Page 134 of Love Collided

It was the same blacked out one that had pulled up that first night with Scout at the warehouses. The gambling broker who took my watch and changed my life forever.

If Scout hadn’t been meeting them that night, she might not have ended her date with Jesse, and I may have never had a chance with her.

By the time I made it around the front, the car was shut off and no one was inside it.

I slammed the front door open. “Scout!” I yelled, running back upstairs and opening doors. I hadn’t seen any sign of my dad yet, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t come with them.

He was using her father and the money he needed against her. Those guys would take her, or worse, hurt her.

There was no one upstairs, and the crew had come back in the front.

“She’s not out there,” Fox said. “I don’t see any sign that she was at all.”

“There’s a guest house out back that he might have her in,” I said, pointing to a side door. Ransom and Kye took off, but I stopped them. “Listen, if you run into my dad, do what you need to do to get to Scout. I don’t think he deserves any mercy after this, and I need her back more.”

They nodded and headed out the back door to the guest house while I turned back to the crew. “There’s this level, and the garage.” I kept pointing out directions. Jax and Fox went to the garage, the girls insisting they would check this floor together.

That left me with checking downstairs.

I nearly jumped down the stairs, yelling her name as I went. I still hadn’t seen anyone, which meant they were with her, wherever she was.

I knew my dad, and I had to think about what he would have done. He would feel safer if he put her somewhere more enclosed, somewhere safer and more contained. He would think he was smart for it, he would think he was far enough away from the threat that he could do anything he wanted.

But I was the threat this time.Iwas the one coming for him this time, and I was currently ready to rip him apart. There did not need to be any mercy from whoever found him, but I hoped it was me.

I was opening more doors, even checking the closets, when I heard it. The cry was faint at first, but clear. I knew exactly where they were, and I couldn’t believe it hadn’t been my first thought.

The wine cellar was old now, but my dad had been having it redone months ago. I hadn’t been in it since, but it would be nearly soundproof.

“Scout,” I breathed, already running down the hall towards the sound. She was here, and I would have her in my arms in seconds.

I would get to him before he hurt her more.

More.

I pulled the heavy door, the creaking of it impossible to miss. The sight in front of me nearly made me sick. Anger burned through me as I watched the larger of the stupid gambling guys lift her up and the other work to tie her legs.

It wasn’t just that, though.

It was my own mother stepping closer to Scout and slapping her. A line of red cut across Scout’s cheek where my mother’s ring had snagged against her skin.

Scout looked at me, eyes wide, with a scarf wrapped around her mouth.

“Mom?” I asked, making her freeze and turn to me. “You did this?”

I had been ready to face my father. I was angry and ready to fist fight him if it came to it. There was nothing preparing me for finding my own mother on the other side of this door, though. At most, I thought she knew about it, but I didn’t think she would be the one running it.

“Chase?” she asked. “What do you think you’re doing down here?”

The goons set Scout back on the chair, flanking my mother as though she was their leader.

“How many times did you hit her?” I asked, stalking towards her.

She stepped back, keeping a distance between us, the fear clear on her face.

“Enough to keep her quiet,” she said, her words cold and careless.

My vision blurred with rage. I had been ready to hit my father, but my mother? What was I supposed to do about that?

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