“You should fix yourself up. Crying made you look like shit.”

I managed to shock her into a stunned silence before a scowl transformed her features. She angrily pushed back her chair and stormed off to the back of the restaurant.

When she was out of sight, I took some of the food from her plate and rearranged it to make it look full. I didn’t know where my need to look out for her came from, but I had to be careful.

Sheldon was easy to fall for.

And if I didn’t tread carefully, she could very well own me all over again. After breakfast, she managed to convince me to take her to her apartment for a change of clothes. I had just taken a seat when the sound of glass shattering broke the silence.

I ran the short distance to her bedroom where I assumed she had disappeared.

There she stood in the center, holding a note. The paper I instantly recognized as similar to the ransom note we’d found rattled unsteadily in her bleeding hand. Glass shards from the broken mirror littered the floor around her feet.

Wordlessly, I plucked the note from her hand and guided her to sit on the bed. Her gaze was locked straight ahead as she sat frozen.

Mentally, I braced myself for what had sparked such a violent reaction. After unfolding the paper, I silently read the next clue to my daughter’s disappearance.

ARE YOU WILLING TO KILL?

* * * * *

Thirty minutes later, I had Keiran, Lake, Dash, and Q seated around her small living room. I handed the note to Keiran who silently read it before handing it to Dash.

“This doesn’t make any sense. Who could want my sister to kill and why? She’s not a killer.”

“No. But Keiran is.” Everyone turned to Q who now held the note.

“What?”

He held up the paper. “It’s addressed to him.”

I took the paper from his hand and sure enough, written in bold letters on the back was his name. “The first ransom wasn’t addressed.”

“Keiran?” Sheldon had emerged from her bedroom. She still looked as if she’d seen a ghost but appeared steadier on her feet. “Why would they take my daughter if this is about you?”

“Whoever wrote this note knows about my past. It has to be someone I know.”

“So what are we supposed to do now? Wait around for another ransom note?”

“May I see it?” Lake held out her hand for the note, and when I handed it to her, she read it over. She flipped it at least ten times and each time she read it, her skin paled.

“Do you see something else?”

“No. But I—I don’t think the note is meant for Keiran.”

“What do you mean? His name is written on the back.”

Her hand clapped over her mouth, and she quickly ran from the room before she could explain. Keiran followed after her while the rest of us stood around dumbstruck.

“Because he’s not the addressee,” Q finished. “He’s the answer.”

Someone wanted my brother dead in exchange for Kennedy?

At that moment, Keiran walked back into the living room alone wearing a hard expression. “We need to find Mitch.”

Shit.

“Keenan!”

At the sound of Sheldon’s voice, I looked around, but she was nowhere in sight. I hadn’t even noticed when she left the room, which was a first.

I followed the sound of her crying and found her in what must have been Kennedy’s bedroom. I hadn’t realized the rest had followed me until a chorus of swearing sounded behind me.

Written on the wall in red ink was a message:

SHE DIES IN 24 HOURS.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

SHELDON

NONE OF US knew where to begin after finding the message in Kennedy’s bedroom. We were short on time and leads, and we hadn’t heard from John.

“When was the last time you were here?” Keiran questioned.

“Last night,” Keenan thankfully answered. My throat was still clogged, and I was afraid I would choke on my own tears if I spoke too soon.

My daughter would be dead in just a few hours.

Was I willing to kill?

More importantly, was I willing to kill a friend for my daughter?

There had to be another way. I had to believe it because any other possibility was too painful.

“We need that address,” Keiran growled. “Where the fuck is John?”

“Maybe Keenan knows,” Q offered. The glare he sent Keenan’s way was challenging, but Keenan managed to keep his composure despite being backed into a corner.

This secret John guilted Keenan into keeping was getting out of hand. I silently pleaded with him with my eyes, but Keenan ignored it and pushed away from the wall he currently leaned against.

Three hard knocks on the door interrupted whatever Keenan had been about to say. He made a detour for the door and opened it to reveal not only John but also Jesse standing on the other side.

“Where have you been?” I grilled.

“I came as soon as I could. Can you let us in?” John quipped.

Begrudgingly, I stepped aside to let them in. Jesse made his way to the small dining table Sheldon had positioned in the corner and began to set up.

“I went home first, but when I only found him,” John indicated to Jesse, “I came here next.”

“We received another ransom note. We needed you here hours ago.”

John’s expression darkened as he looked around the room. “Son of a bitch. What did the note say?”

“If Sheldon doesn’t kill Keiran in twenty-four hours, Kennedy will die. Does that sound urgent enough for you?”

“We need that address now,” Keiran ordered. The angry vein in his forehead was beginning to pulse.

“We need to talk, son.”

Kennedy could die soon, and he wanted to talk? “Please, John. Just give us the address.” He turned to me with sad eyes full of regret but no answer.

“What could we possibly have to talk about right this second?”

“Mitch.”

“Yes. I am preparing to blow his head off and bring my niece home. What is there to discuss?”

“Mitch wasn’t the one who took Kennedy.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” I directed to John.

Keiran looked from me to John before pinching the bridge of his nose. “Someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on?”

“Mitch is dying. He has been for the last three years.”

“And you know this how?”

“Because I’ve been keeping him in a cancer facility a few hours away.”

The room chilled noticeably following John’s revelation.

“Come again?”

“Your father came to me three years ago after being diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. By the time he came to me, he was far too weak to take care of himself so I took him to an after treatment facility.”

Keiran was nearly rabid by the time John had finished explaining. “Where?”

“He’s under my protection, Keiran but know this is to protect you, too.”

“Yeah?” Keiran asked. “And who will protect you?”

“Look, the only reason I told you was because I didn’t want to waste the little time we have on a dead end.”

“Bullshit,” Keenan countered. It was the first time he’d spoken since the confrontation began. “If it’s a dead end then give me the address and let me make that decision. You have nothing to lose except your life if you don’t.”

I had never seen Keenan this way before. Threatening people was Keiran’s thing, which made me wonder once again just who it was that returned from California, and could I trust him with my daughter?

Right now, he was part of the hope I held of bringing Kennedy home, and once she was home safe, I would do whatever it took to protect us from him once and for all.

As if sensing my thoughts, he turned to face me, his eyes darkening with each second that passed. He seemed to be sending a silent message, one that I wasn’t too sure I wanted to decipher.

I looked away but not before catching the slow, sinister smile that made him look almost evil.