“Stop pacing, Catalina.” Atticus’ voice is soothing while my nerves are on edge. Daniel and Dimitri left in the early afternoon, and with the sun setting and Atticus getting ready to go outside for another security check, I can’t seem to sit still.
I hate that he’s a target out there. I hate that this is even happening. I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose Atticus as quickly as I found him. He’s a part of me I can’t live without. I don’t want to live without.
“You’ll be careful?” I watch him as he pulls out a flashlight.
“I’ll be fine, little lamb.” The conviction in his voice should settle me; it doesn’t.
Striding over to me, he cocoons me in his arms, and I melt. His heat is a comfort I’ve grown used to. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. You can watch from the windows if you like.” I know he’s placating me.
“You’ll be fine,” I say, trying to convince myself.
The problem is, there’s this burning in my gut warning me that something is wrong. Terribly, horrifyingly wrong. The last time I experienced this, I found my mother dead in her bed.
The click of the door closing is like the final nail in a coffin, being lowered into the depths of hell. I don’t want him out of my sight. This sensation is not nearly as irrational as I feel, though. Danger surrounds us at every moment. Acknowledging the fear is likely what’s going to keep me alert enough to stay alive.
Grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch, I lay down and hide under the comforting material. Luna and Zoe crawl under to cuddle my feet as I do, their purring vibrating my toes as I hear West settle in the kitchen.
The howling wind blows against the cabin, rattling the windows, and I jump with each new creak or sound. It feels like hours have passed as we wait for Atticus to return.
When I finally hear footsteps climbing the front porch, I prepare to jump up and greet him, only the steps are too soft. They’re almost sneaky. Like someone is trying hard not to be heard.
I lay back down, reaching one hand between the cushions for the knife I have hidden there. Atticus may be going along with Dimitri and Daniel’s plan, but he knew there was a chance Thomas would come when he was furthest from the building.
The sound of a gunshot echoing in the woods makes me tense just as the door slams open. A man I’ve never seen is standing in the path of the blistering wind.
Thomas McCray.
“Catalina,” he hisses with so much disdain that I cringe.
Sitting up, I wait. For what I’m not sure, but I know I can’t go closer. I see West from the corner of my eye as he tenses, becoming more alert as the rigid quiet grows deadly.
“What do you want?” I snap. I will not give into the fear coursing through me. It’s how men like him get off. I won’t do it.
His laughter is harsh as he steps forward. “What I want is for the Adair Empire to crumble in burning flames. What I want is for our mother to be alive so I can slaughter the whore myself. What I want is to slit you open from belly to neck. I want to watch the light in your eyes die as you realize I’m the last thing you’ll ever see.”
I fight through the picture he paints with shallow breaths. “And I want the tooth fairy to be real. But we don’t always get to live out our fantasies.” I’m proud that the shivering in my body isn’t reflected in my words. They are steady, where I’m feeling rather weak.
As he steps farther into the room, I can tell, immediately, that he’s working off of rage rather than logic because he leaves the door open. Circling the couch I’m on, my grip on the knife tightens as he taunts me.
“Did you hear that shot?” I don’t say anything. “That’s dear old Atticus stuck in a rabbit trap. Hanging from a tree, covered in blood.” I suck in a sharp breath. This is exactly what I feared. “That fucking dog dead with him.”
East.
I fight back any tears threatening to break free. Thomas could be lying to play on my emotions and throw me off.
“I didn’t do anything to you,” I try to defend. The longer I can keep him talking the more likely I am to make it out of this alive.
“That whore messed around on my father. She should have been burned alive with you still in her belly, but like the pussy she was, she ran.”
“Shut up!” My mother was amazing. Not once did she let on that we came from this type of lifestyle. She did everything she could to give me a great life.
“Feeling defensive, are you?” He laughs like I won’t be able to do anything to him.
“You’re a sick little bastard, and so was your brother,” I snap, finally getting to my feet, the knife tucked in my back, hidden by my sweater. I can see West standing now, his shoulders hunched, teeth bared, ready to strike when I give the command.
“I’m the sick bastard?” He shakes his head. “I’m not the one who needs to be choked to get my rocks off, little sister.” I may vomit.
“You’ve been watching us?” My harsh whisper is mortified.
“You’ve got quite the sweet little body. I can see why the big bastard is so smitten.” His lips quirk, and I want to cut them off his face. The thought nearly startles me.
“Where is he?”
“Where he belongs. I should have had him killed that first time, but my time was limited.” I have to hold on to my anger, so I don’t lash out and get killed.
“What do you want?” I ask again.
“I want the Empire. I have a feeling they’ll give it to me for the life of one of their own. I made the mistake of thinking the women were their weakness. I was wrong. You see it isn’t you that I’ve been after. It’s Atticus. He’s the one who will give me everything I’ve planned so much for.”
I can feel the blood drain from my face at his words. Atticus isn’t just in danger, everything he’s worked his life for is. He won’t let his brother’s give it up, though. It’s not the man he is.
I won’t let him get himself killed, either. It’s not the woman I am. “If it’s Atticus you’ve wanted, then why risk coming here?”
Thomas’ gaze roams the room. I know the exact moment he spots West ready to strike. “He’ll kill you,” I tell him.
“He does that, and you’ll never know where I’ve left Atticus to hang for his survival.” He smirks and walks towards the open door.
“You won’t get away with this,” I say. After everything Atticus has told me that’s happened, McCray has to know he won’t escape.
“It’s no longer about whether I will or I won’t. It’s more about payback. King and his men are going to know what it’s like to lose something they treasure.”
I ache at his words. I want to shout at him to stop, beg him to take me and release Atticus. But I know it’s useless. I also know Dimitri and Daniel will do everything in their power to find him.
Tip-toeing to the door, I wait until he’s out of sight before commanding West. “Track.”
Atticus
Stupid, Atticus, really fucking stupid. I can’t believe how goddamned easy I made it for him. I’d been so focused on making sure Catalina was safe, I didn’t think for a second that Thomas might have had another objective in mind.
Me.
He’s been watching us, alright. Enough to know that Catalina was virtually untouchable, but I’m always out here. I’m the one in the open checking the perimeter. Cutting the wood, making sure the generator was working. That we had enough water in the reserves.
Not once did I think of myself as vulnerable. It wasn’t until the twig snapped under my step and the rope captured around my ankle, and I was trussed up like a fucking hog that it hit me.
My shotgun dropped, and a round went off moments before someone made their presence known with the barrel of a gun hitting my temple and knocking me unconscious. Next thing I know, I’m tethered to a chair in the middle of some shack. I have no clue where I am or what’s happened to Catalina. I do know that the longer I sit here waiting, the more the rage builds inside me.
Thomas thinks he’s got me beat. He thinks he’s won this little game of tug of war. He couldn’t be more wrong. I may be strapped down, seemingly immobile, but I’ll catch him. I’ll show him who’s going to come out on top.
Hearing steps crunching in the hard snow outside this small building, I wait anxiously for him to show his face. He’ll gloat, posture, make himself feel big. And I’ll continue to work on the rope around my wrists. I may not have been prepared to be captured today, but I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment and getting loose won’t be nearly as difficult as he’d like to think.
The door swings open and Thomas walks through looking like he just won the lottery. Until he senses my glare aimed his way.
“Your girlfriend is quite the feisty creature.” He cackles. I don’t answer, don’t move. I only watch as he walks around like the cat who ate the canary. He thinks he’s succeeded.
“She thinks you’re going to save the day.” I fucking am. “She has no idea that I couldn’t care less about any of you.” My ass. “The only thing I want anymore is to make King Adair wish he’d never crossed me.”
“Pretty sure it was the other way around, asshole.” I need him angry more than anything else. I don’t care what he has to say about anything.
“Shut up,” he hisses. The blow to my jaw isn’t surprising, but the strength behind it is. The throbbing has me shaking my head to concentrate on his ramblings.
“Why’d you come back for her?” It’s one of a few questions we don’t actually have answers for.
“The spawn?” A bark of angry laughter leaves him. “She deserves to die. Just like that whore mother of ours. She cheated on our father, and no matter the time or distance, someone needs to pay for that.”
“Let me get this straight. Twenty years after the fact, something in which Catalina literally had no control over, and she has to pay for it? You’re fucking insane, McCray.”
He shrugs, pulling a blade from his back—a sharp double-ridged hunter’s knife. I know it because up until I was trussed up like a fucking turkey, it was in my boot. “Maybe, but who’s going to die tonight?”