liable to fuck up that pretty face.”
Rather than heed my words, he chuckled and stepped inside the room but not before checking the hallway and locking the door behind him. My antenna rose, but I said nothing as he moved across the room.
“Do me the favor, I beg you,” he griped. “At least Scarlett was lucky enough to look like our mother.”
I sighed and rubbed my throbbing temple with my thumb. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to him bitch about his father. At sixteen, it was normal to hate your parents, but in Royal’s case, he had every reason, so I took a deep breath and prayed for patience.
“Relax,” he said, reading my mind. “I’m not here for another therapy session. I have information…and questions.”
Hearing that didn’t ease my tension. Exiled and all the shit that came with it was the last thing on my mind. Lou had been missing for two days now, and it was getting harder every second not to think the worst.
“Go, bother Shane.” I was already stabbing Lou’s name and placing the phone to my ear.
“I’m pretty sure that’s the last thing you want.” His suddenly grave expression had my blood running cold as I listened to Lou’s voicemail pick up for the sixteenth time. My stomach clenched at the sound of her mockingly sweet voice telling me to leave a message.
I’d left several. All of them threatening.
I was tempted to hurl the phone across the room and watch it shatter and crumble against the wall much like my heart was doing right now.
Something was wrong. I fucking knew it.
The minute I surrendered to instinct, I felt a calm wash over me as I plotted the murders of the faceless culprits. And if I found Lou alive, God…
She was never leaving my sight again.
“Wren, man, I need you to listen to me.” Royal’s voice brought me out of the dark tunnel I was sinking further and further into.
“I’m listening.” And I was, but I couldn’t guarantee I’d hear a word he had to say.
“I overheard some of the men talking. My father’s on a rampage. Apparently, he’s pissed at you, too. Why didn’t you show up to the cabin the other day?”
“Something came up,” I bit out as I stabbed Lou’s name again. At this point, I knew she wouldn’t answer, but I kept calling anyway so that I could hear her voice. My eyes drifted closed as I listened to her recorded message for what might have been the hundredth time before hanging up and focusing on Roy.
Fox had been pissed all right. So much so that he stuck me on babysitting duty when he had an army of guards protecting the twins around the clock.
For most of the year, they were stowed away in this penthouse apartment and homeschooled. It became the Royal and Scarlett’s gilded prison since Fox barely allowed them to see the light of day. Until we eradicated Father, he wasn’t taking any chances on his heir becoming meat for Thirteen. That didn’t stop Fox from preparing his son for his future reign especially since Royal was such a devoted student. Although he hated his father, Royal was hungry for power, and that gleam in his eyes grew brighter every day.
As for Scarlett, I shuddered to think of the plans Fox had for the daughter he made clear he had no use for.
“Yeah, well, I don’t know how you’re going to get out of this one, man. He’s got everyone combing the city looking for some girl who saw him off a cop.”
“Girl? What girl?”
“I don’t know. They think she was a camper, but they didn’t find a campsite when they looked. Only tracks from the truck she was driving.”
My phone rang, and my heart leapt, thinking it might finally be Lou, but my relief was short-lived when I saw t was only my godfather. He’d been calling me nonstop for two days, but I didn’t have time for his shit either, so I hadn’t bothered picking up.
Sighing, I accepted the call and braced for another lecture. I didn’t know who was worse, Lou or Bear. “Yeah?”
“Where the fuck have you been, boy?”
“I’m in the middle of some shit. Can this wait?” Usually, I had more respect for the man who tried his best to fill my father’s shoes, but these weren’t normal times. Lou was missing, and she’d taken my sanity with her.
I didn’t understand most of his response because he shouted it so loud that even