Page 76 of Branded By Shadow
Ghost crackles in my ear. “Shadow.”
“Talk.”
“Havoc’s moving. Viper’s pulling camera feeds from Lovefall Cove. Ace is getting eyes in the air if he can. Sin’s digging on every property tied to Landon and every Salazar shell within fifty miles.”
“Find Brianna too.”
“We will.”
“No,” I say, voice low. “Find Talia first.”
A beat.
“Yeah, brother.”
Brother.
The word usually steadies me.
Not now.
Now it just reminds me I stepped away from my woman.
And in that slice of time, they took her.
Chapter 10
Talia
Thechairisugly.
That is not the most important thing happening right now, but my brain has apparently decided to focus on upholstery because the alternative is screaming.
It’s old. Wooden. One leg shorter than the others. Every time I shift, it rocks beneath me with a tiny, uneven tap against the cabin floor.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Like a countdown.
My wrists are tied behind my back. Not with rope, because apparently that would be too cinematic. Zip ties. Hard plastic biting into skin already raw from fighting in the back ofLandon’s SUV. My mouth tastes like dust and the cloth they had shoved between my teeth until ten minutes ago.
They took the gag out because Brianna wanted to talk.
Of course she did.
My stepsister always did love an audience.
She stands by the window, arms crossed, looking out through a gap in the curtains. The oversized hoodie is gone. So are the sunglasses and the shaking voice. Underneath, she wears fitted jeans, a cream sweater I know for a fact used to be mine, and the gold hoops I thought I lost two years ago.
The sight of them hurts more than it should.
Ridiculous.
I am tied to a chair in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and part of me still wants to say,You took my earrings?
