EVIL QUEEN - Rebel Hart Page 0,77

Alistair. They were probably the most out of the loop since Kyle, Colette, and I had all gotten bits of the story due to our associations with Brayden, Nikita, and Jaxon.

“There are two men standing against that wall. They have been following us,” Nikita said.

“What?” Alistair yelped and then turned to look at me. “How could you not tell me that?”

“I didn’t—”

“It wasn’t up to Nathan,” Kyle cut in quickly. “I asked Jaxon and Nikita to keep it down. We didn’t need the group panicking for no reason, and it was just a hunch until we found Brayden.”

“What happened when you found Brayden?” Avery asked.

“Well, the guys came to Nikki’s house,” Jaxon said, taking over. “I was nervous that they were going to try and snatch her, but I got to her first. We decided to follow them and chased them all the way into North Postings, but right as we were about to catch up to them, we saw Brayden randomly wandering down the road. Obviously, we had to stop for him, so we lost them.”

“Do you think they took Brayden?” Kyle asked.

“We don’t know if those guys took him, but the two events are definitely related,” Nikita said. “There’s no reason why Brayden would appear at that exact moment. We think wherever Brayden was, whether he went willingly or was taken, the guys in the car were able to somehow contact whoever had him and say to cut him loose as a distraction.”

“My dad,” I tacked on. “That’s my guess.”

“Do you think he’s here in Postings?” Avery asked. “I thought he would have bolted.”

“Me too,” I replied, “but when I went to my company’s board meeting back in February, his office was decorated with congratulatory decorations for me. He’s the only one with a key to the office and who can get in or out, so he’s the only one who could have done it.”

“Do…” Kyle looked at Nathan. “Do you think Brayden’s in contact with your dad for some reason? Like, of his own volition?”

“He just said something super weird to me at the end of our dance,” Nikita said. “I told him we really did love having him as part of our group, and he said, ‘That won’t last long.’”

“What?” I said. “No. There’s no way that Brayden would betray us like that.”

Kyle stood up and walked away from the table, and without even asking, we knew that he was on the way to see if he could track down Brayden. I watched the two men, but they made no attempt to move. They didn’t seem to care that Kyle had walked out.

“That confirms my theory,” Jaxon said.

“Which one?” Alistair asked.

“I think that these guys want Nikki and Cherri, specifically,” he replied.

Nikita had told me that part, though she’d left out the suspicious coincidence of what had happened right before she found Brayden. Maybe she thought I’d assume the worst and didn’t want to upset me, but it would have been nice to know before that moment. I might have kept a closer eye on him.

“What do we do?” Avery said. “Do we just live in fear until your dad decides to leave us alone?”

If I was going to pick a time to tell the table that Deon was alive, this would be it. “I have someone looking for him, so we just have to keep up with each other a little bit longer. Double down on never letting one another out of our sights. Travel in groups, and I’m going to get you guys weapons, I think, and schedule some shooting lessons, just in case.”

Jaxon raised a hand. “I have so many weapons.”

Nikita didn’t say the same, only flipped out one of her smuggled-in switchblades, twirled it in her fingers, and then flicked it away again.

“Okay, I know you two are good,” I said, “but the rest of us could use some protection.”

Colette meekly raised her hand and pointed at Jaxon. “All of our dates have been to shooting ranges, rage rooms, or battleax-making courses,” she said. “He got me a gun for Christmas.”

“That’s dark,” Alistair said.

“What greater gift is there than protection?” Jaxon asked. “I’m not about to let anything happen to this one.” He earned himself a kiss on the cheek for that.

I looked at Avery and Alistair. “You two aren’t harboring secret firearms, are you?”

“You mean since we all got cornered in your dad’s cabin in the woods where he pointed a gun at us and threatened to kill us?” Alistair asked.