Page 54 of A Captive Situation

“Wait. Wha—”

Crispin began struggling, screaming again, blood draining from his face. Penn was flailing around, shouting. Both of their voices went up a whole octave.

“Run, Uncle Toby. Run.”

Bang!

Chapter Eighteen

Jake

I was just stepping out of my car to meet with Ashton Walden when my phone buzzed.

Alert: guest bedroom window open.

Alarm went through me as I clicked over to check the video footage.

I went cold at the sight of seeing Sawyer half running and half hopping across the yard to the garage, then the shed.

My phone buzzed again.

Alert: Garage door opened.

Alert: Shed side door opened.

Alert: Shed main door opened.

I was in disbelief when my old truck drove out of the shed, with Sawyer behind the wheel. I paused the video and zoomed in to see her face. Her eyes were wild, dilated. Her hair was a mess, but her mouthwas in a set and determined line. Her face, hands, and arms were caked in blood.

Blood? What the fuck? How had that happened? Alarm spread through me.

No one did that to her. No one found her.

I tried her number, but it went to voicemail.

Where the fuck was she going?

“Do you need to be somewhere else, Worthing?” Walden asked sarcastically. A hard smirk on his face.

I glanced at him, seeing he’d raised an eyebrow toward me. He added, his voice cutting, “Am I keeping you from something else? Someone else?” His other eyebrow rose, taunting. “Maybe a Miss Sawyer Matsen, by any chance?”

I cursed, shoving my phone in my pocket. “I don’t have time for your jabs. I’m here because I found out who put the hit out on me, and he’s going to be a problem for you as well.”

The humor faded from Ashton’s face. He got serious. Dark shadows crossed over his face. “Keep going. Don’t stop at the best part.”

“Creighton Lane.”

I knew Ashton and knew when he opened his mouth, he had a sharp retort on the tip of his tongue, but the name I’d just said stopped him in his tracks. He closed his mouth and took a step back before raising an eyebrow once again to me. “Why the fuck are you saying Creighton Lane is going to be an issue for all of us?”

My phone kept fucking buzzing and I knew it was all my territory alerts notifying me of Sawyer’s whereabouts. I had a tracker on the truck, but I just didn’t know her intended target. I didn’t have time to waste here, and said quickly, succinctly, as I began heading back to my vehicle, “Turns out he’s the fucking devil, and that my family’s a bunch of scared shitheads.”

“Is that supposed to make sense to me?”

I got to my truck, opened the door, and looked in Ashton’s direction. “He found out he’s related to us. Now he wants to take over, and apparently putting a hit out on the current head is his first step.”

Ashton’s eyebrows lowered as he went very still, an ominous wave starting to rise from him.

I didn’t know what kind of relationship I had with Ashton Walden.

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