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“What happened?” I demand, taking him by the arms and holding him still.
“I was on the phone with her, and all of a sudden, she was gone.” He gulps in air before the rest pours out. “She said her front door was open. I told her not to go in!”
Which guaranteed she would. She’ll never learn.
“You’re coming with me.” I take Jase by the back of his neck and push him in front of me.
“But we have to help her!” The words tumble out in a breathless heap—practically a sob.
“Where do you think we’re going?” I steer him toward the SUV and shove him in the back while Griffin gets behind the wheel. That’s probably for the best. I don’t know if I could get us there in one piece.
Along the way, I manage to get the full story out of Jase. They were talking on the phone. “She thought you had somebody break in,” he snarls behind me. “And Griffin here was asking questions to keep her out of there while they were doing it.”
“That’s not true,” Griffin says in a tight, grim voice while weaving in and out of traffic. “Dammit, I should’ve followed her. I should’ve made sure she was safe. I came back to the hotel instead.”
“And then she dropped the phone or something, and there was all this banging and voices I didn't know.” I watch over my shoulder as he takes his head in his hands. “I couldn’t do anything about it. I had to sit there and listen, and there was nothing. I could. Do!”
I can’t comfort him when I’m so close to combusting—and I only get closer once we roll past Kent’s car to find him slumped over the wheel with a bullet hole in the side of his head. Countless ugly scenarios run through my head all at once, and they all feature a dead Teagan. It’s my fault. I should never have abandoned her.
“Wait out here,” Griffin tells Jase, which I’d point out as a waste of time if I were more than vaguely aware of what’s going on around me as I run into the building and up to the apartment with the others on my heels. There’s no way he’s staying outside when it’s clear he’s on the verge of falling apart.
And he’s too much like his sister to listen to reason.
The door is open. Is she inside? Dread builds in my head, more intense with every heartbeat until it’s almost crippling. What if I find her in there?
“Teagan?” I step into a ruined space. Either she fought them or they trashed her place to make it look like a robbery. A lamp shattered on the floor, and a handful of small plants spilled soil everywhere when they were knocked over. The coffee table is on its side.
“Oh shit. Teagan. Where is she?” Jase stumbles around, stricken and hyperventilating. “No, man, not like this. She doesn’t deserve this. Fuck, where could she be?”
“Breathe.” Griffin goes to him and grips his shoulders tight, holding him up. “You’re not doing her any favors by losing your shit.”
I wish he could get that through to me while I walk through the aftermath of Teagan’s fight to survive. There we were, so sure she betrayed us. Natalie closed her heart. I tried to.
It’s all my fault. We could’ve avoided this if I’d heard her out instead of reacting. Griffin wouldn’t be talking Jase out of breaking down while I walk through the apartment.
Teagan’s scent hangs heavy in one of the bedrooms. I step inside and inhale deeply before spotting a sheet of paper resting on the pillows at the head of the neatly made bed. Certainty fills my mind before I reach out to take hold of the handwritten note.
COME TO THE TREE YOU USED TO CLIMB.
ALONE, OR SHE DIES.
I did this. It may as well be my handwriting I’m staring at. Strangely, it does look familiar. Or does it? My mind’s playing tricks on me. The room is spinning, and the words seem to swim in front of my face before I let the note drop to the bed.
I can’t think, but that’s the one skill I need now. Who could be behind this? And what the hell are they talking about? A tree I used to climb. She needs me. I have to remember. Focus, dammit!
It hits me all at once. A clear memory of climbing a sprawling oak, scraping my hands and knees, and scrambling higher, feeling like I could see everything from that high up. I’m sure it wasn’t that high, but to a kid, it felt like I might touch the clouds.
And it grew behind my childhood home.
Griffin has called in backup, and they’re arriving when I slowly walk out of Teagan’s bedroom. I know what I have to do. I know it has to be done alone. I can’t risk her safety by going against the instructions.
