“That was your last warning,” Allen spat.
I stuttered to a stop, tears sliding down my cheeks. There was no way I could win. My wound throbbed, and my whole body shook. Beckett’s face flashed in my mind. I let my eyes fall closed for a moment. Why hadn’t I been brave enough to give him the words he deserved? He’d been so determined to always have the truth between us. But hiding this from him had been the ultimate lie.
I opened my eyes and stared at the swirling water in front of me. I’d hidden my feelings away when I should have shouted them from the rooftops. “I love you, Beckett,” I whispered to the water, hoping it would somehow carry the words to him, that he would somehow know the truth.
My father grabbed my shoulder and yanked me around. His hand lashed out, slapping my face
so hard I tasted blood. Fury blazed in his eyes. “You. Belong. To. Me. Your whore of a mother thought she could leave me, too. I’ll teach you the same lesson I taught her if I have to.”
Sharp shards of ice slid through my veins. “W-what?”
His grip on me tightened. “She tried to leave. Tried to take you with her. She had to be punished.”
It wasn’t possible. “She left me a letter. Her favorite necklace.”
A cruel smile stretched across Allen’s face. “I thought the letter was a nice touch. Told her if she didn’t write it, I’d put a bullet in your brain.”
“Where is she?” My voice trembled, but I somehow managed to get the words out.
His grin only grew. There was true evil in it. “About twenty feet behind you. You thought you were the only one who knew about these falls? That you and your mother could hide here? I always knew. It seemed poetic to let the water swallow her for all eternity.”
46
BECKETT
Hayes adjusted his hold on the steering wheel and glanced in my direction. “I need you to dial it back a notch. It won’t help any of us if I have to arrest you for decking Allen.”
I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than deck Allen, but I kept my mouth shut. It had taken a miracle to get him to let me come along for the search as medical personnel. Hadley and Jones were behind us in their ambulance, along with more than half a dozen sheriff’s department vehicles. Everyone wanted to help. But none of it was enough.
Three days. Seventy-two hours. Four thousand three hundred and twenty minutes. I was too exhausted to try to figure out the seconds, even if I could call on my inner math nerd.
Each of the seconds that ticked by would be forever carved into my bones. Wondering, waiting, crawling out of my skin. I’d joined every search party I could, but after losing Addie’s scent in the creek, we hadn’t found a single clue.
Hayes had finally found a witness who had seen Brandon in the vicinity of Kemper ranch, and it had been enough to convince a judge to issue a search warrant. I let my eyes close for a moment. Addie’s face filled my mind, the way the skin around her eyes would crinkle when she truly laughed. How her lips would part when I touched her.
“Are you sure you can handle this? You haven’t slept in days, and you’re hanging on by a thread.”
My eyes flew open at my brother’s words. “You couldn’t keep me away if you tried.”
“I could always shoot you.”
“I’d just follow you with a limp.”
Hayes pulled to a stop in front of the Kemper house and gripped my shoulder. “We’re going to find her.”
His tone held less assurance than it had two days ago. Even Hayes was starting to lose faith.
It didn’t matter. I would hold onto that faith for both of us. Addie was out there. I knew it in my bones. Knew I would’ve felt it if she were gone from this Earth.
“She’s here, or Allen knows where she is.” I was sure of it.
Hayes glanced down at the two pieces of paper in the cupholder. One was a search warrant for Kemper ranch and all the vehicles housed there. The other was a warrant for Allen’s arrest. “We’ll ask the questions, but he may lawyer up and refuse to speak. He’s not exactly a fan of ours.”
“If we piss him off enough, he might slip up.”
“True.” Hayes zeroed in on me. “You can’t make this physical.”
A muscle in my jaw ticked, and I pushed open my door. “I won’t.”