Page 38 of Wretched Heart
Ash tilts his head and I can almost hear his brain whirring. He knows I’m deliberately keeping the others quiet, and I’m preparing for the onslaught of questions, when Mace looks over at me. His usual cool composure has been replaced by a look of… Is that panic?
“What’s wrong?” Ash asks. He can only see Mace’s face in profile, but he notices the change too.
“Shit,” Mace mutters. He’d been so absorbed with his work that he’d clearly forgotten he was on camera. “One of the, er, marks is moving. They’re in Brimstage, and Hugo’s heading in that direction too. I’m hoping it’s a coincidence, but we need to check it out.”
His gaze is fixed on me, and there’s a hidden message behind his words, I just don’t know what it is. Mace has a habit of putting trackers on everything, and that included Hugo’s car when we’d first arrived in Brimstage. The only other mark I can think of that’s close by is Ray Forsyth. Given that the Emerson executive was best man at Barrett’s wedding, he’s a significant player in this game. He could be trouble, and Mace’s reaction suggests the threat is imminent.
I don’t understand why he can’t be more explicit in front of Ash, but I follow his lead. “Like now?”
“Yes. Now.” He’s already on his feet and nods to Reid. “Bring the SUV to the front.”
“We’ll catch up later,” I say to Ash as Reid sprints out the door.
“Sure, keep me informed. I’ll wrap things up here as soon as I can,” Ash replies. “There’s a new proposal I need to thrash out with Rory, but it shouldn’t take too long. Do you think you can spare me for another week?”
Mace leans around his desk so his face is back on screen. “Stay in fucking Scotland. We’re enjoying the peace,” he says to our older brother. “And what part of ‘we need to leave now’ did you not follow? Finish your drink, Ash. Some of us have work to do.”
Before Ash can respond, Mace kicks him out of the meeting.
“What the fuck is Barrett up to now?”
“It’s not Barrett you need to worry about,” Mace says, which only makes me tense more. He shows me his cell. It’s a map of Brimstage and there are two red dots blinking. “The tracker that’s moving is Hugo. The one that isn’t, is on Maddie’s phone.”
“Are you kidding me? She left the house?” I ask, as my blood runs cold.
I’m not surprised that Mace put a tracker on Maddie’s phone. I expect he did it at the same time he removed Hugo’s spyware, and I’m glad he did. I’m already heading for the front door as my brother brings me up to speed.
“I checked our security cameras. She took Jake’s Audi. It doesn’t look like she told anyone she was going, but none of the guys would have thought to stop her. We never said she was our prisoner.”
“Because she shouldn’t want to leave,” I add as we race outside.
The fresh air hits me like a slap in the face. Have we caught Maddie sneaking off to meet her brother? Is she about to betray our trust? Dust flies as Reid pulls up in the SUV. Mace and I dive into the back.
“Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?” he asks.
“Maddie’s gone into town, and Hugo is…” Mace checks his phone. “At the speed he’s going, he’s maybe ten minutes away from her. While it’s going to take us half an hour.”
“I can do it in twenty,” Reid says at the same time he puts his foot down and I’m jolted back in my seat. “What’s she doing in town?”
“That’s what I want to know,” growls Mace. “She could be passing on information to her brother so he can sell it on to Barrett. Or maybe she’s been working for Barrett all along and he’s trying to plant her as an insider.”
I bite down on the inside of my cheek so I don’t leap to her defense. I want to say Maddie wouldn’t do that, but I need to be led by my head and not my dick. What if this is the final layer I’m peeling away to see the real Maddie?
Trees and traffic signs flash past, but not fast enough. “Can you see if she’s been messaging Hugo? Was the meet-up planned?” I ask Mace.
“Not that I can see, but believe it or not, I can’t see everything.”
“There’s no way she’d willingly meet him,” Reid says. “Her fear at the Corbyn house wasn’t an act.”
I want to agree, but I’m struggling to find another explanation. And if she has betrayed us, if I’ve been conned by her deep blue eyes and soft lips, I’m not sure I’ll be responsible for my actions when I track her down. “Are you sure you removed Hugo’s tracker from her phone? Or could he be tracking her movements another way?”
“Give me some credit,” Mace mutters. “And I scanned all the luggage she brought here.”
We fall silent, and I straighten my shirt cuffs as I try to find an explanation. It’s a small town. Someone could have got word to Hugo that they’d seen Maddie. But that doesn’t explain why she sneaked off.
“Where’s Hugo now?” I ask.
Mace hasn’t taken his eyes off the blinking spots on his cell. “He’s just arrivedat the library.”
