Brutal Prince (Brutal Birthright)

I try to glance around without him noticing. The lot is jumbled and half-empty. There’s nobody in the immediate vicinity to see me being stuffed into the back of the car.

So I do the only thing I can think of. I slip off one of my sneakers, the left one. As I sit down in the open trunk, I flip my foot to kick the shoe off under the Jeep. Then I bring my knees up and hide the barefoot under me, so he won’t notice.

“Lay down,” he says. “I don’t want to hit your head.”

I do as he says. He slams the trunk shut, closing me up in the darkness.

26

Callum

I’m standing in front of Nessa’s Jeep, turning the sneaker over and over in my hand.

It’s Aida’s, I’m sure of it.

How did she lose her shoe?

It’s been over an hour since Jack lost sight of her, but she hasn’t come back to the Jeep. I’ve called her phone twenty times. It keeps going straight to voicemail.

Dante and Nero pull up in a vintage Mustang. They jump out of the car, not bothering to close their doors after them.

“Where was she?” Dante says at once.

“At that restaurant over there,” I point to the patio on the far

side of the street. “She was meeting a friend. After they ate, she disappeared.”

“What friend?” Dante asks.

“I don’t know,” I say.

He gives me a strange look.

“Maybe she left with the mystery friend,” Nero says.

“Maybe,” I agree. “But she lost a shoe.”

I hold it up so they can look at it. They obviously recognize it, because Nero frowns, and Dante starts looking around like Aida might have dropped something else.

“That’s weird,” Nero says.

“Yeah, it is,” I agree. “That’s why I called you.”

“You think the Butcher took her?” Dante says, his voice low and rumbling.

“Why the fuck are we standing here, then!” Nero says. He looks like a current just ran through his body. He’s agitated, spoiling for action.

“I don’t know if it was Zajac,” I say.

“Who else could it be?” Dante frowns.

“Well . . .” it sounds insane, but I’ve got to say it. “It could be Oliver Castle.”

“Ollie?” Nero scoffs, eyebrows so high that they’re lost under his hair. “Not fucking likely.”

“Why not?”

“For one, he’s a little bitch. For two, Aida’s done with him,” Nero says.