Page 33 of Unmask (Crew of Elmwood Public #2)

KREED

W hen it was just the four of us left, me, Raine, Maddox, and Mason, I moved to the balcony, pushing through the heavy glass door and stepping into the night.

Elmwood spread out below, streetlights flickering over cracked sidewalks, casting shadows that stretched like reaching hands.

From up here, the city didn’t look broken, but I knew better. It was rotting from the inside out.

I leaned on the steel railing, fingers curled forcefully enough to creak the metal. Behind me, footsteps thudded. Familiar weight. Familiar silence.

Maddox and Mason flanked my sides, Mason already flicking a lighter, the tip of a cigarette glowing red before he passed it to Maddox. Raine stood back, watching the skyline as if it held answers.

I drew in a deep gulp of the harsh air, letting the ice burn my lungs, exhaling in a puff of white fog. The cold didn’t clear the anger out of me. Nothing could.

Maddox exhaled a cloud of smoke. “You should have called and filled us in before the meeting.”

Taking the cigarette he offered, I drew in a drag. “There wasn’t enough time. I had to move fast. The longer they have Kenny, the more danger Kaylor is in.”

I passed the smoke to Mason, who took a long pull, filling his lungs. “You really think it’s the Vipers?”

“Before Kaylor, I hadn’t given the missing girls much thought, nor who was responsible,” I said, my voice low.

I’d been too preoccupied with my own rage to care.

“But since Kaylor, I’ve been paying more attention.

We know there’s a traitor among them, and that person has a motive.

They took Kenny to get to Kaylor. It’s a warning shot. ”

Raine frowned, flicking his switchblade open and closed. “Her friend is a fucking message, and we’d be idiots not to read it.”

“They could’ve killed her,” Mason added, tapping the slim white stick, sending ash tumbling over the side of the railing. “But they didn’t. That’s not random.”

“No,” I said. “That’s strategy.”

Maddox held out two fingers toward his twin, signaling for the cigarette. “They’re watching Kaylor,” he said, bringing the smoke to his lips. The ember glowed orange against his face, casting harsh shadows over his angular features. “Maybe have been for weeks.”

“Scouting her,” Raine agreed. “Testing her reactions. And ours.”

Mason let out a short, dry laugh. “And they were stupid enough to take her on school grounds.”

“Bold,” Maddox corrected, expelling a puff of smoke that disappeared into the night. “Or desperate.”

“Do we have any guesses who?” Mason asked.

I finally peeled my eyes from the city and looked at them, at the ones who’d bled beside me, tortured with me, carried secrets so deep they didn’t have names anymore. “Rusty. We start with him, her father’s partner and friend.”

Raine cursed under his breath. “It’s always the friend.”

“He probably had a secret hard-on for Kaylor’s mom,” Mason said with clinical detachment, “and now he wants the daughter.”

“Don’t even fucking joke about that.”

Mason’s lips twitched. “I like this new look on you.”

A single brow shot up. “And what look would that be?”

“Jealous boyfriend,” Mason replied. “It’s a step up from the brooding asshole.”

I grimaced. “First, I’m not her boyfriend. And second, I prefer being an asshole.”

Raine glanced at me, shaking his head. “You would.”

“They think we’re fractured,” I said, getting us back on track. “That I’ve gone soft. That she’s a weak spot.”

“She is,” Mason said but not cruelly. “And you’re not soft, not where she is concerned. Anyone with eyes can see that.”

Maddox took another drag, his pale gaze fixed on something beyond the balcony. “Selling her off would be a good way to silence Kaylor without the heat of another dead body.”

He wasn’t wrong.

The image of Kaylor bound and forced into some underground trafficking ring clawed at my insides. Selling her off would silence her and punish me in the process. Clean. Cold. Strategic.

And it made my blood boil.

My fingers curled into fists at my sides, the burn of my nails digging into my palms the only thing keeping me from putting another hole in the wall.

“What’s the move?” Raine asked, tone clipped.

“Let me see that picture again,” Maddox said with the cigarette dangling between his lips as he held out his hand.

I reached into my pocket, fishing for my phone, and passed it off to him.

I’d forwarded the photo from Kaylor’s cell to mine earlier.

He zoomed in, eyes narrowing as he scrutinized the details again.

Maddox was always the more meticulous one out of the four of us.

“She’s not alone. Look,” he said moments later. “Here—do you see?”

We all leaned in. He enlarged the far edge of the frame to a mirror in the corner of the room, slightly cut off. A sliver of someone else reflected in the glass. Big. Male. Tall. Bearded. His face wasn’t visible, but I’d bet my life that it was Rusty. He was the one behind the camera.

“Fucking monsters. I’ll kill him,” Mason growled, always the first to lean toward violence.

He wasn’t the only one. My vision turned red, painted with blood I was eager to spill.

“We need to put a tail on Rusty,” Maddox said. “Follow him. See who he talks to. Where he goes.”

“Not just Rusty,” I said. “We need to know who he’s working with. Who else helped move the girls. There’s no way he did it alone.”

“That’s a long list,” Mason said. “Too long for just us.”

I hesitated. I hated what I was about to say. “You’re not going to like this,” I muttered. “But we need help. We need the Elite. Kaylor’s already involving Brock. If we don’t work with him, she’ll do it behind our backs.”

“I don’t like it,” Maddox said immediately. “We don’t bring outsiders in.”

“If it keeps her from running straight into the Vipers’ Nest,” I ground out, “I’ll break every damn rule we have.”

Maddox gave me a grin, eyes flashing. “Well, fuck. Didn’t think I’d live to see the day.”

Mason flicked the butt of the cigarette, grinding it under his boot. “We don’t let anyone touch what’s ours.”

I turned back to the skyline, the city glowing soft and golden under a sky too calm for the war we were about to bring. “They’re already dead,” I whispered. “They just don’t know it yet.”

And when we were done, they’d never forget the name Kaylor Steele. They’d sure as hell never come near her again.

Or they’d beg for death long before we gave it to them.

The cold followed me up the steps. I kept my hood low as I slipped around the side of Brock’s house, boots silent on the gravel path. The porch light was off, no dogs barking in the neighborhood, just the whisper of branches scraping against the roof and the dull hum of tension in my chest.

I keyed in the security code like I’d done it a hundred times. Brock hadn’t changed it. That said something. Maybe trust. Maybe stupidity. Hard to tell these days.

The lock gave a soft click, and I pushed the door open, softly shutting it behind me, and came face-to-face with a glint of steel.

It was hardly the first time I had a weapon shoved into my face.

Doubt it would be the last. I didn’t move, didn’t flinch, just stared down the gun barrel.

The safety was off. Finger poised on the trigger, and Brock’s eyes didn’t blink.

But neither did mine.

Fuck.

So much for thinking I’d earned any trust.

Then again, I was sneaking into his house in the middle of the night, but he had to know I’d come back, that I wouldn’t leave her alone. Clearly, she wasn’t alone. He’d stayed. Did that mean his friends were also here?

A long second passed. Then he lowered the weapon with a grunt. “It’s a good thing you’ve got a recognizable face. Two more seconds, and your blood would’ve painted my damn walls.”

I arched a brow, slowly stepping farther inside. “You’re saying that like I’ve never had a gun pointed at me before.”

From the shadows, the rest of the Elite emerged. Micah near the stairs, Fynn from the hallway, and Grayson posted by the windows like a damn sentry. They hadn’t come to talk but to interrogate me.

I crossed the kitchen and leaned against the counter, arms folding across my chest. “All right. Let’s cut the bullshit. Say what’s on your minds.”

Micah went to the fridge and pulled out a beer. He twisted off the cap with a flick of his wrist, the metal clattering onto the counter. “We want the truth,” he said, bringing the bottle to his lips.

“Everything you know. Start from the top,” Grayson added.

I glanced at the gun still resting on the counter in front of Brock, its matte black surface catching the overhead light.

“All you had to do was ask. The gun’s a bit extra.

” No one smiled or laughed. Sighing, I gave them the rundown of the Vipers’ possible involvement and the upcoming auction.

I didn’t dress it up. Didn’t soften the edges, but I didn’t give them everything either.

Not yet.

“And if I’m sharing, so are you,” I finished, turning the tables. “I don’t spill and tell for free. No more secrets.”

No one jumped at the chance to agree to my terms. I wasn’t exactly in a position to negotiate, outnumbered four to one with a loaded weapon within arm’s reach of their leader, but that didn’t stop me from trying.

Finally, Brock’s head moved in a slight nod.

The motion was reluctant, like it physically pained him to make the concession.

“If it means we get Kenny back sooner, fine. A temporary truce seems manageable.” He leaned forward slightly, those piercing aqua eyes fixing on mine with laser focus.

In the dimly lit kitchen, they seemed to glow with an otherworldly intensity.

The gun remained on the countertop between us, a silent reminder of the power dynamic at play.

“You have a suspect?” he asked, his voice carrying traces of authority that made people confess to crimes they hadn’t committed. “Someone you think is behind this?”

I hesitated.