Page 151 of Stone: The Precursor

“He needs to fucking know. Stop being selfish. It’s too late to hide it anymore. As much as you might think otherwise, you can’t get her on your own, Stef.”

“Watch me,”I growled. I didn’t need much. My knife. My gun. Fuck, my bare hands would do just fine. Killing before was for penance. Killing them now is a pledge, a promise. They took what’s mine, and they are all going to be obliterated from the earth.

Riggs continued, pushing me back when I attempted to get back on my bike. “I know you want her back, but we need to play this right. They planned this. They knew she was here and not at the high rise. They didn’t go through the front. They knew. That means they have been watching. You can’t risk it tipping them off. We may never find her if you do.We need to strategize.”

My rage was too strong, too all-consuming to think about a plan. I wanted to ignore Riggs’s warnings. Tell him to go fuck himself and find Camryn. Hunt down every person involved. I couldn’t think about the possibilities of not finding Camryn. I couldn’t fathom the reality that she would get hurt, possibly murdered. Every scenario in my head wasn’t good. She could be anywhere, and my impulse was to search, not to strategize. It took his and Onyx’s powerful bodies and the removal of mykeys to keep me from leaving. They wanted me to wait for reinforcements. To wait for her brother. To me, it’s just wasting time.But now I’m here facing him.

“And why do they want Camryn or any of the women? They’re not part of the gang world.” Sophia’s question gets right to the heart of the matter.

Riggs and Onyx both look at me, waiting. The three of us know the answer, and I can’t hide it any longer. “They took the women as collateral.”

The man Julian questions. “Collateral for what?”

“For me.” I stare at Jace. “Because Camryn is mine.”

Jace freezes and steps toward me, his body full of rage. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“You heard me,” I reply, looking him in the eyes.

“My sister!? You’ve been fucking my sister? You son of a bitch! I told you to stay away from her!” When he charges toward me, I let him. I let him punch me. I let the hit snap my head back. I spit the blood from my lip and look at Jace being held back by Silas and Sloane. “I warned you!”He points in my direction, trying to shove the two 6-foot plus men away.

The man, Adam, gets closer; his body is controlled anger, but he doesn’t hit me. “Camryn was the target?”

I look at him, realizing his question is more of a statement. “Yes.”

Jace curses. “I swear to God, Stone, if anything happens to her, I’m going to fucking kill you! I trusted you! Of all the women! Her? I fucking told you! You knew this could happen and you still dragged her into this bullshit!”

“Jace, stop it!” Sophia shouts at him. “Cool down!”

“The fuck I will, Sparta! The shit he’s involved in—” Jace grits his teeth, snarling and turning away, pacing in the parking lot.

His statement has all eyes turning to me. His words left questions that they wouldn’t be ready to hear.The shit I’minto. Murder. Necrophilia. Torture. Sadism. Haematophilia. As much as I’ve grown to like all of them, the part of me that is psychopathic is kept under lock and key. The only one who knows the levels of my darkness are Onyx, Riggs, and, on a much smaller scale, Camryn.

Jace continues to rage, and worry radiates off him; I understand it. Fear eats at me, too, because the Mestizos and I are equals in our atrocities. I close my eyes, refusing to think about what Camryn is suffering at their hands while I stand here.

“Will they hurt them?” Sophia asks, wringing her hands.

The women crowd around her. Tears run down all their faces. It feels like everyone is holding their breath. Dru and Meela cuddle Jacqueline close, rubbing her back. Their men are comforting them as they comfort her. Riggs stands like a sentinel behind Jacqueline, too. I feel his judgment, his recrimination of my choices. He hasn’t told me as much, but he cares for Jacqueline. I can see it in the way he stands close to her. My choice not to tell Jace. Maybe even my choice to keep fucking Camryn. I can’t answer them, I don’t know how to voice my own terror, but Riggs does.

“Yes. They have no morals and no conscience.”

Julian curses. “Jesus. Jacinda needs her insulin. She won’t survive.”

“Does she have a monitor?” Tate steps forward, “My mother took care of a patient a few months back who had a monitor that was connected to GPS.”

Julian quickly pulls out his phone and taps frantically. “Fuck, her glucose levels are trending down.”

“What about her location?” Sophia leans over his arm, looking at his phone.

Julian taps more; he looks up, confused when he stares at the screen. “It says she’s traveling north. I don’t know where this is.Something about Tuxedo, NY.” Tatum takes the phone and looks at us. “They’re near your lake house, Jace.”

My heart squeezes. Jace’s lake house is twenty minutes from my cabin. It feels intentional. A mocking ‘fuck you’ from the Mestizos. They took my woman and are driving right near where many of their dead members are housed in a forested tomb.

“Why the fuck are they heading there?” Jace pulls out his cell. “Fuck this shit. We need the police.” I grab for his phone, and he yanks at my hold, shouting. “Back the fuck up!”

“No police,” I growl, not letting his arm go. I can’t risk them killing Camryn or the others.

“Fuck that!” Jace barks in my face, but I don’t release him. This is too important. “Take your hands off me, Stone! I mean it.”