by Marie Carnay
Ian turned to her. “I thought you were shacked up with that ski resort mogul up the coast? What happened? He find out you were only interested in his bank account?”
He thought poking the bear would get a reaction, but he hadn’t expected a cackling laugh. “Oh, Ian, you’re so funny. No, turns out my priorities have changed.” Ivy slipped her hand around Brandon’s waist and gave him a squeeze. “Brandon here can help me accomplish all my goals.”
A sleek black Jaguar pulled into the driveway and a valet hopped out. “Mr. Mosterly, your car, sir.”
Brandon nodded at Ian and walked around to the driver’s side. “Be seeing you again. Soon I expect.” He slipped inside and Ian turned to Ivy with a frown. Something didn’t seem right.
“What are your goals, exactly?”
Her eyes took on this glassy, surreal quality and Ian wondered for a second if she was all there. At last, she blinked him back into focus. “Aren’t you sweet, asking about me?”
She waited for the valet to open her door and she slipped into the passenger seat. “Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten what we used to have. And soon, neither will you.” She looked into his eyes and Ian paled. “We’ll be expecting you.”
The valet shut the car door and Ivy’s laugh carried over the engine noise as the car sped down the drive.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TRENT
DAMN IT. TRENT had spent the last hour canvassing the party, attempting to find some trace of the people he’d heard in the hall.
From their voices, they were contemporaries—a pair in their twenties or thirties at the oldest—with money. He’d heard heels clacking on the wood so they were partygoers and not staff. That’s about all he had.
He popped his knuckles and stared out at the crowd. If he hadn’t let his want for Holly get in the way…if he hadn’t been buried balls-deep inside her in that office…
Trent shut the train of thought down. Ruminating over what might have been wouldn’t get him anywhere. He needed to be thinking of a way to find the bastards and stop them before they managed to pull off whatever they had planned. They needed to be caught before Ian ended up hurt. Holly, too.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. Shit. Ian had been texting for a while, but he’d ignored it. Maybe he shouldn’t have.
Trent hustled through the crowd, sliding past women in beaded ball gowns and men in every cut of tux imaginable. Every time he passed another person, he thought, could you be one of them? Are you the asshole who almost killed my girl?
He busted through the front door and found Ian pacing in the driveway, phone in hand. He caught the tail end of his call.
“No. I’m telling you it was a black Jaguar. Four door. Celebrity tint.” Ian waved him over.
“For the fourth time, I didn’t get the plate. But it’s got to be licensed to a Brandon Mosterly. He’s been harassing me. I want you to check it out.”
He rolled his eyes and the tension radiated from him in waves. “No, I don’t have any physical proof.” His lips formed a thin line. “Fine. I’ll call back when someone’s dead.” He ended the call in a rage. “Damn police.”
“What’s going on?”
Ian ran his hand through his hair, but it did nothing to contain the blond mess. “I was standing out here, wondering where the hell you and Holly were, when Ivy showed up.”
“Your ex?”
“The one and only. She looked batshit crazy, Trent. Wild eyes, huge hair. If she’d ever looked like that when we dated I’d have had her committed.”
“So what’s this have to do with the call?”
“I was trying to beg off when Brandon Mosterly walked up and put his arm around her.”
The name sounded familiar. “Who’s he?”
“Holiday’s stepbrother.”
Trent’s jaw ticked. “I didn’t know she had a stepbrother.”
“Rumor has it her mother was cheating on Holly’s dad with Mosterly. They married as soon as the divorce was final.”
Trent focused on the ground. He’d left town before any of that had happened. He was enmeshed in boot camp and the military life and had put Holiday as far out of his mind as he could along with the rest of Midnight Cove. He’d had no idea.
“Holly never told me the details, but I’m pretty sure Brandon had something to do with why she left town.”
“Did he ever have problems with you?”
“No. He’s Holly’s age. I didn’t even know the kid.”
Trent didn’t either. Not that he would have known some rich brat back then. He favored the unsavory crowd. And high school? Not his thing.
Even if this stepbrother jerk had a bone to pick with Holly, he wouldn’t be the source of the nasty emails or the vandalism. Ivy could be, though. “So what’s he got to do with Ivy?”
Ian’s expression turned grim. “He’s dating her.”
Oh, shit. Now it made sense. “You think they’re behind everything that’s gone down?”
Ian nodded. “I do.” He glanced at the drive and back at Trent. “When they drove away, Ivy said they’d be expecting me.”
Trent steeled his expression. No one said something like that without an agenda. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Neither do I.”
If Brandon and Ivy had hatched some scheme to get back at Ian, things could get ugly. Trent checked his phone. It’d been over an hour since he’d last seen Holly. They needed to get her somewhere safe and go after the bastards.
He shot off a text to her and shoved his phone in his pocket. “I take it the police were no help.”
Ian snorted. “Not exactly.”
“Then we’ll have to do it on our own. Let’s find Holly and get out of here.”
Ian paused. “I figured she was with you.”
Trent winced. He didn’t have time to fill Ian in on what they’d shared, or what he’d said to her. He hedged. “I left her upstairs in an office. We, um, sort of—”
Ian clapped him on the back and turned toward the front door. “I know. We might have had a little something, too.”
Whoa. Holly was full of surprises. Trent stole a glance at Ian. “No hard feelings?”
Ian’s lips curved. “Not now. Come on, let’s find her and get out of here.”
* * *
HOLLY
God, my head. Holly came to with vibrations shaking her whole body. She could barely move. What’s going on? The last thing she remembered was…Brandon. His hand covering her mouth, his horrible whispers in her ear. She turned her head and winced. The whole left side ached like she’d been clocked with something heavy. Shit.
Holly blinked her eyes open to darkness. She tried to move her hands, but they were bound together. She tugged. Ouch. Plastic dug into her wrists and she brought her hands up to her face, squinting until the tab of a zip tie made her groan. This can’t be happening.
She knew Brandon was an asshole—she’d gotten a taste of that before their parents had married. But she didn’t peg him as the serial killer sort. What could he possibly want with her, anyway?
It didn’t make any sense. She knew he was mad about the money, but kidnapping? How did he think knocking her out and tying her up would do any good? Holly shifted and her shoulder rubbed against thin carpet. Her knees hit something hard and metal and she reached up into the dark and touched the cold surface. Oh my God. She pressed her back into the carpet and clamped her lips shut to keep from screaming.
I’m in a trunk. I’m in a trunk. I’m in a trunk. The words kept replaying in her mind as the car barreled down the road. The vibrations weren’t inside her head—they were coming from the car.
Holly took a deep breath and let it out in a slow stream. Stay calm. I just need to stay calm. Hyperventilating wasn’t going to get her anywhere except right where Brandon wanted her.
Time to focus. Holly stilled her body and let the vibrations soak into her back. They stayed even and constant—the car never slowed down or took a sharp tu
rn. The interstate. She had no idea how long she’d been out, but Holly still knew the area. The only straight stretch of road headed northeast away from the coast and into the mountains.
Fear snaked down her spine. She knew the statistics. She’d watched countless episodes of CSI and Law & Order. Every mile away from the primary crime scene a perp took his victim, the harder it was for law enforcement to find them. From the way Trent had dismissed the police back at Ian’s, she didn’t hold out hope they’d even know where to look.
If she didn’t get away somehow, she’d be trapped in the middle of nowhere with a man who wanted to punish her. She couldn’t let that happen.
Twisting onto her side, Holly reached out and scrabbled around the trunk for something to use. There had to be a makeshift weapon in there somewhere. God knows her trunk would have been a kidnapping victim’s goldmine.
Over and over she swept the trunk, sticking her bound hands into every nook and crevice she could reach and giving her shoulders rug burn in the process. She came up empty. It’d been swept clean.
Damn it. Memories of self-defense videos and how to break out of zip ties flitted through her mind. I should have paid more attention. She twisted her hands back and forth and tugged with all her might, but all she ended up with was cuts in her skin and some nasty wrist pain.
Think, Holiday, think. Where could Brandon be taking her? She thought about what she knew. His father was filthy rich with houses all over. Probably even one in the mountains. God, she hoped he’d be stupid enough to go somewhere traceable. Somewhere Ian and Trent could find her.
At this point, it was her only hope.
Just as Holly willed herself not to break down, the car slowed. The trunk pitched and she had to brace herself to keep from sliding. They were climbing.
Turn after turn, the car wound up the side of a mountain. Holly bounced and jittered all over the tiny space until at last, the car stopped.
This is it. She braced herself as the engine turned off. But instead of Brandon flipping open the trunk and hauling her out, she heard…voices.
“You’re sure you knocked her out?”
“Baby, you know it.” Brandon sounded cocky. Arrogant.
“I still don’t see why we need her. Ian would have been enough.”
Whose voice is that? It was a woman…the same woman from the hallway before everything happened. But Holly didn’t know her.
Brandon slammed the car door and the trunk shook. “I told you, Ivy. I need her. The bitch is gonna pay for what she took from me. And you know Ian’s head over heels for her. Once he finds out she’s missing, he’ll fall right into our hands. You’ll get what you want and I’ll get mine.”
A thud sounded against the trunk and Holly could imagine the scene. Brandon’s hands all over some woman, pinning her to the trunk of the car while she lay trapped inside. It turned her stomach. But Ivy? Ian’s ex? Of all the women, it had to be her.
“Once Ian and Holly are dead, we’ll be free. We can go anywhere. Do anything. Just the two of us.”
Holly’s eyes went wide. Dead? Part of her had hoped they’d rough her up a bit. Demand some money. But to kill not just her, but Ian? A shiver washed over her.
Ivy hesitated. “What about that guy Ian’s got following him around? If he shows up, we’ll have trouble.”
Brandon’s laugh sent bile up Holly’s throat. “That’s what bullets are for.”
Ivy laughed with him and Holly closed her eyes. She needed to buy some time for her, Ian, and Trent. Brandon was right—they would come looking. She needed to be alive when they got there.
The trunk beeped open and Holly relaxed into a heap.
“See? What’d I tell you? Knocked out cold.” Brandon poked her bare arm with the nose of a pistol and cold metal shocked her to the core. She stayed limp.
“Come on, help me haul her out.” Brandon grabbed her under the arms.
“No way.” Ivy scoffed. “You got her in there, you get her in the house. I’m going to find the tape.”
Oh, God. Just stay alive. The more time she could give Trent and Ian, the better. She knew Brandon wouldn’t kill her right away—he wanted her to suffer—and for that, he’d have to wake her up.
* * *
TRENT
“We’ve canvassed the whole party, Ian. She’s not here.” Trent tore up the stairs.
They’d wasted too much time searching for Holly in the mansion. Trent knew she was gone, he just didn’t know where or with whom. If Brandon and Ivy had her…
He busted into the office and flipped on the light. They’d been there only hours before. Her body bent over the desk. His dick deep inside her. Fuck.
Running his hand over his hair, he paced, trying to come up with an idea.
“What’s that?” Ian crouched beneath the desk and pulled out a shoe.
“It’s Holly’s.” Shit.
Ian met Trent’s cold stare. “They have her. It’s the only explanation.”
Screw playing it safe or taking it easy. They needed to find that asshole stepbrother of hers and put an end to this game.
Hillary appeared, out of breath and disheveled in the doorway. “Her purse is still in the catering van. I don’t have a good—” She stalled when she saw the shoe. “Oh my God. That’s Holly’s. What’s happened to her?”
Ian glanced at Trent. “We think Brandon and Ivy kidnapped her.”
Hillary’s eyebrows shot up. “What? That’s nuts! Why?”
“I saw them leaving together. Ivy said some weird things—”
“Have they been behind the harassment? Holly’s car?”
Ian nodded. “I think so.”
Hillary stormed up to him. “Then what are you doing here? Go find her!”
“Any idea where to start?”
Hillary exhaled and looked out the window. “Brandon’s lived here his whole life. His father owns half the ski resorts on the West Coast.”
Trent stepped forward. “Does he have a place people don’t know about? Somewhere out of town?”
Hillary snapped her fingers. “Yes! He’s got a cabin up north. Wendy will know where it is. She said he took her up there when they dated. It gave her the creeps.” Hillary disappeared in a swoosh of silk and Trent followed with Ian on his heels.
He hoped to God Hillary was right and that this Wendy woman would tell them what they needed to know. Every second Holly was out there mattered. It meant life or death.
Ian tugged on Trent’s arm and he slowed. “You don’t think they’ll kill her, do you?”
“You said Ivy looked psychotic. What do you think?”
Ian frowned. “I think they want to get caught. Hurting Holly’s not enough. They want me, too.”
“Then we’ll give them exactly what they want, only they won’t be the ones celebrating in the end.”
“You’re sure we can handle this?”
Trent turned grim. “What choice do we have?”
Ian closed his eyes. “None. I just hope we’re not too late.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
IAN
HOLLY COULD DIE because of me. Ian tore a hand through his hair and tried to calm down. It wasn’t working. “I’m going in.” His voice carried to Trent in the dark.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Thanks to Hillary, they’d tracked down Brandon’s cabin. It sat tucked away on a quiet mountain road, no neighbors for miles. It was the perfect place to take a kidnap victim and lure someone to their demise.
As soon as the top of the cabin had come into view, Trent had killed the lights to the Range Rover and slowed to a crawl. They’d stopped a quarter mile out and walked the rest of the way, keeping close to the tree line.
Ian had done his fair share of backpacking and thrill-seeking when he was younger. But sneaking up on a pair of psychos with nothing but a pair of handguns and a bunch of testosterone? Not his idea of a fun Thursday night.
“We’re never going to have the upper hand. Let me go in and pretend I’m a
lone. You can catch them off guard.”
Trent frowned. “That’s a terrible idea.”
“Yeah? Well I’m not former military, so it’s the best one I’ve got. I’ll go in, distract them and you’ll save the day.” Ian knew Brandon and Ivy wanted him at their mercy. If they’d just wanted to kill Holly, Ivy would never have talked to him. They’d have just sped away.
Trent snorted. “I don’t need to be a hero.”
Ian grinned in the dark. “Too bad, man. You’re it.”
“Great. Are the cops en route?”
“Yeah. Do you think we should wait?”
Trent paused. “No. If they’re crazy enough to kidnap her, they’re crazy enough to kill her, too. We can’t risk it.”
“Then wish me luck.”
“Break a leg.”
Any other time, he’d have punched Trent in the arm for that one. Not now. If he only broke a leg that night, it’d be a miracle. With a deep breath, he squared his shoulders and stood up. Just one foot in front of the other. Easy.
He walked out of the woods and into the clearing in front of the house. Made to look like a cabin, the house sported authentic log walls and a set of antlers over the front door. But Ian knew it was all for show. No way a guy like Mosterly ever lived rough. The place probably had a movie theater in the basement.
The lights blazed behind the curtains and the black Jag Ian had seen at the party sat in the driveway. They were ready and waiting.
Ian hustled up the front steps and banged on the solid wood door. Smooth and chill were usually his MO, but for Holly, he could be the tough guy. He puffed out his chest. “Open up, Brandon. I know you’ve got Holly.”
After a moment, the door swung open and Ivy stood in the light. She still wore the too-tight dress, but had ditched the shoes. Her red polished toes reminded him of blood. “Ian. So glad you could make it. I was beginning to wonder. You took your sweet time getting here.”
He kept his voice even. “Didn’t have the best directions.”
