Page 1 of Honest Neglect

Chapter One

Warren

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STARING AT THE HOUSE, I pulled my phone from my pocket and planted it down on my lap. Dialing Lily one more time, I took a deep breath. This was my last chance to get in touch with her before I walked into that guy’s house and showed him just what I thought of him.

And I didn’t intend to waste it.

I had roared all the way down to Tony’s place before I could stop myself the moment I realized Lily wasn’t where she said she was going to be. I was scared. Really, really scared. I couldn’t let anything happen to her, not when it felt like we were just beginning to build something real. I would never have been able to forgive myself.

No answer. I listened to the call ring out and go to her inbox, and tried not to wince at her chirpy tones. They sounded so out of place right now when I knew she could be in danger.

I got out of the car and slammed the door hard behind me. It must have alerted Tony to my presence because, a moment later, he stepped outside, leaning in the doorway and grinning at me.

“And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” he asked.

“Don’t bullshit me, Tony,” I snarled at him as I took another step toward him. If he thought he could scare me away from here, he had a whole host of other things coming.

“Where’s Lily?” I demanded, shoving him back toward the door. He let out a grunt, and I could tell I had caught him off guard. Good. Maybe that way, he would be more willing to spill the information I needed without putting up too much of a fight.

He smirked at me, gathering his composure.

“Oh, maybe she’s just figured out what’s good for her,” he remarked with a shrug. A rush of rage ran through me, and I grabbed him by the collar, pulling him toward me. I wanted him to see just how fucking serious I was about this, and just how little I wanted to be messed around by him. I’d had enough. He had put me through enough.

“Where is she?” I asked him again, giving him the chance to answer. If he just handed her over to me, I would leave. That would be far from the end of it, of course, but I would leave right now and get her to safety before I came back here to do what I needed to do.

He shook his head. “I have no idea.”

“I know you’re lying,” I snapped. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move in the house. A shadow passing by one of the windows. Lily!

“Hey!” I yelled, temporarily letting go of Tony while I tried to catch the attention of the figure I had just spotted. But it was no good. They couldn’t hear me and vanished back into the house.

“Leave her alone,” Tony snarled at me, and he lunged for me, shoving me to the ground. He caught me unaware and I landed on my back, the air knocked out of me. Normally, I would never have let someone like this get the jump on me, but I was so distracted by what he might have been doing to Lily that I didn’t have time to react.

“Who’s in there?” I asked him, managing to push him off me and spring back to my feet. “Is it her? Is it Lily?”

“It’s none of your damn business,” he spat back, and he swung his fist at me. Instead of connecting with my jaw, as he obviously intended, it crashed into the side of the house, and he let out a howl of pain.

All at once, the door opened, and sure enough, there was a woman standing there. She looked to be about ten years younger than Tony, and she clearly didn’t really know what was going on. Her hair was a mess, and she was wobbling on the spot, gripping onto the doorframe for support.

“What’s happening?” she mumbled, rubbing her hand over her face as she looked at the scene in front of her. Another flare of rage hit my system. So, this was what he was doing? Bringing women back here, doing who knew what to them. He was already lining up new victims, even as his old ones finally came after him.

“What’s your name?” I asked her urgently, ignoring Tony.

“Don’t speak to her,” Tony ordered. “She’s got nothing to do with this.”

“Arielle,” the woman whispered, her eyes wide. She looked around. “Where are we?”

She didn’t even know where she was. I hated to think what Tony might have done to her, what he might have slipped her to get her into that state, but it didn’t matter now. All that mattered was getting her out of there and making sure she never had to deal with this monster again.

Tony tried to grab me, and I spun around and pinned him against the door.

“Run!” I yelled to Arielle. She just stood there for a second, too shocked to move, but when I turned to give her a hard stare, it finally hit her just how serious I was being. She took off toward the road, her feet bare, her eyes still bleary from the unconsciousness she had just been forced into.

“You’re a sick bastard,” I told Tony, narrowing my eyes at him. He grinned, flashing me that shark-like smile. He looked like a predator, on the hunt for his next prey, even if this one had just managed to escape him.

“I think I can live with that,” he replied, and suddenly, I heard the sound of cars behind me. Spinning around, my heart sank when I saw who it was—cops.