"What do you mean, Seph?" I asked, keeping my voice totally calm despite fear for my sister making my limbs tremble. "What kind of trouble?"
I needed to keep some focus and perspective. Seph was dramatic as hell and thought I would be mad at her for inviting Lucas over to our apartment just a few months ago. That was her level of trouble. Besides, she was with Archer, Kody, and Steele. She was protected.
She drew another couple of shaking breaths on the other end of the phone, which did little to belie my fear, then let out a small whine. "Dare, I fucked up. I fucked up real bad and—" Her voice was becoming more panicked, more strangled with tears. Lucas crouched beside me, concern etched all over his face while Zed strode across the room to unplug his phone from the sound system.
"Seph, sweetie, calm down," I tried to soothe her. "Take a breath and tell me what happened. I promise I won't be mad." She probably crashed into someone's expensive car or something. Yeah, that's what it was. She was just doing normal teenage bullshit. Nothing a bit of cash couldn't fix.
She was crying again, and I couldn't make out her words. It was infuriating and just added to the gnawing feeling that all was not okay—that this was bigger than dumb teenage shit.
"Seph," I tried again. "Persephone. Put one of the guys on the phone."
"I-I can't," she whispered back.
Her words shocked through me like an electric bolt, and my spine stiffened. "What do you mean? Where's Archer, Seph?" I hit the speakerphone button, knowing the guys needed to hear what was going on too.
Zed let out a loud curse, smacking his fist into the punching bag near him before striding across the mats and showing me his phone. On the screen was a text message from Archer D'Ath, sent just minutes ago. Two words turned my stomach and made me want to throw up from fear.
Archer: Code Red
"Seph, tell me where you are," I demanded, panic rising in my voice as she continued crying.
"I don't know," she admitted finally, her voice small and scared. "I don't know where I am. Dare, I thought... I was so stupid. I thought I could trust him."
"Seph," Lucas spoke up, catching my gaze with a steady, reassuring look. "It's Lucas. Hayden's freaking out a bit, hun. Can you tell us if you're okay? Are you hurt?"
I swallowed hard, trying to get a lid on my emotions. But Seph was my Achilles’ heel... and Chase fucking well knew it.
"N-no," Seph replied. "No, I'm not hurt. Not yet. I'm just really scared." Her words trailed off into more soft crying that tore my heart to shreds.
"Okay," Lucas continued, his tone calm and soothing as he took the phone from my trembling hand. He didn't go anywhere with it, though. He just stayed there on the mat with me as Zed paced the room and sent furious texts on his phone.
"Seph, who are you with?" Lucas coaxed. "What's his name? Where'd you meet?"
My little sister dragged in a shaking breath, and I could almost see her trying to pull herself together. "Um, Paulo. His name's Paulo. I met him l-last w-week when we arrived in Santa Agatha. I thought he was just a normal guy. Fuck, I'm so stupid. No wonder Dare always treats me like a child."
Pain flashed through my chest, and Lucas reached out to grip my hand. He squeezed my fingers with a clear message of support.
"Okay, you're doing good, Seph," he continued, keeping that calm energy radiating through his words. "Can you tell us what happened? Where is everyone?”
"Um," she started, taking another shaking breath. "Something happened last night. We were in Sorrento for brunch, and..." She trailed off, giving a strangled sort of groan. "I don't even know what happened. One minute we were sitting there eating pastries and drinking prosecco, then... I don't fucking know. Someone threw a knife at us or something? But MK jumped in front of me, and it hit her." She started crying again, and I scrubbed my hands over my face in frustration. This was so much worse than teenage drama. So much freaking worse.
"What happened next, Seph?" Lucas prompted. "We need to know everything so we can help you."
My sister took a couple of gasping breaths, then continued her story with a shaking voice. "It was all just fucking chaos. The guys lost their shit, MK was bleeding