Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 140742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Dread pools in my gut as we step outside. I’m trying very hard to not let my mind go to a dark place or think about all the lovers’ quarrels that have led to murder-suicides. I swallow down all of that uncertainty and shut my eyes briefly. She’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. It has to be. There’s no universe in which I exist without her.
59
FINN
We stand outside and look around like a car is going to magically appear for us.
“I’ll get a car,” Damian says after a moment.
While he does that, I call the one person I swore to myself I’d never ask a favor from. Funny how in times of need, everything becomes water under a bridge.
“Finn?” he says, his surprise obvious.
“I need the heli.”
“Where are you?”
I tell him where I am, and he starts yelling out orders and telling them to get the helicopter to me. He tells me where to go, and I tell Damian, who informs the very small car that just arrived.
“What’s going on?” my father asks.
“Josslyn’s being held hostage.” I swallow hard to get rid of the knot in my throat, but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
He’s quiet for a moment. “Do you know where?”
“The Ford farm,” I say. “Police are there now.” I shut my eyes for a moment and swallow the knot in my throat and what’s left of my pride. “I don’t have Ruiz’s number. Can you—”
“I’ll call him and tell him the helicopter is landing on the property,” my father says. “You know they have their protocols.”
“Yeah, well, they can fuck right off with those.”
He chuckles. “Spoken like a true Barlow.”
“We’ll be at the airport in four minutes,” I say.
“Hugh will be there in ten.”
We hang up at the same time and the pain in my stomach worsens.
“I just don’t understand how this happened,” I say quietly as I stare at my phone.
“What the fuck was she doing there?! God, my sister’s a fucking idiot,” Damian seethes.
Under different circumstances, I would jump to her defense because Josslyn’s not an idiot, but this is an undoubtedly idiotic thing to do. Why did she go there? Why not wait for me? I asked her to wait for me before she did anything. I’ve only been gone two fucking days. I can only assume this means Tate was responsible for my sister’s death, but if she believed that, why would she be there alone? I rub the pain in my chest in hopes that it’ll lessen. It doesn’t.
“Dad said Tate didn’t show up to work this morning. He had court,” Dame says, looking at his phone and answering when it buzzes. “Yeah. We’re on our way. Me and Finn. In a helicopter.” He pauses to listen. “Well, he’s her boyfriend.” He exhales. “I’ll see you when I get there.”
My jaw clenches. There’s no doubt in my mind his father was asking why I’m involved.
“Titus better get used to seeing me around,” I say when he hangs up.
Dame’s brows rise. “We’re overprotective of her.”
“Trust me, I’ve noticed,” I mutter. “Though you haven’t given me any issues.”
He looks at me for a moment, and I can see there’s a slew of things he’s holding back from saying.
“You love her,” he says finally. “But if it turns out this is about your quest for vengeance and my sister gets hurt, we’re going to be having a very different conversation.”
I swallow hard and look away. I don’t bother telling him that I won’t survive it if something happens to her. Josslyn told him mostly everything about Mallory and the things we’ve found so far. She left out the parts that would make me look bad, because that’s the kind of person she is. She accepts me for who I am and doesn’t hold my mistakes against me. God, let her be okay. I’ll do anything. Any fucking thing. Just let her be okay.
Everything happens in a blur and suddenly we’re in the helicopter on our way to the farm. The sun has already set, but there’s enough light for us to see the fall leaves underneath us. Even if Hugh hadn’t said we were here, the scene beneath us—the rows of police cars and lights and camera crews—would have alerted us. As we land, my phone buzzes and I open Olivia’s texts.
Olivia Nassir: one of the employees told me the house is always unlocked. And the back lock is broken and doesn’t shut properly. Police haven’t done shit to go in there
“Mr. Barlow,” Hugh says once he lands, and turns to me with a suit jacket. “Your father asked me to give this to you.”
It takes me a moment to process what he’s handing me, and another to put it on. Hamilton told me once that Damian had a dark past, and he was there when Josslyn found her father, so I know he’s seen some shit, which is probably why he doesn’t give the gun a second glance.