Page 126 of Rogue Villain

I’m panting heavily as I fall to my knees beside the cot my mother lies upon. Her eyes are filled with empathy. “I’m so sorry you’ve been drawn into this, Wren. I tried to end things with Elliott when I realized he was far too full on for me, but he wasn’t taking no as his answer.”

Her eyes fill with tears then. “When Matt hounded him into allowing me to speak with you to ease your mind and possibly attempt to get you to return to South Brook, I’d hoped to have been able to tip you off somehow. But I’m afraid that, in your time away, Matt has become as fixated on you as his uncle is on me. They’re adamant we can be one happy family here on the Sound.”

My whole body fills with unadulterated fear as she swallows back her emotion, holding it together for my sake. Then she sits up gingerly, slowly swinging her still-bound legs over the side to pull me into an embrace.

“We’ll get out of this, my love. And everything will go back to how it was.”

But instead of telling her the truth, thatnothingwill ever be the same again, I allow her to simply hold me as I take my longed-for comfort from her.

And all the while, my mind tics, searching through ways we can escape this insanity. Because I know with certainty, I will doanythingto protect the life inside of me.

CHAPTER38

VAUGHN

It’d taken twenty minutes to secure a chopper, and it was twenty minutes more than I was willing to lose. Ford pilots me as his team and a frantic Jules follow in choppers of their own.

The cockpit is entirely silent, each living in our own reverie until Ford’s voice resonates in my ears. “There’s South Brook. We’ll land here and speedboat over to give us the element of surprise. We’re almost there, V.”

Then he shoots me an unreadable look, his brows drawn together in a deep frown. “I’m sorry, V. I didn’t get the information in time. I should have dug deeper. I should have known—”

“Don’t do that, Ford. Don’t blame yourself for something out of your control.”

Wren’s words come back to me, resounding through me as I feel the veracity of them in my damn bones.

Maybe it wasn’tentirelymy fault.

Besides, with the background checks coming back as squeaky fucking clean, who could have guessed one of the Porter boys is, in fact, the stalker sending Wren those Prince Charming letters and emails?

I place a comforting hand on his shoulder. “The important thing is getting her back and making those motherfuckers pay.”

He nods once, and we both look out the window in time to see a helipad come into view, Jo Fratelli waiting off to one side. “Where are we landing?”

“Jo said to meet him here. It’s a private residence with a dock we can use. The closest landing point from Abrams Island.”

Ford lands easily, and I’m running toward Jo before the blades have even begun to slow their whirrs overhead.

“I have a boat ready. Come on, this way.”

I follow him down a narrow path, coming out onto a small dock. The speedboat is bobbing on the waves as we embark, Jo revving the engine just as Ford leaps from the shore, and we take to the ocean at full tilt.

Ford takes the helm as Jo clasps my shoulder, squeezing harshly. “How did you connect the dots, V?”

Once I’ve relayed my conversation with Lennon Porter, alongside the assumptions I’m making based off of it, he’s wide-eyed but unsurprised.

He passes me a bulletproof vest as he knocks his chest, indicating his own underneath his shirt. “Do you think Elliott has Sarahere? Who’s on the boat in Puerto Rico then?”

I shrug as I unbutton my shirt.

“I have no idea, but I’m absolutely fucking sure that Sara Ricci has been here all along. After speaking with Lennon, IknowI’m right.”

“I fucking knew there was corruption in South Brook, but Christ above, I had no idea it ran so goddamn deep.” He shakes his head. “Elliott Porter has always seemed so mild-mannered and unassuming. You’d never think—”

Vest in place, I begin to re-button my shirt as I cut him off. “That’s the thing with sociopaths, Jo. You’re not supposed to suspect them. It’s the façade. The mask only slips when they cease to get what they want.”

An island comes into view just up ahead, an enormous house dead in the center of beautiful landscaping, and I grit my teeth in readiness. “Get them out safely, by any means necessary.”

Jo reaches into his jacket pocket, drawing out a spare handgun, which I take. Then I lift the leg of my trousers, displaying my own firearm, and he smirks. “Should have known. You always were a greedy bastard.”

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