Page 93 of Beautifully Broken Control

His words sliced at my skin, barbs that dug in and tugged. Because he wasn’t wrong. When I tried to picture a life without Kennedy, it was empty and dull, a gray-scape. She painted my existence with the most vivid splashes of color. I’d lived too long with the gray. I wanted the color.

Life with Kenz meant the simplest things being full of joy. There might be pain, but there was also laughter and love and so much passion, it scorched my skin. Was I really ready to numb everything, even the good, so that I didn’t have to remember the bad? The bad was still there. Haunting. Dogging my heels everywhere I went. Life with Kennedy just meant I’d have to expose it to the light. “I’m an idiot.”

Tuck threw up his hands. “Praise, Jesus, he has a brain in there, after all.”

Walker chuckled. “I knew he’d come around.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out.

Dante:Found your boy trying to cross the border into Canada on a fake passport. Border Patrol has him and will be sending him back to the cops in Portland. Need anything else?

I let out a breath. At least one problem had been solved.

Me:Nope. Just send me a bill.

Dante:I always do.

I slipped my phone back into my pocket. My company was cleansed. I could start the next phase of programming without having to look over my shoulder. So why wasn’t I more relieved? Because everything was just a little empty withouther. I wanted to build that headquarters here in Sutter Lake, but I wanted to do it with Kennedy by my side.

I ran a hand through my hair and stood. I needed to fix this. And that could only be done face-to-face. If I had to haul every skeleton out of my closet, I would. Hell, I’d fly us to Portland and take her to Dr. Murphy with me if I had to. I just needed to make this right.

Tuck’s brows drew together. “Where are you going? Don’t you want your donut?”

“I need to fix this.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!”

Before I could tell Tuck that he was an idiot, Walker’s phone rang out in the mostly silent kitchen. “Hey, Little J. What’s up?”

The sounds from the other end of the line were so loud, Walker had to pull the phone away from his ear. “Slow down. What’s wrong?”

My body locked, but Tuck went absolutely wired. “What’s going on?”

Walker held up a hand to silence him as his eyes hardened. “Okay. Everything’s going to be all right. We’re on our way. Stay where you are.”

We were already moving. This brotherhood didn’t need to know exactly what had happened to show up for one another, we only had to know there was a need.

As soon as Walker hung up, Tuck was on him. “What’s going on? Why didn’t Wilder call me?”

Walker pulled the front door open. “Because I’m the deputy chief of police in this town, not you.” His gaze flicked to me. “Something happened to Kennedy.”

My steps stuttered as we hit the stairs, my blood turning to ice. “What do you mean?”

“Get in my truck.”

I didn’t argue, I wanted to get to Kennedy as fast as I could, and Walker had a siren on his rig. We all piled in. “Talk.”

Walker turned over his key, and the engine roared to life. I was already keying in commands on my phone to open my gate so we didn’t have to stop. “When J got to the Kettle, Kenz wasn’t waiting for her in the kitchen. She just figured she’d overslept because she’d been upset the night before.” My chest burned at his words. Upset because I’d hurt her. Caused her pain because I was a coward.

Walker pressed down on the accelerator as soon as we cleared the gate. “But then she heard Chuck whimpering.” My gut twisted to the point of pain. “She went upstairs to check on them and found the door wide open. There’d been a struggle. Chuck’s hurt.” He paused, and I kept staring straight ahead, willing the truck to go faster. “Kennedy’s gone.”

I didn’t say a word. Couldn’t. They wouldn’t form on my tongue. She was gone. Someone had hurt her. Because, yet again, I was selfish. I hadn’t been there, and now she was gone.

My mind raced in circles, chasing down every possibility I could drum up, but I kept coming back to the same thing. It had to be something to do with her father. An angry past client, maybe. A family member of someone who had ended their life. I needed to get in touch with the agent who’d been in charge of that case. I searched the recesses of my brain for his name, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember it.

“Cain. You hanging in there?” Tuck gripped my shoulder from the backseat. I gave a small jerk of my head. “We’re going to figure this out. We’ll find her.”

We would. There was no other option. I would burn the world down around me until we did. And whoever had invaded Kennedy’s home. Scared her. Hurt her. Took her. I was going to rain hell down on them.

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