Page 30 of Oh, Hell No

Picking up the plate of food I’d made for Winslet, I slung it against the wall, sending the food flying as the plate broke into pieces on the stone tile floor. My blood roared in my ears as my breathing came in fast and hard. Stalking over to her phone, I picked it up and glared down at it.

He could have been lying. Trying to throw us off. Make us focus on getting her to talk instead of trailing him. But if that was the case, then he was a bigger son of a bitch than I had thought. Because his sister was currently locked away in a basement cell with the motherfucking key.

My temper had snapped, but that had also partly been an act. I wanted to scare the words she wasn’t saying out of her. Get her to talk. I figured after choking her, she’d blurt out whatever she knew, if she knew anything. Wilder’s call wasn’t why I let her go. I’d been about to ease up on my hold to let her get some air.

The news he’d had was that he’d traced Perry’s call to a phone owned by Samson Zephyr, who was currently in Safi. He’d managed to lose the tail we had on him last night. Samson had the upper hand of knowing the area, whereas we did not.

Blaise had sent Huck there. He had arrived this morning to join Bane, Linc, and Locke in tracking Perry down now. That news didn’t help my mood. I should be there. We had figured out where he had gone to hide because of the information Winslet had given me. I knew that keeping her was vital to this. But I no longer thought Perry was going to come running to save her, like Linc had believed he would.

I looked over her texts again for the hundredth time. The woman had no dirty secrets or hidden sins.

She texted Marley every day to check on her, which fit the woman in the basement and what I’d gotten from the things she’d said. I had texted Marley on her phone pretending to be Winslet letting her know my phone had some problems and my texts weren’t all coming through. I’d added that I was having a new one shipped to me and would catch up with her when I got it.

Winslet’s loyalty to those she loved was one reason I couldn’t trust her.

There was a group chat with elementary school teachers that went back and forth, planning things for the students, which had been inactive since the end of May. She had been active in it and seemed to be the one that the others relied on to bring things in, stay late to help, and basically do all the work. I wasn’t sure if that was because she was the newest and youngest teacher—although I didn’t know that to be a fact—or if she was just that person. The nice one who was always helpful.

The guy named Toby seemed desperate since his texts to her were long, often inviting her out, while her responses were short and she always turned him down. They weren’t dates exactly,but more along the lines of,Going out for drinks with some of the other teachers tonight. Want to join?Or,Going to a concert with friends and have an extra ticket. It’s yours if you want it.The way he would type long-ass paragraphs was the giveaway that the dude was after her.

Then, the texts with her brother were always short. Nothing informative. They seemed to talk on the phone more than text. That pointed toward them hiding something.

There were a few random texts from other teachers.

Then, the oldest one she had was from fucking Alec Dart, telling her he missed her, thought about her all the time, and that he refused to believe that was it for them. He’d sent it on Christmas Day. She hadn’t responded. But she also hadn’t deleted it. There were no other texts before this one, so she had deleted all those. She had no pictures of him or them together in her album, but I did find a dozen in her recently deleted folder, which meant she’d held on to them for a while before getting rid of them.

Did she still have feelings for him? And why was I even thinking about that? I didn’t care who she had feelings for.

I dropped her phone back to the island and went to get my cup that held cold coffee. My breakfast was still uneaten, sitting beside the coffeepot, but I had no appetite. Not anymore at least. I took the plate and went to stick it in the fridge. The moment I opened it, I saw the chocolate cake sitting there. Taunting me. Reminding how damn sexy she had looked while eating it last night. Savoring every bite. Her tongue running over her lips, getting stray crumbs.

I shoved the plate inside the refrigerator with more force than necessary and slammed the door. The same door I’d held her against by the throat. My stomach turned as the image of those brown eyes filling with tears and terror flashed in my mind. Not even coffee sounded good to me.

My phone rang again, and I jerked it out of my pocket, seeing Bane’s name.

I hoped they’d caught him. I pressed Accept, then put it to my ear.

“Perry’s in a hostel in Safi,” Bane said. “Huck and Linc are there now. He’s inside. They’re at each exit. He’s also alone.”

I gripped the phone tighter. They’d have him soon.

“The phone trace led you there?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’m not there yet, but headed that way now. I thought you’d want to know. Linc said to keep the girl there until Blaise decides that she is no longer required.”

She had locked herself in the basement, so that wasn’t going to be an issue.

“Okay,” I replied.

“I thought you’d be more relieved,” he said.

Me too. Right now, I didn’t know what the fuck I was.

“I am. I want him alive and alert when I get my hands on him. Do you know what the orders are yet once they have him?”

“Yeah, Huck is coming with us to string him up in the underground. Then, he’s going back to Ocala.”

“Good,” I replied.

Blaise was letting us handle our mistake. My mistake. My list of things I wanted Perry to pay for had grown. Was currently growing. I needed the chance to get my vengeance.

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