Page 67 of Cruel Secrets

“Royce, I don’t want to be the one to hurt you. I like you. I see a lot of myself in you.” He slips his hand into his pocket, closing it around the knife. “You would have potential if you were willing to turn your back on your family.”

“Over my dead body.”

Noah shakes his head, mock sympathy on his face. “There’s only one way that this is going to end, and that’s with your family dead. Tell Aiden that he can shove his negotiations up his ass.”

“I don’t think you’re in the position to demand things when members of your family are missing, do you?” I lean against the post once more, but I’m tense, listening for movement at the other end of the aisle.

Even though I hate the bastard, Noah is smart. He’s not going to start a scene in here. Not one that would get the police called and both of us arrested.

Instead, he steps closer to me. “I want Gia and Bianca back. Either you bring them to me by sundown, or I’m going to be paying a little visit to the house on the river and you’ll be lucky if I allow you to die.”

My spine stiffens as I stand straighter.

The air leaves my lungs as he slams his fist into my stomach before spinning on his heel. His man at the end of the aisle disappears, letting him through.

Within a minute, Noah is outside and getting into a sleek black car, rolling down the window to look at me one last time before he drives away.

I stand tall, taking a deep breath before calling Aiden. “We have a problem. Noah is here in Devil’s Hole. I’m going to get them out, but he knows where we’re staying. Gave me until sundown to take care of business.”

“Can you get them out?” Aiden asks, the sound of an alarm going on in the background. “He didn’t see either of them, did he?”

“No. He only suspects that they’re with me, but this is going to be confirmation.” I head out of the store to a motorcycle sitting near the curb.

Thankfully, the keys have been stored in the compartment beneath the seat.

Aiden sighs. “Get them out of there as fast as you can. Get somewhere safe but avoid the houses we have. Someone is leaking locations to the Rinaldos, and we can’t take the risk anymore.”

“Got it.”

I end the call and turn the phone off, stuffing it in my pocket before gunning the bike to life. The loud rumble fills the air as I turn in the direction of home.

Don’t let me be too late.

Though I don’t think Noah is a man of his word, I have to believe that he will wait until sundown to attack.

I just have to get to the house faster than him and get Bianca and Gia out.

My heart races as I twist the throttle, the bike shooting forward faster as I weave through the sleepy little town traffic.

The winding road that leads back to the house doesn’t have a single car on it. The forest blurs on either side of me, the icy wind tugging at my jacket as I go faster.

As soon as I stop at the top of the driveway, I turn off the motorcycle and let it fall to the side, taking the stairs to the front door two at a time. The car is in the driveway, but that doesn’t mean that Noah and his men didn’t get here first.

My heart pounds in my chest, blood rushing in my ears. The world around me comes down to what’s in front of me as I grab the handle.

I’m half expecting to walk in to find an empty home, Matt dead in the hallway after trying to defend Gia and Bianca.

It feels like I can’t breathe as I twist the knob and step inside.

Please don’t let them be dead.

CHAPTERNINETEEN

GIA

The charcoal fallsfrom my fingers, leaving black smudges on the beige couch as the front door slams open, banging against the wall.

Fuck.

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