Exiting the kitchen, I grab a duffel bag from my car that I’d packed just in case, and saunter up the stairs to Cain’s room. I heard him and some of his men talking in a side room at the front of the house when I walked past, but whatever his gang is involved in is none of my business, and I wasn’t about to shit all over his hospitality by getting caught eavesdropping, so I quickly moved on past the closed door.
As I crest the top of the stairs, I pause, my eyeline catching on the closed door at the end of the hall. Swallowing around the lump of emotion clogging my throat, I turn and head in the opposite direction, knowing my way to Cain’s old room, like I do the back of my hand.
Pushing open the door, I huff out a dry chuckle. It’s not much different than when we were kids. He’s upgraded the bedding, from Ferrari sheets to plain navy ones, but other than that, everything’s exactly the same. All his childhood shit is cluttering the top of the dresser, and I move toward it when I notice a photo of the four of us. We were only five or six at the time. Oliver’s got a black eye, and Cain’s sporting a split lip. My head is thrown back while I laugh, and Evie is scowling at all of us. I run my thumb over her face, sighing heavily before setting it back on the dresser and moving to the bed. Dumping my bag on the mattress, I sit down beside it, rubbing my hand down my face before pulling my phone out of my back pocket and firing off a text to the guys, letting them know I’m here and all is going well so far.
A second later the phone rings, West’s name popping up on the screen.
“Hey,” I greet wearily, lying back on the duvet to stare up at the ceiling.
“How's it going?”
I know he and the others are impatient for good news. All of our hopes reside on getting Cain and his men on board.
“Good, I think. Cain’s agreed to help us. We’ll put together a plan in the morning.”
“Good.” Silence falls between us, and all I can hear down the line is the faint sound of his breath. Now that he’s got reassurance that I haven’t fucked everything up and that we’re working on a plan to get Hadley back, I expect him to hang up, but to my surprise, he speaks again. “What’s it like being back there?”
His voice is a smooth, deep, rumble, and all of a sudden, I just want to be back in their dorm room with them all. When the fuck did that happen?
“It’s weird. I have spent so much time thinking about coming back, and now that I’m here, I just wanna come home.”
He doesn’t respond at first, but the silence is comfortable, contemplative, unlike the usual tension that threads between us.
“Well, sort out everything in the morning and come home tomorrow. It’ll, uh, be good to have you back.”
He rushes out the last few words like they burn his tongue, but regardless, they still bring a smile to my face. We speak for another few moments before hanging up, and I quickly strip and climb into bed. I drift off to sleep to the thought of killing every fucker keeping me from my girl.
***
When I emerge from my room the next morning, I pause, my gaze once again zoning in on the door at the opposite end of the hall. It’s inauspicious, and if you didn’t know what was behind it, you wouldn’t give it a second glance. But I do know what’s behind it—at least, what used to be.
I don’t even realize I’ve moved, but the next second, I’m standing in front of it, and my hand trembles as I reach out, wrapping my palm around the cool door handle. My stomach churns, but wild horses couldn’t drag me away right now, as, with a clammy hand, I turn the handle and slowly push the door open.
I’m not sure what I expected, but storage boxes and old furniture in a white-walled, nondescript room was not it, and some sort of weird half-whiny, half-laugh chokes its way out of me as I stare around the bland room.
“I had it converted into a storage room,” comes Cain's emotionless voice from behind me. “Couldn’t stand looking at it, knowing she’d never step foot in there again.”
I nod, unable to utter a single word as I tear my gaze from the room to look back at him. I can see the pain in his eyes; grief and vengeful anger pour off him.
He blinks and it’s gone, an impassive slate replacing the emotion on his face. “No point in dwelling over shit we can’t change. Your girl’s still alive. Why don’t we focus on saving her?”
I give him a tight nod, still unable to speak past the lump in my throat and, closing the door behind me, I follow him down the stairs. The house is quiet, and there isn’t a soul in sight as he directs me to a small office.
He sits in the overstuffed chair behind a desk with disorganized piles of papers that’s been wedged into the small space, and I drop into one of the two chairs taking up the last remaining bit of space.
“Right, so to recap last night. Your dad and his cronies own Nocturnal Mercenaries, and they’ve been taking kids from Black Creek and forcing them to work for them.” He waits for me to nod in agreement before continuing. “And one of them has kidnapped your girl and is holding her there against her will?” I nod again, my teeth gritted as anger flares within me over the whole fucked up situation.
“Alright. I’ve told my men to be here in an hour so we can talk about what to do.” He leans back in his seat, getting comfortable. “So tell me about this girl, you met her at that fancy school?”
I ease back in my chair. I’m keen to get on with the meeting and get a plan in place that I can take back to the guys, but I guess for now, there’s nothing I can do but wait for Cain’s men to arrive.
“Yup, she’s a student there.” I know he won’t judge me, but I do suppress a smirk when his eyebrow quirks in surprise.
“Didn’t picture you falling for some rich princess.”
I snort, knowing Hadley would be furious if she heard him right now. I ignore the pang in my chest when I think of her. “She’s far from that. She’s more like someone from here.” His other brow climbs up his forehead, and I decide to tell him the truth about her. It’s best that he knows she’s not some helpless girl that needs rescuing. Yeah, sure, that’s what we’re going to do, but I know once we get to her, she’ll be more than able to hold her own.
“She grew up there. They molded her into a trained killer. She had the guts to escape, to try and make a life for herself. But this sick fuck is obsessed with her, and he dragged her back there. She’s strong, incredibly strong, but I don’t know if she will survive that place a second time.”
I watch his expression change from surprise, to shock, to something much darker. Shadows roll in behind his eyes, and I know exactly where his thoughts have gone. Evie. Girls being taken against their will is a hard line for Cain. One he won’t tolerate.