Page 88 of Taken With Trouble

I’m getting sick of being a person people can’t trust. Well, except for this idiot.

“I toss you this box, and my grandfather and I walk out that door, no one gets hurt,” I say.

“I promised I wouldn’t kill anyone… yet,” Sebastian says.

That’s as good of a commitment as I’m going to get.

I toss him the box and start backpedaling the way I came, surprised when none of the henchmen follow. Sebastian tests the box, finding it locked and shaking it. The phone thumps around inside, and he nods once to his men.

“Get the door,” I tell my grandfather, still walking backward, waiting for someone to change their mind.

But they don’t. I wait all the way through the hallway. All the way to my car, I wait. But no one comes.Whyaren’t they coming? Alarms ring in the back of my brain, but my sole focus is on getting my grandfather to safety.

I help him into the car, and only when I’ve made it a mile from the compound do I dare ask, “Are you okay?”

He shakes his head, tears spilling over his weathered cheeks. “What have you done?”

Chapter 37

Liam

I take a sharpleft and glance over at my grandfather. “What do you mean? I saved you.”

“You should have let me die. It should have been me, not her.”

I frown. “What are you talking about?”

“Seraphina. They’re going to come for her.”

I shake my head. “She’s safe, I made sure of it.” But even as I say it, my foot presses harder against the gas pedal. I promised I’d turn myself in, and I will. If only to see for myself that she’s safe. I pull up the text from Agent Harris with the directions to the safe house.

“As long as she’s alive, she’ll never be safe.” Grandpa’s chin quivers, and tears seep into the wrinkles lining his face.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

He drags in a breath. “I think they have someone on the inside.”

Someone on the inside? What does that mean?

As if on cue my phone rings. It’s Caleb. My heart leaps into my throat, and I swipe it open. “Hello?”

“They took her.”

“Harris?” I ask, hoping this is some kind of joke to get back at me. “What do you mean they took her?”

“Agent Hadley attacked me. I fought him off, but I didn’t realize what was going on until it was too late. Ford took Serena.”

The road—the whole world—turns dark. That’s why they let me go. They already had her. I was just a nuisance. That’s oddly humbling.

“I told you to protect her. You hadone job,” I yell. I’m a mile from the safe house. I could turn around, go to the warehouse. But there’s no way they would have taken her there. That’s why Sebastian didn’t ask about her. He already had a plan. He was playing me. I should have seen right through it, but I didn’t.

“I’ve got Hadley tied up. I’ll question him,” Harris says.

“I’m almost there,” I grunt. “Tell him hell’s coming with me.”

There’s a moment of silence. “Do you really want me to say it like that? Because that’s kind of drama–”

I hang up.