Page 14 of Crossover

“So, my death was to conceal yourothermurder,” I said.

“I didn’t kill him,” Daniel repeated, annoyed.

“If you wanted me dead so bad, why didn’t you just kill me at Hunter’s place, then? Why bring me here?”

He studied his watch again. “You know, if you had just disappeared in that explosion, all of this could’ve been avoided.”

Finally, my knuckle was almost poised to slide completely off. I kept it there, the cold metal against my flesh dangling on the precipice of life and death, terrified that if I pulled it free, a clank would give me away. I needed him to look away, to give me a few seconds to get it off and run up those stairs and out that door.

“If I died in that explosion, you think police wouldn’t have investigated?”

“Certainly,” he said. “But your death would have been labeled collateral damage on a CIA mission.”

“Not if my loved ones kept pushing the police to investigate.”

“It was a risk,” he agreed. “But at least it would have given your mother a chance.”

I snapped my head back.

“My mother?”

“If you had been the victim of an unfortunate explosion, your mom might’ve come to accept that, eventually. But now, whenyou vanish, she’ll never stop asking questions. She’ll never stop pushing detectives.”

My stomach roiled.

My mom’s a loose end to him. A risk to his freedom.

Oh God.

That’s why he keeps looking at his watch. That’s why he took me alive.

To lure my mother.

And she’s about to die with me.

5

GRAYSON

The eerie green glow of the dashboard clock marked each passing minute like an eternity as I stared out into the inky darkness, the road flying beneath our tires in a blur of asphalt and faded yellow lines, while the steady drumming of the rain on the car filled the tense silence. The rhythmicscoop-slap, scoop-slapof the windshield wipers struggled against the deluge, and a chill seeped into the car, raising goose bumps on my skin. My mind spun with endless possibilities of what might be happening to Ivy, each more terrifying than the last. I couldn’t even imagine how scared she must be. The girl had been plagued with anxiety and fear since the age of thirteen, when two men had attempted—and almost succeeded—to kidnap her. Now, her worst nightmare was coming true.

A knot spread down my throat, a sickening mix of fear and guilt twisting my insides as Ivy’s terrified face haunted me in a silent accusation that I hadn’t protected her. My hands clenched at my sides, betraying the helplessness I fought to suppress.

She was out there, somewhere in the darkness, and every second that ticked by brought her closer to a fate I couldn’t endure.

“Security should arrive shortly after we do,” Hunter said.

“There is nowe,” I clarified, my tone sharp. It was bad enough they’d get close to that building to drop me off, but, “You guys are not coming inside with me.”

“To hell we’re not,” Jace growled.

“You saw what those guys are capable of.”

Jace popped open Hunter’s glove box and retrieved one ofmultiplepistols that lay inside. What the hell were they all doing there? Had Hunter stocked them in the mad dash out the door tonight? Or maybe after the night he’d helped hold Ivy hostage? Surely, they couldn’t be there on the daily; a criminal prosecutor wouldn’t be careless enough to leave such an extensive collection of firearms in his glove box on a regular basis. But then again, what did I know? Hunter had more secrets than Jace could imagine.

“They caught us unprepared.” Jace cocked his gun, its reflection bouncing off the streetlights as we passed them. “We’re prepared this time.”

I narrowed my eyes at my brother, the honor student, the Boy Scout who had never caused our mother any grief.

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