Page 67 of Vail

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VAIL

It was my idea and yet, the closer we got, the more my stomach sank. The GPS on the dash was a reminder of how much longer I’d be in the SUV with the men I loved before I had to walk alone into a house to draw attention away from my family and toward myself. I would do it, but I’d feel sick as hell.

Jordan held one of my hands while Hartley held the other. They were on either side of me, strong yet worried. Jordan didn’t want me to go inside but I didn’t see any other way. We had no idea where Cat was. Even with thermal imaging, we might only see a group of bodies. Gil’s men could be standing near them with guns pointed at them.

I’d texted Gil repeatedly to let him know I was on my way. He didn’t respond once. This was Gil though. He wanted me there and was getting his wish. Everything was falling into place for him. He’d expect Jordan to come with an arsenal. That meant Gil had one in return. He obviously didn’t care who he hurt in his quest to get me back.

We stopped near a wooded area down the road from the house where the SUVs were easily hidden. Jordan’s men immediately exited the other SUVs and started fanning out. Well, except for Reghan and Raiden. They’d stay with Jordan the entire time. Rory was here as well. He’d stay with Hartley, far away from everything. I hated that Hartley was here. Had it been the other way around, I would have wanted to come as well.

“You know what to do?” Jordan asked.

I nodded. “I’m going to drive up to the house and get out. If they start firing, I duck and wait for you to come get me.” Jordan told me the plan on the way here while he had the other vehicles on speakerphone. Jordan didn’t care what happened as long as Cat, Ivy, Carson, and I got out of there safely. I didn’t bother bringing up how I needed his men and him to do the same. Jordan wouldn’t listen, so I saved my breath.

I received a fierce kiss from Jordan and a sweet one from Hartley. They both held me and told me they loved me.

There was a chance I was heading toward my death. If I had to die so Cat and the kids were safe, I would. They didn’t deserve any of this.

When I was in the front seat, Albert squeezed my shoulder then Oleander gave me a one-armed hug. Sheldon pulled me in for a soul-crushing embrace. What could we possibly say? I wasn’t bringing a gun. I couldn’t fire one worth a damn. My luck it would be used against me. So, I put the SUV in drive and went up the long driveway toward the home.

The woods surrounding it would work in our favor, given the pines it housed. At least, until they got to the crest of the hill where a stately two-story house perched on top. The area around it was groomed to perfection, every shrub evenly spaced from the other. There weren’t leaves on them, but I imagined in the spring, this was probably a beautiful house. Gil chose it for me. I would have loved it if the circumstances had been different, and he wasn’t involved at all. Now, it was a prison. One that held my family and soon me.

At the top of the driveway, it leveled off and I parked in front of a three-car garage. The white stone on the outside was immaculate, like it had been power washed during the winter.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and put one foot out. The garage door lifted. A man in tactical gear with what I assumed was an automatic rifle stood there, pointing it at me. I didn’t know shit about guns, so it was my best guess. He waved me inside but didn’t let me into the main part of the house without patting me down.

I didn’t like death. These people would die for Gil today, at least some of them. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell the man to run, to save himself, but then he pushed me so hard I slammed into the door. Fuck him.

He turned the doorknob and shoved me again. I stumbled into a laundry area and then into a hallway that opened into a kitchen. My eyes only briefly went over the appliances and the counters, looking for anything I could use as a weapon if need be. There was no butcher block with knives in it. Nothing but a ceramic container with large plastic spoons, ladles, and a whisk.

The man kept nudging me forward with his gun. The only reason I could move was because I was desperate to see my family and make sure they were okay. If they hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have been able to get out of the SUV. Hell, I wouldn’t have given myself over. I was doing this for them. So they could live. So the kids could grow up with their mother. There were no grand ideas in my head Gil would treat me kindly. He didn’t know how to do that.

When I stumbled into the formal living room, my eyes immediately landed on my sister and her children. Ivy was in Cat’s arms, cradled to her chest, while Carson sat beside her, his eyes on a tablet. Cat’s gaze went to mine.

She broke the second they landed on me. “Vail…”

“Shut up,” Gil snapped. Carson didn’t raise his head. It was then I saw the earbuds in his ears. Gil’s demeanor changed when he laid his eyes on me. He stood and crossed the room until he was in front of me, his hand lifting to caress my cheek. It took everything in me not to flinch away from him. If I did that when we were together, I paid for it. Some things didn’t change, and this would be one of them. Still as a stone, I waited for him to remove his hand from me, which he eventually did.

“Darling, it’s so nice of you to show up. What do you think of the house? I even had the furniture changed to what I thought you’d like.”

How did I answer that? He was being kind, but I knew better. Years of abuse told me this was the mask he put on to get me to do what he wanted before he struck. I plastered on a small, fake smile I’d perfected long ago and said, “It’s lovely, Gil. Really.”

Not a weak man, Gil still held the confidence he normally did. His gray hair had natural brown woven through it. It wasn’t as neat as it usually was. His beard was a little wild, not the smooth, well-kept trim I remembered. And his eyes were even worse. The eyes were always a tell with Gil. I could read him by them alone. While Gil was being sweet, he was on the verge of tipping over the edge. He had to do it away from my family though.

“Why don’t you show me around? I’d like to see the rest of it.”

“Did you forget your manners? Your sister is visiting.” Fuck, he was more unhinged than normal.

Gil knew how to put on the perfect show in front of people he wanted to impress, but it slipped when it was just us. Sometimes it was gradual. Others it was a rapid descent into chaos.

“My apologies.” Turning toward my sister, I said, “Cat, it’s nice to see you again.”

She opened her mouth like she wanted to lash out. Maybe she would have if her children weren’t here. Instead, she said, “It’s a lovely home, Vail.” Jesus, the therapy we were going to need if we got out of this alive. Cat never saw Gil as anything other than polite. She was aware of how terrible he could be, of course. Now, she was witnessing that other side.

“There, that wasn’t so difficult,” Gil said. “Darling, I’ll show you your palace.” He held his arm out, which I took. His free hand drew a gun from his side. “Stay with her,” he snapped to three of his men. His smile was saccharine when he turned toward me. “I made sure every room was to your liking.”

We ascended the stairs to the second floor. Gil took me from room to room, explaining what he’d changed and how he made it just for me. The last room had me frozen outside it. Not the dark color of the door or the way it was at the end of the hall. It was the set of keys hanging from the doorknob.

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