"Hey, I should go," I told Cass regretfully. "Stay safe out there, okay? Stay out of sight." We badly didn't need whispers getting back to Chase or the Reapers that Cassiel Saint was, in fact, alive and kicking.
"Understood," he replied with an edge of amusement. "I'll see you soon."
He ended the call as I narrowed my eyes at the screen. What the fuck did he mean by that?
"Hey, you coming to join us or just standing there enjoying the view?" Lucas called out, swinging down from the bar he and Zed had been doing their pull-ups on.
I pushed the door the rest of the way open and placed my hands on my hips. "Why do I get the feeling you two are working through some macho bullshit that I want no part of?"
Zed scoffed a laugh. "Who are you trying to fool, Boss? You live for the macho bullshit. Come on, show us what you've got." He jerked his head to the pull-up bar in challenge, and I ground my teeth together. Fucking prick knew I couldn't resist showing him up.
Rolling my eyes, I tossed my phone down on the mat and tugged my sweatshirt off. Underneath, I just wore a sports bra and a pair of yoga pants. The tight pants held my ice pack nice and secure, but the fucker was already warming up. I'd need to go and swap it for a fresh one after I trounced both Zed and Lucas in their silly competition.
As it was, we’d barely even gotten started when my phone started ringing again on the mat. I dropped immediately, practically throwing myself across the room when I recognized the ring tone. There were only a handful of people important enough to get a specific ringtone, and the one echoing through the gym above the music was Seph's.
Considering she still thought I'd shot Cass in cold blood and had vowed never to speak to me again, whatever she was calling for had to be important.
"Seph!" I exclaimed, grabbing my phone and answering the call in one quick motion as I hit the mat on my belly. "Seph, hey, I'm here. What's happened?"
For a second she didn't reply, and I worried that I'd missed the call. But then the ragged sound of her sobs caught my heart in a vice and twisted it to the point of physical agony.
"Dare," she croaked between sobs. "I think I'm in trouble."
26
Panic washed through me in dizzying waves as I scrambled to my knees, the phone clenched between my fingers tight enough I was in danger of breaking it.
"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 on the ground, Demi was trying to drag me away. But I didn't want to leave MK." She paused but kept going before Lucas needed to prompt her again. "When we got back to the house, everyone was yelling and angry, and I just... I felt so bad that MK got hurt because of me. If they weren't babysitting me, none of that would have happened. Then Kody said something about Demi's home almost being blown up, and... I..."
My breath rushed out in a long exhale. I knew exactly what she'd done.
"You ran away, didn't you?" I asked in a deathly cold voice. Anger was starting to override my fear, and that would only make me stronger in dealing with this.