Page 55 of Recurve Ridge

And gone… where?

The obvious answer settled in my mind. Back to NYC. Which meant I sent Alan into a potential minefield.

My brain whirred as Miller met me at the office door, his gaze sweeping our surroundings in a constant movement, his weapon raised to shoot out a dead camera.

I tapped his shoulder, and he jerked at the contact. “System’s down. Jon checked it out.”

“Fine,” he muttered, still glaring at the mangled tech as though it offered him a personal offense. “What else do we need?”

“One more thing.” I pushed past Miller and headed to a mezzanine level I spotted on my way through the compound.

I kicked a door open that stood ajar, then stepped into the arched space and stared. The open area without a railing looked out over a stage of sorts. An altar stood at the center, a white stain in an evil room.

A fucking altar.

But no sanctuary or revered altar had ever looked like this.

Manacles hung from blackened chains drilled into the stone at several points. My stomach clenched as I envisioned Mari’s sweet form stretched out there while they tortured her into the shade of the woman I protected.

Whether he played at summoning demons or truly believed in it, the man’s psychotic madness stunned even me. There was a slight dark patch in the upper center of the alabaster stone near where a smaller person’s chest would be if they were laid out upon it. Every doubt in my mind fled that this was where he’d tortured her, whether by his own hand or by others. It didn’t matter. I’d still kill him for it.

Miller swore colorfully behind me, throwing out a few choice terms we learned in the desert. “Fucking psycho. Are we done?”

“Yeah.” My breath stalled. “We’re done.”

I stared around the area, wanting to burn the damn thing to the ground, but I knew I couldn’t touch Gideon at that level. Not while Mari resided with us.

Nothing like a good bonfire to draw the prey to the flame.

“Not unless you want to take a souvenir home,” Jon said into my ear.

“Don’t touch a thing.” I held Miller’s eye until he relented with a grumpy-ass nod.And clean up the damn camera.I added that last as a mental note for myself and a text to Alan.“We’ve got no reason to be here. See you at the house.”

“Watch your ass.” Jon’s line closed.

“What the hell is he doing?” I seethed, resisting the urge to throw myself into the icy stream to wash off the residue of Gideon’s ruin as we made our way back through the woods.

“Pissy you missed your chance to shoot the twat?” Miller shot me an amused look over his shoulder, though his eyes glowed with dark promise.

If I lit the place, he’d help me burn it back to bedrock. There were other ways, more personal, where I could hit the asshole hard.

I glared back. “You’re picking up Mari’s terms.”

His back straightened. “Yeah?”

“Show-off.” I snorted. “Get tabs on Alan if you can. Let him know….” What? That Gideon escaped usagain, moved everything off the mountain, and relocated elsewhere?

At least Mari is safe.

I sent Will out with her early in the morning after making sure the younger man knew to keep her away from the house. And now… I didn’t have a clue where the line forsaferesided.

I ripped the phone out of Miller’s hand and shot a message off to Will.

“You’re welcome.” Miller twisted to face me. “You’re never this rattled. She’s in your fucking head. You know that, and it’s costing your judgment.”

“Solid assessment.” I forged onward, away from Gideon’s lair, intent on getting back to the house and washing off the sin-filled filth that coated me head to toe.

How she lived in her own body after having been stretched out there…. Bile rose in my throat. I pushed the bitter acid back by sheer will, unwilling to provide additional evidence of our incursion. My arms itched to wrap around her, crush her to me as I promised all the things that weren’t mine to give.

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