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“Then explain it to me,” I snarl. “Why have you been sneaking around Kendall, looking up personal records, her birth certificates? Why did you contact the orphanage where she grew up?”
“Y-You know about that?” Jace stills.
I bare my teeth as I reply, “Kendall is mine. I know everything there is to know about her and anything concerning her. So, start talking, Hunter. Or I’ll send your ass to Germany, permanently.”
Jace glowers at me. “She’s – Kendall is my half-sister.”
A tense pause follows this declaration as I reel from this sudden information. Somehow, I manage to find my voice, “That’s not possible. She’s an only child.”
Jace sinks into the chair and looks defeated. “Her father – Our father had an affair while Kendall’s mother was expecting. He knocked my mother up. He always came to see me, and he was a good father, as good as he could be, but I never knew about Kendall until my mother passed away last year, and she told me just before she died. I didn’t know jack squat about her but technically, she is my family, my only family, now. When I met her in your office, and she introduced herself, I was suspicious when she told me her name and then I befriended her.” He sighs now, meeting my gaze with a tired one of his own. “I was sure I was wrong. And then she would tell me these things and it was all starting to add up. I went to her orphanage requesting details, but nobody would divulge anything. I went to her house, hoping to get a DNA test done by getting something of hers. I took some strands from her hairbrush but while the results were close, I needed more DNA, so I arranged for that. I’ve been trying to tell her for two weeks, but you’ve been determined to keep us apart.” He scowls at me.
I frown. “You had a shifty look about you. Are the DNA results conclusive?”
“Yes,” Jace replies. “I also checked her birth certificate and we have the same father. I came today to maybe sit her down and tell her.”
“Well, she’s not here,” I tell him. “She’s gone to the hospital with Elise. She left an hour ago.”
Jace blinks at me. “What are you talking about? I saw Lucas helping Elise into his car as I was coming up.”
My hand is reaching for my phone before he’s finished his sentence, and I’m dialing Kendall’s phone. Her phone goes straight to voicemail.
I try Duke and after the third ring, he answers.
“Where’s—?”
“Boss, we got a problem,” Duke sounds weak on the phone. “I’ve been stabbed. Some guy took Kendall. Back alley, three streets over….” He’s whispering out an address hoarsely.
I’m on my feet. “Somebody took Kendall.” I reach under my desk and open the false bottom, retrieving a revolver.
“What the fuck’s that?” Jace stares at the gun in stunned horror.
“Protection,” I tell him, grimly. I move towards the door. “Call an ambulance.” I bark out the address Duke gave me.
“I’m coming with you,” Jace growls as he follows me towards the fire escape. “That’s my sister out there!”
I’m not inclined to argue with him, fear festering inside of me like a cold blade piercing my innards. Duke’s a huge man. Taking him down shouldn’t be easy and yet, someone managed to do so and take Kendall. Behind me, I hear Jace cursing into the phone as he gives them an address. I know we will reach Duke before the ambulance does.
Why didn’t he call me?
My question is answered when I reach his location, five minutes by foot from the building.
His hulking form is leaning against the wall, his breath short. “It was that guy,” he strains out, the pool of blood beneath him growing even as I try to stem the blood flow with my coat. “Her landlord. And there was this ugly brute with him. H-he kept asking about T-Tracy.” His voice is stuttering.
Jace is shouting into the phone, explaining their location to the emergency services.
“The little miss knew them, Caleb. And she put up one hell of a fight. They took me out first, outside and then texted her from my phone to meet her here. I don’t know where they’re taking her, but she has her phone on her. You can track it.”
I already am but I can’t leave Duke here till the ambulance arrives. I glance at Jace, aware that the blinking dot on my phone is moving further and further away and that I need to catch up to it. “Stay with him. I’m going after Kendall.”
Jace tosses a ring of keys at me. “Take my bike. It’ll be faster. I’ll be right behind you.”
“You’re going to be okay,” I tell Duke whose usually tan complexion is pale right now with the amount of blood he’s lost.
“Go,” he whispers faintly.
After exchanging a grim look with Jace, I dart back towards the office building, aiming for the underground garage. I know what Jace’s bike looks like and firing it up, I fly out of the building.
Kendall is out there with people who didn’t hesitate to stab Duke. She’s out there with people who want nothing more than to hurt her. And they have a head start.
