“What happened to Dad?” I asked, sick to my stomach at what I was about to hear. But I had to know. I had to know what Brandon had done.
“Dad? Dad did what he always did: he came to talk some sense into me. I told him I didn’t need his bullshit motivational speeches. I needed cash. He didn’t get it.” Brandon went silent for a minute. “He never got it.”
“How did he die? Who was in that car with him?” My nerves were at the boiling point, but I swore I’d at least hear the truth before I died. Because there was no doubt that was where I was headed.
“He went quick, if that’s any consolation. The other body?” Brandon took a noisy slurp, the sound at total odds with our morbid discussion, not that Brandon would recognize that, the heartless bastard. “Just some druggie off the street. The Elder has a way… It’s fantastic. He pulled all the blood out, then put some of mine into the corpse. It worked—they ID’d the body as me, and of course Dad was in the car, which sealed the deal.”
My stomach was churning. Poor Dad.
“When did the Elder get involved?” I studiously kept myself from imagining Dad’s final moments, the disappointment he must have felt. How afraid he must have been. I’d hated my brother for years, but that hate was a pale imitation of what I felt for him now.
“Don’t know how he found me, but he did,” Brandon said, then took another loud drink. “He proposed a deal. I sink the company into enough debt to send you to that vampire who helped start the distillery.” Beside me, I felt the bastard shrug. “It was easy enough. A few weeks of steady gambling, and a loan shark who’d accept the company as collateral. Bada-bing, bada- boom, the company is sinking fast, and you’ll do anything to save it.”
His face got really close to mine. “Face it, Selena, you’re predictable as hell.”
Without thinking, I head-butted him, the crack as our skulls connected echoing through my head. “I hope you’re bleeding. I hope that hurt like a fucking bitch,” I snarled through the hood. “But most of all, I hope you get what’s undoubtedly coming to you.”
“If you mean the millions I’ll collect when I deliver you, then yes, I’ll get what I deserve.”
His words were muffled enough that I thought I might have broken his nose.
“One thing’s for sure, I don’t know what the Elder wants you for, but I’d sure rather be me than you right now.”
The rest of the interminable ride was spent in silence, thank God, since I thought I might throw myself from the car if my brother kept running his mouth. When the vehicle slowed, and gravel crunched beneath the tires, Brandon muttered, “Finally.”
From a safe distance.
I’d put my shield up the second the hood went over my head. It was safe to assume our driver wasn’t human, and now that we’d arrived, vampires would be waiting. Maybe even the Elder.
“I’d say good luck, but where you’re going, you’ll need more than that.” Brandon’s voice was venomous as the door opened and I was bathed in cold air. “See you around, sis. Or not.”
28
I’d been gone for less than an hour.
As I quickly scrolled through the camera footage, I kept reminding myself of that.
She couldn’t have gone far.
Except I reached out through our bond and didn’t feel a thing.
I switched to the line of cameras I’d installed on the main road, as a precaution should anyone decide to do something this stupid. I watched the Rover roll silently down the driveway, then the headlights come on as she turned over the engine. The angle was enough that I also saw Selena’s face light up in satisfaction as she drove toward the distillery. Probably thrilled she escaped unnoticed.
Within seconds, I materialized in the basement. Her office was empty, the lights off.
No sign of Holloway, either.
I flew from one location to the other—the aging barns, the malting building, back to the main building—before I started losing my shit. There was no sign of her at work, but there was a bakery we’d stopped at, and I remembered how she’d swooned over the donuts.
I materialized in the parking lot, my heart loosening as I saw the Range Rover parked out front. A steady stream of customers went in and out, and I stepped inside, scanning the small interior. No sign of her, not so much as a hair. Thoroughly frustrated, I stepped up to the counter.
“Where is the woman who drives that?” I impatiently hitched my thumb at the Rover.
The girl’s face brightened. “Oh, good, you finally came to get the truck. It’s been there since I opened.” She bent over and began digging beneath the register. “Here you go.”
The keys to the Rover landed on the glass-covered menu, and I stared at them blankly for a second before my brain caught up. “Why do you have the keys?”
“Like I said, they were on the ground when I got here, lying right in front of the truck. Thanks for coming to get them.” She tilted her head, then asked, “Would you like to place an order?”
I whirled away and drove toward home.
Someone had taken Selena. And I knew exactly who.
When they yanked the hood off, my brother was nowhere in sight.
The Elder was even uglier in the bright light of day, his skin so thin that I could see the blue veining beneath, even from here. His ubiquitous bodyguards loomed behind him like twin bookends, and there was nothing but farmland as far as I could see. Somewhere close to route seventy-six, since we’d been driving fast, until we’d gotten off the highway moments ago.
Somewhere Forge would never find me, I thought, my heart sinking.
I’d evidently hurt myself as badly as I’d hurt Brandon, because I felt the knot growing on my forehead, even as the Elder’s gaze strayed to
