Page 154 of Always Be an Us

Nate is quiet for close to a minute, long enough for Officer Jensen to cough and noisily clear his throat.

And then he finally starts speaking. "Last year, I got into some trouble. Shoplifting at the grocery store." He doesn’t meet my eyes but somehow still feels the need to justify himself. "This time it wasn’t my fault. Mama said the house needed food and told me to get it anyway I could. But I was too sloppy, and the guard caught me. Threatened to call the cops. Rick saw us arguing and talked to the security guard. He convinced him not to call the cops and covered the price of the groceries I tried to steal. And then he asked me if I wanted to get a legit job that would take me off the streets for good."

"And you said yes?"

He nods. "I was tired of living the way I was. Believe it or not, all that thugging around wasn't fun for me, at least not after I turned eighteen. I did it because I had to, because no one would give me a chance because of my reputation. But Rick said he would help me. I figured he would give me a job at the restaurant or something, so I could learn to cook like Yule. But he said that your Grandpa wasn’t so sure about me working there, so he wanted to give me another job. Explained to me that he’d been selling Rainbow Pearls on the side for years, but the lake in the Ashton woods had dried up and so he needed somewhere new to get it and we needed to be creative about it."

"What did that mean? Being creative?"

"The pearls are found deep inside the lake, but I couldn't exactly go around the Pink Hotel with a scuba suit in case anyone saw me. So I had to get really good at holding my breath."

"Why didn’t you just tell me or Grandpa what you were doing? Or tell Declan? I’m sure he would have let you."

"Not when he knew just how much those things cost." Nate finally looks up and meets my eyes. "Those things were fetching thousands of dollars a piece. Rick was worried that if Declan found out then he would want a cut, or better yet, he would cut us out of the business entirely. We couldn't have that happen."

"Declan's not like that," I say confidently. "He already has money. If you'd just told him what you were doing I'm sure you could have worked something out. But instead, you broke into his office and Rick kidnapped his daughter."

Nate ducks his head again. "Like I said, I never thought it would get this far."

"So what now? What’s Rick’s plan?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't think he's going to hurt the girl. Her dad just has to hand over the pearls."

"And you think it's that easy? You really think Declan is going to leave all this behind without retaliation? Maybe if you had just stolen from him it would have been a different thing but Rick took his daughter. She's his world. There’s no way he’s going to let this go."

"I know." Nate sounds resigned, defeated.

And suddenly a bad feeling rushes through me, a truly terrible feeling.

What if Rick doesn't intend on letting Declan and Amelia leave the forest alive?

Oh God.

It’s hard to imagine Rick doing something so evil, but I don't know this Rick or how far he's willing to go for this. And there's a lot of ways to cause an accidental death in Ashton Woods, especially during a storm.

A knock on the door has Officer Jensen bolting up in his seat and reaching for his gun. He points it at the door and squares his shoulders shouting out, "We’re closed for the day."

"It’s me." Cross’ voice is steady.

"It’s okay," I tell Jensen. "He’s here for me."

Office Jensen nods, slowly lowering his gun. I walk to the doors and pull it open, only to gape.

Cross has Xavier slung over his shoulder, unconscious with a black ring around one eye.

"What happened?" I ask as I stand aside to let him in.

"I trailed him to the hotel," he says. "He tried to convince them to let him up to Declan’s room and was making a real nuisance of himself. Then he saw me and caught on to the fact that I was following him and decided to come confront me about it. He was being annoying, yelling and such, calling a lot of attention. So I knocked him out."

"You did that?"

"Well, I would have shot him but I didn’t think you would appreciate that."

Xavier groans and I shake my head.

"Where's Grandpa?"

"Monty is on his way with him. I wanted to lock this one up so I could go after Declan. He may need backup."

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