“Let me go.”
“You’re coming with me.” Connor’s deep voice held a hysterical edge. High, he’d probably been binging on meth for days. He smelled like stale cigarette smoke, beer, and body odor. His bony chest pressed against her shoulder blades. After she’d been held in Rory’s strong arms, against all his tight muscles, the difference in her brother’s scrawny frame startled her. His choices were sucking the life right out of him.
“Connor, let me go.” She struggled to break his hold, but he didn’t release her. Stronger than he looked, he managed to haul her back several feet to a waiting car with the trunk open.
“Don’t you dare.”
He didn’t heed her warning and shoved her backward, so she fell into the gaping hole. Her shoulders hit a tire iron. Connor pulled her feet up over the lip and they thudded on the spare tire. She reached for Connor, but he swatted her hands back, grabbed her purse strap, and yanked it away from her. He pulled a gun from behind his back and pointed it right at her chest. She immediately covered her belly with both hands.
“Stay put. Don’t move.”
Sadie narrowed her eyes, fury spreading through her body in a wave of anger she couldn’t contain. “This is the second time you’ve pointed a gun at me. You truly have lost your mind, you know that? I get my hands on you, I’ll teach you a lesson about empty threats and doing stupid things.”
“It’s no threat. You move, and I’ll shoot you.”
She almost believed him, but then his hand shook and a trace of fear filled his eyes. He couldn’t quite make himself do it. Instead, he slammed the trunk, sending her into darkness. She sighed out her relief, knowing next time she might not be so lucky. Her brother was slowly losing his mind.
“Fucking bitch. You think you can just turn me in to the cops. Your flesh and blood. No fucking way.”
She slammed the flats of her hands up against the trunk lid and pounded them against the rough metal over and over again. “Let me out. We can talk about this.”
“I’m done talking. All you do is tell me what to do. He left you everything. Half that ranch is mine.” She heard the deep hurt and anguish in his voice. He missed their father and grieved for him as hard as Sadie did. They’d done it alone, because he’d chosen his life and she’d chosen hers and they no longer shared the bonds they’d once had as children.
“Connor, please, let me out. We’ll talk this through. I’ll pay for a lawyer.”
“I don’t need a fucking lawyer. I need money. With you out of the way, it’ll all be mine.”
Stupid idiot. He couldn’t possibly believe that he’d see a dime from their father’s estate when the cops were after him. Irrational, delusional. Sadie slammed her hand against the trunk lid again.
The returned hard thud made her jump. He must have slammed his fist on top of the trunk. That didn’t disturb her as much as the warning and ominous tone in his words. He’d gone to the dark side, drawn in by the drugs and the evil men he hung out with until he believed the only way to handle a problem was to eliminate it.
“Connor.” No answer. “Connor!”
The driver’s door creaked open. She didn’t even know where he’d gotten the car. The door slammed and the engine roared to life. He hit the gas and the tires spun in the dirt and gravel parking lot.
They hit the blacktop and raced away from the diner. Away from her only chance to get help. She hoped someone discovered her missing before it was too late. How long would Rory wait before looking for her? She didn’t know where Connor planned to take her. She hoped to his hideaway in the hills. If so, she hoped Rory got her note. She hoped he figured out where to find her and got to her in time.
CHAPTER 28
Rory was ready to punch something when Agent Cooke came back on the line. “What’s happened?”
“Connor apparently made delivery to get him out of the trouble he was in weeks ago, but he and the others got hijacked. DEA took down the rivals and confiscated the drugs, but Connor’s in debt to Torres now and promised an even bigger shipment . . .”
“And he’s about to choke on it if he doesn’t come through with the product.”
“Connor’s been on a three-day binge. When he got Sadie’s text, he went off the rails.”
“What does that mean?”
“He stole some guy’s car out of a gas station.”
“Great, he’s compounding the charges against him.”
“There’s more.”
“Of course there is.” Rory didn’t hide the sarcasm in his voice, but his gut twisted painfully, thinking that Connor acting out resulted in only one thing: Sadie paying the price.