Page 4 of Wretched Soul
My cell phone rings as I’m loading my trunk with the kit I’d been on my way to collect before running into Lily.
“How much longer are you going to be, Mace?” Reid asks.
“I had to do a quick detour,” I explain, hoping my little brother doesn’t ask for details.
I’m not about to explain how I’d come off the Kennedy Expressway at the wrong exit just so I could loop around and rejoin it behind my newest obsession. Weaving in and out of traffic to reach Lily could earn me a few speeding tickets, but I can hack into traffic control when I get home and destroy all evidence of my transgressions. And once that’s done, I’ll begin the digital hunt for Lily and her white Audi. It could be a long night, longer still if I keep to my obligations of having dinner with my brothers.
“Don’t bail on me, Mace,” Reid warns, reading my mind.
Considering we’ve just moved into an apartment together, he shouldn’t be this desperate for my company.
“You don’t need me. You’ll have Ash there, won’t you?”
“Yeah, we came home straight from the office,” he says, because the Griffin homestead will always be the place we refer to as home.
“So?” I ask. I know our eldest brother isn’t the most scintillating company at the best of times, but at least Reid has back up. What more does he need?
He clears his throat. “Hunter and Maddie got back from Brimstage a couple of hours ago and she’s… Shit, she’s looking at me now.” In the pause that follows, I hear a muffled voice that has to be my sister-in-law. “She says she’ll hunt you down and drag you here if you don’t show.” In a lower voice, he adds, “She’s already suggested coming to our apartment to help with the interior design. I can’t frighten her off like you can.”
I throw the last box in the trunk. “Tell her I’m already working on theinterior design,” I reply.
It’s fair to say that my plans to transform the apartment are worlds away from whatever Maddie has in mind. I’ve only been cursed with Hunter’s new wife for a matter of months, butthe woman can’t stop interfering in all our lives. She’s like the annoying little sister I never wanted.
The new apartment was a means to escape the loved-up couple, and Maddie can keep her ideas on soft-furnishings to herself. What the apartment needs is cutting edge tech and impenetrable security, which is what I’ve just picked up.
“You can tell Maddie yourself when you get here,” Reid says. “How long?”
“I’m on the other side of Chicago. I’ll be there in an hour.”
“Thanks, Mace,” Reid says with undisguised relief.
After cutting the call, I lean against the SUV and tip my head to the blackened sky. It wasn’t that long ago that I thought my life was cast in stone. Stone shaped by a mother who had abandoned us, a stepmom who died too soon, and a father whose heart had no reason to beat after he lost her. My three brothers were all I had left, and due to the lives we lead, we kept things simple. Relationships were brief and uncomplicated. Our brotherhood was supposed to be enough.
And then Maddie-fucking-Corbyn crashed into our lives. Hunter fell fast and hard, and after this evening’s run in with Lily, I’m starting to worry that the second eldest Griffin might have inadvertently set off some weird sort of chain reaction. I’d be crazy to want what he has. Wouldn’t I?
Digging a hand into my pocket, I pull out the chocolate bar I’d picked up at the gas station. I tear open the wrapper and take a bite. Sugary sweetness coats my tongue and I immediately spit it out. It doesn’t taste like her at all, and I discard the remainder in a nearby trash can.
Reverting to something more within the scope of my expertise, I tap my cell phone and bring up a map. A pulsating dot shines like a warning beacon. I’d looped around the expressway with only one intention. To find Lily and plant the tracker. She’d laughed when I’d dropped my keys, but it hadbeen a carefully choreographed move. It took only seconds to fix the magnetic tracker to the Audi’s front wheel arch, but now that I have more time to consider my actions, the rational thing to do would be to disable the device and forget all about Lily.
Instead, I zoom in on the map. The signal remains static at an apartment block surrounded by other apartment blocks. It’s a newly developed area of the city with improving prospects, but what area is completely safe? Lily doesn’t strike me as someone who takes personal security as seriously as she should. You have to be exposed to the worst of humanity to truly understand the risks a beautiful young woman on her own might face. Or am I making too many assumptions about her? She wasn’t wearing a wedding band, but that doesn’t mean she’s single. My eyes narrow on the screen.
I can’t even be sure I’m looking at Lily’s home. She could have been traveling to meet a friend. Possibly the woman who was on speakerphone in her car. Or she could be at her boyfriend’s apartment right now. My shoulders tense, and I crack my neck. My jealousy is unwarranted, but it’s there nonetheless.
Disable the fucking tracker, my inner voice tells me, but I ignore the advice. I’ve made one too many rash decisions today, and I won’t do anything else until I’m better informed.
“Did you miss me?” Maddie asks.
I sense my sister-in-law leaning over the table towards me, but I keep my eyes on my cell. Lily Melissa Kendrick’s car hasn’t moved. The twenty-eight-year-old accountant, born in Ohio to Eric and Wendy, has worked at Royston Associates for two years. She does indeed live at her current location in aone bedroom third floor apartment. According to Facebook, she declares herself single and is active on several dating apps. Or she was. Until I deleted her profile.
It’s past eight and while I’d like to think Lily is staying home tonight, I have to accept she could have gone out for the evening and left the car. I’d be able to confirm her movements by tapping into her apartment block’s CCTV if I was at home with access to my spy hub.
“Of course he’s missed you,” Connie answers for me as she places fresh bread on the large kitchen table to accompany the beef stew she’s made.
Our housekeeper has become a surrogate mom, and although she never sits down to eat with us, we usually take our meals in the large expanse of her kitchen. She remains close and isn’t afraid to step in as referee when she deems it necessary. Connie’s more terrifying than any of my brothers.
She leans in closer to whisper in my ear. “Put down your phone, Mason.”
I place my cell next to my plate, screen faced down so Reid can’t catch any of the new alerts I’ve set up.
