Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

45. Logan

FORTY-FIVE

LOGAN

Agonized violence burned a hole through the middle of me. I stormed back into the kitchen. Unable to sit. Unable to think. Prisoner to the torment that clawed through my insides.

I nearly choked on the sight of the half-made cookies where Aster had left them. Seized by the rage, I grabbed the metal mixing bowl and threw it across the room. It smashed against the wall and clattered to the floor.

“Logan, man.” Jud’s voice was low and sympathetic where it fell over me from behind, and I pressed my hands to the counter and dropped my head between my shoulders in an effort to get it under control.

My brother set his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it tight. “We’re going to get her back, man, promise you.”

My heart ping-ponged against my ribs.

My vision red.

The fury blinding.

“I can’t—” The words cracked in my throat as another wave of desperation slammed me.

It didn’t matter that I’d already known she was gone, that I’d known it the second I stepped into the frayed, oppressive air her spirit had left behind, I’d searched every inch of the building.

It had taken my brothers less than fifteen minutes to come storming through my busted apartment door after I’d called, sure that monster had taken her.

Where, was the problem.

We’d already gone to the hotel where he’d been staying. It’d only taken a stack of cash to get it out of the receptionist that he’d checked out three days ago.

Torment howled through my body, and I pulled myself from where I was sagged against the counter and raged back across the floor, both hands dragging through my hair like it could tame what ate me alive.

Aggression.

Violence that streaked.

I needed to keep them. Rein them until they could be unleashed.

“Logan,” Trent said, approaching me like he was approaching a rabid animal.

It wasn’t far off.

“I have to get to her.” It was a rasp.

Hatred.

Fear.

Agony.

A dangerous cocktail that was going to blow.

“Knew that prick wasn’t goin’ to stand down. Was clear as day last night. He’s out for something.”

“For my girl. I shouldn’t have left. God. I shouldn’t have left.”

I dropped to my knees on the rug, gutting weakness taking me over.

I shouldn’t have left.

I clutched the hollow ache that moaned in my chest. “If something happens to her…”

To them.

Nausea spun.

“We’ll find her,” Trent promised as he came to crouch in front of me. I’d rambled everything I could give them when they’d first shown, confessing everything I’d held onto for years.

“Do you have details? Any clue? Could he be headed back to Los Angeles?”

I shifted onto my butt, leaning against the couch and blinking through the turbulence that narrowed my sight.

“Possibly. If he was going to use her against her father?” My head shook as I searched for an answer. “I don’t fucking know.”

The only thing I knew was I was going to destroy him.

And if he hurt her?

My ribs flared as I drew in a ragged breath.

I flew to my feet when there was suddenly a commotion at the door that gaped open.

Trent did, too, and Jud raced over to take up my side.

Only it was a young woman who stepped through. “Hello?”

A tatted-up biker followed her in, all kinds of protective and wearing a cut with a patch that said Demon’s Day .

Trent fucking hissed, and both he and Jud stepped forward, a sharp edge riding their demeanors as they stared down a man that rode for what had been our club’s mortal enemy.

Trent and Jud spread out, filling the space with their distrust and animosity.

In a stupor, I tried to make sense of the woman standing there.

“Taylor? Is that you?”

I didn’t know if it was relief or panic that struck me at the sight of her.

I hadn’t seen Aster’s sister since she was twelve. A child. She was now a woman. Her hair and eyes were close to the same color as Aster’s, although she was a couple inches taller and curvier.

Her expression dampened when she looked around.

As awareness gave way to the air of desperation, of horror, of malicious intent.

“I’m too late,” she whimpered. She looked like she might collapse when she slowly drifted into the vacant space.

I moved for her. The biker came forward, too, stepping in front of her.

Trent and Jud flanked me.

“Watch it, Demon,” Trent warned low.

“I’m just here to protect the girl. Your boy needs to calm the fuck down before he gets any closer to her. Looks like he’s about to snap,” the Demon spat.

Taylor shoved around him, putting out her hand. “This is no time for a pissing contest. What happened to my sister?” She begged that.

“He has her.” Strained terror heaved out with the words.

He had her , and I had no fucking clue where he intended to take her or how I was going to get her back.

A sob ripped from Taylor’s throat. “No. He can’t. I…”

She spun around like it would stop this fucking endless cycle of torment.

I’d promised Aster I’d protect her. Promised her that bastard would never touch her again.

And he had her.

Lightheadedness pummeled me, suffocating, everything so tight that I thought my lungs would implode.

This crushing, devastating weight.

“I got it.” Taylor hugged a satchel to her chest. “I got it for her and she’s not here and he has her. Oh god, he has her.”

Her knees went weak, and she nearly toppled over, but the Demon caught her around the waist. “We’ll get your sister.”

“What’s in the bag?” I demanded.

“She needed proof.” It was a wisp of pain.

“What is in the bag?” I stumbled forward, about to lose it.

To snap, just not on Taylor like the Demon had implied.

I was about to fly out that door and go on a rampage.

Hunt until I found him.

Until I could wrap my hands around his neck and choke the life from him.

Taylor passed it to me while the biker continued to keep her supported. “There are documents in the case condemning Jarek’s disloyalty to our father, just like Aster thought. But I found something else, Logan, I think I found what she really needed.”

Urgency spun around me as I dug into it.

I didn’t know if it was relief or disgust.

A part of me had always assumed.

Had always known.

Hell, I wasn’t even surprised.

But there it was, the second twin stone.

My chest clutched tight, and my stomach twisted.

Sniffling, Taylor looked at me, and her expression deepened in emphasis. “It’s worth only a fraction without its partner.”

“It’s what he wanted all along. The second stone.”

“Do you have it?” she asked through her tears, her voice cautious.

The confession climbed my throat, the truth that he had likely been plotting how to get it back from me for all this time.

Our family’s whereabouts had been unknown for years, until a year ago when Gage’s mother had exposed us.

Clearly, that was when Jarek had found our location, too.

I sank onto the couch because I couldn’t keep standing.

“I have it,” I forced out.

Taylor seemed to have to compel the words out. “The documents in there…what Aster had sent me after? They’re in code, but we believe them to be records of his connections in Russia.”

She glanced back at the biker before she returned her attention to me. “It appears there was some sort of arrangement. If Jarek could acquire both stones, then he was assured his new position as head of LA. There is a plot to take my father out, but he had to procure the missing piece before he could do it.”

My chest burned, and she pulled something else out of her bag and slowly edged forward.

Confusion pulled across my brow as she handed me a keepsake box.

“This was in Aster’s old room back at our father’s house. Hidden, but I always knew where she kept it. I brought it thinking she would want it and would probably never go back.”

My spirit thrashed as I set it on my lap, as I carefully opened it to find it filled with folded star notes.

Little Star.

My spirit thrashed, silently reiterating the promise again and again.

“Even if I can’t see you, I’ll know you’re there, and I’ll find my way to you.”

I would. I would find my way to her. No matter what it took.

She moved and knelt in front of me, and she reached in and produced one that was awkwardly shaped, too thick to really fold with the number of pages it held.

“I’m not sure what she’s told you, but I think you need to read this one. So you fully understand. It’s important.”

Emotion filled my eyes.

Fuck.

I couldn’t handle any of this shit.

My mind spun with every scenario.

Aster hurt.

Scared.

The baby…

My breaths clotted off as my throat thickened in a vise of agony.

“She loves you,” Taylor urged.

“I love her. More than life. And I promise you I will get her back.” Razors filled the last words.

“I know you will.”

It was then my phone buzzed with a text. I scrambled to grab it, praying for a miracle.

That this whole thing was a misunderstanding.

That she was safe.

I frowned when I saw it was a text from Haille.

Haille

It’s rude to turn down a thoughtful invitation, no? My house at 10 or I’ll have to find a more interesting way to entertain myself. She is an intriguing artifact.

A cold sweat broke out on the nape of my neck.

Haille

I think you are well aware of what tonight’s ante is. I hope you don’t disappoint me.

A tacky awareness slipped over my skin.

Prickles of disgust and disbelief.

Greed.

It had driven me for years.

I’d believed I’d had something to prove.

Had hungered for the power.

For the gain to rise superior over my enemies.

So I’d sat at that man’s table and made friends with the beast.

I’d filled my cup with treasure until it’d overflowed with wealth.

But in the end, there was only one thing I wanted.