After a final snarl, my uncle clicks his fingers together two times before sliding into the back seat of his Audi town car. I’m so shaken with feared adrenaline, it takes my uncle’s vehicle leaving the lot before I can dig my cell phone out of my pocket to dial a familiar number.
The spike of my pulse is heard in my shallow breaths when Maddox answers my call not even a ring later. “I’m two minutes away, five tops. I had to veer by the cabin to pick up Caidyn. He’s pissed you stole his jeep again. Not as much as he is worried, but pissed, nonetheless.”
“You’re coming here?” I ask through a sob.
Maddox breathes out heavily like he’s disappointed I’d even contemplate that he wouldn’t follow me to the end of the earth. “Yes, of course. I swear, Demi, I’d neveraccuse you of hurting our baby. I just want answers, that’s all.”
I appreciate what he’s saying, and I’m certain once I have a moment to catch my breath, I’ll understand it even more, but right now, things we can’t change shouldn’t be in the forefront of our minds. Justine’s safety should be.
“My uncle is here in Hopeton. I just saw him.” I didn’t realize you could hear blood pressure rising until now. Maddox’s pulse sounds as if it is going through the roof.
His foot does the opposite. As the Buick’s engine roars to life, so does the panic in his voice. “Did he see you?”
“Yes, but you don’t need to worry about me. Max protected me.” On instinct, my hand darts down to pat Max’s head. “He’s going after Justine.”
“What?” Maddox and Caidyn gabble out at the same time, announcing I’m on speakerphone.
“She just left Petretti’s with Dimitri. Col saw them. He told me I should have picked my battles better.” I suck in the quickest breath to ensure I don’t faint from a lack of oxygen before pushing on, “I think he’s going to hurt Justine in retaliation for not being able to hurt us. He mentioned our agreement with Dimitri.”
With Maddox’s silence weighing heavy on both Caidyn’s and my chest, Caidyn asks, “Do you know where Dimitri is taking Justine?”
Even though they can’t see me, I shake my head. “He’s in his Hennessey, though. It’s the only one of its kind this side of the country.”
I hear Caidyn swallow before he asks, “Which direction did they go?”
I take a moment to gather my bearings. This is the first time in my life I’m grateful I was raised in Hopeton. I know where I am and which direction Dimitri took off to. “Northwest.”
“He’s taking her home.” Maddox waits for the gurgle of Caidyn’s stomach to halve in volume before finalizing, “Tohishome.”
I’ve often wondered if siblings can communicate without words. The silence sounding down the line assures me they can. Even without a word being uttered, their wordless conversation is unequivocally reassuring.
After a couple of seconds of deliberation, Maddox says my name in a husky tone, “Demi…”
He only mutters my name, but it’s the words he doesn’t speak I hear the loudest. “It’s okay. I’m safe. Go! Make sure Justine is as well.”
A faint woosh sounds down the line like he’s hesitantly nodding. “Stay at Petretti’s.” The hesitance in his tone reveals he loathes the idea of me being at Petretti’s without him, but he is also aware I am safe here because this is as much my stomping ground as it is Col’s. “I’ll come get you as soon as I can.”
“Okay.” I lick my lips, hating the angst in his tone but happy I know a way to eradicate it instantly. “I love you, Maddox.”
His sigh this time around is in relief instead of regret. “I love you back, baby. Don’t ever forget that, all right?”
“I won’t. I’ll never forget,” I choke out through a clog of tears.
It takes four heartbreaking seconds for Maddox to end our call, but only two seconds for me to crumble to the ground with a howl.
18
Maddox
“There!”
Caidyn’s head whacks into the Buick’s tinted window when I yank on the steering wheel in the direction he’s pointing. We dangerously careen past a stream of vehicles sitting between us and a prototype Hennessey Venom F5.
“Plant your foot to the floor,” Caidyn demands when Dimitri’s brutal speed sees him getting several car lengths in front of us.
“I fuckin’ am. This is as fast as this thing goes.”
I throw the gearstick into third before backing up my demand for the Buick to go faster by pumping the gas pedal three times. The engine almost chokes on the sudden influx of gasoline, but like all things, when in fear for their life, it performs miracles. We rocket toward Dimitri like we injected nitrous oxide into the fuel lines.
