Page 117 of Lethal Attraction

Alana and Connor shake their heads. Bailey shrugs.

“Fuck!” Rowan shouts, slamming his fist down beside him.

My face falls. “What?”

He shakes his head. “Theo and Dom went to Crystal’s house last night to watch over her. She was gone when they got there.”

The silence that follows is devastating.

No.

No, no, no.

My pulse pounds harder in my ears, everything melting together.

“She took him,” Alana whispers. “How did she even know he would answer?”

Nobody argues because we’re thinking the same thing. Crystal is suddenly gone, and then Reed. There’s no coincidence there.

Connor is already standing. “She probably didn’t. Anyone would have done. Let’s check the compound feeds and see where she went.”

Alana is right behind him, her phone in her hand. “I’m already scrubbing through the latest saved video.”

“Hey!” We all turn, looking at Atlas as he stands near the top banister. “What’s going on?”

“Fucking Mom…” I grind out between my teeth. “Always her.”

“She took Reed,” Rowan says roughly. “We’re getting a visual on her now.”

Atlas sighs, shaking his head. “Fucking cunt. Of course.”

“I’m going to kill her,” I whisper with cold clarity.

Rowan places a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to look at him. “We have to think rationally about this. Why, all of a sudden, would she choose to do something like this? She has to be gaining something from it.”

Then it hits me. Reed told me that some woman had been watching us last night. When we went outside, she was long gone. If his description is accurate…

“She wants to die,” I realize, my eyes widening.

“What?” Rowan asks.

“Think about it! If she overheard us last night, then she knows her father won’t help Brooks until he has probable cause to. What has she always wanted?”

Rowan’s face sets. “Revenge.”

“Exactly,” I say.

My brother scrubs a hand over his chin. “Then we need to outsmart her. Find a way to get Reed back without setting her off.”

“Um, guys,” Alana’s voice shakes.

My heart plummets as she turns her device towards us. Reed is tied to a chair somewhere that I know by heart. But that isn’t what has my whole body trembling. One of his fingers is gone—completely severed from his hand as blood trickles down the armrest of the chair. His head hangs as he breathes raggedly.

“Oh my god!” Taryn slaps a hand over her mouth, masking her scream.

Emma looks like she’s going to be sick.

Crystal steps into view of the camera, her head tilting in that condescending way it always has when she talks down to me. “This is between my daughter and me. If anyone else steps foot in this shed, I’ll kill him instantly.”