The fridge door is closed. There’s no sign of a scuffle in the dining room. Gun still drawn, I check room after room, finding nothing but utter silence.
My hand shaking, I pick up my phone, viewing the footage of the house, screen by screen, to see what I can find. A chill slithers over me when I see her still being attacked in the kitchen.
The kitchen where no one is…
She’s being tossed into the counter right now, and one of them swings his fist, knocking her in the cheek. But it looks…fake.
Because it fucking is fake, you stupid fucking idiot.
Cursing, I throw open the door to the garage, and find the bay door still lifted and her car gone.
A humorless laugh slips out of me, as I stop panicking and start growing really fucking pissed.
I’m even more pissed when a damn smile spreads over my lips, and I wipe it away as the frustration builds. I forgot what it felt like to admire her and hate her for making me feel like a motherfucking idiot.
She did all this to set up a damn distraction?
Lifting my phone to my ear, I call Drex, pausing next to her room when I notice a bright pink poster board hanging above her bed.
My jaw grinds as Drex answers the phone.
“What’s happening? You need the cleaning crew?” he asks instead of just answering the phone.
“No cleanup crew necessary,” I bite out. “Your sister has gotten a little better at her games.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means she set me up. Set me up real damn good and reeled me in. She left us both a note,” I tell him. “And Herrin got a note as well.”
My eyes stay focused on the bright pink sign that has a daisy drawn on it, and in the center of the daisy is the word cocksucker. Right beside it, is a note that simply states, Fuck you, Rusty Asher, you club whore. And behind that is, Daddy’s little girl will kill him before he kills her, because she’s not a little girl anymore.
“What’re the notes?” Drex asks as I throw the angel camera across the room, breaking it open.
How the hell did she do this?
“I’ll send you a fucking picture,” I tell him as my eyes land on a computer in her room.
I move to see the screen, watching as the staged fight takes a nasty turn and the guys fake-shoot her through the chest.
The blood is over-the-top red, and the spray is ridiculous.
“Why a picture?” Drex asks.
My lips curve in a small grin as I dart my gaze back over to the poster board, eyeing the cocksucker daisy the longest.
I snap a picture and send it to him from my other phone, and listen as he snorts, signaling he’s seen it.
“Rusty? I thought your real name was Rush. Why is—”
“I meant for you to pay more attention to the cocksucker daisy drawing. How does Kara Caine know about a tattoo you got since she left?” I point out.
He grows quiet for a second.
“If she knows about that, then she probably knows about our split with Pop,” he finally says.
“I don’t think so. She seemed to think I was with Herrin—” A rumble of laughter from him interrupts me, but I keep on talking. “And she left a note for Herrin, assuming I’d be reporting to him. I’m going to find her.”
“How? Do you have any idea which direction she went?” Drex asks.
“She’d go the one direction she’d think I’d never look for her. South.”
“That’s a great guess, but how are you going to find her?”
I pick up the other phone. “Because I doubt she knows we have new friends who can track GPS and all that good stuff. And you’re going to owe Maya yet another favor. The rest will be easy, because one thing I can do better than Kara is drive fast.”
I can practically feel his smile.
“Do me a favor,” Drex tells me.
“Tell me what you want, and I’ll decide if I want to do it or not.”
“Don’t let my sister kill you before you tell her we were wrong. About everything.”
Gripping the phone a little tighter, I tuck her laptop under my arm and carry it with me as I walk out, hanging up on Drex in the process.
One thing I know Kara Caine won’t do is kill me.
Otherwise, she’d have done it before she left.
Another thing I know is that I won’t be admitting I was wrong about anything until she admits she was wrong first.
I doubt that will happen after I kidnap her, tie her up, and try not to wring her damn neck.
Chapter 4
KARA
“Again, don’t worry about the paycheck,” I tell Julia as I step out of my car, leisurely walking toward the all-night diner just an hour outside of town.
I stop at the blue car in the lot, unlock it with the spare fob I have, and toss my things into the back.