Page 24 of Now You're Mine

I step into his room and look around. It’s really nice, decorated in soothing tones of gold and white with exotic plants perched on every flat surface. There’s a small desk, and a balcony with a view that usually looks out over the ocean. Right now it’s dark, but I can hear waves crashing in the near distance.

“He didn’t bring anything with him from the facility he was in previously.” She doesn’t want to sayjail.“Mrs. Rush brought clothes, and other necessities for him yesterday before he arrived. But, like I said, no phone.”

I walk over to the desk. There’s a laptop resting on the glossy white surface. “Where did this laptop come from?”

Tracy looks at it and shrugs. “I believe Mrs. Rush brought that with the rest of his things.”

I curse under my breath. I specifically told Momnotto give him any fucking devices. Nothing that could connect to the internet. But James has always known exactly how to manipulate our mom. He probably told her he needed it to look for a job, or school, or some bullshit.

“Did he have access to the internet?” Jackson asks as I open the laptop, and try to guess his password.

“Yes,” she says. “We don’t restrict internet access here.”

On my second try, I guess the correct password. I guess it’s a good thing my brother is a creature of habit. For years, he’s only ever used two passwords for everything.

I immediately pull up his browser, and as soon as I do, my heart sinks to the pit of my stomach. Several tabs are still open, one with a search for Lux’s full name. But it’s the third tab that makes my blood run cold.

It’s Bree’s social media page, which hasn’t been taken down since her death. On the screen is a photo of Bree and Lux, standing in front of the Exeter University West sign with the caption, “We made it to Malibu! Let the partying begin! #ExU #collegelife.”

I slam my hand on the desk. “Fuck!”

“What’s up? What’s wrong?” Jackson comes up behind me, reading the screen quickly. “Oh, shit. He knows.”

“Yeah,fuck.” Shoving my fingers into my hair, I tilt my head back and start pacing.

“Is everything…okay?” Tracy asks.

My mind is whirling, trying to determine what our next steps should be. Thankfully, I have someone posted outside Lux’s door, but it’s fuckingNathan. Before James was forced to move up north a couple of years ago, he and Nathan were good friends. Nathan idolized my brother, which wasn’t hard to do. A lot of people did. Myself included.

“If James returns to the facility,” Jackson says, taking charge of the situation. His voice is remarkably calm. “Can you give us a call? Doesn’t matter the time.”

She clutches a blue file folder to her chest. “Sure. But…he was here under a court order, so in the morning, I’ll need to inform the police that he’s left.”

Jackson nods while I’m still pacing. “Sure, yeah. We get that. But he couldn’t have gotten far, right? And we wouldn’t want to create a bunch of unwanted attention, so why not give it 24 hours, and if he’s still not back, then give them a call?”

Tracy just nods. “I’m not sure if we’re allowed to do that, but I can run that by administration.”

We’re paying Lockly a fuck-ton of money, so I’m sure the administration will want to keep this quiet. Plus, who wants a bunch of cops poking around a rehab facility? But Lockly can’t keep this shit quiet forever, so we’re racing against time here.

We leave Lockly quickly, peeling out of the parking lot, tires squealing against the asphalt.

“You think he headed straight to campus?” Jackson asks, looking at me from the corner of his eye.

It’s a fifteen-minute drive from Lockly to campus, but walking, it would take more than an hour. “I don’t know,” I say. “But even if he pops up on campus, he wouldn’t know where to find her.”

But this is the thing about my brother, he’s determined, and he’s resourceful. If he’s after Lux, it’s only a matter of time before he finds her…

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lux

I can’t sleep.After Christian left earlier, Wyn came over to tell me there were some pretty serious threats against me online and it was a lot more serious than Christian let on. He made it sound like a minor thing, but Wyn showed me the post, and it was basically a death threat.

Goddamn. What have I done to deserveanyof this?

The Sacred Sons manipulate, threaten, and even kill people, and yet somehowI’mthe one people are pissed at. It’s fucking wild, and I just don’t get it.

But I won’t lie, the post scared the shit out of me. Whoever wrote it was pissed, and after what happened to Bree, I have no choice but to take it seriously.

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