Page 88 of Shattered Souls
He says it so simply that his lips are already on mine by the time my brain has caught up to the words. Somehow, my leg ends up hitched over his hip, and I’m grinding shamelessly against him when a throat clears, and we practically jump apart.
Face blooming, I peer around Grayson’s large frame, meeting Ava’s amused eyes. “Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to let you know my next class is in fifteen minutes.”
“Uh, right.” I clear my throat, looking anywhere and everywhere but at her. “Thanks. We’ll, erm, get out of your hair.”
Her tinkling laugh has my focus snapping back to her, eyes narrowed in a deathly glare. “Uh-huh. Good to know what you get up to when you’re dancingalone.”
She’s gone before I can correct her, and instead, I bury my face in my hands, groaning. “Let’s get out of here before we traumatize any children.”
When I finally dare to glance in Grayson’s direction, he doesn’t look the least bit chagrined. In fact, the asshole is fucking smirking as he leads me out to his awaiting car.
Royce and Logan open the front door as soon as we pull up. One look at them, and I’m throwing open the car door. “What?” I demand, jogging up the front steps. Hope threatens to choke me. “Did Dax find Aurora?”
Royce’s eyes are hard, and as they connect with mine, I know we’re finally on the right track to bringing my daughter home.
25
RILEY
Royce frowns at the sat-nav as he punches in Dax’s address. “I recognize this street,” he mutters.
“Well, yeah,” Logan states in a droll tone. “Because it’s two fucking minutes away?—”
Royce shakes his head, cutting him off even as he starts the engine and pulls the car onto the road. “It’s not that.”
He’s still obsessing about it when we pull to a stop outside the apartment building.
“Is this it?” I question, peering out the window at the red-brick building. There’s nothing untoward about it, nothing that particularly stands out. It’s a building like any other in Halston. There are lights on inside, illuminating various apartments, giving them a warm glow and a soft ambiance. Is this really where Bertram has been keeping my daughter?
According to Dax, Bertram and David have both been making frequent visits to this address. It doesn’t necessarily mean my daughter’s here, but it’s something.Something’shappening here.
Royce smacks his hand against the steering wheel, and I’m guessing the pieces have finally slotted together for him. “I knew it! This was the fucking address from Bertram’s computer—fromthe night we snuck into his house while you and Gray were at that restaurant with them.” He shakes his head, face twisted in anguish. “I’d dismissed it, assuming he was just stopping at a shop or to grab a coffee.”
He looks so put out, so frustrated as he beats himself up, that I lean forward from the back seat to squeeze his shoulder.
“Don’t do that. This is not on you. Until the other day, we didn’t even know he had Aurora, so why would we ever think…? Even Blue didn’t suspect anything, and he must have seen Bertram make other stops here. We’re in the middle of a town,” I plead with him. “Please don’t take this on. Let’s just go inside and see what’s in there.”
He sighs but nods. We all climb out of the car, and I follow the rest as they head inside. We enter a simple but functional lobby. Grayson heads straight to the wall of mailboxes, the rest of us lining up beside him, forming an impenetrable wall as we scan each box.
“I don’t recognize any of the names,” Royce growls.
“Same,” Logan agrees.
Neither do I. What the hell do we do now?
“That son of a bitch,” Grayson snarls so loud that I jump. Whirling, he marches toward the stairs, cursing up a storm. I dart after him, the others following.
“What is it?” I demand.
“David,” he hisses viciously. “Apartment 8 is under his fucking lackey’s name. Took me a moment to piece together his last name.”
My eyebrows hitch, and a flicker of hope ignites in my chest. After everything I’ve been through, everythingwe’vebeen through, is it going to be this simple? We’ll just storm in, Aurora will be there, and we’ll take her home.
As one, we hurry up the stairs, following Grayson down a bland hallway until he reaches what must be Bertram’sapartment. He glares at the door like it personally offended him before stepping back. Lifting his leg, he drives his foot into the wood above the handle. It splinters, the door flying inward and embedding itself in the opposite wall.
The four of us surge forward, spreading out as we search the sparsely furnished apartment. A figure appears at the end of the hallway, and I go still, my eyes raking over him. I don’t recognize him—I don’t know who he is—but Grayson clearly does.
“You disgusting piece of shit,” Grayson snarls, stomping toward the guy and fisting the front of his top. “Where is she? Where the fuck is Aurora?!” He drags him away from the hallway, and that’s when I realize Royce has a gun pointed at his head.
