by Jordan Ford
I shut my eyes, relaxing my body so it looks like I’m sleeping.
I’m woken by a sharp shake to the shoulder. I gasp, my eyes pinging open.
Milo gazes down at me, his expression unreadable.
He’s not glaring. He doesn’t look angry or scared.
In fact, his lips actually curl into a smile.
“Morning,” he greets me softly.
I frown at him.
“Sorry about last night. You fell and bumped your head. I tried to catch you.”
My eyes narrow into a glare so he knows I think he’s a big fat liar.
He pastes on a politician’s smile and helps me sit up. With one swift move, he swoops me into his arms and plops me onto the leather couch.
“You comfortable?”
I give him an incredulous look, which makes him shuffle in his seat and run his fingers over his bottom lip. His movements are twitchy and nervous.
“Chloe, I’m going to take the gag off your mouth. If you scream, I will have to hurt you. Do you understand?”
Fear tries to cut off my air supply and all I can manage is a stiff nod.
Easing the gag down my chin, he lets it rest around my neck while I open and close my mouth a few times.
Sharp steps pull my attention to the door. Luisa is outside. I can tell by the staccato rhythm that she’s pacing.
“Tell me what you remember about last night.” Mayor Carter’s voice is soft and easy.
I sniff, trying to figure out what to say. I don’t know where he’s going with this and I’m not sure if it’s safer to lie or tell the truth.
His hand lands on my knee, his large fingers enveloping my leg. I flinch beneath his touch, but he grips a little tighter, flashing me a desperate look—do as I say, dammit! When I still don’t respond, his brow flickers with annoyance and he squeezes until pain is shooting both up my thigh and down my shin. “You need to tell me the truth. It’s important I know what you remember.”
I cry out beneath his grasp and the truth tumbles from me before I can stop it.
“I saw you kissing.” My voice is strangled by my discomfort. “You’re having an affair with Luisa Garcia!”
“Okay.” Mayor Carter eases his grip but keeps his hand in place. “I’m sure you can understand how highly sensitive that information is. If we let you go back out into the world with this knowledge, would we be able to trust you to keep it to yourself?”
Really? He’s trying this?
His cool gaze lands on me, demanding simple compliance.
But what will that mean?
Freedom for a second, but then I’ll spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, because there is no way a man like this is going to let me walk away with the kind of knowledge I have and not keep an eye on me every step of the way.
It also means that these two will get away with Todd McCrae’s murder while an innocent man does their time in jail.
I can’t live with that.
Nick’s innocent. He deserves freedom. Vincent deserves his brother back!
But if I say no, what’s going to happen to me?
“I’m sure I can think of some really good incentives to keep you quiet.”
“I can’t be bought,” I rasp, glancing at his hand on my knee and hoping it won’t hurt me again.
Mayor Carter huffs, rubbing his sweating forehead with shaky fingers. “So you’d prefer to be threatened, then? Okay, well, I’m sure I can think of numerous ways to destroy your family’s life.”
“You can’t threaten me either,” I interject before he starts listing them. “If you want me silent, then you’ll have to kill me, and good luck with the wrath my father will rain down on you when he finds out what you’ve done. You two are murdering liars and I will do nothing to help you keep your secrets. You deserve to rot in jail and Nick Mancini deserves to walk free.”
I don’t know how my voice has so much strength right now. Maybe it’s just pure conviction. The fire raging inside of me will not be contained, and as much as it will hurt my family to lose me, I’m not staying silent.
If my death can bring these two killers to justice then so be it.
Yes, I’m terrified.
But I’m also one hundred percent justified.
Mayor Carter’s lips bunch into a tight line, breaths spurting out his nose. “You are a fool.” His voice trembles. “Do you understand what you’re making me do?”
“I’m not making you do anything. Give it up now. Return me and serve your time. That’s your easiest way out of this. Everything else is going to either eat you alive or get you killed.”
His eyes flash with warning, but I’m on a roll so I lay down one more card before he can shut me up.
“You know you can’t get away with this. You can’t lie forever. The truth will come out one way or another. Do you honestly want to be convicted for killing an innocent teenage girl? How are you supposed to hide it? How are you—”
With a growl, he yanks my gag back into place before giving me a hard shove. I flop back against the couch, my already tender head aching as it hits the leather.
Storming to the door, Mayor Carter spins and points at me. “Making me kill you is a stupid move!” His panic-laced voice reverberates throughout the room. “I didn’t go down last time and I won’t go down again!”
He slams the door so hard the walls vibrate.
The strength that’s been holding me together suddenly disappears. Fear tries to cut off my air supply as I wrestle against the gag and my constraints.
I’m going to die.
I just signed my own freaking death warrant.
And yes, it’s for a very good cause, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t really want to stop living today. My death is going to hurt the people I love.
I need to get out of here.
I need to get back to them.
38
The Wrong Lead
VINCENT
“I have to go,” I mutter, spinning away from Rahn and heading to my place.
“Wait! Where?”
“Don’t follow me,” I call over my shoulder when I hear scuttling feet behind me.
She ignores my request and keeps coming.
I roll my eyes and pick up the pace, hoping to lose her around the next corner, but I’m jolted to a stop by the very person I’m after.
“Diego!” I roar, sprinting straight at him and tackling him off his feet.
He lands with a surprised thud. It takes him a moment to register what the hell I’m doing and he misses his first block.
My knuckles crunch into his cheek before I grab his collar and shout in his face, “Where is she?”
“Get the fuck off me!” He wrestles against me, powering a fist at my face.
It hurts, but not enough to let him go.
I taste blood and lick my split lip.
“I’m not letting you go until you tell me what you did to her.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he shouts, struggling to free himself. I dig my knee into his chest and grab his hair.
“If you’ve hurt her, I’m going to kill you.”
“I haven’t even touched her,” he roars. “I couldn’t find her last night! Get off me!”
His struggle is growing stronger as his rage builds to a boiling point.
Thumping him back down against the sidewalk, I throw all my weight into keeping him still while I glare at him.
His brown eyes glare back and I can tell he’s not lying.
There’s no arrogant smirk, just outright confusion and pure rage.
Shit. He hasn’t seen her.
He doesn’t know where she is.
Which means I have no idea either.
And no easy way of finding her.
Shock makes my muscles slack.
I release my cousin, standing tall and taking a step back while he scrambles to his feet. He’s not used to being beat by me, and he’ll make me pay for humiliating him.
Lu
nging forward, he comes at me with his fist and I give him a free right hook.
Rahn gasps while I stumble back and catch myself against a concrete wall.
“You’re fucking crazy!” Diego swipes a hand under his red nose. “Dad’s going to end you for this.”
I ready my fists, but Diego takes off, running home to Enzo. I tip my head back and swallow past the boulder in my throat.
Diego wasn’t lying.
So, where’s Chloe?
I fear for her more than whatever repercussions await me at home. I have to find my girl. I have to make sure she’s safe.
But I don’t even know where to start looking.
I gaze across the street, quickly calculating how long it will take for my family to return and make me pay. I need to get Rahn out of here before she gets hurt.
Turning to face her, I point in the direction of her car. “You’ve got to go. Get back to your side of town as fast as you can.”
“I’m not leaving without you.” She shakes her head.
“What?” I frown at her.
“I need you to help me find her. Please. Just come with me.” Her voice quavers as she wrings her hands and looks ready to burst into tears.
I can’t just leave her to look on her own.
“Where are you going next?”
“Her place.”
I shoot her a skeptical frown.
“Yeah, I know it’s a long shot, but we have to try. I’d rather show up looking for her than call and send them into a blind frenzy. At least if we’re there, we can help. We can…ask her dad for help.”
Her expression is kind of agonized as she no doubt reads my mind.
Shit.
Chief Barlow. Yeah, he’s going to love me for this one.
Rahn worries her lip while I swipe the blood off my chin and pat my split lip with the end of my finger.
“Here.” She rustles around in her bag and holds out a tissue pack. “You’re going to want to clean up before you see him.”
I sigh, taking the tissue pack and following Rahn to her car. We need to hurry before Enzo finds us, so I take Rahn’s elbow and walk a little faster.
Her car alarm beeps as she unlocks it. Sliding into the passenger seat, I slam the door and ignore the nerves battering me from all sides.
I feel like I’m heading into a war zone and I’m not wearing one scrap of armor.
“You better floor it. I don’t want them catching up and following us.” I glance over my shoulder to check the coast is clear.
Rahn pulls away from the curb and does as she’s told.
We speed back to her side of town while I fight off the storm that’s taking me out. Dabbing a tissue against my swollen lip, I try not to give into the waves crashing over me.
I have to stay strong for Chloe. I have to face her dad, her family…do whatever it takes to find her.
I don’t know where she is or what kind of trouble she’s gotten into. All I know is that if I don’t find her, my heart is going to disintegrate into a thousand pieces and I’ll never be able to breathe right again.
39
A Devious Plot
CHLOE
They’ve moved from outside the door, but I can still hear voices.
Sniffing at my tears, I pull in a slow breath, trying to calm my thundering heart and hear above my internal chaos.
Easing the air between my lips, I suck in another lungful through my nose and slowly start to regulate.
I tip my head to the side and strain to hear the conversation.
It’s coming from somewhere to my left. Shuffling along the couch, I inch toward the murmurs until I find a good spot where the muffle becomes a little clearer.
I squint as I concentrate on making out the words.
“I know you don’t want to do this … can’t give you up … the only choice we have is to eliminate her.”
“Who do we use this time? We can’t…”
I miss the next part, frowning as Mayor Carter’s voice drops too low for me to hear.
“My brother will help me if I ask him to. His money and threats worked last time … warned Barlow what he’s capable of.”
“Barlow paid him … debt settled. He’s not going to push his luck … won’t want anything to do with Chloe’s disappearance … stupid to take on a cop like him.”
“Well Donny’s due back tomorrow … clean up this mess today.”
“Her family will already be looking for her.”
“So we need to move fast, then.”
“What are you proposing?”
“We could just make her disappear…sell some kind of runaway story.”
I flinch. As if, lady!
“It’s not her style. The Barlow family sticks together. They’re close.”
I guess the mayor is a little more observant than I thought. Holden suddenly flashes through my mind, sending a piercing sadness right through my core. I can’t believe his dad is plotting my death right now. Holden’s going to be devastated.
“Well …” I lose Luisa’s voice completely then. It drops down to a small whisper until a few seconds later it rises again. “Stop shaking your head. It worked last time! The setup went down just the way we planned it. We can do that again.”
“Last time you stole Donny’s phone to send that text! It was an opportune moment. Your husband’s out of town right now, so we can’t do that again.”
“Maybe we could pin it on the Mendez brothers. Tomas has some solid connections in Brazenwood.”
“Tomas won’t want to get involved!”
“He’s my brother! He loves me. He’d do anything to help me.”
“And then he can hold it over you for the rest of your life. He’ll want to know why you’re trying to cover up another murder, and don’t tell me you can use the same lie as last time! Besides, he works with Donny now. Aren’t you worried it will slip out?”
“If Tomas knows how much I love you and how impossible Donny is to get away from, then he’ll help me! We just need to find someone to pin it on.”
“Who? Nick was an easy target. He already worked for Donny. You found his gun lying around, stole it, used it and it created the perfect setup. We barely had to think that one through.”
“Well, isn’t there some high school student we could blame it on? If we stage it right, we could say it was a date gone wrong or something. Does she have a boyfriend?”
My breath catches in my throat. High emotion is making their conversation loud and fast. But I’m not missing anything now.
I can hear every inch of their plan and I have a sinking feeling I know exactly who Mayor Carter is going to come up with.
“There’s one student at Armitage High I’d quite happily pin it on.”
“Are we talking about a certain Mancini?”
“It’s the most believable choice, but how do we lure him in for a setup?”
“Let’s try money…or maybe trick him into thinking we have some information about his brother. You said he was pretty cut up when Nick went to jail. If he thinks Nick’s innocent, maybe we could present him with the real killer.”
“I like it. That combined with his temper will be perfect. Let’s get him in here, fire him up until he loses it, and then see how much damage he can do.”
“Give him the right weapon and we’ll get the exact crime scene we need.”
“You’ll get him to do the killing?” Mayor Carter’s voice dips.
“Maybe…if we sell the story right. He doesn’t need to know that he’s killing Chloe Barlow. All we need to do is mask her, sell the lie, and get him angry enough to pull the trigger.”
No! Shit, no!
Tears burn as I once again start to wrestle with my bonds. I’m not letting them do this. They will not set Vincent up this way.
Surely he won’t trust them. Surely he won’t believe Mayor Carter.
But if he’s desperate enough…
His emotions are going to be right on the edge after he bailed on me last
night. He’ll be eaten alive by guilt or frustration. And Mayor Carter’s right. He does have a short fuse, but surely it’s not that short.
Shit!
Rubbing my ankles together, I ignore the burn on my skin and fight to free myself.
40
The Search Begins
VINCENT
We park outside the Barlows’ house and both stare at the front door.
I wonder what’s going on inside. It’s only just past nine thirty. I desperately want Chloe to be in there, but I know she’s not. I can feel it.
Sucking in a breath, I pop the door open and follow Rahn up the path.
Just before she knocks, I duck out of sight, pressing my back against the house.
“What are you doing?” she whispers.
“The second they see me, it’s going to blow up. You might as well get a few words in before that happens.”
She winces and then nearly jumps out of her skin when the door opens.
Rahn doesn’t have a chance to say hello before Max is asking, “Are you okay?”
“Chloe’s not home, is she?” Rahn’s voice is so hopeful.
My chest constricts when Max tells me what I already know.
“I thought she was staying with you.”
“Well, she was supposed to.” Rahn winces.
There’s a painful pause and then comes the question we’ve been dreading. “What’s going on?”
“I was her cover. So she could go on a date.” Rahn spits the words out fast.
“What date? Does Chloe have a boyfriend I don’t know about?”
Rahn’s skin pales like it did when I first saw her this morning.
I close my eyes and prep myself for the big reveal.
“Rahn.” Max’s voice is low. “What’s going on?”
“She didn’t come home last night.” Rahn wrings her hands. “I waited up for a really long time but then just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I was expecting her to sneak in, but when I woke up this morning she was gone.”
“Are you telling me she spent the entire night with some guy?”
“No,” I croak.