Page 102 of Lawless

“Victor knows they were here.”

My teeth grind and my nostrils flare, hearing him confirm what we assumed after his visit a few days ago.

“And?”

Reid hangs his head in a rare show of regret.

“I sent them away.”

I’m on my feet in a heartbeat, my hands trembling with anger.

“You sent them away?” I boom, taking a warning step closer. Although, quite frankly, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do.

The room spins around me as fear, desperation, and disbelief war with the anger coursing through my veins.

“How could you? How could you send her back to—”

“I was trying to protect them,” he bellows back. His chair collides with the wall behind where he is sitting as he presses his palms on the desk and stares me down.

His pose, his size, might be intimidating to many, but not to me.

I don’t cower or show any kind of sign that I am going to back down.

“Bullshit,” I spit. “You wanted her gone because you can’t cope with how you really feel about her.”

His brows pinch. “W-what?” he stutters, clearly not expecting my response.

“You want her and you can’t deal so you’ve done what you always do and got rid of what you think the problem is. But allow me to let you in on a secret. It’s you. You are the problem here. Not her.”

“Alright, Taylor Swift,” Ezra teases. “Shall we all calm down a little?”

“Fuck you,” I sneer, shaking his hand off my arm when he tries to manhandle me again.

“I helped organize to get them somewhere safe where no one would find them.”

Falling back into the chair, I drop my head into my hands and take a moment to try and process all of this.

“I didn’t sell them out, J. I wouldn’t. We need her. We promised her that we’d help.”

Closing my eyes, I replay his words over and over, but despite his reassurance that he hasn’t done this. The anger and desperation don’t lessen.

“And how has that worked out for you?” I hiss. “You’re meant to be protecting her and you don’t know where the fuck she is.”

“That wasn’t part of the fucking plan, J. I thought we’d covered all bases. They were un-trackable to anyone but us.”

“So fucking track her,” I bark, my stomach twists painfully, my ribs contracting around my lungs as I try not to think about what might be happening to her—to them—if all of this has failed.

“We’re trying.”

Silence falls between us, but the tension never stops crackling.

“If they’d have run, we’d be able to find them but—”

“They’ve gone off-grid,” I finish for him, acid burning up my throat again at the thought of Victor getting his hands on her. Her father. Razor.

I retch as my short nails dig into my palms with so much force, I’m surprised the skin doesn’t break.

“You sent them away and now they’re locked up somewhere by your cunt of a father and we have no fucking idea how to get them back.”