JARED-1(Lane Brothers, Book 4)(27)

“She split, Jared. She’s not here and I had Case search the house. She’s gone,” he wheezes breathlessly, his hands on his knees as my own threaten to buckle.

The first thought I have is that someone got in and there’s been foul play, but I know better. This place is a fortress and so secure that a breeze can’t get in without Pop’s say-so.

“Ma?” I ask, turning to look at her as her eyes go moist and she shakes her head.

“She left this for you after locking me in the closet, son. She was so sad when she did it, and I swear she must have cried harder than I was, but she kept saying she had to finish it and prove to you that she’s worthy again,” Ma bawls, holding out a sealed white envelope to me.

I snatch it up and rip into the thing without care, my anger so strong that when it dissolves instantly, I feel my knees give and dump me to the ground.

My Jared,

If you’re reading this you’re probably so pissed off right now that your eye is doing that weird ticking thing and you’re ripping at your hair. Stop it, because I love your hair and don’t want to marry a bald man.

I’m so sorry for this, and believe me, if I could change it all in a blink I really would. I want to marry you and have babies and a family with you so badly it breaks my heart to think that I’m throwing away my only chance at true love on this. But I have to do this, and not just for you, not just to prove to you that I am worthy, but for me, too, because I’ve felt so terrible for so long that I need to know I can do something good for once in my miserable life.

I know you think that Roman is a traitor. Hell, the first time I saw him walk in with Joe Fanzo I thought the same thing and it broke my heart. But he isn’t, I know deep down he isn’t, and I need to right a wrong I did your brother when they asked me to vouch for him and I couldn’t.

Cleo warned me not to, and I was scared that she’d finally snap and hurt my family, so I obeyed and left him hanging.

Ronny called me today. Despite what you all think of her, she isn’t in on this. Cleo’s been lining her pockets and setting her up from the start to throw suspicion off her. She knows more than is safe and she let me know that the Patriots are casting a big vote today.

This feels bad to me, and I know that if I don’t go my father will finally lose patience and let them at my sister and her family. And Roman, well, he could be in danger, too. I have to find him now, Jared, and that’s something I can’t let you in on because they’re watching you all so closely, we wouldn’t make it within a hundred yards of the Patriots without being shot on the spot.

I will get to him. I know exactly how to do it, and I swear, if there is a way to get him out alive I will find it.

That’s all I can say right now, because your ma’s been dogging me all day and I hear her coming.

Just know that I love you.

Always, always yours,

Cupcake

All I feel right now is terror and I lift my eyes to Miah with a grimace and the knowledge that I need to find my Cupcake before she walks herself into a situation that could get her killed.

“Get Ronny.”

I don’t say anything else as I rise to my feet and fold up the letter with calm hands and a resolve I feel to my bones. I hate that she’s done this, and by God when I get her back I’m chaining her to my side for the next fifty years if she behaves herself, but I understand it more than she probably thinks.

Miah nods and rushes off, followed closely by Bronx and a scowling Case. I do nothing but walk to the door and take the stairs two at a time, going for my phone and the tracking program I have on it.

“Jared—”

“Do not say it, Wyatt. She hasn’t betrayed me,” I snarl, turning all my anger on him when he walks through the door looking haggard at my loss.

“Not what I was going to say, douche. I was going to say that Ma put a tracker in that chain she gave Paulie this afternoon.”

I almost smile until I pull up the app and see the blinking light beeping in the exact spot I don’t want to see it. I rush into our bedroom and curse when my ring and the chain catch my eye where Paulie must have dropped them before running.

“She’s too smart, that girl,” Wyatt says, proud despite the inconvenience this is causing me.

“Yes, she is, and that might get her killed before I can find her,” I snarl, sitting down on the edge of the bed as dread hits my gut.

Think, Jared. Think. There must be something that can help here.

My mind is a blur as I jump to my feet and start pacing so hard, Wyatt winces and takes a step back lest I run him over in my agitation. I do this for the next twenty minutes before I hear a commotion and rush downstairs to see Ronny standing beside a grinning Bronx, her designer heels tapping in annoyance as the man keeps playing with her hair.