Page 59 of Keep Me

“Something’s happened to Roan, and I can’t reach him.”

“Wait, what do you mean—I’ll call Cash.” He must see something on my face that makes him believe me instantly, and I accept it with relief. Because I know, I know, Roan wouldn’t leave me hanging while waiting on news about Sofia. He understands, maybe better than anyone, what this meant to me.

“Yeah, okay. We’ll come right up.” Lochlan wraps up his phone conversation that I was barely able to pay attention to. He places a hand on my shoulder. “Come with me.”

I follow him out of the pub and into the foyer of an apartment building right next door. We take the elevator to the top floor, and he greets the two men guarding the door, then lets himself in with a code on a keypad next to the door.

We step inside what I assume is Cash’s apartment. Harlow waves to me from the couch. “I’d get up if I could,” she says wistfully, her feet propped up on an ottoman. Her belly seems like it’s twice the size it was last time.

She hollers for Cash, and Lochlan starts perusing the kitchen counter that’s covered in at least twenty jars of pickles. I look at them with a slanted head, and Harlow laughs behind me. “I was craving pickles but didn’t specify a brand, so Cash bought them all.”

I crack a smile. “For some reason, that doesn’t surprise me at all.”

“Please take some with you before the baby’s amniotic fluid turns to pickle juice,” she says, and I notice the bowl of pickles she already has on the side table next to her.

“Reggie.” Cash comes out of the hallway and swipes out an arm for me to come sit at the counter. He pulls out two stools, and Lochlan leans over on the other side of the island. “I saw Roan’s car down the block when I was coming home. I assume you didn’t drive it here because he would never—”

“Let anyone else drive his car,” I finish, and he nods.

“I pulled the footage from our street cameras, and it’s not good.” My stomach drops. “Three dudes tased him and threw him in a van.” Despite the casual tone of his voice, his words still carry the weight of their meaning. Abducted. My lungs struggle to pull in enough air.

Cash continues, “I tracked his location—”

“Did he turn his phone back on?” I jump eagerly, digging my phone out of my purse to check if any calls or messages have come through.

“Not exactly…” He eyes Lochlan while he says, “We all have implanted GPS trackers.”

“What do you mean ‘we all’?” Lochlan gapes.

“Dad had them put in when Finn and I got our wisdom teeth out, so I did the same for you and Roan.”

“Jesus fuck, Cash! You didn’t think to tell us that?”

Cash shrugs indifferently. “It didn’t come up. And lower your fucking voice. It’s not good for the baby.”

Lochlan pushes off the counter and paces, running his fingers through his long, blond hair.

“Ignore him.” Cash waves off his brother and turns to me, holding out his phone. There’s a green blinking dot surrounded by a little beige and a lot of blue. “Do you know why Roan would be on an island way out in the bay?”

1. Continue playing She Burns—Foy Vance until indicated

2. Stop playing She Burns—Foy Vance

Chapter 27

Chameleon

Roan

8 hours earlier

I spot Javi immediately, but to anyone else he'd be unremarkable, blending into the bustle of a Saturday in the park. He wears a generic June Harbor Pirate’s baseball cap over his dark curls and a hoodie to a university I know for a fact he didn’t attend. He’s neither incredibly handsome nor particularly hideous. He looks average in every sense of the word. Athletic and medium build, not noticeably tall or intimidatingly buff. His ability to be practically unnoticeable without hiding is part of why he’s the deadliest assassin in the Americas.

I approach where he’s sitting on a park bench reading a book that I recognize from its sheer popularity. I swerve around a child learning how to ride a bike and pause to let a father with a stroller jog past me.

I sit down next to him, and he sets his book down as I shake his hand. “Hey, man, appreciate you meeting me.”

“Of course. Sorry it took me a while to get up here. I was on a job,” he explains.

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