Page 41 of Rogue’s Path (Sweet Chaos #1)

Rogue

Ugh. This is one nasty hangover.

Hangover!

I didn’t drink last night.

My eyes pop open.

Peaches!

I race through the connecting doors to her room.

Her bed is empty. The sheets were tossed to the floor.

Peaches never does that.

Her phone is on the bedside table, not that it matters. Peaches hasn’t been stupid. She doesn’t go exploring or anywhere without me.

The bathroom? That’s the only…empty. It’s empty. She’s been taken.

I race over to her phone and call Havoc.

“Did you hear about the guy that died at your hotel last night?” Havoc asks by way of greeting.

“The stalker got Peaches.” I look around the room for any clues.

“How did he get her? What do you need?”

“We were drugged.” That’s the only explanation that makes sense.

Who could have done this? “I need someone to check out the ex-boyfriend Marvin something or other. They were high school sweethearts.” Peaches saw a guy who freaked her out.

“Pull up the truck’s video feed from a gas stop a few days ago.

There was a sedan that had roses in it. I need you to see if he followed us at any other times.

Find out who he is. I’m going to see if there are any other prints.

” It’s a hotel room. There are going to be dozens.

Too many to help in the short term, but I’m going to do it anyway.

It’s something. Finding out who died might give me a clue or two.

“Integer is on his way to you now. I’ll have some brothers out on a private jet to you within an hour.” Havoc clicks off.

***

“That’s the last one.” Integer stands up. “I’ll send all of the fingerprints in. What did you find out about the dead guy?”

“He was one of the waitstaff. That was how we were drugged.” Why didn’t I believe her when she said she saw him?

Because it should have been impossible. There was no way to track…The truck. It’s not exactly subtle or common. “I’m going to look for a tracker on the truck.”

“I’ll check to see if they have any video of the killer when he checked in.”

***

There it is. Someone put sticky tack on it and threw it in the middle of the bed. It just looked like some dirt.

But when? I doubled back six times, checking for any tails. We were clear.

How did he find us to even throw a tracker in the back?

I click a picture of it and send it. Maybe they’ll be able to find out something from that. Hopefully, Integer got a picture of this guy.

“Anything?” I ask as soon as I step into Peaches’ suite.

“Nope. All the security feeds for the entire hotel were wiped for the last twenty-four hours. Heard the manager complaining about it.”

That’s not good. “This guy has some tech training. The ex-boyfriend is looking more and more suspicious.”

My phone rings.

“What do you have for me? Did you find anything on the tracker?”

“Not yet? We sent the info over to Maddox, supposedly, he has connections that might help.”

I’ll take all the help I can get.

“Vandal has a question that’s probably nothing.”

“Ask him if he knew they have the same credit card company,” Vandal whispers in the background.

“I will. But why does that matter?” Havoc asks.

“It doesn’t, maybe. But I think it does. Tell him I want to go through and read Dylan’s emails. Only the ones that relate to her credit cards.”

“Tell Vandal to do what he needs to do.” Could he have tracked her through her credit card?

She paid for every hotel we stayed at, but not until we checked in. It would be impossible for him to know where we were before we checked in unless he knew our credit card information. “He works for the credit card company.”

“That’s what Vandal’s thinking.” Havoc says.

“We did some bikes for the CEO of the credit card company a few years back. I’ve got his number in my phone.”

“Before you call, let’s give Vandal a minute.”

“Rogue’s woman shops lots.”

Peaches doesn’t shop. Even when we went shopping, all she did was browse and pull me away from leather shops. “No, she doesn’t. All she’s paid for on the trip are hotel stays.”

“I found the guy at the gas station,” Bear shouts in the background. “Sending the picture to you now. And doing a search to see if he was around any other time.”

A picture pops up on my screen. “Never seen him before.” I hold it out to Integer.

He shakes his head.

“Dylan rented six different cars this week,” Vandal says.

“No, she didn’t.” My woman loves being a passenger princess. She never once even offered to drive. Though that’s probably also because the truck is massive. It should probably require a CDL to drive.

“These emails say otherwise. She also shopped at several hardware stores. And rented three houses.”

Three houses? “Where? What do they look like?” He’s got to have taken her to one of those. I’m not waiting to find out. I dash to the truck with Integer by my side.

“One by this hotel. Another near the motel you stayed at yesterday. And the third is a cabin an hour away from where you are.”

The cabin feels right, but it could be a decoy to distract us for hours. “Bear, where was the last Dylan DuPress novel set?”

“In a cabin—”

I click off and run.

Be alive when I get there.