Page 55 of Trick's Trap

Gina hmphed, taking her hand in a tight grip. “I don’t know what these people want with you, but it’s evil. They’re evil.”

She snatched the balled-up photograph from Tahlia’s unresisting hands. “You need torun. Get yourself out of here. Go someplace safe and regroup.”

The older woman held up a hand. “I know what you’re thinking. You ran scared the last time. This time, runangry.”

Gina exhaled harshly, her eyes sweeping Tahlia up and down. “I know it seems weird coming from me, the messenger. But those assholes made me mad, and that’s what you need to be. You’re stronger than you think. According to your boyfriend, you have a one-of-a-kind mind and crazy mad skills. Use them. Come up with a plan. And then you get them.”

She pulled back, her face almost as red as her hair. “This isn’t over yet. Use those brains. Think of a way to make them sorry. Make them hurt. I know you can.Do it.”

Chapter 24

Trick was shaking with anger. “What do you meanshe’s gone? We have cameras everywhere. How could no one have seen them take her?”

No one had seen Tahlia in over twelve hours. He’d gone to meet her for lunch in their room when he first noticed she was gone. At first, he assumed she’d lost track of time with Peyton, or had holed up somewhere to work on her nearly finished dissertation.

When he didn’t find her, he assumed she was at the pool, which was part of her routine now that she had left the cane behind. He texted, reminding her to meet him for dinner. But when she didn’t turn up for that meal, he started hunting her down.

The entire hotel had been searched. None of the guards posted at the doors or the camera’s trained on them caught her, which relaxed him for a minute.

She’s probably fallen asleep somewhere.Maybe she’d gone for a massage and passed out in one of the spa suites. He called the staff there to ask.

The spa employees hadn’t seen her all day. Trick was fighting off a panic attack in the security center, going through the feeds with a worried Peyton when Liam walked in.

Trick glanced up, but he ignored his brother’s grim expression. He always looked like that these days. “Can you check the south doors again? Maybe someone came in that way.”

Peyton shook her head. “I’ve checked there. I’m telling you after that Gina woman left, Tahlia went back to your suite. Has she called you back yet?”

“N—”

“Patrick.”

He turned to his brother. “What?”

“Her things are gone.”

Trick blinked. “What?”

“I was just in your room. I wanted to see if she’d left her phone in the bedroom. It was still plugged into the wall.”

“I know, I saw that when I went upstairs.”

His brother’s face could have been carved from stone. “But you didn’t check the closet.”

Trick’s chest tightened. “No, I didn’t. Why?”

“Her clothes are gone. So is one of your travel suitcases.”

He stared at his brother. A buzzing sound started in his ears, and it was getting louder. “She wouldn’t leave me. She knows this is the only safe place for her.”

“Not anymore.” Liam handed him a mangled piece of photo paper—a photo of him.

The huge red slash through his body told him everything he needed to know.

“She left to protect me.”

“And you’resure she didn’t go to Florida?” Ethan asked for the tenth time, opening a beer and setting it down untouched. “Because we haven’t heard a peep from those assholes. Maybe it’s because they have what they wanted.”

Trick rubbed his hands over his face, exhausted. He could always count on Ethan to be the voice of doom.

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