Page 98 of Dirty Little Mistake

"Did you ask her?"

Jax scrubbed a hand over his face. "We tried. Kaia tried." His laugh held no humor. "But Syn is..." He trailed off, and we all felt the weight of what he wasn't saying.

Trystan's jaw tightened. Jax turned to me, hope and desperation warring in his expression. "Maybe if you talked to her..."

"Syn's too smart for this," I said, but the words rang hollow. "She knows who Sebastian is."

"I saw them together at Rockfest," Trystan said. "But she swore it was nothing, but I've been noticing bruises on her lately."

"If he's putting his hands on her..." Jax's words hung unfinished, but we all heard the violence in them. The promise.

"Right now, the most important thing is getting through to Syn." I turned, expecting to see her mingling with the partygoers, but she was... My heart stumbled. "She's gone."

The night seemed colder suddenly. Darker.

"Fuck." Trystan's curse carried the weight of everything we knew about Sebastian King. Everything we feared.

Chapter 48

Trystan

"Split up." The words tasted like fear. "Kaia, Cam—take the house." My gaze swept our tight circle. "Jax, you're with me on the boardwalk. Harlow, Owen—beach sweep."

"If anyone—" Jax started.

"Group text," three voices finished. We'd done this before. Too many times.

"Wait." Kaia's voice sliced through our momentum. We turned—six bodies moving as one—and found her holding up her phone. "Has anyone actually tried calling her?"

The silence that followed was deafening. Amateur mistake. We were so busy planning a search that we'd forgotten the simplest solution. Rookie panic—the kind that only came when you knew exactly what someone was capable of.

And we all knew what Sebastian was capable of.

"Wait—" Cam's voice cut through our planning. "Her location. Did anyone?—"

My phone was already in hand, the screen glowing. "Under the pier." Jax's eyes met mine, understanding passing between us without words.

"You guys stay here." I turned to leave, but Cam caught my sleeve.

"Be careful, okay? Sebastian..." The name hung between us like a threat.

I caught her hand and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. No time for lingering goodbyes. "I'll be fine. Promise."

I knew how dangerous Sebastian was, and that was why I needed to get Syn as far away from him as possible, even if that meant locking her in her room until she came to her senses.

Jax and I bolted down the beach. The pier was in sight but still felt so far away. Our pace slowed as a dark silhouette appeared from the darkness.

Syn.

The moonlight caught the wet strands of her black hair, twisted into a wild mess on top of her head. Her turquoise bridesmaid's dress, now several shades darker from seawater, clung to her small frame like a second skin. Fine grains of sand crusted her bare arms and legs, catching the dim light from the pier's overhead lamps. As we got closer, dark droplets fell from her nose, leaving crimson spots in the pale sand at her feet.

"What the fuck?" Jax's growl echoed under the pier. He reached for her?—

Syn stumbled back, shoving his hand away. "I'm fine, Jax." The tremble in her voice betrayed her.

"You are not fine." Jax's muscles coiled tight as a spring. In one fluid motion, he stripped off his shirt and pressed it toward her. "You're bleeding."

She snatched the fabric, pressing it to her nose. The white cotton bloomed red.

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