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Why had he even been there?
Unless ... he was responsible for the crash in the first place.
Knowing what I did about Martin, I felt that made too much fucking sense. And Addy was en route to him, Claire and Rachel with her.
I pressed down on the gas pedal, and the speedometer jumped twenty miles an hour above the posted limit. I was going to risk getting pulled over. But no way was I letting Addy arrive at Martin’s compound first.
She’d been right back then to believe Martin’s threats against Rachel and me were real. She’d survived his sadistic shit. But his own sister hadn’t, and neither had Collin. Martin hated Collin. Hated him for his sister loving him. Hated him for having Addy when the bastard had wanted her for himself all along.
Fucking hell.I needed to fix this, so we all had backup. I wasn’t going into that compound without some insurance that we were all going to get out.
I scooped my phone off the center console. “Siri, call Richard Teller.”
My lawyer always picked up my call on the first ring, even after hours like this. He was a workaholic, and I paid him well to be on retainer. No longer was I a powerless sixteen-year-old boy who let the world determine what happened. Nowadays, I dictated the terms.
“Hey, Barry,” he said. “What’s up?”
I took my phone off speaker mode and put it to my ear. “Did you get started on the stuff for Addy that I sent you this morning?”
“I did. Like hitting a hornet’s nest with a bat.”
Dick was from Texas and fond of colorful metaphors.
“Martin Skellin Senior is capital P pissed,” he said. “Grace Skellin is scared. They don’t want that shit about their son to go public. Your facts checked out about his business deals being on the dark side of shady. There’s no statute of limitations on rape in Washington State. Are you sure about your woman testifying?”
I noted the two teenagers in the car were trying to act like they weren’t listening to my side of the call. “Addy will do whatever it takes to get Martin out of her life for good, and her daughter in it.”
My woman was brave, and she had a heart more filled with love than anyone I’d ever met. How could I not love her?
“She might not have to,” Dick said. “They seem hell-bent on keeping the information out of the public eye to protect their standing in the community.”
“Are they gonna let Addy see Ella?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I smiled despite everything. “That’s awesome news.”
“So, why the call?” he asked. Dick wasn’t dumb.
“Martin Skellin grabbed one of my son’s friends. We’re heading to his place to retrieve him. I want you to make some phone calls.”
“As in make a few phone calls to my contacts in the media?” Dick asked.
“Right,” I said. Martin didn’t know who he was dealing with, or at least he didn’t yet. “Give the bastard a heads-up on how things will go if you don’t hear from me in an hour.”
Addy
“Can’t you drive any faster?” Claire asked me from the back seat of my SUV.
“No, honey. Not in this neighborhood.”
I gripped the steering wheel tightly, my gaze straight ahead. I was determined not just to rescue Kyle, but to keep everyone safe, to get it right this time. We were going in to get Kyle, and we were coming out with him.
“Are you sure we can’t call the cops?” Rachel asked from the passenger seat beside me.
“Pfft. Half are in Martin’s back pocket.” I shook my head. “The others are scared shitless. If we bring cops with us, he would just ... well ...” I glanced at Claire in the rearview mirror.
“He’d get rid of Kyle?” Claire looked like she was having trouble breathing.
