Page 64 of Along for the Ride

“Crystal,” he says.

Gentry rams him into the wall once more before releasing him, then unholsters his pistol and pockets it. “I’m taking this for my inconvenience.” He backs away and motions for me to follow.

“Got any more bright ideas?” Gentry says through gritted teeth as we jog back to the SUV.

Before I can answer, his phone buzzes for the first time since Leana was taken. I rip it from his hands and open the message before he has a chance. I have a feeling I know who’s reaching out on this fine evening, and Gentry won’t be able to handle what I suspect will be embedded in this message. My shoulders fall when I open it.

“What is it?” he asks.

I don’t answer him, which is probably pretty alarming, considering I never shut the fuck up.

“What is it, goddamn it!”

My mouth falls open before I can stop it. He’s seen me fuck a knife wound before.Nothingmakes my mouth gape. Which means it’s really something. And it is.

“Give it to me,” he commands.

I shake my head. “Trust me when I say no. You don’t want to see this. If it’s makingmethis upset, it will break you.”

He grips my wrist and bends it backward, but I hang on to the phone, even when I feel my bones strain to a breaking point.

“Stop, stop! You can watch it, but not now. Wait until just before you go in at the next stop. The video shows where they are. I know where to go, but we’ll never make it there if you look at that video.”

He releases my arm. “Where are they?”

“It’s a bad fucking idea to go there like this. They’ll overpower us.”

“We have four pistols, several knives, and a vendetta. What more do we need? Now tell me.”

“It’s his home, Gentry. He has guards, trained attack dogs, and who the fuck knows what else?”

Gentry sets his jaw and shakes his head. “We can’t leave her. We have to try. She wouldn’t be in this mess if we hadn’t taken her along on this messy goddamn ride. If we hadn’t climbed in her car and brought her into this fucked up world where she doesn’t belong.”

“We’ll figure it the fuck out,” I say.

I’m entirely unsure how we will, but we don’t have another choice.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Gentry

Any chance of getting out alive means working hand in hand with my brother and trusting him in ways I haven’t in a very long time. I don’t even know if I’m capable of this. I will have to trust him as if he didn’t betray me so many fucking times. I’ll have to lay my well-being in his lap and trust that he has my back.

Alone, we can’t win.

Together? We might just stand a chance.

Karson silently broods beside me as we travel on winding back roads toward George’s house. His nails dig into his thighs every so often, as if he’s reliving the video in his mind. I squeeze the wheel. Was she being tortured? Touched? Fucked? I growl at the thought. He’s right to withhold that video until we get there.

The man beside him right now is controlled.

Leashed.

Repressed.

When I see that video, I will become the old me, and the old me coupled with the current Karson might just be enough.

We turn onto a tree-lined road that snakes up a hill. As we near the top, the massive mansion comes into view, illuminated against the stark black sky. Floodlights perch on the perimeter like mechanical sentries with tall black bodies and brightly glowing heads. There’s also a fucking guard post. Two, actually.

---