Page 59

Fifty-Eight

KELLY WOKE , her head hammering, her eyes hazy. The last thing she remembered was bumping into Brent and having their off-grid location beaten out of her.

She blinked. Darkness surrounded her.

She tried to move, but her hands and feet were bound, the raw rope cutting into her wrists. She screamed, but the duct tape over her mouth muffled it and tore at her skin when she moved her mouth. She wiggled, kicking something over with her feet.

Where was she?

Small . Cramped. Low ceiling . No. Roof. No. Hood . She was in the trunk of a car. A moving car by the motion under her and the hum of an engine.

Panic shot through her. Did he have Jared somewhere too?

Her stomach flipped. Was Brent going to beat her more? Torture her for the location of the locket? Nausea from what she might be facing rushed over her again as the car sped down an unknown road.

****

The Vax casino was no different from any other on the strip. Loud. Flashy. Secluded from the outside world. A frustrating hour of unanswered questions later, Riley and Greyson headed for the exit, and they couldn’t reach it fast enough for her.

Greyson held it open, and she stepped through, nearly slamming into a man.

“Oh, excuse me,” she said, then she glanced up at him. Jared?

He didn’t run. Didn’t move. Just stood there.

His face ashen, his expression raw, he cleared his throat. “You’re the PIs after us, right?” He looked at Riley. “Kelly’s friend, right? She showed me a picture of you two on her phone.”

“Yeah...” Riley said, still trying to figure out what was happening.

Grey’s brow furrowed. “How’d you know we were here?”

“Simon and Kimmy gave me the heads-up. Look, I need your help.” His voice cracked. “They have Kelly, and I don’t know where she is. I’ve searched, but I’m not a tracker like you two. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“You want us to help you find Kelly?” Saying it out loud didn’t make it sound any more reasonable. The man they’d been hunting had just walked up to them. That had certainly never happened in her career before.

“Yes. Please, I know they’re going to hurt her.”

“Trying to get the location of the money?” Greyson asked, his shoulders broad, a guarded wariness in his stormy gray eyes.

Jared swiped his nose. “The key is far more important than the money.”

Grey frowned. “Isn’t the key for where the money is stashed?

“No.” Jared shook his head. “We kept the money on us.”

Ri frowned. “Why?” Why keep that much money on them?

“We had someplace to deliver it.”

She put a pin in that and followed her curiosity to where the key led to. “Then what is in the locker?”

“There were papers in the safe we robbed that prove Ralph Masters owns the retreat, plus a handful of passports with different names but all with Lance Winslow’s picture, and some jewelry.”

“Jewelry.” Ri meet Grey’s gaze. “The empty boxes.”

He nodded.

“Boxes?” Jared frowned. “I don’t understand.”

She explained.

“Any idea who the jewelry you have stashed belongs to?” Greyson asked.

“Yes. At least with the star locket. It belonged to Kathryn Buford,” he said. “She was found dead last year, buried only a mile from the cult house. She always wore the locket and was wearing it when she disappeared. That’s how Kel and I knew he’d killed her.”

“I knew it was a sicko’s collection.” Grey’s shoulders went rigid.

“Yeah.” Jared exhaled. “He’s a sicko all right.”

“Is that why you robbed him?” Ri asked. “To punish him?”

“Yes. For what he did to our friend Claire.”

“Kimmy told us about her.”

“Oh.” He shuffled his feet. “Lance killed her, and it’s a long story, but the money went where it should have.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s all I’m going to say. Now, can we please find Kelly?”

“We’ll absolutely help you find her,” Riley assured him. “But we’re going to need your help to do so.”

Tears misted in Jared’s blue eyes. “I’ll do anything to get her back. Please .”

“Where would she go?” Greyson asked.

“ She ? No. He took her. Brent. He’s who Lance sent after us. I know he has her. She wouldn’t leave.”

“Okay,” Greyson said. “Let’s sit down and work our way through this knot.”

“Kelly’s missing, and you’re talking about sitting around chatting?” Jared said, perspiration clinging to his brow, soaking the blond hair framing his face.

“Going off half-cocked isn’t going to help us find her. If anything, we’ll make mistakes,” Greyson said, firmness in his tone.

A subtle smiled touched Riley’s lips. Always so resolute and steady. She loved that about him, but thanks to their time alone, she was seeing more of his free, feeling side, too, and it was enticing.

“Fine.” Jared ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Where do we do this?” His leg bounced, his stance shifting again and again. The constant swaying motion threatened to make her dizzy.

“Our hotel room.” Riley led the way back to the Argo. “Can I just ask one question?” She looked over her shoulder at Jared.

“All right,” he said, his voice uneven.

“Where does the key actually go? I feel like I’ve seen it before, but maybe that’s because locker keys all look somewhat alike.”

“The roller-skating rink in Jeopardy Falls.”

“Of course.” She’d recently stored stuff in those lockers while skating at Christian’s birthday party that Andi threw him last month. “But wasn’t it closed when you stashed it?” If her timeline was right.

“Yeah. Kelly picked the lock.”

“Oh.” Yet one more thing she didn’t know about the woman she’d thought was becoming a friend.

“All right,” Greyson said as they entered the hotel suite. “Take a seat.” He gestured to the sofa.

“I’d rather stand,” Jared said, pacing the oriental rug.

“It’s best if you really settle and focus during this time.” Greyson strode to one of the armchairs and took a seat. Riley took the other one.

Jared nodded and plunked down on the damask sofa, his leg bouncing so high she feared he’d nail himself in the chin.

“Okay, let’s start with how you two got separated. Where were you? When did you realize she was missing?” Greyson lifted the small hotel notepad off the coffee table and grabbed the gold pen with the casino name engraved on it. “Spare no detail.” He glanced at Riley. “The details matter.”

So he’d adopted her saying. She bit back a smile, knowing now was not the time.

“Okay.” Jared rubbed the back of his neck. “We were sleeping for a few hours at a friend’s apartment.”

“Which is where?” Greyson readied the pen to write.

“Three blocks off the strip on Flamingo. Anyway, I was asleep. We were both supposed to sleep until nightfall when we could head out through the tunnels to a car we have waiting not far from the other side.”

“And then where to?”

“Our home.”

“Home?” Greyson’s brows arched.

“We built a home over the last year up in northern Nevada. Sort of an—”

“Off-grid location.” Riley finished for him.

“Yeah.” Confusion and a hint of admiration tinged his tone and blanketed his worried face. “How’d you know?”

“We put it together,” Ri said, looking at Grey.

Jared swiped his stuffy nose. “Can we please go find her now? We’re wasting time.”

“We’re making a plan for the best course of action. Now, let’s stick to it.” Greyson tapped the pad with the shiny pen.

Greyson holding a sparkly gold pen was amusing but adorable.

“Would Kelly have gone to your house on her own by any chance?” she asked.

“No.” Jared shook his head. “She would have stuck to the plans.”

“Which were? One more time, please.” Grey continued tapping his pen on the notepad.

“I already told you.” Jared’s knee bounced higher until he nailed it with a thumping crack on the edge of the coffee table. Pain etched on his face, but he shook it off, scooting back on the sofa to avoid another collision. “We were sleeping for a handful of hours at our friend Carl’s.”

“And how do you know Carl?”

Jared looked sharply at Greyson. “Why does that matter?”

“We need to know everyone who may have talked.”

“Carl didn’t talk. He wouldn’t betray us like that.”

“All right.” Greyson jotted down the name. “When did you realize Kelly was gone?”

“I woke up to use the facilities, and she was gone. I thought she was just in the bathroom since the door was closed, but after a while, I started to panic. Knocked on the door, searched the full apartment. She was gone. I ran out into the hall, searching the building, but she was nowhere.”

Riley crossed her legs. “Did you look anyplace else?”

“Yes, the Argo, in case she came back to talk with someone, and then the Vax for the same reason, which is where I found you.”

“Could she be waiting in the tunnels?” he asked.

“I don’t see why she would.” He nibbled his thumbnail. “I don’t understand why she left the apartment in the first place. Oh, geez.” He flopped back.

“What?” Riley scooched forward in her chair.

“Kelly had been fighting with me.”

“Over what?” Riley propped her elbows on her knees.

“She wanted to call the cops about Kathryn Buford. Let them know she had proof that Lance killed her. I bet that’s where she went. To find a phone.” He rubbed his brow—hard. “I should have just let her call.”

“Why not use her phone?” Grey asked.

“We ditched those way back when we figured out that’s how Brent was tracking us. We got one burner cell, but I had it in my pocket when I napped. I should have let her call. If I had, she’d still be here.” His face turned pale. “If I’d just let her, he...”

“We’re going to get her back.” Riley believed they would... one way or another.

Grey’s expression turned grim. “Then I think I know where they took her.”

“Where?” Jared straightened.

“To your off-grid location.”

Smart man. It was an isolated place to get the information they needed out of Kelly, and they’d assume Jared would eventually head there, and then they’d have them both.

“If you’re wrong and we drive all the way out there, we could be getting farther and farther from Kelly.”

“You’re welcome to stay here and look, but Riley and I are heading to the off-grid location. We’ll need an address or coordinates to find it.”

“No.” Jared got to his wobbly feet. “Let’s go.”

“How long a drive we talking to the location?” Riley asked, getting to her feet as Greyson did the same.

“Nearly seven hours north.”

Riley’s cell rang as she headed to the bedroom to grab a few items. “Hey, bro,” she said.

“Hey,” Deck said. “I think we got a bead on the guy tracking Jared and Kelly. You aren’t going to believe this, but we think he left town.”

“Brent’s got Kelly.”

“Oh, man. That sucks. Any idea where?”

She caught him up to speed.

“Okay. We’re north of the strip. Where are you?”

“Just about to leave the hotel.”

“Okay. We’ll be twenty minutes behind you.”

“It’s a plan. I’ll send the directions once we have them.”

“Roger that. And, kid—”

“Be safe.” She smiled. As much as she wanted to prove she could handle herself, her brothers’ love was a safe place to fall. They’d never let her down. Neither would Grey.

She just prayed they wouldn’t let Kelly down.

Fifteen minutes later, they pulled out of the hotel valet line in their newly gotten rental, her nerves strung tighter than guitar strings.

Please , Lord , don’t let Kevin find us. I know he’s still out there. We know too much for them to let us live , but help us defy the odds and slip out of Vegas unnoticed. At least they’d lost him for a while. Either that, or he was watching and waiting. If so, they’d just led him to Jared. Or, rather, Jared had just walked straight into the crosshairs.