“Now,” Baz whispers, placing a soft kiss on my forehead, “get the fuck out.” With that, he turns on his heel and disappears into his ensuite bathroom. It feels as if he’s ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on the organ. I’m bleeding from the inside out. He’s tearing me open. He’s found my open wound, and he keeps stabbing there repeatedly.
A sob rips from my chest as I let myself out. I’m only half-surprised when I see Dan waiting for me by the elevators with a not so pleasant look on his face. We ride down in silence, save for my sobbing and sniffling.
“I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
The elevator dings, and it opens to my floor. He ushers me out, back toward my suite to gather my stuff. Just as I’m entering, he says in passing, “They never do, ma’am.”
I gather all my stuff from the suite quickly. I place everything from the room safe in my purse to keep close to me at all times. Before I leave, I look out at the room one last time and sigh.
Dan escorts me off the premises, and once I’m outside, there’s a car—an Uber more like it—waiting to take me wherever I need to go. I should take the hint and go back home. I should just go back to New York and never show my face on the West Coast again.
It’s what I should do.
But I’m sick and tired of doing everything that’s expected of me.
I listen to my sister, her constant voice in my head, telling me to keep going.
“We’re so close, Kenz. Can’t you feel it? Don’t you feel me?”
“Can you take me to the nearest motel, preferably near the Sunset Strip.”
The driver grunts. He’s a young kid who looks like he’s in college, driving on the side for money. “You sure?”
“Preferably one I won’t die at, but yes, it’ll do.”
He sighs and shakes his head, throwing the car in drive while I look out the window, slowly watching the resort fade behind me into the night as I go.
I slurp noodles straight from the Chinese takeout container, staring at the screen. I push my reading glasses up the bridge of my nose with my knuckle since my fingers are holding the chopsticks.
With my index finger, I scroll through the latest gossip rags. Over the past week, Baz has already been seen out countless times with women. And even though I tell myself it’s still part of my research, I know it’s not.
I’m jealous.
Unreasonably fucking jealous.
Blowing out an agitated sigh, I click out of that tab, then move back to Zach’s Instagram. He just checked in, tagging all the guys at the Nobu Hotel in Las Vegas. They’re all gone. Out of town.
“It’s your last chance, you know.”
When I glance to my left, I spot Madison leaning against the wall and do a double take. Her normally blond hair is now the same shade as mine, perfectly coiffed and curled around her shoulders. She’s been coming around more lately. I can’t tell if it’s really her, or if I’ve suddenly gone batshit crazy from being so lonely, and my mind is just playing tricks on me, but I swear she’s here, constantly telling me not to give up. Constantly pushing me to find justice for her.
“I know,” I mumble through a mouthful of chow mein. “But this is breaking and entering we’re talking about here, Madison. I can’t just walk in and open the safe. He probably has an alarm service. Something high-tech, I’m sure.”
She rolls her eyes and pushes off the wall with her normal sass. “So just cut the power. Problem solved.”
“The house is probably a smart home. If you even know what that means.”
“Your point being?”
“Fucking forget it,” I growl, tossing the food container on the table. Switching out of that tab, I move back to my word doc. I have everything written. Everything that matters, at least. Now I just need to include my proof.
A soft touch settles on my shoulder, and I clench my eyes shut.
“We’re almost there, Kenzie. Almost,” she whispers. There’s so much hope lacing her voice, and it brings tears to my eyes. When I look around again, she’s gone.
The shrill sound of my cell ringing cuts through the silence. When I glance down at the screen, I blow out a relieved breath.
“Jack,” I answer, my voice filled with gratitude.
He sighs down the line. “Just shut up and open the fucking door, would ya? I think someone is getting their cock sucked around the corner.”
I toss my phone on the bed and throw the door open, letting Jack in. I called him after everything went to shit at Baz’s resort. It was reckless to bring anyone else into this mess, but I needed his help. I don’t have the means or the skill for breaking and entering. And Jack? Well, let’s just say he’s quite literally a jack-of-all-trades.
He offered to fly out here to help me under one condition: I tell him the whole truth. So that’s exactly what I did. From the night of the bonfire until now, I’ve explained everything in painstaking detail. Jack isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and he’s made it more than clear that he believes I’m making a mistake. He thinks the Savages are harmless. He says nothing about their pasts or their records would suggest otherwise, but I know better.
They are guilty. I just need to prove it.
Jack starts his pacing the second I shut the motel door. “You sure you want to do this?”
I perch on the edge of the bed, nodding. “There’s no other way, Jack. I need to do this.”
He suddenly stops pacing and rakes his hand through his hair. “Why, Mack? Why is this so damn important to you?”
I glance down at my hands resting in my lap. My nails are shit, what with how often I’ve been biting them, and with a mind of their own, my thumbs twiddle anxiously. I trap my bottom lip between my teeth, contemplating how to answer that.
Why is this so important?
Inhaling a deep breath, I trail my gaze back up to his. “Because they ruined my life. They tore my family apart. They murdered my sister, Jack. I’ll never be able to let it go. Not until I’m six feet under.”
His lips thin into a grim line. “You know how stupid I think this plan is, right? I just … Fuck, Mackenzie, we’re talking jail time if we get caught.”
I nod, energy building at the base of my spine. “I know.”
He jabs an angry finger at me. “You do everything I say, understand me?”
A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. I cross an X over my heart, fighting back my grin. “You have my word.”
“Fucking hell, let’s do this.”
Not willing to waste any more time, I save my work on my laptop, exiting out of everything I’ve found in my recent internet search, and get dressed. I find a pair of black yoga pants and a black top that’ll do just fine. I stuff everything I’ll need for tonight into my backpack—all Jack’s suggestions—and we hurry down the rickety steps of the motel out front.
I didn’t think I’d be able to find a room here in LA so close to Sunset that was this cheap a night. For seventy-nine dollars a night, I’ve been staying in the single cot room that reeks of urine, cheese, and quite possibly death. I haven’t run into any issues with anyone else who’s staying on my floor. I’m pretty sure most are prostitutes and drug dealers, what with the screaming and sex-crazed noises drifting through the thin walls.