Lainey: Who are you?
We all stared at the message. There was a green dot next to her name at the top. She was online. I flicked a look at the twins.
“Answer,” Liam said. “This is your plan.”
Right. My plan. I didn’t have a plan. I had a hope and prayer. Neither of which had ever done shit for me, but maybe they would for Boo-Boo.
Emersyn: Friends. She was with us the last few months.
Not much else I could offer than that. Had Boo-Boo told her about us? Anything? Fuck. Were we about to dead-end?
Lainey: She doesn’t have friends.
That was—sad.
Emersyn: Clearly, that’s a lie. She has you.
The screen bounced, but it wasn’t the connection. It was my hands. The shakes came and went. I didn’t have time for this right now. Probably should have eaten more. But food made me gag on the best days.
Lainey: How do you know that?
I stared at the words for the longest time and then shrugged. Fuck it. I wasn’t a smooth talker or a charmer.
Emersyn: Because she knows your fucking number by heart. You don’t memorize that unless they’re important. Will you help us or not?
The phone connection ended. The green light vanished. Rome stood up and picked up his chair and then flung it across the room. It hit a wall and then fell to the floor. Liam scrubbed a hand over his face.
“Well, so much for that idea.” He’d just stood when another phone rang. This time, his expression changed from exhaustion to one of resignation, or maybe it was irritation. “I have to take this.”
He stalked out of the room, pulling a phone out of his pocket. I put Boo-Boo’s phone back in front of me and stared at it.
This Lainey person would come back.
She had to.
She was Boo-Boo’s friend. Real friends didn’t let you fall alone. They jumped in after you. Sometimes, waded into the shit to drag you out. Those were the numbers you memorized.
“I have to go,” Liam said abruptly as he stormed back through the door.
“Where?” I asked but the door had already closed behind him
I frowned at it.
“He hasn’t found Starling,” Rome said. “He would have told us that.”
Great, so where the fuck else did he have to go?
Rome eventually crashed out on the sofa, and I sat next to the glass looking out over the city, with Boo-Boo’s phone still in my hand. I didn’t care how long I had to wait. If she messaged back, I was going to be right the fuck here when it came in.
The first fingers of dawn touched the sky when the phone vibrated and I snapped my eyes open. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep.
Lainey: I don’t know how much I can help.
Lainey: This is a terrible idea.
Lainey: But she’s in trouble and I want to help.
I stared at the message and something punched through my chest as I exhaled. The next three lines were an address and a phone number. Then a time to meet.
Holy shit. That was…
Shoving up from the floor, I went to Rome and kicked the sofa. He snapped his eyes open. “We gotta go,” I told him. “It’s gonna take forever to get there, but she said she’d help.”
I showed him the phone. His whole demeanor changed as he studied the message. She hadn’t waited for our answer. She was already offline. “It could be a trap,” Rome said.
“Risk I’m willing to take. You?”
He pushed off the sofa. “I’m driving.”
CHAPTER 8
EMERSYN
One Week Earlier
“Welcome home, Princess.”
My skin crawled at the affection slithering through his voice. I looked away from him and toward the window. The plane hadn’t even waited for me to be seated all the way before they headed for a runway. While planes didn’t move all that swiftly on the ground, this one seemed to accelerate. I didn’t dare look back to where Liam had been.
I’d already given my uncle enough ammunition. As it was, he said nothing. When we reached the actual runway, the pilot came on to warn the staff to prepare for take-off. Moments later, we accelerated down the runway, racing to take off. As the nose of the plane lifted, my stomach dropped and my heart sank. Both were being left behind. No matter how hard I fixed my gaze on the window, I couldn’t stop the heat burning behind my eyes.
I had to forget. I had to bury it all. The old Emersyn knew exactly how to do this, the well-worn emotional calluses were still there. Only the new Emersyn clung to regrets, something neither of us could afford. Swallowing, I tried to equalize my ears but the sudden pop just brought the noise of the engines into sharper relief. Not that I needed it to be aware of my uncle’s contemplative stare.
Eventually, the plane leveled off and he said nothing as the staff joined us. Instead, one of the attendants refilled his drink and then asked me if I wanted anything. Before I could respond with a no, my uncle said, “Bring us both champagne, it’s time we toasted our reunion.”
Oh, I hated him so much.
The little thought snuck out of a back corner, growling and snarling even as I shoved it back. Nothing. I felt nothing for him. The guys couldn’t afford my hatred. The whole point of me coming back was to keep them safe. I should have known I couldn’t stay, even if I had begun to…
“Here you go,” the attendant said as she set a flute glass on the table next to me. The golden liquid cheerfully bubbled like we were enjoying a private joke. I barely glanced at the glass before I nodded to her.
Granted, they worked for my uncle so none of them could be trusted as even potential allies. That didn’t mean I couldn’t be polite.
“Leave us.” At his words, the women withdrew and closed the door between our cabin and the area where they worked. The slide lock and click plunged us into silence. “Pick up your glass, Princess.”
“No, thank you.” For a moment, pride at my even tone flooded me. There wasn’t even a hint of a tremor.
Not responding, he reached across the gulf separating us and picked up my glass. It was only then I recognized he’d risen from his seat and moved around to the one next to me.
Fuck.
“Your glass.” It wasn't a request, but I rested a hand over my abdomen and the tattoo that was still scabbing there. The ink I’d asked Vaughn for and that he’d drawn on me. A first. Our first.
Head up. Wings out.
I turned my head and met my uncle’s stare. “No, thank you.”
His eyes were cool, calculated, and dark. His stern expression seemed unforgiving as he took a seat next to me, both flute glasses in his hands. “Princess…”
“Don’t. You wanted me back. I’m here. But let’s not pretend that I’m here for any other reason than you blackmailed me into it.” I refused to look away, even when his lips compressed and his eyes went chillier, if that was even possible. They were like twin sheets of black ice, treacherous, and unyielding.
With a heavy sigh, he set the glasses down. No matter how braced I was, I couldn’t stop the flinch when he reached out his hand to run over my hair. The gentle touch was a lie. It was always a lie. “You’ve been gone too long, Princess. I don’t know what they did to you but…” He fisted my hair and yanked so I had to look at him. The pull against my scalp burned, but I gritted my teeth. “We will fix it. I never stopped looking for you. You know that, right?”