“Where’s Blair?” I demand as I run. “Cricket!” I shout, not waiting for her to answer. I just need to make sure she’s okay.
When I burst through the door of my office, Bear nearly jumps on me and meows so loudly it’s like a cry. I look around the room and see the coffee table turned over and blood on the floor. The files that I left with Blair are missing and the front door is wide open.
I can hear my heart pound in my ears as the world comes crashing down around me, making me feel like I can’t breathe.
“Oh god, where is she?” I hear Lily say behind me with a sob in her throat. Her tracker.
My phone rings and I look around the room for it. It’s on my desk, and I lunge for it, grabbing it up.
“Fritz,” I growl as I answer it, knowing my brother is behind this.
“No, it’s Roxy.” Blair’s old roommate sounds like it’s straining him to talk. “Look, you told me to call you if anything happened. That guy Fritz tried to fucking kill me, man. If my friend hadn’t come home to find me, I might have died.”
“I don’t have time for this,” I growl, knowing I need to get to Blair. She is my only concern right now.
“I know. That’s why I’m calling. I’ve been watching that art place like you told me to. He just went back and I think she was in the car with him.”
I grab my keys off the desk and run out the front door. I feel John hot on my heels as I jump in. I don’t wait for him to shut the door before I hit the gas.
“How long ago was it?” I say into the phone, praying I’m not too late.
“Not long, but I think you better hurry.” His voice is so hoarse, but I understand what he’s trying to say.
“Goddammit, Fritz,” I snarl, hitting the steering wheel with my fist and willing the car to go faster. I know if I lose Blair I’ll never survive it.
Chapter 25
Blair
“But you don’t have a brother,” I say, even though the words sound silly coming out of my mouth. It’s not like Fritz was ever honest with me, so why should I believe that he was an only child? But now when I think back on it, he never actually said it. Whenever his family came up he changed the subject. I thought maybe he didn’t want me to meet them yet, so he didn’t want to bring them up, thinking maybe I wasn’t good enough yet.
He laughs again, enjoying the pain he sees on my face. “He’s my half-brother. And you’re just as useless to him as you were to me. You’re expendable, Blair. No one wants you.”
His words land a direct hit, and I can feel them as if they were a physical blow knocking the air out of me.
But then my mind flashes to lying in bed with Ryker and the way he looked at me in the morning light. I think about every touch and how he made me feel. I think about what I feel for him and how what I had with Fritz never compared at all. I didn’t know what my heart was capable of feeling until I met Ryker. If he’s involved in this, it can’t be to hurt me. Even if it started out that way. If Ryker is involved like Fritz says he is, it was to protect me. I know that with every fiber of my being. That man loves me. He might not have said the words yet, but I know he does. He truly loves me like no one else has ever done before and I won’t doubt him ever again. Whatever this is, I stand with him. Trust him.
I made terrible decisions in my life, and one of them was trusting Fritz. I won’t make that same mistake again and let his hateful words break me. Ryker loves me, and I love him. That isn’t just a feeling, that’s what’s written on my soul. I won’t allow him to destroy something beautiful I shared with Ryker because his world is crumbling.
The light catches Fritz’s gun as he moves back and forth, reminding me that right now he’s a loose cannon. I glance over at Lilith, who is still frozen in place. I need to keep him talking. If he’s talking he’s not killing anyone, and I need to buy some time. I know that Ryker will come for me. He’s saved me before and he’ll do it again. I just have to give him time to get here. If there is one thing I know, Fritz likes to talk about himself.
“Ryker’s last name is Hunt,” I say, trying to think of something to say. “I met his parents.”
“He’s not a Hamilton,” Fritz replies, but he’s talking to himself. “He was a bastard. My dad met my mom and he felt sorry for her. That’s why he married her. She was poor and alone.” The disgust is clear in his voice. How could someone talk about their mama like that? Mine wasn’t the best and I wouldn’t ever speak about her in that way.
He glances over at me, and I think of Kathleen and how she told me she came from a place just like I did, that we were more alike than I realized.
“Ryker was five when they had me, but we were never brothers. He was always on the outside. That’s why he never changed his name. It’s because my mom never did fit in. He didn’t want to belong, just like she didn’t. They didn’t fit in. Like you never will.”
He spits the insult at me and resumes pacing. He’s on a roll now and I don’t have to ask him any questions to keep him talking. But as he does, I look around for some sort of weapon I can use to protect myself if he comes at me.
“They cut me off and gave me no choice. They said I needed to learn some independence and take responsibility for my actions. That they were entrusting the business to Ryker because he had proven himself. But I’m their son!” His shout echoes through the warehouse. “I’m the rightful heir to the Hamilton fortune and they’ve cut me out of it. Ryker was their golden child from the beginning, even though I deserved it. My own father praised that bastard more than he ever did me.”
He lets out a growl and he clenches his free hand into a fist. I’m not sure my plan is working because he’s only getting angrier.
“Now the cops are after me, the guys we stole the art from are on to us. The buyers are demanding their money and threatening to kill me. What am I supposed to do?”
He turns to look at me and there is a panic in his eyes. His own reality is crashing in on him as he gives voice to his problems.
“We’ll fix this,” Lilith offers, her voice low and soothing. “We can make it all go away. Just give me the gun.”
I watch as she holds out her hands, slowly moving closer to Fritz. She’s only a couple of feet from him, but he doesn’t move as she gets closer.
“We can work this out, Fritz.” She’s inches away from him now. “Give me the gun and we’ll get out of here. Just you and me.”
As she says the last words, something snaps in Fritz. Anger falls over his face and before I can blink he fires the gun.
Lilith screams and grabs her side as she crumples to the ground. For a se
cond Fritz looks panicked, like he didn’t mean to shoot it, but he swallows and the mask falls right back into place.
My hand goes to my mouth. I’m shocked and unable to move. Lilith is on the ground as Fritz stands over her, shouting. “You and me? It was never you and me. It was always you. I was your little errand boy and all you ever did was tell me how I fucked this up. Don’t patronize me, Lilith!”
I watch as his anger builds and builds, until he turns his eyes on me. A chill runs down my spine as he steps over to where I’m sitting on the crate.
“What will fix this is killing you, Blair. All I have to do is make it look like you were the one working with Lilith and all of this will go away.” He smirks, a crazy, happy look in his eyes like he’s got it all figured out now.
He grabs the files off the crate next to me and throws them on the ground beside Lilith. She’s crying, and the pool of blood surrounding her is growing. If she doesn’t get help soon she may bleed to death. I can’t help but feel bad for her, even though I know she’s all kinds of mixed up in this herself. Her hands aren’t clean.
“Please, Fritz, don’t do this.” I don’t know how to convince him that none of this will work. Killing me won’t solve anything. But he can’t see that right now. He’s too far gone. I just have to get through to him somehow. “If you do this, it will destroy your parents. Don’t do this to them. I know they love you.”
“You don’t know shit,” he says, but I can hear the waver in his voice.
“I know that I would love my child no matter what they did,” I say, and I know it’s true. If I’m somehow carrying Ryker’s child right now, I would love our baby without exception. “And I know your mom would do anything to keep you from hurting someone or hurting yourself.” I may have only spent a day with Kathleen, but I know this to be true. Just seeing how she was with Ryker was telling.