Her words ground together, biting with disdain.

  “I’m telling you this so you’re aware your mother wasn’t special. You weren’t special.”

  I was almost captivated, in a horrifying way.

  “No one worked with Peter until I came into his life.”

  I couldn’t make myself pull away, and I only wanted to hear what else she had to say. There was a point. She was getting to it. The charitable Quinn was not beside me tonight. She was an altogether different sort of animal.

  Bitterness. She was filled with that emotion. And it spilled out as she kept going, a cruelness peeking out over her face, pulling all of her features into a distorted twist. I’d never seen that on another human being. It was fascinating.

  “My father was indebted to Calhoun, but he wasn’t the reason I seduced Peter—though seduce is a broad term for Peter. I looked at him, lowered my shirt a little, and promised him he could take my ass.”

  So not needed. So not.

  Wait.

  “My father was indebted to Calhoun…”

  Seduce.

  Then a different voice, a memory. “Quinn knows Kash’s family…”

  Off. This felt off. And wrong.

  Where was Kash?

  I turned, looking for him, frowning. He was heading our way, but Victoria was there. Of course. Fucking cosmic timing, right? I expected him to pass her by, ignore, but no. That wasn’t happening. She touched his arm.

  He was bending his head toward her.

  A concerned look on his face, but his eyes lifted. He looked at me.

  She said something more, tugging on his sleeve, and he looked back at her.

  What was she doing? What was he doing?

  I was stung.

  This wasn’t normal Kash. He ignored her. He snapped at her. That was what he’d done before now. But then I flashed back to my speech. I had told him how it was going to be. I was declaring my feelings, saying he had to talk to me.

  A stab of doubt pierced me. Had I been wrong to do that?

  With horror, in slow motion, I saw him give me a hardened look before he turned and followed her.

  He followed her.

  What the hell?

  I started to go after them, but Quinn got in front of me. She blocked me, and her mouth was moving. She was still speaking.

  What was she saying?

  She kept on. “He was only too eager. It wasn’t hard work to ensnare Peter, make him fall in love with me, or at least give him all the promises that he wanted. Infidelity was part of our agreement. I was fine with him being with other women. It was what I could offer that Colleen couldn’t. Your father had never curbed his need for women, still hasn’t, though his focus has been more singular lately.”

  What was going on here?

  Why was Quinn coming to me, telling me all this? Why now? Or—a lump was forming in my stomach—why here?

  Because she felt safe.

  No. I dismissed that thought, though it came to me in a whisper, from the back of my mind. That made no sense. None of this was making sense.

  “Arcane was sent by someone who knows my grandfather…”

  “Everything’s been fine. Everything’s been wonderful. Peter could fuck whoever he wanted, but so could I.” She paused now, looking at me again. Her eyes narrowed to slits. “That was, until your last essay to get that Phoenix Tech scholarship for graduate school. You talked about the father you never had, the lie your mother told you.”

  I wrote that essay so long ago.

  Go, get Kash.

  That thought nagged at me, speaking up in the back of my mind.

  It was a personal piece. We had to include our mentors growing up, along with the prospects of a proposed graduate project. The best of the best didn’t have to go to school, not in this career path, but Chrissy pushed school. She wanted a degree by my name, said education was the best way to cement your future. She didn’t understand the technology world, but as long as I could continue going to school with those scholarships, I went. I went for her, and I had learned it was my real father who had paved the way.

  And that essay.

  I should get Kash. It was more insistent now.

  I talked about the father Chrissy told me about, the one who had fought for our country and died in an attack. She gave me names and credentials, and she had friends from the VFW who helped along her lie. She talked about my father and I poured all of that into that essay, saying I wanted to help our country but in a different way. I wanted to use the skills I had to continue his work, and I was just now remembering it.

  My voice was so small. “Peter read that essay?”

  “Quinn knows Kash’s family…”

  “Read it?” She snorted. “He was infuriated by it. It pissed him off that he’d been replaced by a military hero. Your father isn’t a perfect man. He has faults, but he does have good qualities, and stepping back, respecting your mother’s wishes so you could have a normal and safe life, was hard for him. I had to respect him for it. He was trying, but he has an ego. He has pride, and learning how you were, that you were being guided by a memory of a lie, it set something off in him. He started talking more and more about that time with your mother. He started watching you more. He’d always kept tabs, but it was more. He asked Kash to personally take an interest, and once Kash started, he became captivated. I knew we were headed down a bad path.”

  Kash?

  “Arcane was sent by someone who knows my grandfather…”

  He’d been watching me that whole time?

  I looked over to where he was, but he wasn’t there. An alarm sliced through me, but it wasn’t enough. Kash wouldn’t have stepped away, not completely. He would have worried about me, made sure I was fine.

  But he wasn’t there. In fact, the entire group wasn’t there. They were gone.

  I looked around, now seeing we were almost completely alone.

  “Quinn knows Kash’s family…”

  I was being plagued. Haunted.

  What was happening?

  “Drew Bonham is right now causing a scene at the front gate.”

  Drew?

  What?

  I was confused, but then she kept going. “Victoria has probably pulled Kash into a bedroom. I’ve no doubt she’s trying to seduce him. No one is here to save you. No one is here to rescue you. At this moment, Drew is doing what he was told to do. So while you think you’re safe because everyone is around, they’re not.” She was so cold, but smug at the same time. “They’re all running, at this very moment, in the opposite direction. Away from you. And you, my dear, are completely alone.”

  Drew …

  His name was familiar …

  Get Kash now!

  Bonham.

  Thoughts and pieces of the puzzle were fitting, forming— clicking.

  Drew Bonham. The husband. Matthew.

  The guy who tried to poison Matt, whose wife was sleeping with Matt—was helping Quinn now?

  I was going to be sick.

  Cold sweat dripped down my back.

  “Arcane was sent by someone who knows my grandfather…”

  “Quinn knows Kash’s family…”

  The voices. The memories. Round and round.

  “My father was indebted to Calhoun…”

  Round.

  Again.

  And then, nothing.

  Calm.

  Silence.

  I knew.

  I knew who hired the kidnappers.

  Her smile was evil, her words soft. “You’re a very stupid little girl, aren’t you?”

  It was too late to get Kash.

  FIFTY-FIVE

  Quinn’s words were cutting, but she was smiling, speaking them almost lovingly, and she reached over, resting her hand on my arm. Then she grabbed me in a tight grip and reached forward, pressing something into my side.

  I felt a sharp pain before jerking away. “What—”

  She grabbed for me again, jerking me to her and hissing under her breath, “You are a problem. He was supposed to poison you that night, not stupid Matthew. He wasn’t supposed to have found out his wife was fucking my stepson. I mean, my God, why would he care? He was fucking me, but he wasn’t the only one.

  “You have no idea how many years of planning you have royally fucked up. You weren’t supposed to come into my family and mess everything up. I was set for life. I have no problem that Peter likes to screw around. I enjoy it too. Hell, sometimes we share. But that was all until you came, until your father started remembering your mother, until he started feeling all these insidious feelings, like love, and suddenly he’s getting other sorts of ideas, like commitment and monogamy. He wants to be a role model for his children growing up.”

  She laughed, so harsh and ugly sounding. “He wants to be a new man, a better man.” She drew in a sharp breath at that word. “He’s being foolish, but once you’re gone, which I put into action a long time ago, he’ll go back to how he was. He’ll be heartbroken, and there I will be. Knowing him, knowing all his little guilty desires he enjoys, I’ll have him wrapped around my finger once more. You were never supposed to even be a problem. I wanted you taken care of before your father made the final decision to reach out to you, but stupid fucking Arcane. They messed up.”

  I almost couldn’t keep up.

  The outside was beginning to swim around me, moving in circles.

  Quinn’s voice was looming, her face and body growing up to a giant size.

  She had drugged me. That’s what the prick had been. And now she was spewing out everything.

  She was behind the kidnapping attempt.

  Because of my essay, because Peter was starting to think of coming for me.

  And he loved my mother. Was that right?

  But Kash.

  She said things about Kash.

  What else about Kash? Other planning for years? Was that all about Peter?

  I couldn’t run away. I turned, trying to, but I was falling. I was going to face-plant on the patio brick. That was going to hurt.

  But then someone caught me, and I was being whisked up into the air.

  I looked, feeling a strong chest behind me.

  Kash, I thought.

  But no.

  It was the guard from before. Helms. The one Kash had suspended.

  He was speaking over me to Quinn. “Did you have to drug her?”

  “Shut up. Arcane is in the back, behind the DJ’s van. I got them in and now I’m delivering her to them. I’ll expect a steep discount for doing their work.”

  “What if you dosed her too much? They’re hoping Calhoun will want to meet her.”

  “Don’t be stupid. Kash’s grandfather has no idea this was in the works. There’s no way Calhoun Bastian would sign off on this. Too many strings. Hurry. Drew was supposed to do enough to distract everyone, and Kash is distracted too, but they won’t all be gone for long. I talked too much. Get her out of here.” She snapped one last time: “Now!”

  Helms cursed under his breath, and he was going fast, carrying me around the back of the house. Or I thought? I could still make out a little, but the woozy factor was strong. I was going to be sick. I was sweating and shivering and moaning, and the guard was trying to tell me to shut up.

  I wasn’t listening.

  I’d been drugged.

  Shit. I’d been drugged! I needed to get out of there.

  Kash!

  Quinn was psychotic. I had to tell everyone. I had to save them.

  She’d do it to someone else.

  No. I had to save myself.

  I was going to die—that last one helped. Primal fear coursed through me and I started struggling. Or I started trying harder. I was swinging around. My arms. My legs.

  I could try and headbutt the guy even.

  Helms cursed, tucking me more firmly against his side, trapping me completely so I couldn’t fight even a little bit. “Fucking bitch. She should’ve drugged you, then lied and told you I was carrying you to bed. Why the hell’d she have to spill all that to you?”

  I wasn’t answering. I couldn’t. But I could do something else. My mouth was pressed into his neck and, rearing back, opening my mouth wide, I sank my teeth into him.

  He screamed, jerking and dropping me.

  As soon as I was clear, I was screaming alongside of him.

  The sound that came from him sounded like an animal having its skin pulled off while alive.

  “What the fuck?”

  A rush of feet came around the back. I could see them on the ground. The same boots, and I was back there, back in my old house.

  Boots was coming. Literally.

  Then I recognized the voice from before. It was the boss. Arcane.

  “Shut her up!” A hand came down hard on my mouth.

  I bit that too, and he cursed. “Damn it!”

  A piece of tape was slapped on me, hard enough that I felt tears falling down my face from the force. I could smell blood. Just didn’t know if it was mine or not, and the stars above were circling again. They were almost a complete line by themselves—they were going that fast.

  Arcane bit off a growl. “Are you serious? You scream like that and drop the cunt?”

  “She just took an entire chunk of skin out of my shoulder. This bitch.” Helms rotated, bringing his foot back and kicking me in the side.

  Pain blinded me, tearing the breath out of me.

  It also helped push back against the drug.

  Rough hands grabbed me, and I was hauled back in the air. I would have bruises everywhere tomorrow … if I had a tomorrow.

  I got a glimpse of the guy holding my legs. Clemin. Boots hadn’t moved, so I was assuming it was Rafe who was grabbing the top of me. They were both running now. I was being jostled in their holds, but they only tightened their grips. A van door was being opened. I heard the squeak and I was thrown inside.

  It was completely dark.

  They jumped in behind me. I heard rustling sounds. God. That was a tarp.

  This was it. This was the end.

  The doors were shut behind. Then the van was starting.

  “Everyone down. Guards are going to do a quick scan.”

  That was Boss. Arcane again.

  Was Chase here?

  All of this—they were going to win.

  Quinn was going to win. Kash was going to blame himself. Chrissy would be heartbroken. My dad, Cyclone, Seraphina—they’d be scarred. Matthew. Oh, man. Matthew. He’d blame himself.

  This couldn’t happen, but I couldn’t move.

  I couldn’t make a sound.

  The drug was winning.

  A polar bear was racing to me, and I had enough wits about me to know that was a hallucination. Then, suddenly, there was a screech behind us.

  The van came to an abrupt stop.

  Cursing. Shouting.

  Doors were being yanked open.

  They were gone.

  I heard them running. Was that the pounding I heard?

  Then—hands. Gentle hands.

  “Oh my God, Bailey.”

  Kash.

  It was Kash.

  I started crying. I couldn’t stop myself even if I wanted. I’d been drugged.

  Kash was lifting me up, being so gentle and tender and loving. He was in front of me. He was holding me, and touching my face, cursing, and then murder. Just straight murder.

  He left.

  More pounding.

  People were still running?

  I heard Matthew calling his name.

  Another voice. I couldn’t make out their words anymore. I could only make out who was who.

  Peter.

  “God. I’m so sorry.”

  Who was crying.

  Chrissy? My mom?

  There were others.

  Someone was screaming.

  Kash was back. He wrapped me up in a blanket, covering me, though I didn’t know why, and he was moving away from the crowd.

  When had a crowd formed?

  But I was safe.

  And as Kash was looking down at me, with an emotion I knew he wasn’t ready to tell me yet, I knew I could go. Finally.

  “Bailey!”

  His shout sounded so far away …

  And then I was gone.

  FIFTY-SIX

  ““Bailey.” A whisper.

  “Bailey.” Again.

  My name kept coming to me, pulling me back from the dark. I was swimming to the surface, and with a last kick, I pushed through. My eyes opened, but I was back in the dark. No. Wait. It was a bedroom.

  A soft glow filtered under the bedroom door and, feeling my entire body aching, I sat up, reaching over to turn on something. There had to be a lamp. At least a nightstand to help me get my bearings. I felt something—there it went. I heard a thump as I knocked something over, feeling the splash on my hand.

  Crap. Someone must have put out a glass of water for me.

  Finally feeling a lamp, I switched it on, and it took me another few seconds to figure out where the hell I was.

  I was in a bed. Red sheets. A red armchair in the corner.

  Yeah …

  I had no idea where I was, but I heard voices out in the hallway, so, sitting up, I took inventory of myself. Plaid sleeping pants. A baggy T-shirt. BROOKLEY COMPUTER CLUB, WE BYTE BACK stared back up at me. My mother had changed me, or insisted that whoever did put these clothes on. They were the same pajamas I slept in in high school. Damn. I could still fit in these clothes? Hell to the yeah!

  A different sort of damn hit me.

  Rushing to the bathroom, I paused in the doorway, grabbing hold of the frame for a second. A wave of dizziness hit me and I was blinking back stars. I’d stood up too soon, so I quickly sat and did my business. Gravity realigned with me. Then I looked in the mirror, after washing up, and I blanched.

  I totally and completely did a Golden Girls.

  My hair could have laid eggs for eagles. There were scrapes and bruises all over my body. I pulled the front of my shirt and looked down. Shit. The bruises extended all the way down too. And now it was like my brain was catching up to what I was seeing, because I was aching everywhere. My fingernails hurt. My cuticles were angsty. The dead skin on my heels—yes. Even those were in pain.

  Every single cell and nerve were in agony. I could hear them in my head. They were all saying, “Bailey, what did you do to us? We want a spa. Bailey. Spa. Bailey. Spa. Spa … spa…”