Page 64 of True North

“What? No. She’s not home?”

“No, not yet, and she’s not answering her phone. I thought she might have swung by to see you first.”

I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me. My heart was starting to beat hard and fast in my chest. “No. She should have been home by now. I got a text she was heading that way forty-five minutes ago.”

“North,” Cheryl breathed, that worry turning into full blown panic.

“I’ll find her, Cheryl. I swear to you, I’ll find her.”

“Please, North. Please bring her home.”

“You have my word. I’ll bring her home safe.”

Archer was already on his feet when I hung up. “What do you need?”

“Those cars might be pieces of shit, but they still have a LoJack system. Find me that fucking car,” I barked.

THIRTY

IRIS

I came to with my head throbbing so hard it felt like my skull had been split in two. I blinked my eyes, trying to clear my foggy vision, and it took a few seconds for things to clear enough so I could see. I didn’t recognize the room I was in, or how I got there.

With a groan, I braced a hand beneath me and pushed up to sitting.

“Good, about time you woke up. Thought for a minute I killed you.”

My head shot around toward the voice, a move I instantly regretted when it felt like I was being stabbed in the eyes with an ice pick.

Seeing Tolliver Brady sitting at the table across the room from me, an empty bottle of booze on the table beside him, everything from earlier came rushing back. The red and blue lights, the tiny thrill I felt when I thought it was North playing a prank on me. Then the stark fear at the sight of Tolliver Brady right before everything went black.

My heart was pounding against my ribs as I took in my surroundings. The building was rustic, wood paneled walls with animal heads and antlers making up most of the decor. They hung from the walls, made the bases of lamps, even the gaudy chandelier hanging from the ceiling was made of deer antlers.

“W-where are we?” I asked, my hands starting to shake so badly I had to clench them into fists to hide the terror coursing through my bloodstream. This couldn’t be happening. I didn’t know what the hell this asshole was planning, but I knew it couldn’t be good.

He stood up, lifting his arms to his side to encompass the whole space. At the action, I saw the gun he was holding firmly in his right hand. “My family’s hunting cabin.” He rounded the table, drawing closer as his face stretched into a maniacal smile that sent a tremor down my spine. “No one’s going to find you here. At least not until I want them to.”

I shrank back into the cold leather sofa as he closed the distance between us, fighting against the sting in the back of my eyes. Keep your shit together, Iris, I silently chided. My head was pounding and my entire body was trembling with fear, but I knew I couldn’t give in to it. If I let it lock me up, kept me from acting, I would die here. And I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let North lose two women he loved in a single lifetime.

I had to get back to him.

“Tolliver, what are you doing?” I asked, struggling to keep my tone neutral as I tried to reason with him. “You don’t want to do this⁠—”

He shot forward so fast I let out a yelp, squeezing my eyes closed and shooting backward into the couch, attempting to get away. “You don’t get to use my name, you filthy little whore!” he shouted, jabbing the muzzle of the gun into my shoulder like he was poking me with his finger. “You think you and that fucking Neanderthal can take what’s mine, and I won’t make you pay? He laughed again, the sound cutting through me like nails on a chalkboard.

That was when I took him in, really took him in. You never saw a single Brady who wasn’t put together and cleaned up, reeking of money and superiority. But that wasn’t how Tolliver appeared now.

He looked like he hadn’t shaved in days. His clothes were rumpled, his hair in disarray, and his eyes were bloodshot. Not to mention, when he got closer, I could smell alcohol wafting off him so strongly a lit match would have set the entire building on fire.

That was a man on the edge. Desperate. And that desperation was what made him the most dangerous.

If I was going to get out of here, I needed to think. I would not let Tolliver Brady win.

North

Fucking Brady.

That was the only thought running through my head as I raced to get to Iris. The fucker hadn’t disabled the LoJack on the cruiser he stole from the station so we at least knew his location. Problem was, he had a forty-five-minute head start on us. And who knew what he could do in the amount of time it took us to get to the Brady hunting cabin in the middle of goddamn nowhere.