I raced back to my bike and rode to Gregor’s Market. I wasn’t completely sure yet what I’d do once I came face to face with Landon Gregor, but ripping him to shreds seemed like a good place to start. The usual Saturday morning shoppers were streaming in and out of the store, and I briefly imagined myself outing Landon in front of all the people who’d respected him for years. He’d been mayor almost my entire childhood, and he was considered one of the town’s most upstanding citizens. The fucking irony of it all.

I yanked open the front door and several customers stepped back as I lumbered to the counter. Everly was behind the register ringing up an order. Her eyes rounded with surprise as she looked up and saw me stomping toward her.

“Where’s Tashlyn? I told her to stay with you.”

Her mouth dropped in confusion. “She went home to wait for you. She didn’t say anything about staying with me. What’s wrong? Is she in danger?”

I looked around. “Where’s your uncle?” My pulse was pounding so rapidly, it was hard to think.

“He didn’t feel well. He left me in charge of the store. Jeez, Jem, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”

I looked at her. The fright in her face made me soften my tone. Her life was about to be turned upside down. “Everything will come out soon enough, Ever. And I’m sorry. But right now, I’ve got to find Tashlyn.”

I flew down the steps to my bike and headed to Landon’s house. Something told me he wouldn’t be home. His car wasn’t in the driveway, but I walked up to the door and pounded on it just to be sure. No answer.

Adrenaline was pumping through me like fucking jet fuel. I got back on the bike and raced toward the end of the street, toward Dad’s house. Milly’s Diner was bursting with customers, but I didn’t see Draven’s truck in the lot. I was going to twist his ugly fucking head off the second I saw him.

Dane’s bike wasn’t in the driveway as I pulled up. I flew onto the porch and threw the front door open. Dad was in his usual spot on the couch. I’d entered the house like a madman, but he hardly even glanced up.

I stood in front of the couch and glared down at him. “Where can I find him?”

He lifted his yellowed eyes to me. “I assume you’re talking about Landon. I told you to leave it alone. Shit, you’re stubborn.”

I had no patience for his theatrics today. I reached down and grabbed his shirt. He had no choice but to look at me. “Just how many of those truck drivers did you murder personally?”

He flinched at the question. “None. Rocky and I unloaded cargo, but Draven did the killing. He was the one who sent the trucks over the ridge and set them on fire.”

“As you stood by and watched?”

His gaze was like ice as he stared up at me. “Yeah, while I stood by and watched.”

I released his shirt. “What was in the newspaper article? The one you took from Aunt Alice?”

He scrunched his face up as if just thinking caused pain. His chest lifted with a long, stuttering breath. “A couple witnesses claimed that they saw a little girl with the truck driver. They stopped in at the diner. But the driver was alone when they found his remains. Guess you already knew that.”

I stood and stared down at him, wanting to throttle him and yet, wanting to let him know that there were times when I loved him, back when I was young and he would hold me upside down and tickle me or throw a football with me in the yard. “All my life, the one thing about you I could be proud of was that you were too tough to be pushed around by anyone. But I was wrong. You were Landon Gregor’s fucking whipping boy. He had you by the balls, and you fucking handed them to him on a platter.”

“I didn’t deserve better. Elizabeth died because I ran off like a coward.”

“She died because Landon threw her in the fucking water, then told you it was your fault she died.”

“Who told you that?”

“Rebecca Gregor. She told me what happened. Landon framed you and then blackmailed you for your whole fucking life. You knew what fucking scum he was, yet you never questioned him. You’re pathetic.”

He rested back and closed his eyes.

“No, don’t sleep.” I reached for his shirt again. “Where would Landon be? He has Tashlyn.”

“He’ll kill you.”

I shook him hard. “Where the fuck would he be?”

“Try the trappers’ shelter.”

I let go of him and raced out the door. The quickest route to the shelter was to park on Phantom Curve and hike down. I had no weapon, but I wasn’t going to need one. If Gregor or Draven had touched one hair on her head, I was going to kill them both with my bare hands. I had to push the idea that I was too late out of my head or go fucking mad. There was no way I could lose the one person who had ever meant anything to me in my whole fucked up life. I’d promised Tashlyn that I would keep her safe, and I’d failed.

The road peeled away beneath the bike as I tore along the highway. I was running purely on rage and adrenalin. Phantom Curve came into view. Instead of slowing for the turn, I twisted the throttle. I reached the section of metal railing that had been welded together, the place on the deadly road where my dad had been an accomplice to grisly murders. I stopped the bike and jumped off.

I ran down the steep terrain toward the shelter. The trail had not been maintained. Weeds and debris choked it off, but I stomped through. The rusty hatch door had been cleared of forest litter, assuring me that I’d come to the right place.

The shelter had been built at the base of a granite outcropping and you had to step down into it, like a cavern. The no trespassing sign to stay off the historical landmark had been kicked down and buried by pine litter long ago. The town had basically ignored the site.

There was one opening and exit and there was no way to sneak up on them. I grabbed the handle on the hatch door. My feet stomped down the steps. Two flashlights were hanging from wires on the ceiling and one was dangling right over Tashlyn’s head.

“Jem,” she cried. Her face was covered with bruises and tears. Her shirt had been sliced open, leaving a trail of blood trickling down her body.

Draven was standing next to her with a blade at her throat. He flashed his brown teeth at me and laughed as I lunged at him. His eyes bulged as I grabbed the knife. I spun him around and had him in a chokehold with the blade pointing at his throat before he could take his next breath.

“Jem, watch out!” Tashlyn screamed.

I heard the footsteps behind me. I dragged the knife across Draven’s throat. His blood poured like a river over my hand. I tossed aside his limp body just as a sharp pain exploded in my skull.

In my haze, I heard a chain crank through a pulley. My hands were yanked above my head and metal cuffs ground into my wrists as my feet left the floor. I lifted my throbbing head and looked around. Everything was a blur, everything except the figure standing in the center of the dark hovel.

Tashlyn looked ghost white. She gazed up at me with glassy eyes. My feet were dangling in the air. My wrists and shoulders were bearing all my weight. But Gregor hadn’t tied my legs. They were my only weapon.

He walked out of the shadows, where he’d been locking the pulley chain tight to hold me. He took a nonchalant step over Draven’s dead body. A deep pool of blood covered the ground beneath him. My head was clearing, and it was coming back to me. I’d managed to slit Draven’s throat before Gregor knocked me out.

I looked over at Tashlyn. She was shivering uncontrollably, and it looked as if she’d been hit more than once. “Fuck, baby.” My voice sounded worthless in the dark cavern. “I’m sorry. I should have been there.”

“Very touching words coming from Jem Wolfe,” Landon snarled.

He stood between Tashlyn and me and looked back and forth. “I’m trying to decide which would be more torturous for you.” He lifted a short whip that was studded with shards of glass. “Being beaten yourself or having to watch as I splay the creamy, beautiful skin off her back. I know you well enough to know pain doesn’t really bother you, so I think we’ll start with the girl.”