Page 13 of Unconditional

“Briauna tells me you’ve caught a scent.”Like I was some fucking bloodhound.

My eyes threatened to roll into the back of my head.

“I’m following a promising lead, but there’s no guarantees.”If I were smart, I’d just give him Milo’s address and wipe my hands clean of it.Leo would be safe, I could dump Blondie off at the next truck stop, and I could go home and back to my own life.The words were on the tip of my tongue, but my throat tightened to a near close.

There was no way to predict what Kyle would do once I handed over Milo.And my gut told me that this would not be the only time Kyle used my son as leverage, so there was no use making things easy for him now.If I seemed over eager to protect the boy, it would only fuel him to use him more often and that wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.

“You’re running out of time, Talon,” Kyle ground out, threat lacing his tone.

“No shit,” I snapped back.“I’m following a lead.If you want me to find him, you’ll get off my back and let me do it.”

“If Milo testifies…” His angry words trailed off, but it was too late.He’d revealed his hand.

Kyle’s case had gone to trial, and Milo was the linchpin.If he spoke in court and testified to our uncle’s position in the crimes he’d forced upon him, no amount of money Kyle threw at his lawyer would save him.He would spend most of the rest of his worthless life in prison.He didn’t give a shit that Milo had ‘betrayed the family,’ as he was constantly saying.Kyle didn’t want to go to prison, and Milo would be the one to put him there—if I didn’t find him first.

“Just fucking find him.You have less than four weeks.”The line went dead before I could respond, leaving me with nothing to do but pull back my fist and send it slamming into the steering wheel.The horn blared, and I blinked, taking a breath and releasing my now sore hand from its tight fist.

Climbing out of the car, I stomped back into the motel room, my sense of urgency renewed.There wasn’t any more time to waste and we’d spent enough of it holed up here.We needed to go.

I expected Misely to be glaring at me when I entered, full of her own rage at my deliberate dismissal of her comfort.Instead, my stomach bottomed out when I walked in to find her staring at me.Her eyes were wide and glassy, her cheeks pink like she’d been struggling not to cry.“Please,” she whimpered.“I really need to pee.”

Instinct made me want to apologize.Years of my mother badgering me about using manners when dealing with girls, indoctrinated into my mind.I swallowed, guilt heavy in my core and an apology on the tip of my tongue.I forced myself to remember the part I had to play and why.My mother wasn’t here anymore, but Kyle was.And if I wanted to keep him away from my own kid, then sentimental bullshit wasn’t going to do me any good.

Without a word, I uncuffed the girl, watching the way she gingerly touched the red stripes around her wrist before darting off to the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

eight

Misely

Whatanasshole.A total fucking asshole.Wasn’t it bad enough that he literally kidnapped me, made me lie to my best friend, and planned on ruining everything that she had worked for?Did he really need to be such a dick on top of it?

First, he’d cuffed me to a bed.And not even in the fun way.Then he’d thrown a little fit about me needing my nighttime essentials.And now he was pounding on the bathroom door like a lunatic, because apparently, I ‘take too long.’

“If you wanted to be out of here at a decent time, you should have woken me up sooner, jackass,” I called out, inspecting my hair as it lay straight over my shoulders before wrapping it in a claw clip.I couldn’t decide if I wanted it up or down, but either would look cute with the cat eye eyeliner I’d chosen.The bruise on my cheek could have been strategically covered with some orange and green concealers, but I chose to leave it, letting it peek through my foundation like a beacon.Reminding the perpetrator of what he’d done.If he had a soul at all, he might actually feel guilty.Good.

“I hadn’t realized that you were going to need two hours to get ready tosit in a car,” he ground out, his heavy timbre vibrating against the thin door, and I felt my lips twitch with satisfaction.

Ultimately deciding to keep my hair up because I liked the way it showed off my assortment of earrings, I threw open the door.“Don’t be so dramatic.”I didn’t miss how his eyes widened when I stepped out.“It was an hour and twenty minutes.I’m ready.Let’s go.”

Talon’s eyes roamed over me and I let myself bask in the attention.I couldn’t help myself.I craved this.I knew I looked good; it was something I strived for and made sure I achieved.With everything I’d already endured in the last twenty-four hours, I needed to be in control of something, and if how I looked was all it could be, so be it.It didn’t matterwhowas looking at me, or why they were looking, I liked knowing that I looked my best when they did.Nobody—kidnapper or otherwise—was going to take that away from me.

“What the fuck are you wearing?”

Satisfaction vanishing, I blinked, my veins going icy.“Excuse me?”

“It is twenty-five degrees outside.”

My arms crossed over my chest, drawing his eyes back down my frame again but his expression didn’t change.It was still stuck on baffled.

“And what’s your point?”

“You’re going to freeze to death.”

My eyes rolled to the back of my skull.He was, of course, referring to myadorablestriped knit crop top.In my defense—it was a long sleeve turtleneck.I’d paired the maroon and chocolate top perfectly with a pair of ripped skinny jeans, a statement belt, and platform boots.My puffer coat would tie the entire look togetherandprovide me with the warmth the shirt lacked.I was proud of the ensemble I’d created, but the pure bewilderment on the man’s face was rather irksome.

“If this outfit is somehow the reason I meet my untimely end, at least I’ll die looking hot,” I said, popping the gum in my mouth and strutting past with a confidence I didn’t actually feel.“Just because Iama captive, doesn’t mean I have to look like one.”

The car was like a silent prison of awkward tension.Talon didn’t speak, didn’t play the radio, and didn’t acknowledge my existence whatsoever.Like the absolute asshole that he is, he refused to stop for freshhotcoffee, instead insisting the coffee he’d acquired for me at the motel’s front desk was ‘good enough.’It was cold and tasted like mud.

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