Page 69 of Hide From Me

“Shit.”

“What?” Zeid and X both said.

I turned the phone to them as I picked up speed.

“She just left, dressed like that.”

“Did she change her job recently?” X asked, but the sarcasm was so damn thick he didn’t even deserve an answer.

“It just doesn’t look like the normal her. She looks hot. It’s more clothing than what she wore to the fight. But I didn’t know she owned a leather jacket,” X kept saying.

“Can you shut up? I don’t know what the fuck has gotten into her, but where the fuck is she going this early? I have her phone.”

No one spoke, but someone should have tried to take the wheel because I wasn’t thinking logically.

“Track her car. This app right here.”

Zeid took my phone, and I was pretty sure he would judge me later.

“Take a right. Her car is still moving, but she’s miles ahead of us.”

The steering wheel felt like it might break under my grip as I pushed the accelerator and flew through the neighborhoods.

“Get to the highway. She’s downtown.”

I did as he said and took the on-ramp far too fast, but the tires gripped the road and kept us as controlled as possible.

What the hell was she doing?

“When the guy ran, did anyone see anything?”

No one said anything. The last two packages had been propped up on the wall, easy enough for me to have Gran grab.

“She didn’t have her phone. That kid said he delivered some message. Fucking hell, she must have found it before I could get back.”

I wasn’t really talking to anyone in the SUV. I was trying to figure out what this new angle was.

“What would anyone need her for?”

Zeid was still studying the little dot on the screen, but he was the first to break the silence.

“The aunt. I know you had us look into her, but I was doing it well before you ever asked. I didn’t know quite how obsessed you were, brother.” He paused and I caught the look from the corner of my own vision. “But she got under all our skin. We all wantedher safe. I had the means, so I did track that bitch. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to just have kept Rylee.”

I didn’t mean to let a growl out, but I couldn’t take it back.

“She deserved better. The path to the top wasn’t a pretty one. Now, what is, brother?”

X stuck his head through the gap between the two front seats.

“Now, now, girls. We all wanted that little girl to stay safe. Finding family outside this life seemed logical. None of us were ready to raise some teenager, not a broken and scared little mouse anyway. And something tells me all those extra jobs little Cas here took weren’t to stash cash away under his pillow.”

I stiffened.

“You two are both far too observant for your own fucking good.”

They both let a little laugh out, like this was a joke.

“If we weren’t, we never would have been able to take over the Spectors, now would we?” X said.