Page 80 of Risky Passion

I grinned as quiet satisfaction bloomed in my chest. “I know stuff too, Jaxson.”

The car bumped over another pothole, but he didn’t flinch. His eyes stayed locked on the dark, winding road ahead, lit faintly by the glow of the moon.

“So,” I pressed, and as his jaw flexed, worry etched into his expression, “who the hell is she?”

Rage contorted his features. “Someone who’s about to wish they’d never messed with us.” His tone was ice-cold, lethal.

The tension in the car became suffocating as I wondered if our near-death experiences were really over.

Or was the worst yet to come?

CHAPTER 21

Jaxson

Slowing the carto a crawl,I leaned forward, scanning the overgrown bushes and trees that crowded the roadside. “Look for a break in the trees,” I said to Tory. “It’s easy to miss the orphanage driveway.”

“Okay.” She leaned forward, peering through the windshield. I didn’t know why her presence made me breathe a little easier, especially when my gut twisted into knots that didn’t let up. And wouldn’t until I knew Whitney was safe.

Was Whitney still here? Alone? Under attack?

I’d made the call to leave him with the body, thinking it would be safer than dragging him into the swamp where I’d gone to find Tory. Now, with every inch closer to the orphanage, that decision felt more like a damn stupid idea.

I hoped like hell we weren’t driving straight into an ambush.

Tory pointed out the shattered windshield. “There, is that it?”

I tapped the brakes, squinting at the barely visible gap in the shadows. “Yep, that’s it.”

The pockmarked asphalt was so overgrown that the vegetation nearly swallowed the entrance entirely. I turned the wheel, easing the car onto the concealed driveway and killed the headlights. No need to broadcast ourarrival.

The tires crunched over loose gravel and every sound grated against my nerves.

The trees thinned out, and a flickering light cut through the darkness ahead.

“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath. “Fire.”

I yanked the car off the road, pulling it into the shadows beneath a cluster of trees. My breath hitched as adrenaline surged through my veins, sharp and unforgiving.

Onyx whined softly in the back seat, picking up on the tension rolling off me.

“Easy, girl,” I murmured as I unbuckled and stepped out of the car. I opened the back door, clipped her leash to her harness, and said, “Tory, if you stay here?—”

Her door clicked open.

“Tory, wait—” I started, but she was already moving toward the shadows in front of the car.

“Son of a bitch,” I hissed, grabbing Onyx’s lead. As I jogged to catch up, firelight flickered through the trees, casting chaotic shadows across the ground. Smoke billowed from several ground-floor windows, thick and black, but the far-left corner was fully engulfed with flames leaping through shattered glass like they couldn’t get out fast enough.

“Tory,” I growled, keeping my voice low and sharp.

She glanced back, and her hard expression confirmed she would not return to the car. I should have figured as much. One shoe was gone, and she limped forward, no doubt that the sharp rocks were biting into her bare foot the same way they chewed into mine.

I tightened my hold on Onyx’s leash and with my other hand locking Eddie’s Glock at my hip, I caught up to Tory.

My pulse hammered in my ears, and every instinct screamed one thing: Whitney was in a ton of trouble. Whatever we were walking into, it was fucked up.

With Onyx on point, we scrambled side by side up the driveway, sticking tight to the shadows cast by the massive trees lining the entrance.

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