Page 45 of Obsessive Cravings

My world came crumbling down, and I grasped at where to find her. She was out there with an enemy. One who would use her to crush both me and Mason because he knew how valuable she was to both of us.

I searched the rest of the house, running out the back to find the bloodstained snow where my second man had fallen prey to Clint’s gun.

“Fuck!” I screamed.

Running to the front of the house, I stopped and scolded myself for letting my emotions take over my rational thinking. Riley was smart. She was Mason Brinks’ sister, and even if he hadn’t included her in the life he led, she was calculating like he was. She had run from him, hiding her tracks so even he couldn’t find her. That said something about her.

I ran back into the house and to the room, looking for clues. Someone had violently removed the lamp from the wall, and it was on the floor on the other side of the room. Riley had used it to defend herself. I scanned where she’d been unpacking her things, remembering how she’d dropped her phone and keys on the dresser.

I searched, finding the keys but not the phone. Taking my phone out, I held my breath, pulling up the tracker I had on hers.

“Good girl,” I muttered, seeing the mark that was moving quickly through town. She’d snuck her phone somehow, and now I had a way to find her.

I bolted back to my car, driving faster than I should have on the icy roads. My only thought was getting to Riley before the bastard hurt her more.

Chapter Twenty

RILEY

The soft lights in Greyson’s kitchen were calming as I waited for my tea to brew. I wished he’d stayed and ignored the call. There was something he wanted to tell me. I could see it in his eyes when he told me he’d be back soon. A shadow passed over the back window and my nerves heightened. I backed away, hoping it was just an animal. I was on edge, and every noise and movement made me jumpy. Seeing Clint earlier had left me unsure and shaken. I was debating calling Mason and giving up my attempt at independence from him just so he could protect me again. Not that I thought Greyson wouldn’t try. He was strong and capable, with plenty of security. But he didn’t run in the same world as Clint Randall or my brother.

The front door opened, and I turned, expecting to see Greyson, but a burly blonde man entered, bringing his finger to his mouth. Instinctively, I screamed, stumbling back. He shook his head, drawing a gun from his jacket, and I remembered Greyson’s security team was outside the house. I would have calmed some, but for the worry in the man’s eyes.

“Riley, I work for Greyson. There’s someone in the house. I need you to?—”

He didn’t finish, his eyes going blank as a gun went off and his brains splattered across the wall. Another scream tore from me, and I backed into the counter. Fear seized me so that I couldn’t move.

“Did you miss me, baby?” Clint’s eyes were beady like an animal’s as he slipped his gun in his jacket. “You’ve been a busy girl, fucking your way into Greyson Tides’ bed. I didn’t see that one coming. Not only will you bring me Brinks, but I’ll break Tides with him. Two for one.”

He walked closer, and my instincts kicked in. I eyed the stairs. He was blocking the front door, and the sliding doors were too far from where I stood. The stairs were close, and I dashed for them, but Clint grabbed my ankle. I hit the bottom stair hard, crying out from the impact. Pain shot through my arm that had taken the force of the fall. Ignoring it, I kicked my foot, connecting with Clint’s jaw, and heard him grumble as I scrambled up the stairs.

“You can’t run from me, baby. I’m gonna ruin you for Tides and send your body to him after I lure your brother here and kill him.”

I didn’t understand why he was talking about Greyson like he knew him, putting him in the same context as Mason, but I didn’t have time to contemplate it. Slamming the bedroom door behind me, I fumbled with the lock and backed up, looking for anything I could use as a weapon. I was too far up and only then did I realize how dumb I’d been to corner myself here. I needed to call Mason, to tell him Clint was here. To have him save me. I grabbed my cell phone, remembering that Mason couldn’t track it. I could have called Greyson, but he didn’t know how dangerous Clint was, and I didn’t want him hurt. Mason would find me and rescue me again. It never occurred to me that he was too far away and there was no way he could make it there in time. Tucking my new phone down my shirt, I rummaged through my bag and found my other phone. As I waited for it to power up, Clint’s fists pounded on the door, making me jump. My heart was racing, my entire body shaking so hard I could barely hold the phone.

“Come out and play, Riley. I miss the feel of those lips around my cock, baby. I’m gonna fuck you so hard you’ll beg me to stop until I cover your body with my cum.” My stomach turned, his words making me sick. He’d always been foul-mouthed and vulgar with his comments about sex. At the time, I’d found it sexy because it opposed everything Mason would have wanted me to like in a man. Clint had offered me an outlet to rebel, and I’d taken it without ever seeing the risk. “I want Mason to know that I had you again before I execute him. Maybe I’ll take a picture and send it to Tides. Fuck, that sounds perfect.”

His vile suggestion reminded me of all the times I’d let him touch me, enjoying it and believing he loved me. He’d always been a brutal lover, taking me hard and fast, never caring to satisfy me unless it was something he wanted. So I didn’t doubt that he’d do just what he was threatening before he killed me. I stared at the phone impatiently, waiting for it to load. I was running on adrenaline, my eyes searching the room for anything to defend myself with. Grabbing the lamp, I yanked the cord from the wall, the table falling over with the force. The phone powered, and I quickly put the tracker on, then called Mason just as Clint started kicking the door in.

“Ri—”

“Mason, he’s here?—”

The door shattered, and I hastily stuffed the phone in the back of my pants, praying Clint wouldn’t find it. He was threatening to fuck me, so there was a high probability he would. I didn’t know what I was thinking, taking the time to call Mason, but hearing his voice strengthened me. He may have sheltered me, but I was his sister. I may have been nine years younger, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t observed him all that time. Maybe I missed the signs that should have told me he was involved in more than real estate, but I observed the way he carried himself and the way he and Tyson would box in the backyard. The two of them had been my world.

I held the lamp out like a baseball bat, ready to hit Clint with it.

“That’s cute, Riley. Do you really think you can fight me? Sheltered, naïve Riley Brinks. How did you end up in the bed of the most notorious mob boss in the territories? Too blind to notice your brother’s lies, and you turn around and fall for another man’s?”

His words threw me off guard, and he seized the opportunity, rushing me as I swung the lamp too late. He caught it and pushed me to the bed, his large body encasing mine. I fought, scratching at him, but he pulled me up by my hair, his laugh vicious and cruel. My fist connected with his chin, but the move only stopped his laugh, his mouth tightening in irritation. He raised his hand, smacking me so hard my lip split, and blood filled my mouth.

Yanking me toward him, he sneered. “You’re a stupid whore. I’m gonna have fun breaking your heart again. I want to see you wilt when I tell you more truths, because watching you break that way is almost as good as watching you come.”

He smacked me again and the blood that had pooled in my mouth splattered across the bed. I pushed at him to get away, but he was too strong and my adrenaline had fled, leaving me exhausted.

Pulling his gun out, he held it to my temple, saying, “Stop fighting or I’ll kill you now and fuck your dead body over Tides’ bed. He can explain to your brother why the blood and cum soaked body of his sister is in his bed. That should start a nice territory war. It’s a tempting thought, but I need to break you more. I’m supposed to send you back to my boss. See, at first, he planned to sell your sexy little body to whoever offered him the most money, but now he’s particularly interested in meeting the whore who seduced Greyson Tides. But I’m going to have some fun with you first and if I kill you while I do, I’ll just blame it on that fucker Tides. Walk, or I shoot, and Tides has no chance to save you with his lies.”

He pushed me forward, grabbing my wrists and forcing me out of the room. My mind was trying to make sense of his words, of the idea that Greyson was somehow involved in the same things my brother was. It didn't make sense, but Clint talked about him as if he knew him, as if everyone knew him. It couldn’t be. Just like none of this could be happening. Maybe I’d slipped on the stairs and knocked myself out. Maybe I’d wake up in Greyson’s bed with a concussion and find him sitting beside me, waiting worriedly for me to wake.

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