Page 9 of Unmask (Crew of Elmwood Public #2)

KREED

T he second I stepped into Elmwood Public Monday morning, I scanned the halls, searching for Poppy. I didn’t give a damn about the whispers that followed me as I moved through the crowd. People always stared. Envied me. Feared me. That wasn’t new, but today, I wasn’t in the mood for their bullshit.

I needed to find her.

I caught sight of Poppy near the lockers, rummaging through her bag.

She wasn’t hard to spot—bright red hair, black combat boots, distressed stockings, and an oversized hoodie that swallowed her frame.

The moment I strode up, her head snapped to me, and her expression twisted into a scowl. “What the hell do you?—”

“Have you heard from Kaylor?” I cut her off.

Her scowl morphed into confusion as she slipped her bag strap over her shoulder. “You mean you don’t know where she is?”

No. And that fact alone was enough to make me fucking unhinged. “She’s gone,” I gritted out.

Poppy’s brow furrowed, concern flashing across her face. “What do you mean gone ? Like…dead.”

“God, no. She’s fine… I think.”

Her gold eyes widened. “What the fuck happened, Kreed? Where is she?”

I clenched my jaw, inhaling deeply through my nose. “I mean, she’s not at the Corvo estate, and she sure as hell isn’t answering my calls.”

Poppy hesitated, then shook her head. “I was about to ask you the same thing. I haven’t been able to get a hold of her since Friday night…since the game.” She swallowed hard. “Since we snuck out and those guys took her.”

My stomach twisted. I already knew what happened that night, knew Kaylor walked away from me, chose the Vipers, but hearing it out loud sent a fresh wave of fury through me.

I ran a hand over my face. Think, Kreed. Focus.

I needed to find her.

I needed to talk to her.

Poppy was my best shot at making that happen. “Listen,” I said, deciding to be as straightforward as I could. “I need your help.”

Poppy slammed her locker door shut with a metallic clang that vibrated down the hallway. She turned slowly, arms folding across her chest like a barrier she had no intention of lowering. “Why the hell would I help you?”

I didn’t flinch. Just leaned against the wall, one boot scuffing the floor as I held her stare. “Because you’re worried about her. And so am I.”

Her brow furrowed, eyes narrowing as if searching for the lie between my words. “Is she avoiding you or something?”

“Or something,” I conceded, the corner of my mouth twitching though there wasn’t a trace of amusement behind it. “Will you help me, Poppy?”

She tilted her head, studying me like I was a strange specimen under glass. “Never thought I’d hear those words from Kreed Corvo’s mouth.”

“I’m asking nicely,” I replied.

“And if I refuse?”

I straightened, just a little, letting the quiet stretch, letting her feel what I wasn’t saying. “Then we move to me not asking nicely. Either way, I’ll find out where she is. Don’t give me a reason to unleash what I’m barely restraining.”

Hesitation fluttered across her face, perhaps. A sliver of fear she quickly masked. “Why is this so important to you? It’s not like you haven’t been a complete dick to her.”

“A complete dick, huh? I’ll own that, but I don’t have time to explain everything,” I said. “But the people she’s with? They’re dangerous.”

She arched a brow, lips parting slightly. “More dangerous than you?”

My gaze held hers. “Yeah.”

Her arms dropped an inch, and the sarcasm drained from her face. “Holy shit. You’re not kidding.”

“I wish I were.”

Poppy shook her head slowly, almost like she couldn’t believe she was about to say what she did. “It’s hard to imagine someone worse than you and your brothers.”

I huffed a breath. “Cute.”

She hesitated. “Fine. What do you want me to do?”

“Will you text her or call her?” I asked. “Set up a meeting. Tell her you want to see her. But don’t tell her I’ll be there.”

Poppy’s expression darkened. “That’s a horrible idea.”

I sighed, my patience wearing thin. “Poppy?—”

“No, seriously,” she cut me off, glaring. “If Kaylor wanted to talk to you, she would. You wouldn’t need me to play fucking messenger. Not to mention, I’ve tried calling her. It seems she doesn’t want to talk to either of us.”

The words stung, but I pushed through them. “I don’t care . I need to see her. Reach out to her friends from the Academy. They might know where she is.”

Poppy let out a breath. She’d never seen me like this before. No one had, and maybe that’s why, after a long moment, she muttered, “Shit,” under her breath. “Fine. I’ll try again. But only because I need to know she’s okay.”

Relief cut through me.

“Don’t get too excited, Corvo,” Poppy added, pointing a finger at my chest, “if she hates me for this, I’m blaming you. And after I do this, you’ll tell me why she’s in so much danger that it has you on edge.”

I’d agree to anything, but it didn’t mean I would deliver. I just needed Poppy to say yes.

Mason leaned against my desk, his arms crossed, watching as I sent Poppy the phone numbers he’d dug up for Kaylor’s friends from Elmwood Academy. It was scary the personal data you could pay to acquire online. “You sure about this?” he asked, his fingers messing up his hair.

“No,” I muttered, tossing my phone onto the bed. “But I’m doing it anyway.”

The card flipping between Mason’s fingers halted. “She’s not gonna be happy to see you.”

“No shit.”

“She might actually try to kill you.”

I gave him a flat look. “If she wanted me dead, she wouldn’t have run.”

Mason smirked, but there was something behind it, something thoughtful. “Maybe she’s plotting her revenge. I still think you should let me go instead.”

I already knew where this was headed. “Not happening.”

“Come on, man. She hates you right now. Me? She hates less than you.”

I didn’t say anything.

Mason shrugged. “Might be easier for her to talk to someone she doesn’t associate with breaking her heart.”

My fists clasped at the word. “Yeah? And what exactly would you say to her?”

“I don’t know. Probably something like ‘Hey, sorry we kidnapped you and manipulated you into trusting us, but in our defense, we kind of like you now.’”

I shot him a glare.

Mason smirked again, but his expression sobered. “Look, I get it. You need to talk to her. Just… don’t make it worse.”

My jaw locked.

Mason sighed, pushing off the desk, dropping the joker card on top of the table. “I can’t believe you’re going rogue. Do whatever the fuck you want, but if you come back looking like she took a baseball bat to your ribs, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

I didn’t bother responding because I already knew the risk, and I was taking it anyway. I couldn’t keep living with this feeling inside me.

Needing an outlet for the turmoil buzzing and the nagging impatience within me, I headed downstairs to our home gym, letting loose on the punching bag.

It was either the hundred-fifty-pound bag or someone’s face.

The urge to drown myself in booze was just another reason to wear myself out in the gym.

It was too easy to get drunk and forget her name.

The only problem was I had yet to find out how much booze it would take. She never seemed to stray from my mind.

It was easy to convince myself I was tracking Kaylor for my father, but it was an excuse. I wanted to find her for purely selfish reasons, and it was time I acknowledged that I didn’t just want her back; I wanted her .

There was also the fact that there was a mole in her father’s crew, and no matter how many pieces I tried to force into the puzzle, I couldn’t figure out who it was, and my father sure as hell wasn’t volunteering the information.

He had an arrangement. One that my father benefited from and would continue to profit from.

Someone had been feeding him information.

Detailed shit. Timelines. Movements. Conversations that should’ve never left private circles.

That betrayal was how her parents died. Not because of a business deal gone sideways, but because someone close to them, a friend, a fucking traitor, sold them out, and now my father was still pulling strings, still manipulating everyone like the greedy bastard he was.

For Donovan Corvo, it was never enough. No one knew the impossible expectations of him better than his sons.

I didn’t want to be concerned with Kaylor, but the fact that I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her drove me nuts. If the only way to make this insanity stop was to bring her back, then the choice seemed obvious.

Someone in her crew had blood on their hands. Her blood. If she got too close, if she trusted the wrong person again…

I pumped my fist into the bag over and over, my already raw knuckles protesting at the repeated pain.

I shouldn’t care.

I shouldn’t be concerned with what happened to her.

I was raised not to give a damn about anyone outside the family and the crew. Taught to shut down emotions, ignore feelings, focus on loyalty, strength, and power, but somewhere along the way, she cracked my shield.

Kaylor fucking Steele.

Whack. Whack. Whack.

The girl with sadness in her eyes and stubbornness in her soul. The girl I was supposed to isolate. Keep close until my father was done using her, but I lost control the second she looked at me like I was more than my name. The second she trusted me. The second she chose me.

And I broke that.

I broke her.

All I could think about was how to fix something I never deserved to have in the first place. I didn’t get to have people. Not like that. But I couldn’t let her go.

Not when the same people who betrayed her family could be circling again.

Not when there was still a target on her back.

I didn’t understand why her safety mattered more than anything else, but it did. It did in a way that scared the shit out of me. I thought maybe…that was what love was.

Or maybe it was just guilt dressed up in softer colors.

Either way, I was in too deep.