Page 114 of Corrupting Ivy

My rose-colored glasses shattered as we headed further into a place whose beauty rivaled that of Heaven but whose people resembled the devil himself.

Tears blurred my vision as I tucked my phone back into my pocket and pulled my shirt over it to hide the small part that stuck out. My shoulders sagged as I plopped my head down to rest. I closed my eyes as a tear rolled into my hair.

It was beyond me how I'd stayed there for so long, but returning now that I understood what was out there, in the real world, felt inconceivable. Even though I’d promised myself I’d return to confront my parents and spit on Billy’s grave, I knew the likelihood of doing so was slim-to-never-going-to-happen.

But Randall got my message, and that was what mattered. He knew who took me and where I was going. He’d find me just like he did with Mr. Grady.

How did he find me? Jeremiah, that is.

That was the perplexing question that itched inside my mind. There was no way for him to know where I was at. I would have put money on him finding me in Cavil after they found Mr. Grady’s body. But I’d left before they made that announcement.

Here, though? I had nothing in my name. No way for him to connect me to Randall’s location. It just felt… off.

We traveled for a little longer, all the while rotating my body to allow for the blood to continue flowing to my extremities. It was a constant battle to keep my fingers from tingling.

After a while, the car stopped, and I rolled onto my back from the momentum. Muffled voices rose as the sound of footsteps on gravel approached the trunk. The car doors slammed, and another voice joined them.

“What have you done?”

That was my dad. My biological father. After my parents got divorced, my mother remarried, and that man brought her down to the trash he was.

But my dad was a respectable man who was in good standing in the community. But even he didn’t stand a chance with Jeremiah and his iron-fisted police department. Even though two men made up the department, Sheriff Dun and Deputy Jameson, both were under Jeremiah’s thumb. Case in point, the deputy helping with federal kidnapping.

My hope tore in two. Would my father help me, affecting the outcome of this situation, or would he stand by and not even try?

“What have I done? I’m taking care of my family, Talon. Why are you here anyway?”

“I was—”

“Jeremiah, what took you so long?”

Chills traveled up my spine as the sheriff’s voice penetrated the car.

“Who answers to who here?”

The trunk opened to a faint glowing night sky with brilliant stars twinkling above me.

Jeremiah and his two goons stood over me as my father watched from the sidelines.

His pained expression but lack of action was like a stab to the heart—each second he stood there doing nothing was like a twist of the blade and a nail in my coffin. I no longer battled the idea that he’d help me. I could see it in his eyes.

I was on my own.

“There’s someone here that wants to see you,” Jeremiah said. A sinister smile crept across his face, nearly stopping my heart.

“She’s stopped,” Jake saidfrom the back seat of my pickup truck. “She’s in Greenville now. If I’m not mistaken, this is her old address.”

Alek, Jake, and I, plus the two teams we had on site, have been driving nonstop, just like that bastard.

As soon as we gathered our gear, we piled everyone into the vehicles and took off. If the town was anything like we’d heard based on Jake’s research he’d been gathering since before, we needed to prepare. This could be a bloodbath, or it could be a walk in the park. Either way, as head of security, it was my duty to make sure everyone had the proper intel and the gear to move ahead—to find and protect Ivy.

“How much longer do we have to go to that location?”

I glanced at Jake in the rear-view mirror while watching the curvy black roads, wind around tall mountains that seemed to lead to nowhere. He typed away on his laptop, which held a satellite connection, allowing him to do business from any location in the world, making his skills handy in any environment.

“We have just over three and a half hours.”

That’s too long. She could be dead by the time we got there. If she were anyone else, I’d put money on it.

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