a different turn and a lot longer.
This was my life now.
I lived outside of Calgary, and yes, I was hiding. With Blade and Carol. We were doing a lot more than just hiding, though. And in light of that, I had things to do to help set up our next trip—or “errand” as Carol liked to call them—and one part of that was getting a spray tan.
I picked up my wallet and keys, and I headed for the door. Moments later I was pulling out of the driveway in our rusty ’72 Chevy truck.
• • •
“Back again, Raven?”
Raven. Not Riley.
I made a mental note to remind Carol and Blade to use my cover name. We’d all slipped over the last nine months, starting to use our real names around the house. To them I was Riley. Carol had never learned my last name, though I knew Blade knew, but keeping these secrets was a point stressed during our training.
We were no longer our pasts, and last names were forbidden. We couldn’t use them, say them, or even think them.
So to them I was Riley, because that’s how we were introduced when we got our assignment, but to everyone in Cowtown I was Raven.
Raven Hastings.
Along with my fake name, I had a whole fake personality to put on, and I sent Holly a dazzling smile I rarely used. “Hey! Yes! You know me.”
Raven Hastings was enthusiastic. She was happy most days, with a bright and cheery disposition. She enjoyed inspirational quotes, and she liked to dress beach casual, in Canada. When Raven went out with Blade, they complemented each other. She was boho chic, and he was blissful hippie.
Today I (or Raven) had dressed in a bohemian light pink skirt that fell to my feet with a slightly see-through white T-shirt knotted over my stomach. Thank God it was summer because I had committed to this look. Right now I was able to pull off sandals with straps running up my legs like ballet slippers.
I stuck my hip out and propped my hand there, striking a pose. “I have a date next weekend, and I have to look good.”
Holly was the Sun-n-Fun’s main evening worker, and she was an eternal romantic. This wasn’t my first time here, and I’d noted she had a stack of at least three new books next to the till every time I came in for a tan. Holly also knew a few of the girls from the nursing home—another way to cement my excuse for next weekend. I knew one of those friends always wanted to trade for the closest holiday or big event, and the next one coming up was the Stampede.
Holly’s eyes lit up, and she asked me all about my date.
I made it a weekend excursion.
• • •
Annie didn’t waste any time.
Word had traveled fast to my coworker from Holly at the tanning salon the night before. She plopped down at my
table during my first break at the nursing home where I worked as a nursing aide.
“Heard you need next weekend off?”
I smiled. “You wanted to go Stampeding?”
She didn’t even blink, only leaned forward. “I want that whole weekend off.”
“Done…if you take my Friday shift too.”
Annie had started to rise, but now paused and hissed. “Are you serious?”
In some nursing homes, a full weekend was Friday through Sunday, but not this nursing home. If we traded a weekend with someone, it was just Saturday and Sunday. So I had to make it clear I wanted that Friday off too.
But I knew Annie. She loved partying, and Stampeding was a huge party. Ergo my sunny Raven disposition.
I couldn’t mess around. “Take it or leave it…”
She growled under her breath, but nodded. “Fine. I’ll write up the slips to put in for the trade.”
And I was now free for whoever we were helping next weekend.
Bolstering a bright smile, I bounced in my seat. “Great! Thanks! I can’t wait for my date now.” And because Raven loved inspiring quotes, I added, “Be fearless. Be beautiful.”
Annie’s eyes flicked upward before she pushed away from the table. “Yeah, okay.”
“Weirdo,” she breathed as she left.
But Raven loved all, even meanies.
With Riley that girl might’ve been introduced to a door, but I was Raven today.
“Hey, Rave girl. Bee is taking her clothes off.”
I checked the time. I had five minutes left.
“Okay. I’ll head up in three.”
Bee loved being naked, but she had dementia.
“By the elevators,” he added.
And I was up and leaving. Bee had been in bed when I left for break.
CHAPTER FIVE
I called Blade as I was leaving work.
I’d parked close to the staff door, so I was just getting in when he picked up.
“You get off?” he asked.
Two retorts came to mind.
Raven’s was, “Embrace your orgasm.”
Mine was, “Last night. Thank you for your concern.”
But Annie and another girl who worked on our floor were walking by, and I still hadn’t closed my car door, so I went with Raven’s comeback.
Blade snorted as the girls moved past my car, rounding my trunk, and I reached for my door.
“I’ll take that as an affirmative, and I’ll start making the arrangements.”
I shut the door and replied, “Roger that. I’m going to the gym.” So they shouldn’t expect me for two more hours.
“Hey. Can you grab something from The Chopped Leaf on the way home?”
I heard Carol yell in the background, “And those chocolate-flavored Pringles.”
“Ew. No.” He immediately shut her down.
I laughed into the phone. “I’ll see what I can do. See you two at home.”
I was reaching for my seatbelt when Blade hung up, and that’s when it happened. There was no warning. No sudden tingling to hint at something amiss. I hadn’t been watching my perimeter as I usually would. I was distracted, talking to Blade on the phone, and I cursed myself as two of my car doors opened at once: the passenger front and the one behind.
My training kicked in, like a switch being flipped on.
I didn’t wait to see who it was.
I bailed. Or I would’ve.
I had my door open even before they sat down, but they had someone outside my door. As I pushed it open to run, he shoved it back, and then I heard a gun cocking.
“Don’t, Riley.”
I stilled, knowing that voice.
He found me.
But no. My split-second panic flared to something else. Curiosity?
The guy next to me hadn’t spoken. The voice was the guy behind me, and I’d heard that voice on the other end of numerous phone calls.
I looked. “Tanner?”
Brooke Bennett’s brother stared back at me through the rearview mirror. His face was like a concrete slab, total lockdown.
“We won’t hurt you,” he said. “We just want to ask you a few questions.”
The guy with the gun growled, “So drive.”
Some of my fear diminished, but a firm knot remained stuck in my throat, along with my training, which was telling me: “Run, bitch. Run fast.”
The guy who’d been outside my door was heading to a car parked in the next row, and this was my only window.
My seatbelt had already snapped back since I hadn’t clicked it in place.
One second. That’s all I had. I had to make the decision NOW! So, I did.
I ran.
I went with the door as I shoved it open, and my feet hit the paved lot hard.
Oompf.
Something twisted, but I didn’t stop.
Adrenaline raced through me, and I was three steps away before I heard them in pursuit.
Tanner barked out, “Grab her. Don’t hurt her.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
They were already on me. I saw the shadow as one grabbed my arm. I swung with a roundhouse at the same time I jumped in the air.
Tanner and the other guy were barreling after me.
I couldn’t take on three guys, and seeing more co-workers coming down the stairs, I started screaming.
One of them grabbed me and yanked me back against his chest as Tanner bit out, “Shut her up!”
A hand covered my mouth.
I bit down as I kicked in the air. A roar came from behind me as my foot smacked against something, hard. I threw my body sideways, and the guy dropped me from the sudden movement.
“Godda—”
A shadow moved in from the side, and fast.
Everyone seemed to pause, and time slowed as Tanner fell back a step, and then the shadow was there.
An arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me as if I weighed nothing. I looked slender, but my body was all muscle. I knew how much I weighed, and that feat was impressive.
Then I stopped thinking as another arm wrapped around my neck, applying pressure. He was putting me out.
I couldn’t fight. He immobilized me and then…
Darkness.
• • •
I came to in the back of a car and immediately felt my pockets. They were empty. My phone was gone.
Looking around, this was the back of a luxury car…no, SUV.
One guard sat next to me and another across from me. I knew what they were by how perfectly they were positioned: upright, shoulders back, one hand on their thighs next to their gun holsters, and the other checking in with their earpieces.
The other occupant sat diagonal to me, slouched down, his feet spread wide and his phone in front of him.
When I looked over, Tanner smirked. “Heya, ballbuster. I see you got more spunk than you did when you were a preteen.”
He looked older, but he still had the shaggy blond hair Brooke’s pictures had showed at school. And that same smirk too.
“Fuck off,” I growled.
Looking around, I saw only forest moving by at a fast pace, probably over a hundred kilometers. There was an SUV in front of us, and looking back, I saw another trailing. Shit. No. There was a third behind that one. Four in all.
“All this for me?” I asked, though as I spoke, I knew the answer.
Tanner Bennett was in this vehicle. The convoy was for him, not me.
What time was it and where we were going? I needed those answers. I could formulate my escape plan then—They found me!
I hadn’t taken that in.
If Tanner was here, that meant the whole Bennett family knew about me. They. Had. Found. Me.
Pure and genuine panic started to filter in.
They knew my father.
Did he send them for me?
Had he found out about me?
They were capable of murder. Were they going to ki— I had to wait and think. Be clear-headed.
&nbs
p; After the oldest brother had died, it was ruled an accident, but I knew Brooke never agreed. After her father and Kai left that day, she’d broken down, saying Cord was murdered. That had been all she ever said. She’d never talked about how he died, just that he was dead.
Three months later, we’d found ourselves back on the front steps of Hillcrest again. This time Brooke hadn’t been crying. She’d been pale and holding on to my hand as if it were a life preserver, but she’d known why they were coming again.
They were coming for her.
Her father, Anthony Bennett, the patriarch of their family, had died in his sleep.
Kai Bennett, the oldest remaining brother, was the new boss of the family, and he wanted Brooke back at home.
That was the last day I saw her, until the pictures on the news after her recent disappearance.
There were whispers around school after Brooke was gone that Kai had killed both his rivals. Brooke and I continued to talk on the phone and email for a few months after she left, but I never asked. I knew she’d never tell me anyway, even if she knew.
Fear trickled through me, expanding to my toes as I looked around the SUV again. Were her brothers behind Brooke’s disappearance?
Or—ice lined my veins—was Brooke dead too?
“Don’t do it, Ray ray.”
I gritted my teeth. “Don’t use that name. That was Brooke’s, not yours.”
Tanner laughed, raising his phone again. “All I’m saying is don’t let your mind wander down to all the dark and twisted places you’re going. Let us get where we need to go, then you can embrace all the accusations.” He continued to chuckle as his attention went back to whatever was on his phone.
“Where are we going?”
He smiled, his gaze not leaving the screen. “You’ll see.”
I bit back a growl. “What time is it?”
I had two hours before Blade would start looking for me. They had a two-hour head start. That was it.
“You’ll see,” he said again. He still didn’t look at me.
The lie fell from my lips so easily. “I’m diabetic, Tanner. I need to know the time to see if I need to check my blood sugar.”
He looked up then. So did the guards.