Page 23

Chapter

Twenty-Three

ADON

It’s pitch black outside when I get home, my body rigid from what I had to do. In the laundry room, I shed everything I was wearing and toss it into the washer immediately, then grab a clean pair of shorts from the dryer and pull them on before heading upstairs.

Will Piper notice if I take a shower in the middle of the night? Hopefully, she won’t wake up. She’s not easily startled, so I think I can do it without drawing suspicion.

Fortunately, I don’t have any blood on my hands and all the evidence was burned in the barn that collapsed on top of the creature that stole my girlfriend’s peace. Buried along with her past.

My brow furrows when I reach the bedroom, hand clutching the metal doorknob.

She’s gone. The bed doesn’t look slept in. Clothes are strewn about like she was trying to find something to wear—and she was definitely going for a high-end look. All her high heels are out, as well as costume jewelry spilled over the bathroom sink. Makeup. Perfume. The kind she wore on our date and…at the sex club.

I pull out my phone and call her, but it goes straight to voicemail.

Rhodes said she had called him earlier, asking where I was, but that was about an hour ago. My heart beats harder as I toss on some clothes and call my brother.

“Adon, I’m already fucking asleep. What?”

“Piper’s gone. What exactly did you say on the phone?”

He snorts awake and there’s a change in his voice. “Uh, she knew you weren’t with me. I’m sorry, you know I’m a shit liar.”

“Fuck.”

“She didn’t seem upset. In fact, she laughed when I confessed. It was more like she knew where you were already. I thought you were meeting her somewhere, and this was part of a game.”

Part of a game…

Yeah, I think it is someone’s game, but whose? I’m not quite sure.

“I think I need you. This could be bad.”

“Of course. Want me to come over?”

“No, I’ll pick you up.”

I throw on a baseball cap backward and grab a hoodie to go over it, too. Then I make sure I’ve got my gun tucked in my waistband before heading to the truck and darting over to Rhodes’s house. He’s waiting in the driveway for me when I pull up.

Out of breath, he hops in and checks behind us. “Where are we going? Piper’s apartment?”

“No, her keys were still on the kitchen counter when I got home. Just her phone and wallet were gone. And not in her regular crochet bag thing she wears every day, which means she was dressed up for somewhere.” Swallowing, I turn onto Eastland Boulevard and head toward the fraternity houses on Northview’s campus.

“Okay, so then where would she be? You think she’s with one of these frat guys?”

“No. But I think I know one who may know exactly where she is.”

When we get to the Beta house, I pull up right in front of the fancy door and jump out. Rhodes puffs up his chest and follows. We probably look like we’re about to murder a house filled with scrawny college boys, and that’s precisely what I’ll do if I can’t find Piper.

Rapping a fist against the door repeatedly, I finally am greeted by a middle-aged woman in a bathrobe. “Yes? Are you lost?”

“I need to see Sean Harrison now. He’s in big trouble with security.”

“Oh! Wait right here.” She shuts the door, but I slam my foot in it before she can and push inside.

“No. You’ll show me his room.”

“Help!” she yells, but I hurry up to the second floor of the house, scanning the names on the doors.

Several guys pop their heads out, then slam the doors closed, but a few gawk at us walking by. “Sean Harrison. Where is he?” I ask one who I’d seen at the club on New Year’s Eve.

“What do you want with Sean, assholes?” He crosses his arms and darts a glance over to Rhodes, then back to me.

“I want to know where my girlfriend is.”

The guy smirks like I’m some schmuck who lost his girlfriend to pencil-neck Sean Harrison. “Well, she’s not here.”

In one second, I grab the guy by the neck and shove him against the wall outside his room. “Listen, you piece of shit. She’s in trouble. And I think your friend knows where she is. You can either tell me where his room is, or I’ll just break your neck and ask the next guy in line. What will it be?”

“He’s at the end of the hall. Two-thirty.” His voice is strangled under my grip, and I release him. He slumps to the ground, gasping for air.

“Thanks.”

Rhodes gives me a solid head nod, like he’s got our six, then we march to the appointed room. When I turn the knob and push the door, it’s blocked by something. So I stand back and shove it in with my boot. The flimsy fake wood snaps enough so I can hoist it open.

Sean stands against the far wall with a large wooden paddle in his hand. “What the fuck do you want?”

“Where’s Piper Hendricks?”

“What?”

Hustling over to him, I thrust my forearm into his chest and pin him against his window. “Where is Piper? Your girlfriend’s sister. I think you know where she is.”

“Why should I know?”

“Because you’ve been following her. Trying to steal her purse. Sending virus links to her phone. Probably broke into her apartment. And I think you killed your stepmother.”

He scoffs, spit flying from his mouth. “That’s absurd!”

I unlock the window and shove it open. “If you don’t tell me now, then I think you’ll take a tumble from this window. It won’t kill you, but it’ll hopefully break a few pieces off. That is, until I load your broken body into my truck. Then, we’ll have a great time. My brother back there knows exactly which internal organs to remove to keep you alive and talking.”

“Shit. I-I didn’t kill anyone. Your girlfriend’s a whore. Met someone at a sex club tonight. Maeve said she goes there a lot.” With some effort, he tries to sell me a casual smirk, but his lips tremble. “You didn’t know? Thought you were the only one? No. She’s a skank, man. Sorry to break it to you.”

“Who did she meet there?”

“Hell if I know. I doubt you’re the only old guy dick she rides.”

I pull him back from the window and shove him at Rhodes, who grabs him by the collar of his T-shirt. “He’s going to be useful for us. Let’s take him,” I say.

With a heavy foot on the gas, I motor straight downtown to The Rosebud after checking my app on where the club is located tonight. That’s where she went, I know it. I have a feeling this douchebag tied up in the backseat lured her there. Him or his father.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, I ask, “Why did you do it?”

He murmurs against the duct tape over his mouth until Rhodes rips it off, and the kid gasps. “Do what? I didn’t do shit, assholes. You all are in so much fucking trouble! Do you know who my father is? Who I am?”

“Yeah. You’re the kid who killed his stepmom. Maeve’s boyfriend.”

Even in the pale light, I can see his skin growing red. “I didn’t kill anyone. Meghan just died . No one killed her. You dumb fucks can’t even get your facts straight.”

“You poisoned her, didn’t you?”

But he just shakes his head and stays silent. Rhodes eyes me from the passenger seat, but his body is turned, ready to pounce on the kid at any moment.

As soon as we pull up to the entrance, I grab Sean from the back and shove him toward the bouncer. Flashing my entry card on my phone, the bouncer stops and eyes Sean.

“Don… You’re looking different tonight. Trouble with this one?”

“Yeah. He or his father kidnapped my girlfriend.”

“Who’s your girlfriend?”

“Piper. Pink hair.”

He nods at me. “Yep. She arrived about an hour ago. Alone, though. Haven’t seen her leave yet. Go on in.”

Once we get inside, I scan the room. A few regulars are posted at various tables and Tarin is working the bar. As I head that way, Sean shuffles his steps, trying to slow our progress, but I punch his kidney until he hurries forward.

“Don?”

“Yeah. I know I look different without the mask and get-up. I’m looking for Piper. And in a hurry.”

“Piper… I haven’t seen her.”

“Mind checking the footage to see if she’s in a room?”

She leaves through a door in the back and returns. “Um, I hate to break it to you, but she’s here. But with someone. In the bondage room.”

“She’s not here willingly.”

“Don, please don’t make us call security. We haven’t had problems with you before.”

“Call them. Tell them to meet me up in the bondage room. Call the police while you’re at it.”

Her pale skin grows sheet white as she grabs a phone and holds it up. “You’re serious.”

As I shove Sean forward, I place my gun into his back and nod. “Deadly.”

Once we get to the second floor, I make him open the door and stand back.

“It won’t open,” he whines. So I shove a boot through it, just as I did his own.

Something heavy blocks it, though. It only cracks a few inches until I thrust my shoulder into it.

As soon as I bust through, I freeze.

Strapped to four bed rails, with a ball gag stuck in her mouth, Piper’s naked figure shakes. The terror in her eyes is almost unbearable. My legs start toward her, but the man next to her flashes a warning grin.

Dennis Harrison kneels at her head in a full suit, holding a giant blade to her throat. As I scan her body, tiny slashes of red ooze on her abdomen, thighs, and wrists.

He smirks at me, relishing the dread written all over my face. “I wouldn’t take another step forward if I were you.”

Rhodes shoves his kid in front of me, and I place my gun to his temple. “I would let her go, if I were you. The police will be here shortly.”

“Good. They need to know you broke into this room of this establishment, for which I am a paying member. Interrupted mine and my friend’s alone time.”

I huff a sarcastic laugh. “That only works if it’s consensual .”

Dennis looks down at Piper with adoration, and I want to shoot his face off. “Believe me, it was completely consensual, wasn’t it?”

Piper bites down on her gag, which makes tears fall over her pink cheeks. She meets my eyes and nods reluctantly.

Dennis spreads his hands wide, as if this proves his point. “You see, women like this love to play the game. As soon as they get the dick, they start making all kinds of wild claims, but the video proves she came upstairs willingly. Ask her... None of them can be faithful.”

“Is that why you killed your wife?” I ask pointedly.

Dennis’s eyes dart to his son standing in front of me, the barrel of my gun still pressed to his head. “I did no such thing.”

Rhodes shuffles a step behind me, but maintains his distance.

“How did you do it?” I decide to keep him talking, to see how I can find a way to get him far from Piper. “Poison?”

With a slight shake of his head, he snorts a derisive breath. “My wife died. It was a tragic accident, and you’re trying to make it, what, something more for some hero points? To prove you could save someone ?”

Rhodes creeps closer and stands behind my shoulder. His hand lays over mine to take the gun, and I snap my eyes to his steady gaze. He nods encouragingly, and I give up the weapon. Slyly, he presses it to Sean’s back, out of the professor’s notice. With care, I keep my forehead from wrinkling, understanding I’m now free to pounce on the bed whenever I see an opportunity.

Inching a step near Piper, I keep talking. “Kind of hard to save your wife when you murdered her in cold blood. Let me guess, she was cheating on you with Piper’s father. So you decided to end her life. Make a pristine image for your son’s future candidacy.”

“Father…” Sean murmurs, and his dad considers him for a moment. “Don’t let these two miscreants confuse you. The police will be here soon, and then we can explain everything. They have a prisoner in their family. And Chief Turner will want to hear what we have to say about all of this.”

“Yes, Son. I’m aware.” Dennis presses the knife deeper against Piper’s windpipe, and I freeze.

That’s their play. Pay off the dirty cops and get away with murder. Sucking on my tongue, I consider my next strategy.

If I’m not careful, I could lose Piper.