Page 170
Through the anger and bitterness and resentment that had laid siege.
This asshole was going to pay.
My phone started ringing from my pocket, and I heaved out a frustrated sigh as I pulled it out.
“You got anything?” I answered, seeing that it was Brody.
His own frustration blustered out. “Nothing. Not a fucking trace. You?”
Pants continued to rake from my mouth, the words crushed stone as I spat them. “Thought I saw something far south, but the trail went dry.”
“This piece of shit is pissing me off. Messing with my sister. Not gonna get away with it.” Fury filled his voice.
My hand clenched around the phone.
No, he wasn’t.
“We’ll search for tracks in the morning. Sniff him out. He’s gotta be near,” Brody continued, words taking on an undertone of hate. “He doesn’t know what’s coming for him.”
“Get another guard on the property. Want someone posted at the front, the balcony, and her back window.”
“And what do you want me to tell my brother?”
“I’ll handle that,” I ground through clenched teeth before I ended the call and stormed back toward Elena’s apartment.
Knowing I would do anything for her.
I was responsible for the greatest tragedy that had befallen this family, and I’d die before I let it happen again.
THIRTY-EIGHT
TREVAN
SIXTEEN YEARS OLD
Trevan stood on the bottom step of his house’s stoop, heart mangled as he stared at the small U-Haul trailer attached to Christina Mercer’s old minivan that was parked at the curb across the street.
The family’s movements seemed sluggish. Fatigued with sorrow and listless with grief.
Trudging through a daze. Through another realm that shouldn’t exist.
He fought against the hot tears that boiled at the backs of his eyes and ran like a liquid torch down the back of his throat.
“Think that’s it,” he heard Meems say, her voice pitted.
He balled his hands into fists, molars grinding to dust. Antsy as his feet screamed at him to move.
To fucking do something.
But he’d done enough, hadn’t he? He was the catalyst who’d set it into motion. The oath he’d broken was a sin carved in crimson across his soul.
The van’s sliding doors rolled open, and boxes and bags were stuffed all the way to the ceiling in the back. The items pressed to the windows drab and dressed for mourning.
Meems buckled Brody into his seat and Elena climbed into the van on the other side to take hers.
His attention jerked up when the screen door clacked, and Silas came out to stand at the top step.
It seemed impossible that someone’s expression could be so flat. Void of emotion yet still bristling with hate. As if something had broken open inside that the rest of him couldn’t recognize.
