Page 65 of Piece You Saved

She screamed Dariel’s name, but this isn’t Dariel.

“I guess I don’t have to twist any nuts into the shape of a pretzel,” I mutter, pressing Saige’s face to my chest.

I scan the backyard. It’s just us out here. Next, I focus on the black gate in the distance. I’ll need to check it, but I’ll be fucked if I’m leaving Saige here with Harley until I know how the fuck someone got Dariel’s brother’s body this close to the house.

I don’t have to guess who. Rylan. But how? And why didn’t he take Saige if he got this close to her?

Saige peels her face away from my shirt and blinks up at me. She’s still breathing too fast, and her skin is bleached white. And her trembling. I’m going to have to do something about that before it turns into shock.

“Dariel is dead,” she breathes.

She’s standing inches away. She’s in my arms, and the only reason I know what she’s saying is because she’s close enough for me to read her lips.

That fucking alarm.

I walk us back to the house, keeping half my attention on Harley, who’s standing to one side, staring at the body and at the backyard gate. Just in case. Leaning into the house, I tap the home security keypad from memory rather than sight to silence the alarm.

“K-K-Kade?” Saige’s voice is too loud. Her ears must be ringing. “Rylan k-k-killed him.”

Her trembling intensifies.

Hoping to fuck Harley is using his eyes and ears, I frame Saige’s face and lean in close. “It’s not Dariel.”

She blinks those shadowed blue eyes at me, her fingers tightening as she grips the front of my shirt. “It is. I saw.” She swallows hard. “I h-have to go before—”

I kiss her, silencing her because I know why Rylan didn’t take her.

The sick fuck is looking to drive her crazy enough to run back to him. Maybe even make her beg for him to take her back. “It’s not Dariel.”

She stares up at me, disbelieving.

Ordinarily, taking someone to see a body wouldn’t be a good idea, but Saige needs to see this. I take her hand, hold on tight, and lead her back outside, ignoring Harley’s raised brow as I point my index finger at Leandro.

“Long hair. Not Dariel.”

She stares at the body in the bushes.

I squeeze her hand again because she’s not with me yet. “It’s not Dariel,” I repeat, louder this time, letting her hear that there’s no doubt in my mind.

She stares for several more seconds and then turns to me. “Leo.”

I smother a sigh. “I know he’s dead, but do you think you could not call him Leo?”

Given he only asked her to call him that because he wanted to fuck her.

Her eyes return to the bloodied body. Rylan ripped his throat out, but that’s not all he did.

“Rylan tortured him,” she says quietly.

I glance at Harley standing at my side. He’s not watching me, or even Saige. His gaze is trained on the right side of the house. “Someone is coming.”

The lemon scent warns me who it is. “Yep. Time to go in, angel.”

She’s still peering down at the body. “He tortured Dariel’s brother and brought him here to show you what he’s capable of. I should—”

My grip tightens on her hand. “The only place you’re going is back in the house.”

“You don’t understand what he’s capable of.” She turns to face me now. “He will—”

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