voice vibrating with anger. Rage. “Any luck finding the girl?”
“Not yet. We just missed her at two different stops. I was hoping Cal could do his computer wizardry to track a number but Bonnie’s being a real bitch right now. What’s up with her?”
She’d been quiet at dinner lately, but things were too crazy in my life right now to worry about a sullen pregnant woman.
Sadie sighed. “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s pregnancy hormones. Maybe it’s everything else on top of being pregnant. I’ll keep an eye on her; just tell me what you need.”
I couldn’t help but smile at how Sadie always managed to be top dog of a huge empire while also playing the part of doting mother. She was a fucking hero in my book, and one day I hoped to be just as bad ass. “I just need to track down Madison and then we’ll come home so I can deal with…everything else.”
A sympathetic sigh sounded down the line and that one sound nearly unraveled my resolve. “It’s not your fault, Kat.”
“I know,” I said. “But I still need to help her and to do that, I have to find her.”
“You can’t save everyone, Katherine, dear, but I know you know that, so I’ll just say this. Be safe. Please.” There was a commotion on the other end of the line and then shouting. And then Sadie.
“God, have mercy, what happened to him?” My gaze slid to Terry, who’d been pretending not to listen. The phone crashed to the floor and there was mayhem on the other end of the line. It was pure fucking chaos and my heart beat so loud it muted everything else, even Terry’s words.
Please don’t let it be one of my brothers. It was the closest I’d ever come to praying but I figured the good the Ashbys did in the world had to outweigh all the bad.
“Emmett! Who did this?” Virgil’s voice came through loud and clear and I tapped the speakerphone button. A few smacks sounded loud in the quiet of the car and then Virgil’s voice again. “Emmett just give me a fucking name, man. A name!”
“Ma!” I shouted, my voice frantic and worried. “Pick up the damn phone!”
Someone picked up the phone about a minute later. “Kat?”
“Maisie, thank fuck. What’s going on?”
Maisie sniffled, and I braced myself for bad news. “Someone beat up Emmett. Really bad, Kat. He looks…bad.”
Shit. I turned to Terry again and the dark look on his face said he was ready to head back to Glitz, with or without me.
“He’s all right, though? Is the doctor there?”
“Oh his way,” Maisie said through her own tears. “He’s just real bloody and bruised, not stabbed or shot or anything. Virgil said Terry is with you?”
“Yeah, he heard everything.”
Maisie gasped. “Shit, I’m so sorry, Terry. We’ll take care of him.”
“Thanks, Maze.” His voice was tight with tension, with emotions he’d never let show in front of me or anyone else.
“Keep me posted,” I told her and ended the call. Terry’s fists were balled tight, and I knew what had to be done. “Take the car and head back to Glitz, I’ll rent one.”
“First of all, I’d never find a place open at one in the morning. But more important, you know I can’t just leave you here after what just happened. Not to mention what happened last night.”
But that didn’t change the fact that he was worried about Emmett. I was too, but Emmett would be fine as soon as the doctor fixed him up.
“You’re worried and you want to see that Em’s all right with your own eyes. Go.”
His lips pulled into a crooked smile and he laid a hand on my shoulder. “I appreciate the thought, Kat, but I’m good.”
There it was, that damn condescending tone. Again. “I appreciate the thought, but I don’t need a damn babysitter.”
But that argument would never get any traction because his loyalty was to Jasper first and foremost. Probably forever.
“Fine. Let’s go back to Glitz, then.” I’d have to double back which would decrease my chances of finding Madison, but I had to do this for Terry. “I said let’s go,” I told him and fastened my seatbelt before I turned my gaze out the window, hoping against hope that I spotted Madison in some passing truck, or running along the side of the highway.
I’ll find you, Madison, I promise.
Chapter Fourteen
Terry
The drive back to Glitz was quiet and tense. My thoughts were mostly on Emmett. I knew Jasper