Never Look Back (Redemption Hills 3)

I could feel it.

I could feel her spirit crying out from within the walls.

My chest tightened with the promise.“Even if I can’t see you, I’ll know you’re there, and I’ll find my way to you.”

“Easy,” Jud said as he came up to my side. “Know you want to run in there with guns blazing, but we have to play this smart.”

“Good thing smart is what he does.” Trent almost grinned.

My hand squeezed on the handle of the case that held the box. It was fucking ironic how the whole goal for that bastard was getting the second stone back from me, and he didn’t have a goddamn clue that I now possessed both. The other stone that Taylor had raided from his house was safe with her and the Demon where they waited for us back at my place.

Steeling myself, I started in the direction of the mansion, and Trent and Jud followed suit.

The three of us walked toward the imposing stairs, our footsteps crunching below us while the atmosphere throbbed and quivered with depravity.

I could feel it seeping out from below the door in a sinister cloud and slithering across the ground.

I wondered why I’d never felt it so distinctly before.

Or maybe the ugly truth of it had been that I’d ignored it. More than likely, I just hadn’t cared.

Greed.

Now it felt like a sickness I was going to expel.

One side of the double doors opened when we got to the top step.

Jud and Trent were ready to go if it was a straight-up trap.

Oz was there, his gaze wary and hard as he widened the door.

“Mr. Lawson.”

“Oz. It’s a pleasure to see you again. I brought friends.” I grinned like it was just another game, and I was inviting a couple unwitting fools to the table while my heart beat so hard I thought it would bust through my ribs.

I pretended like I didn’t want to punch the prick in the face for having any part in this.

“I’m afraid they will have to wait outside,” Oz said.

Trent scoffed. “And I’mafraidthat’s not gonna happen.”

The scar on Oz’s face slashed down as he frowned. “I was told there might be trouble.”

“Yeah, and that trouble will come if anyone laid a finger on the girl inside.”

He actually had the nerve to cringe. “She is whole, Sir.”

“That’s good because every last one of you will die if she’s not.”

Jud growled a low sound at my side as I issued it. I didn’t know if it was to warn me to cool it or because he was underscoring the promise.

Oz let his gaze wander over the three of us before he seemed to settle on something, then he turned to me and asked, “Did you bring your ante, Sir?”

He eyed me, something deeper and more pressing than I’d seen in his expression before.

“I did.”

Anxiety pulsed.