Page 45 of Truck Stop Tempest

I jogged through the slider, looked right, then left. It took a few blinks to adjust to the darkness, but I found her, sticking to the shadows, halfway down the block, like she was out for a Sunday stroll.

I ran to my car, fired her up, and rolled onto the street, parking half a block ahead of the escape artist.

When I hopped out of my car and headed her way, Tuuli stiffened, then looked around as if searching for an escape route.

Silly little beast. There was nowhere for her to hide.

Huffing in defeat, she pulled the cap off her head. “What are you doing here?”

What was I doing? Seriously? Christ, I needed to hit something.

“What the hell do you think?” I locked my fingers around her arm, dragged her back to my car, and not so gently nudged her into the passenger seat.

I drove several blocks before I was calm enough to speak. “Gonna tell me what the hell is going on?”

Tuuli rubbed her eyes. Her head rolled to the side, and she stared out the passenger window. “I lied to everyone.”

“Lied about what?”

“Everything.”

“Everything? What does that mean?”Her face scrunched and fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

I was beyond frustrated, and despite my urge to offer comfort, I pushed. I needed answers because my gut was raw and my nerves jagged. “What were you doing in that trailer?”

Tuuli leaned forward, face buried in her hands, body heaving.

“Were you living there? How do you know Jonas Carver?”

Tuuli continued to sob. I remained unaffected, my anger an impenetrable field of protection against the heart-wrenching look on her face.

“Why did you sneak out of the hospital? Why aren’t you answering me?”

I didn’t give her a chance to answer because the more questions I asked, the faster the pieces clicked into place. The trailer. The blonde woman. The fat man. The lawyers. Tuuli disappeared the same day Jonas was released from prison. The Christian Brotherhood of Faith.

I yanked the steering wheel to the right and threw the car into park.

I was out of my mind with rage. I didn’t want to accept the truth that was smacking me right in the kisser. I turned in my seat and pulled her hands away from her face. “What the fuck is going on?”

She couldn’t catch a breath.

I grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me. “Why were you in that trailer? And fuckin’ look me in the eye when you say it. What’s your connection to Jonas?”

Tuuli trembled, but hell, I broke a little when she lifted her red, tear-soaked eyes to meet mine.

Fuck, my heart split in two when she spit out the words, “He’s my brother.” She held my gaze for a brave spell, blinking through the torrent of tears. “He was my brother.” Her face crumbled. “They made me watch him die. I couldn’t do anything but watch those monsters tear him apart.”

She batted my hand away, yanked on the door handle, and before I could wrap my head around the situation, she was halfway down the street.

I took one deep breath, then another.

If Jonas was her brother, that fat man in the hospital was her father. That woman, who’d been sitting mere feet from me, with familiar blue eyes, was her mother. How the fuck did I not know? How had she slipped past Tango’s radar? Tuuli Holt was the daughter of one of the country’s most prominent White Supremacist leaders. Her brother had threatened to kill Aida.

I’d dismembered the last guy who’d hurt the people I loved.

The lying little beast had infiltrated my family, and I’d just let her go.

Hell, no.

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