Page 80 of Ruthless Rebel

She nods, more tears gathering in her eyes as she chokes out, “Yes, I bought him that keychain for Christmas the year after Cass was born.” It’s only when she turns it over that I notice the silver rectangle hanging from the keys, engraved with the word ‘Always’.

“Why send us an invitation for a ball that happened over a year ago, and keys for a house that no longer exists?” I snap, my eyes flashing between both items. “It doesn’t make any sense,” I mutter more to myself than anyone else.

“Unless it makes perfect sense,” Jace says slowly, his eyes scanning every page, until they come to rest on me. “This is all aboutyou. They want you, yet they took them? Why?” He questions, but we all know why. “It’s because they know what they mean to you, and they want to see you suffer. They’re taunting you, and they aren’t just going to hand them back on a platter.”

The notes and texts blur together in my mind. The stakes, the fun, the games, they’re all taunts, Jace is right. Whoever has taken them isn’t going to just let me find them, not together at least. My eyes flick between the invitation and the keys, as I reach the same conclusion Jace has.

“This is how we find them,” I whisper. “Asher is at his old family estate, and Logan is at the school.” There is no other explanation for those two items being in a sea of items relating to me, they have to be there for a reason, a taunt.

Asher burnt his house to the ground and hasn’t been back since, so I can only presume he lost his keys the night of the fire, or tossed them, so just how long has this guy been following me?

Logan has no ties to Hallows High, but that ball was high society, just like the world he grew up in, and I was there that night, so it’s the only conclusion I can come to right now.

It might not make any sense, but hell, none of this makes any fucking sense, and it’s all we have right now.

Elle and I share a look, one filled with shared agony and fury, but then we move in sync, darting from the kitchen and heading down to the room hidden in the basement, where we store all of our weapons. All the guys follow, gearing up with us as we grab bulletproof vests, weapons, and comms, before we are all storming to the garage.

“Max, you’re with me and Lincoln,” Elle orders, nodding to my SUV, before she turns to the others. “Marcus, go with Zack and Jace,” she adds, not needing to add who is going for who, we all know.

She leans up and steals a quick kiss from his lips, and I can’t help the guilt that consumes me, they shouldn’t be doing this.

“Stab first, Little King,” he tells her, and despite the situation we are in, she smiles softly.

“I always do.”

I nod at both my brothers, trusting them with one of the most important things in my life, before I climb in the opposite car to them and we are all ripping out of the garage without looking back. We both have a couple of security tailing us for back up, but the rest of them are staying at the house with the Crows to ensure everyone is kept safe.

The drive isn’t a long one. It’s barely a few miles down the road, but the car provides us with more safety than traveling by foot. Yet as we pull up to what used to be the Donovan mansion, all appears quiet. My eyes are everywhere, checking the expanse of gates and walls for any sign of trouble, but coming up empty.

“What if he’s not here?” Elle mutters, her eyes doing the same as mine, as Max mumbles something in the comms to the others.

“He has to be,” I reply, knowing that if he isn’t, we are just going to be stuck, waiting around for another clue from whatever cunt is responsible for this.

“What if he’s…” she whispers, trailing off, and I know where her mind just went, because it’s a place I’ve been stopping my own from going for three fucking days.

“He’s not,” I snap, needing to believe that, because the alternative is just too much to bear.

“Nothing seems out of place, I’d say we breach the gate and go from there,” Max cuts in, his eyes still on the estate up ahead, and Elle and I both nod.

We climb from the car, nodding to the security guys behind us, who climb out and fan out a little, keeping guard, as we approach the gate. To no one’s surprise it’s already open, and Max pushes Elle between me and him and enters first, gun already drawn.I follow behind them, my own gun raised despite the pain it causes in my side, my stare scanning the ground far and wide. You can tell where the house used to sit, despite the burnt remains being removed, as there are just large areas of stained concrete, and it makes everything look eerie.

“We just reached the school,” Zack breathes down the comms, but I can’t focus on him right now.

No, instead I’m ambushed from behind, someone jumping on me from behind and taking me down to the ground, as pain rips through me. Yet before I can even react, Elle is slamming her knife into the base of his skull, spilling his blood all over me in the process, before Max is ripping him off me and tossing him aside. Elle opens her mouth, no doubt to ask if I am okay, but my gun is already trained past her, planting a bullet in the skull of the man aiming for her.

“Damn, I thought we were even,” she breathes, as I push her behind me, my eyes flaring wide, as three more guys appear from the trees opposite us.

Max drags us behind a tree, taking out two of them, as Elle takes out the fifth, and then we are all in position, ready to take on more, as Max shouts down the comms to Zack about an ambush. No response comes as they are no doubt dealing with their own shit, and all I can do is pray we all make it out of this alive.

When no more guys appear, Max silently directs us left through the trees, staying covered, as we move in the direction the men came from. There isn’t a sound, except the whoosh of the trees, and I swear I can hear my heartbeat thundering in my chest. Especially when we reach a clearing, only to find it empty. Max and Elle spread out, looking around, but then I hear the snapping of a twig to my left, and I am already taking off running.

I fly through the trees, ignoring Max and Elle as they curse my name, only to stumble when I spot Asher in the distance. He is gagged and tied to a tree, fighting against his restraints, having no doubt heard the gunshots, and when his eyes meet mine, they are dark and stormy, but most importantly, alive.

I rush towards him, screaming to the others that I found him, before I drop to my knees, and slice through his restraints with my knife, before ripping the tape off his mouth, and making him cry out in pain.

“It’s okay, I got you, I’m here, I got you,” I repeat over and over, my eyes burning as they take in the state of him. It’s worse than when Greg’s men tried to beat him to death. Hell, he looks worse than when he got shot, and I know I need to get him out of here.

“Are you okay?” he gasps, his eyes assessing me the same way I am him, and it’s only then I glance down and see just how much blood I am covered in.

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