Gypsy King (Tin Gypsy, #1)(96)

Shit. Something had gone wrong. Maybe this guy had caught up to Isaiah? I didn’t want to drag Bryce along to go find them, but it might come to that. I wasn’t leaving her alone or in anyone else’s care.

“After he got Genevieve, did you go anywhere else?” Emmett asked her.

“No, we drove right to the mountain. He made us walk to the spot where you found us.”

“Any trace of a car up there?” I asked Leo.

“None. Wherever he parked, it was far. Probably a trail we don’t know about.”

“Did you get a look at the car? Maybe a license plate?”

Bryce shook her head. “He took us out, faced us away, and I didn’t even think to look at the plates. The car was nothing special. It was a typical black sedan. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, babe.” I put my arm around her shoulders. “You did good.”

She’d lived. That was all she’d had to do. She’d fought. And when it was time, she’d run.

“He seemed so determined. Angry. This is . . . personal. It has to be someone you know,” she told us. “I could feel it, when we were up there. He hates you.”

Dad’s eyes met mine. Who?

We’d been asking that question for a month.

“If we haven’t figured it out by now, we’re not going to today.” I stood from the couch, pulling Bryce to her feet. “We need to find Isaiah. Let’s check the garage first.”

“Wait.” She tugged on my hand. “Don’t you think we should go to the cops and tell them about the kidnapping?”

I looked to Emmett and Leo, both shaking their heads. I sighed, turning to Bryce. “Babe, I know you trust Marcus. But I think this would be better kept between us.”

“Why? We’re trying to prove that Draven is innocent here. To show reasonable doubt that someone is out to frame him. If me being kidnapped makes them investigate, then shouldn’t we try?”

“They won’t find anything. If we didn’t, they won’t.” And if the cops were involved, I wouldn’t get the vengeance I wanted against the man who’d taken her.

She narrowed her gaze. “You don’t know that.”

“I do,” I said gently. “I’m not saying they aren’t good at their jobs, but no matter how hard they tried, they never pinned much on the Gypsies. We’re just . . . better than they are. We don’t have to follow the same rules.”

“What if we don’t find who took me? He can’t get away with it, Dash.”

“He won’t,” I promised. “But we’ll have an easier time finding him if we’re not worried about Marcus in the middle of everything. If we bring in the cops, we’ll be constantly worried they’ll stumble onto something they shouldn’t. Some secrets need to stay secret. If they’re hovering over us, it’ll cripple us. Trust me. Please?”

Her face softened. “Okay.”

“Come on.” I put my arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go to the garage and find Isaiah.”

Except when we got there, it was deserted. Open and empty, the way we’d left it this morning. It seemed like years, not hours, since I’d been working on the Mustang.

“Where are they?” Bryce asked as we stood together in the office. Emmett had gone to the clubhouse to make sure nothing had happened there while we’d been gone. Leo and Dad had just run upstairs to check Isaiah’s apartment.

“I don’t know.” I hugged her to my chest. “We’ll find them.”

I took out my phone, calling Isaiah’s number and not expecting him to answer—and he didn’t. Boots thudded down the metal stairs at the side of the building, preceding Dad and Leo as they came into the office.

“Nothing,” Dad said. “Leo and I are going to head back up to the mountain. You guys wait here. Stay safe.”

“Call as soon as you can.” There was plenty of light this time of year. They had until almost nine before the dark would creep in and make a search impossible.

“Will do. Lock down tight. Everything. Call Presley and make sure she’s home. Tell her to stay there and lock the doors.”

“You think he’d go after her?”

Dad’s gaze drifted to Presley’s desk. “Don’t know what to think anymore.”

When the door closed behind them, I took Bryce’s face in my hands. She leaned her cheek into my palm. “You’re dead on your feet. Let’s go home. Get some rest.”

“I want to be here in case they show up. Can we wait in the office?”

I wouldn’t tell her no. Not today. “I’ll call in for some food. What do you want?”

“Whatever. I’m not all that hungry.”

“Well, you have to eat.” It had been twenty-four hours since she’d eaten.

I led her into my office, where I had a couch. I made sure she was comfortable, then called for pizza. She did her best to eat two slices while I inhaled the rest. Then we sat in the silence. Waiting.

Other than Emmett stopping in to tell us he’d found the hotel and was trying to get security camera footage, no word came. Eventually, Bryce fell asleep on my lap. I kept one hand on her hip. The other ready to grab my gun from its holster.

The light behind the window blinds in my office faded slowly. It got dark, enough for the timed lights outside to flicker to life. And that was when the buzz of a motorcycle caught my ear. The sound didn’t belong to Dad’s bike.