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Snow’s whole body seized. “You—no. You wouldn’t do this.” Not only to her, but to Kassie too? Trafficking was a serious problem; they wouldn’t be so debasing as that.
“You got in the way. I never would have had to do any of this if Hannah had been selected, but because you were, you forced my hand to take extreme measures. This is my shot,” Eloise said, lifting her chin. “My show will rival HMW. And once Webo premieres my show, once Hunter is behind bars, Heartthrob will suffer. HMW will go down—and viewers will be eager for a new take on a too-typical show, and Tys gets his in into show production.”
He folded his arms and gloated. Eloise’s daughter lifted her chin beside him.
“I thought you wanted to design video games,” Snow said. She glanced around, all but feeling the confirmation. They were in the house she and Hunter had staked out after all. Tys hadn’t seemed all that driven. He was brooding, yes, but something told Snow he wasn’t going to accomplish anything with video games except to play them.
“This is Eloise’s house, isn’t it?” Snow asked. “And Tys, you’re living in the basement.”
Tys sniffed. “I can work a camera. I can handle calls. I can do anything they need me to.”
“If that’s the case, why don’t you try getting a normal job like everyone else? You could start gaining experience, Tys. You’d be good at any of those things.”
“Shut up,” Eloise said. “He’s helping me.”
Tys hunched his shoulders.
“Why not present the idea of a seasoned bachelorette to Hunter?” Snow suggested. “You know you’ve ruined your life by doing this to me.”
“No one will find out it was me,” Eloise said.
“Or us,” Tys added. “Once your pick-up arrives, we’ll get off free and clear. We’re innocents in this.”
Innocents? They were losing their marbles.
Snow rubbed her hand down Kassie’s arm. This couldn’t happen. But what were they going to do? She had only had the one self-defense lesson. Her limbs were frozen. She couldn’t seem to move.
* * *
Hunter stared at the bachelors.He skimmed over all six of their faces, not failing to notice that Tys was no longer among them. That only added to his suspicions and made him all the more eager to get moving. “You’re sure you want to do this?” he asked.
“We’re coming with you,” Eric said. “We can split up. We can search for her.”
He rubbed his chin. “I only have one suspicion of where they might be, but the police said they checked there.”
“Where?” Clayton asked.
“Tys lives in this area,” Hunter said. “We caught him on the Elir security feed the day of Snow’s attack.” It was all he had to go on, but he had to start somewhere. The police weren’t making much headway, and he wasn’t going to do nothing.
“The police searched the place,” Hunter said, “but I’d like to head there anyway.”
“Let’s go,” Carter said. The others nodded their agreement.
Hunter set his jaw. He didn’t have a search warrant, but he could play it off like he was looking for Eloise. She had gone missing too, and he’d seen her at that house the other night. If he happened to ram his way in, so be it. “I’m armed. Anyone else have a weapon of some kind?”
The men all glanced at one another. “I’ve got a gun,” Judd said, “but it’s not on me.”
Hunter considered this. He met the determination in each of their faces. Eric, at least, would be capable in combat if it came to that.
“It’s no matter. We’ll have strength in numbers,” Hunter said. “I’m headed out. If you want to come, come, but you’re not to get in my way. This is my daughter we’re talking about. And Snow.”
“You love her too,” Clayton said.
The six of them looked on, none of them contesting the statement. Hunter’s throat closed. “I—I do. I know it’s not fair to you.”
“We don’t care,” Carter said. “We saw it coming. Let’s go find her.”
Bolstered, Hunter charged to the side exit and out into the sunlight. Carter, Eric, Marcos, and Clayton rode in the vehicle with him. Preston and Judd followed behind in the company vehicle, not waiting for the driver before taking the car themselves.
