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Callum
Phone in hand,I paced at my open door.
Wren was coming. Iris was with Wren. Ronan too.
Something was wrong.
They wouldn’t say, but I knew. Why else would she be with Iris? She should have been at work, but she was coming here.
My stomach tightened. I was sick with worry. They’d be here any second. Any second, I’d have the answers. But that didn’t make it easier. That did not relieve the knots in my gut.
I saw Ronan first. He strode down the hallway from the elevator. When he met my eyes, there was nothing but stone behind them. He stepped to the side when he arrived at my door. First, Iris came into view. The smile she gave me wasn’t one of happiness.
My gaze bounced to Wren. At first glance, I couldn’t find anything wrong with her. I took her in, swept her from head to toe, and stopped at the sleeve of her coat hanging loose at her side.
“What happened?” I addressed Ronan.
Wren rushed forward before he could answer and threw herself into my chest. I backed into the apartment with my little bird in my arms. Ronan and Iris followed.
“What happened?” I asked her, softer this time.
“I had an accident.” Her head tipped back, and I was relieved to see she wasn’t crying. I’d seen enough of Wren crying to last a lifetime. It gutted me every single time.
“Are you hurt?”
She nodded, then shrugged her coat off, dropping it to the floor. “My wrist is broken.” She showed me the hot-pink cast extending from her hand up her forearm. “I didn’t need surgery, though.”
I kissed her fingertips, wishing on all that was holy I could take her place. I’d snap all my bones to repair Wren’s one. My Wren was broken, and this was one thing I couldn’t fix.
In my periphery, Ronan crossed his arms over his suited chest. “You need to ask her how she fell.”
I focused on Wren, locking eyes with her. “How did you fall, Little Bird?”
She rubbed her lips together and tried to look away. I snagged her chin in my fingers.
“Eyes, Wren. Start speakin’ or I’ll ask Ronan.”
A sigh fell from her lips. “I met Chrys and Rasc today. She…um, kind of lured me into their RV and trapped me there so she could talk to me. She’s pregnant, and the father—oh, it’s awful. He forced himself on her and left her with nothing. But his parents are willing to help her, they just need to get to California. She needs to talk to you. I told her I’d ask you to call. They let me go, Callum. They barely touched me.”
I turned to stone. My hand fell to my side, clenching tight into a fist. “They touched you?”
Iris laid her hand on Wren’s shoulder. “Honey bunny, you need to tell him everything. He has to know how to deal with this.”
I stared hard at my girl, waiting to see how much worse this could get. As of now, Chrys and Rasc were dead to me, but they were going to hurt first.
Wren’s breath went ragged. “I think they’re really desperate. They weren’t thinking clearly, and maybe they didn’t see any other way out of their situation.”
Ronan cleared his throat. “I’ll say it since Wren is trying to protect them. Iris and I were leaving Good Music when the RV pulled up. The door swung open. Wren was standing there, holding the sides. The woman behind her gave her a hard push, and Wren fell to the pavement. The drop wasn’t high, but she wasn’t prepared. Her wrist nearly snapped in half.”
Black. Ice. Fury.
My fist plowed through the wall beside me. But it wasn’t enough. A roar ripped through my chest the second time my fist met drywall. Nothing would ever be enough. They were dead. They were both dead. Not to me. To the world.
“They touched her.” I grabbed Wren’s fingers, holding up her casted arm. “They hurt what’s mine. No one touches you, Wren. No one.”
Iris came toward me. “Callie, calm—”
Ronan pulled her back, tucking her behind him. “Do you know where they are?”
