Page 117 of Stolen Temptation

My brain shifts into hyperdrive, connecting the dots.“Whoever put him on the detail at the warehouse is the same one who ordered him to abduct Kiara.”

Finn nods once. “That’s what I’m thinking too.”

“Dax was our only lead to the mole, and now he’s dead.”Shit.

Finn’s phone rings, a rock song blaring to life. He picks up. “Hey. Did you make it to the hotel?”

It must be Riley. With Kiara.

When Finn’s eyes widen, my stomach drops.

His fingers tense around his smartphone. “Go anyway and stay there.”

“What now?” I demand as he slips his phone into his pocket after ending the call.

“Apparently, Kiara escaped.”

“For fuck’s sake!” I spin away from him while dread clogs my lungs with cement.

How am I supposed to find her now? I have no way of contacting her.

“Riley says she jumped out of the car while they were driving through the city.”

“Where?” Whipping out my cellphone, I tap into the mobile CCTV hacking software I put on my phone.

“Near Lex, she said.”

With heavy, furious fingers, I toggle through the feeds until I spy an Audi A4 leaving the Gallagher garage. I scrub through the following footage at lightning speed, eyes on the hunt for a beautiful blur zipping out of the vehicle—there.

Kiara leaps out into traffic and takes off like a damn bullet with those legs. She tears into the darkness, but before she disappears, I see a sliver of glinting silver in the glow of the streetlights.

The tracker bracelet.

She’s still wearing it.

Thank God.

“Where are you going?” Finn yells after me as I sprint away. All I can think about is how she was attacked, and the last words I said to her were in anger.

I need to find her…before the mole or her sick, twisted half-brother does.

If I don’t, it may cost me my soul.

Chapter 31

Kiara

Stale, dusty shop air invades my nose as I tiptoe into Midnight Books, a store I’ve frequented so many times in my life. Mr. Tenner, the owner, is a kind, elderly man who claimed my mom reminded him of his daughter. I think he guessed our home life wasn’t perfect, because he shared the alarm code—his daughter’s birthday—with her and said we could crash here if we ever needed a safe place to land.

Mom never took him up on the offer, but his kindness is paying off for me now.

During the day, the place is warm and inviting, tucked into a cranny between two giant Manhattan co-ops. In the middle of the night—on one of the scariest nights of my life—the place is gruesome and haunting, shadows reaching for me everywhere I step.

Clicking the lock into place behind me, I hurry down the center aisle and bank left into my favorite corner, hands brushing the cool wooden shelving to help me navigate in the pitch darkness as my eyes adjust.

The muscles in my legs still pulse from that half-mile sprint.What a rush.If I weren’t in so much actual trouble, Imight laugh. Instead, I lower myself to the ground, using the bookshelves as I descend to keep my balance.

All alone in the eerie silence, I finally understand the severity of my situation.