Page 41 of Sacrifice

“Yeah, it’s possible, so I don’t want to risk it. Especially when I have you with me. I need to keep you safe, Rose.”

My stomach did a little flip, and a flush of warmth ran through my body. Sebastian’s father didn’t know me, probably didn’t even know I existed, and yet Sebastian was still far more concerned about my safety than he was about his own. He was a true protector.

“I’ll do anything I can to help you,” I said, squeezing his leg.

He glanced at me again, lips slightly turned upward in a ghost of a smile. “I know, baby. Thank you.”

I turned and peered at the road. “You threw your phone out so he couldn’t track you, right?”

“Yup. But I still have the burner phone, and he has no idea it exists, so if I need to make any calls or look anything up, I’ve got that.”

“Oh.” I turned my gaze back to him. “Where are we going now?”

“Back to the city.”

My eyes widened. “You mean New York City?”

“Yup.”

“But that’s five or six hours away! You need to sleep.”

“I’ll sleep when I get there.” Sebastian gestured to a button on the console between our seats. “That button reclines your seat. You can sleep now if you want.”

“I’ll stay awake with you,” I said stubbornly. “I want to make sure you’re okay to drive.”

He flashed another faint smile at me. “I’ll be fine. After everything I just found out, I’ve got about ten fucking tons of adrenaline working its way through my system.”

I took a deep breath and looked out at the wide road ahead. “So… what are we going to do in the city?” I asked. “It wouldn’t make sense to confront your father now that he knows you know everything, would it? Because there’s no way he’d admit anything to you out loud. He’d probably suspect that you’re secretly recording him to catch him out.”

“Totally agree with you,” Sebastian replied. “Jesse inadvertently made things about ten times harder for us.”

“It’s not his fault, though. He didn’t know any better, did he?”

“No. You’re right, it’s not his fault. But thingsarea fuck-ton harder for us now,” he said, slowly shaking his head. “I’m going to need to find some other sort of evidence to incriminate my father, seeing as the idea of getting a recorded confession has gone right out the window.”

“What are you thinking?”

His jaw tightened. “Do you remember me mentioning a laptop computer to you? One that my mother had?”

My brows furrowed. “I think so. It had her research notes, right? And you thought it might be in the forbidden cave?”

“Yup. Back when I still thought your dad had killed her, I figured he might’ve taken her laptop as a sort of trophy. Tons of killers do that. Take something from the victim as a reminder of the thrill of the incident.” Sebastian hesitated and rubbed his jaw. “It went missing around the same time that she did, and I think most people assumed the same thing as me—that the Covenant stole it when they took her.”

“But it was actually your father behind it all,” I said, nodding slowly as I caught onto his train of thought. “So you thinkhetook the laptop.”

“Yeah. I’m guessing he either hid it or destroyed it,” he replied. “Mom must’ve written something in her research notes about the drugs and IVF scheme once she figured it all out. Or maybe he justthoughtshe might’ve written something that implicated his family, so he wanted to stop the cops from getting their hands on it.”

“He probably destroyed it, right? Just to make sure he’s never caught?”

Sebastian’s head tilted slightly to one side. “Not necessarily. My father was never a suspect in Mom’s murder, thanks to his frame-up job against the Covenant. No one would’ve considered him for a second,” he said. “So he might’ve felt like it was safe to keep the laptop hidden somewhere. I mean, it’s a long shot, but it’s the best piece of possible evidence I can think of right now.”

“It’s definitely worth looking into.” My forehead wrinkled. “But where would he hide it?”

“In his house, most likely.”

“Which you can’t go to right now,” I said, shoulders sagging. “It’s too dangerous for you.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Sebastian replied. “But first, I need to find a place for us to stay when we get to the city.”

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