Page 28 of Twisted Empire

Beckett held up his hand to stop the other guy. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m also concerned that this could be a trap. In the chaos, he could have people watching, looking for a chance to grab or kill any of you. It isn’t worth the risk.”

I winced. “You think he did all this just to set up a trap?”

“I don’t know.” Beckett pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mostly I think he just wanted to hit me in a way that would hurt. To get back at me as effectively as possible. I can’t say he did a bad job of that.”

No, because Doom’s Seed had plenty of practice with those sorts of tactics too. A rush of chilly fear washed over me with the memory of Mom’s car accident: the strange text that had warned me it might be fatal next time, the worried phone call from Holand, and then seeing her battered and bruised in the hospital bed…

My heart lurched, and I turned toward Beckett. “He might not stop with you. He’s got to be pissed off that I escaped from Yvonne—and that Logan probably knows how he’s involved in the organ business now too. What’s to stop him from coming after everything we care about next? Thepeoplewe care about?”

Logan’s face turned sallow. “He did warn you about your mom.”

I nodded, my heart starting to race. “He’s switched back to personal attacks, and it’s hard to believe he’s going to draw the line at burning down buildings.” I turned back to Beckett. “We’ve got to get them out. My and Logan’s family and Summer—we have to bring them to a safe place before Doom’s Seed targets them too.”

CHAPTERTWELVE

Madelyn

“How do you think they’re going to take this?” Summer asked from the seat beside me as I pulled the big seven-seater SUV that Beckett had lent us into the driveway of my family home. With so much going on between his forces and Doom’s Seed’s, and with him being a stranger to my mom and stepdad, it hadn’t made sense for him to join us on this mission, but he was joining us in spirit.

I glanced over at my bestie, who had her arms folded tight over her chest.Shehadn’t exactly taken my insistence that she needed to lay low for at least a few days super well, but she had come along with only a little arguing. But then, she’d already been aware of the dangerous situation I’d found myself in.

“We’ll just have to give it our best shot and see how it goes,” I said, squaring my shoulders, and looked back at the guys in the row behind us. “Ready?”

Slade gave me a cheeky salute that was offset by his somber expression, and Logan nodded before yanking open the door.

Dexter caught my gaze for just an instant in his usual fleeting way. “We’ll back you and Logan up, however much of the story you feel you need to tell them.”

“Same,” Summer said emphatically, clambering out. “If you think the situation is serious enough that you’re willing to spill the beans to them now, then they’dbetterlisten.”

Mom’s and Holand’s cars were parked farther down the driveway ahead of the SUV, so I knew they were home. I used my key in the door and eased it open, raising my voice to call down the front hall. “Mom?”

As the others filed in behind me, it was Holand who appeared first at the far end of the hall. He took us all in with a puzzled expression that turned sterner than I was used to. “We weren’t expecting all of you. Not that it isn’t good to see you after… everything.” His gaze paused on me before sliding to his son. “What’s going on, Logan?”

I dragged in a breath, letting the familiar faded floral scent that always filled my childhood home settle my nerves as much as anything could. “This was my idea.”

“But I agree with her,” Logan said right away, just as my mom appeared at the top of the stairs.

She walked down to them to join us, looking as confused and concerned as Holand. “Agree about what?” she said, and then couldn’t seem to restrain herself from moving straight to me.

She pulled me into a tight hug. Her voice came out both choked and chiding. “You shouldn’t have run off on us like that before. I’ve been so worried.” She stepped back and looked all of us over, lingering on me the longest. “You are okay, aren’t you?”

My mouth twisted. “In the most immediate sense. But we’re not here for us. We came because I’m—we’re—worried about the two of you.”

Holand’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about? We’ve been perfectly fine. It’s you two who’ve gone so quiet, refusing calls…” He trailed off, sounding as if he’d reined in his temper before he let loose more frustration than he’d prefer.

An ache formed in my gut. I hadn’t wanted to put the two of them through so much stress, and I doubted Logan had either. This situation had spiraled out of our control so quickly.

“I know,” I said. “And you have no idea how sorry we are about that. But that’s why we came—because it’s time we started telling you what’s going on and made sure it isn’t going to affect you any more than it already has.”

Now Mom was frowning. “I don’t understand, honey. What does this have to do with us?”

My hands twisted in front of me. Part of me wished we could be sitting comfortably in the living room, easing into this conversation—but there was never going to be anything comfortable about what I had to say. It was better to get it over with as quickly as possible so we could get our parents to safety quickly too.

“The truth is that we’ve made some very dangerous people angry,” I said, beginning with the vaguest possible version of the story. The fewer details we had to get into, the less room there’d be for doubt and argument. “And those people are out to punish us however they can, including targeting the people we care about.”

Mom blanched. “What do you mean? Is this something to do with drugs?”

I could have laughed if it hadn’t been so much worse. “No, Mom, nothing like that. We haven’t done anything wrong, but we stumbled on something that people with a lot of power and bad intentions didn’t want us to know about, and now they’re trying to keep us quiet.”

---