Right then, the cab pulls up the circular driveway and just as the car rolls to a stop, the cabdriver says, “Is it safe to—”
I don’t hear the rest of what he says. I race out of the cab and run up my parents’ front limestone steps, my heart beating a mile a minute. I don’t waste a second. I wrap my hand around the cool metal handle and fling the door open.
Immediately, I know my instincts weren’t wrong. One look at the wall tells me the alarm is off. And my parents never leave the door unlocked. Ever.
Slowly, I enter the foyer, leaving the door open for when Ryder’s team arrives. I scan the area from left to right, and there’s just nothing going on in the century-old house. No movement. No voices. Nothing.
My throat tightens, and the air becomes harder to inhale as I quietly move forward. I listen to every noise…every little creak of the historic house. It’s all normal, exactly as I remember the house that’s been passed down through my father’s side of the family for three generations, until I reach the living room.
That’s when I find my dad. He’s sitting on his beloved chair, the television set turned to the baseball game. But that’s not all I see.
Blood.
And it’s all over my father.
Chapter 13
Ryder
“Get your hands up,” I yell the second I step off the thin stairs and enter the motorboat’s cabin. “Get your fucking hands up.”
From his spot behind a metal U-shaped desk taking up the majority of the living quarters below deck, the kid’s hands shoot straight up into the air. “Okay, they’re up. They’re up.”
I keep my gun aimed at his head. “Move and I shoot, you little shit.” Of course, I wouldn’t injure him unless I had to, though part of me wants to. For Hadley. To avenge all the wrongs done to her. Even to state to the world that I’m protecting her now and no one should dare threaten her again.
Swiftly and cautiously, I move in closer, scanning the small cabin quickly. Chip bags and soda cans cover the tiny galley kitchen on my left, and clothes are scattered on the small bed to the right. He’s here alone, that much I know.
I stop a foot away from the back of his black mesh office chair, with Shawna and Lee behind me, my gun still aimed at his blond head. There’s no other noise around us, now that the kid’s fingers are no longer clicking against the keyboard. The remainder of my team remain outside, keeping an eye on anyone walking down the boardwalk who might be coming our way.
“Stand up,” I tell the kid, “and don’t be stupid and make any sudden moves. There’s a gun aimed at your head.”
He rises, hands still in the air. And dare I say I see a bit of tremble to them, too.
“Now turn arou
nd slowly,” I order.
He spins like a ballerina in a jewelry box, until he’s facing me. I can’t say I hate the Captain America T-shirt he’s wearing, but on him, it only makes him look the nineteen years old that I suspect him to be. His jeans are torn at the knees, and the fact that he’s wearing only socks tells me he had no plans of leaving anytime soon. “Do you have any weapons?” I ask.
“No.” He shakes his head, eyes wide with worry. “No. None.”
“Lee.” I gesture him forward with a flick of my chin, and Lee moves up and quickly pats down the kid, who’s now lost all color to his oval-shaped face.
“He’s clean,” Lee finally says, quickly using flexicuffs to restrain the kid’s arms behind his back.
After Lee deposits him into the chair he’d been sitting in, I holster my gun and explain simply, “Listen, kid, I have run out of time.” I lean against the wall and cross my arms, giving him the glare he deserves. “I’m going to ask you some questions. If you answer them honestly, we won’t have a problem. If you don’t, we will have a big problem that won’t end well for you. Got it?”
“Okay.” The kid nods frantically, bottom lip trembling. “Yeah, yeah. Okay.”
It’s been quite a while since I’ve dealt with anyone so young. The fact that he still hasn’t asked for my credentials shows his immaturity. Of course, him thinking I’m a cop can only work to my advantage now. “What’s your name?”
“Caleb Lupa.”
“Caleb, I know you have a video in your possession of Hadley Winters engaging in sexual acts with two men. I know that you’ve hacked her computer and threatened to release the video if she didn’t get her father to retire. I also know that you are likely not the person behind this blackmail. Tell me who hired you for this job.”
“I don’t know.”
I watch him intently, looking for signs that he’s lying. It doesn’t take long to realize that all I find is a terrified kid, who’s in way over his head. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”