Page 32 of Gabe

It takes us a minute to pull his heavy ass over enough, but we do it. I wrap the end of the chain around both ankles as Heidi holds them up. I secure the lock and smile down at him. There is no way that he is getting loose from me. I look up at Heidi and wrap my arms around her. She doesn’t crumble like I expect her to do, but she does hug me back. “Tell me what you know about him.”

“Apparently, he was found at the same crack house as Houston when they were younger.”

“But Houston had no siblings. I double-checked. No triple-checked.”

“He lied about his last name. When he introduced himself to me a month ago, he told me his name was Miles Kinder, and that’s the name on his ID. I only know this because we got pulled over one time while I was driving. I saw his ID when the cop handed it to me along with mine after running them. When I woke up the next morning, chained to the bed at his place, he told me that he was a Grant and Houston’s brother.”

“How did you end up here?” I motion to the room around us.

Heidi’s eyes drop to the floor, and a blush heats her face. “I’m so sorry, Tara. He got the whole story out of me after hours of torture.”

I move my hand and gently pull her head back up. I see self-hate in her eyes, but that is unnecessary. “It’s okay, Heidi. You did what you had to do to survive. We have the upper hand now. Don’t be worried about me hating you because I don’t. What I hate is that you had to go through everything again at someone else’s hands.”

She takes a shaky breath and nods. “I told him all about you. How you were hiding because the police thought you were dead. I don’t know how he discovered where you lived, but he did.He disappeared for two days, then when he got back, he packed everything up and drove us here. He’s the one that?—”

“Set the house on fire,” I finish her sentence, putting two and two together.

“Yeah. We hid long enough for him to get pictures of everyone around you. He figured out who Gabe was and then locked me in here before leaving tonight.”

“Fuck me,” Miles says, then groans.

“Show time,” I say, turning to watch the shock cross his face when he realizes what is going on. “Heidi, this is going to get messy. If you don’t?—”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she says.

“Then,” I say, walking over to the knives and gun. I pick up the gun and hold it out for her to take. “Let’s get to work.”

Chapter

Eighteen

GABE

“I'm sending the layout of the house to everyone's phone. From what we found, it's clearly abandoned, but we have no idea what the condition is. There is a main floor, one upstairs level, and a basement. The main floor has an open kitchen and dining room with a small living room connected by a hallway. Upstairs, we have three bedrooms with one bathroom. From the blueprints, the basement has one room and a small bathroom that is connected by another small hallway,” Carlos says.

I open the email and click on the link to download the blueprints to my phone. “Do we have any shots of what the house looks like now?” I ask.

“Coming in a few seconds. I’ve got Travis putting a drone in the air as we speak. There are three main ways to enter and exit the house. Front door, back door, and hatch, which leads to the basement directly from outside.” I zoom in on the areas that Carlos is talking about, trying to put myself in this asshole's shoes in order to figure out where he would be keeping Tara.

“My guess is that he would keep her in the basement,” Reed says.

“I'm thinking the same?—"

“Miles Kinder, thirty-two, the address from the DMV says he lives in Louisiana. Reported his foster brother missing three months ago. But nothing came from it because Houston left a note at his apartment that led police to believe he committed suicide by walking into a swap. When they found Houston’s car abandoned near the swamps with only his fingerprints the police said there was nothing else they could do.” Demon says, interrupting me and leaning forward to show me the reports he somehow found. “Houston was a rookie on the police force that was days away from being fired when he went missing. There was an internal investigation going on from multiple reports of him using his badge to harass multiple women. When the police searched his place, they found the name of a girlfriend who was questioned, but nothing came from her. She said they had broken up a month before he went missing.”

“Can you get a picture of the foster brother?” Elio asks, but he keeps his eyes on the road. According to the GPS, we are only fifteen minutes away. The closer we get the more amped up I become. I’m ready to rip this fucker limb from limb with my bare hands for taking Tara. I couldn’t do anything about Dean and Ned because I was too far behind them but Miles… I’m going to enjoy ending this motherfucker. I might even use my hands instead of the gun tucked in my waist.

“Already got one. Does he look familiar?” Demon turns the computer toward Elio for a quick second.

“Fuck.” Elio slams his hand against the steering wheel. “That is one of the guys that Tara took out for beating and raping his girlfriend.”

“Is there any way that he could be linked with Ned?”

“Not that I can see. I’ve got Jessie and Nick finding out everything we can about Miles and Houston,” Demon answers.

Elio turns down off the gravel road and slows to a crawl until he stops. There is a blacked-out Ford F-150 to our right and another black SUV to our left. Vance and another man, who I assume to be Ricco, step out of the truck while Travis and Vinny step out of the SUV. We all leave our vehicle right as a scream rips through the air. My heart stops for a second before it takes off. “Tara!” I yell and take off toward the home. There is no need to look behind me to see if the others are following because I feel them. We all move as one unit, racing to save the love of my life.

“Split up. My guys, with me; we will clear the top floor,” Carlos barks orders.

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