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“It’s Derek Baucom.”
That jabs my lungs, the logic punching through.
“What? Are you sure?”
“That’s what she said. And she saw him last night. He’s here somewhere on the island.”
There’s a warrant out for Derek Baucom. He’s wanted in the rape of Sarah Matthews, and I suspect him in the disappearance of Cam Le. I know he has her. I know he’s part of Gentry’s crime ring.
Redix just stares at me while the dust settles from the bomb he just dropped.
“Does he know Renie is your sister?”
This can’t be a coincidence. Derek Baucom’s one of the three men who attacked Redix when we were eighteen, and now he’s the father of Redix’s nephew?
“I don’t know, but it’s fucked up. Renie finally told me about him, and I swear it sounds like he raped her. She was only eighteen and drunk, for God’s sake.”
“Did you tell Renie he was one of the three?”
I don’t need to say the three who…
But the flash of the horrific scar on Redix’s buttock smacks my mind. Derek, Gentry, and TJ assaulted Redix and left their mark on him in many ways. They wanted me but Redix made them take him instead. And now he wears a scar that mocks our matching tattoos. It’s forever carved into his skin and our souls.
“No.” He’s fuming, teetering on losing control. “I don’t know what to do, and I was gonna call you, but I didn’t know”—he glances at Silas in the car—“if I could.”
“If Derek’s back, you need to keep her and Nicolas safe. Keep them at your house, okay?”
He nods.
“Find out where they met up, what he drives, anything you can find out about him. And get me the contact number she uses for him. Can you do that for me?”
“I can try.”
He looks sick, and I want to wrap my hands around his chest and pull him in like I always do, but he hates me.
“Should I tell her?” he asks. “Tell her who Derek really is?”
“You don’t have a choice. This is about their safety. He wants something if he’s back here and risking getting arrested.” That terrifies me. Derek Baucom is a predator and not to be underestimated. “You need them and your mama at your house with security there. Got it?”
“The cops?”
“No. A private detail that won’t fuck around.” It takes a second, then I remember. “HGR Security. The one Charlie Ravenel works for. Call them and get guards twenty-four-seven, okay?”
“Alright.” He stands like he’s ready to fight. “What else?”
“Let me talk to Penny and some of the other deputies. I’ll tell them he’s back, and we’ll come up with a plan. We’ll have to talk to Renie. Okay?”
He nods again. And what more is there to say? Everything. It’s in his eyes and spilling from my heart. “It’s not your fault.”
I know he’s blaming himself.
“Yes, it is.”
“You don’t know that.” I’m lying again.
“Don’t blow sunshine up my scarred ass, Cade. It is my fucking fault.” His voice raises, and I can’t debate him. “Derek targeted you, then me, then my little sister and my nephew’s dad is a rapist, and this is so fucked up, and I’m so damn tired of it.”
I can’t help it. My impulses always win. I pull him into a hug because if he’s hurting, I’ll kill again for him. He lets me hold him, he’s back in my arms, where we belong and heal. And for a painful second, we’re back together, but he doesn’t hold me back.
