Page 183 of Unspoken Truths

“No can do, Little Mouse,” Jared calls out.

“Sing,” I growl, not wanting to interact with her.

Nodding, Jared’s voice mixes with ours as we continue to fill the gravesite. Her screaming becomes muffled as we finish what we need to do, and then we wait for them to completely end.

Die, little mouse.It’s for the best that she’s screaming, since she’ll simply run out of air faster.

The three of us grow silent as we wait, lost in thought about all the reasons we’re willing to kill her.

* * *

IGNACIO

Sitting up in bed as if awoken from the worst possible nightmare, I gasp, looking around.

“Rachelle!” I yell, knowing she’s long gone.

Liliana is knocked out from whatever they used on us, and I quickly check her pulse to make sure they didn’t fucking kill her. None of them should be messing with pharmaceuticals, despite Jared’s familiarity with it because of his family’s business.

Feeling slightly out of it, as I stand, I shake my head. They should have used something stronger on me if they actually wanted me to stay out.

There’s a note on the nightstand, and my eyes move over the obviously bullshit letter.

I’m sorry, I can’t be a burden to everyone any longer. I’m going out to the cliffs to end things.

-Rachelle

Rolling my eyes,I ask myself how they thought she was that suicidal. Maybe at one time, but she’s been in a much better place since she started doing school virtually.

Tapping on my phone, I pull it off my charger, ignoring all of the missed messages except Elijah’s last one.

Elijah:

Hey, we’re outside. Want to open the window to make our job easier?

Blowing out a breath of frustration,I change quickly into a pair of black tactical pants, a long sleeved black shirt, and black sneakers. I need to be able to blend in and move if I'm going to have any chance of getting to her in time. Lastly, I put a gun into a holster at the base of my back and then pull on a black vest to ensure that it’s covered.

Me:

Dad, they took her. I’m headed out to find her.

I knowhe can track me, so I don’t bother saying anything more as I pull up the tracker information on the bracelet Liliana gave our girl.

When Rachelle went to her concert and I was texting Lili about how gorgeous she looked, Lili asked me to take a photo. She smirked in the text and said she looked perfect. She also said that if Rachelle ran into any issues, she knew exactly how to find her.

Later that night, I got her to tell me what she meant. It’s not unusual in our world to have trackers on our loved ones. Maybe it seems possessive and insane for others, but it’s our only lifeline if they go missing. Lili explained that her father had given her a bracelet with a tracker, so she decided to give Rachelle the same gift for her birthday.

Seeing the tracker says she’s in the middle of the woods, I stalk toward the still open window, going the way they undoubtedly used to break in. As I hit the ground with my sneakers, I look around to see what the fuck my father’s guards are doing.

“Hey!” I yell, already moving toward the woods. I need them to pull in now that I’m leaving. Lili has to be protected.

“What’s wrong, sir?” one of the guards asks.

“You allowed my stepsister to be kidnapped,” I yell at him. “Pull in your men, contact my father, and see who you’re missing. You’ll all be lucky to keep your lives if she dies.”

Paling, he gets on the radio, barking out orders as I take off in a run, watching the phone in case the dot moves. My heart begins to drop as I see that it’s no longer moving, and I pick up the pace. While I’m still seeing stars, I force my body to push past it.

Come on, don’t go through with this.

---