“Rhett?”Ari’s voice sounded scratchier than normal, like the connection wasfuzzy.
“Areyouokay?”
“Don’t freak out,” shewhispered.
Normally it took a hell of a lot to shake me, but where Ari was concerned, all my reactions shifted.Keeping my cool if she was in trouble wasn’tpossible.
“Too late.Tell me what’s going on.”I dodged a crowd of pedestrians and almost took out a street performer’s dog wearing a tuxedo.My heart hammered, not because of the exertion, but because of amemory.
Heath and I had been playing football in the front yard as Ari came walking down the street, one arm hanging limply and the other pushing her bike alongside her.Blood had dripped down one leg, and when we’d noticed her as she turned her bike up the driveway, the first thing she’d told us wasdon’tfreakout.
“I’m in the panic room.I’msafe.”
I didn’t even know she had a panic room in that place, but the thought of what could have happened to make her lock herself inside made me want to kill someone.“What the hell isgoingon?”
“I’ll explain when you get here.I just ...I got spooked and I don’t know who to trust anymore, so I’m takingprecautions.”
Only Ari could sound so calm while locked in a fucking panic room.I finally saw my Jeep up ahead.The day she’d broken her arm, she hadn’t even cried, even though her bone was sticking through the skin.My parents and her dad had gone to Baton Rouge for the day, and they’d left Mr.Sampson’s patrol car at home.Heath and I had hustled Ari into the car, and I’d broken so many frigging laws when I jumped into the driver’s seat, flipped on the siren, and hauled ass to the hospital, driving through red lights and cutting offtraffic.
Something about her being hurt had taken my hardened sense of right and wrong and thrown it out the window until she was safeagain.
“But you’re okay?You’re notinjured?”
“I’m fine, Rhett.I swear.I’m just ...beingcareful.”
I could tell there was a hell of a lot that she wasn’t saying, but I’d get there as soon as I could.I dug my keys out of my pocket and hopped in the Jeep, putting my phone on speaker and dropping it on the passenger seat before I fired up theengine.
“Does Carver know you’re in there?”I checked the rearview mirror and backed up to get out of my parallelparkingspot.
“Notexactly.”
My hands gripped the steering wheel harder than necessary.“Did he dosomething?”
“I don’t know, but I’m trying to figure it out, I swear.I disabled the sensor that would’ve notified him when I engaged the door.He was out in the garage, lastIknew.”
I tried to keep my voice calm as I floored the gas pedal and roared down the street.“None of this makes any sense, Ari.He’s there toprotectyou—”
She cut me off, and the fear in her tone finally came through.“It’s not safe to talk about on the phone.Please.Justgethere.”
I softened my voice.“Hold tight, Red.I’m onmyway.”
39
Ariel
Dramatics weren’t my thing.Being capable was.But when my fingers went to work and I couldn’t figure out how someone could have deleted the security footage, I went down another path.Carlos.The things I found chilled my blood, and it didn’t take long before I knew I was in way overmyhead.
I was a realist.Bad people were everywhere.Evil existed.And even knowing this, I was still a naive, trusting idiot, and I’d stumbled into the crosshairs of something I wasn’t equipped to handle onmyown.
Cyber threats?Noproblem.
Cocky hackers?I couldhandlethat.
A man standing over me close enough to kill me while inside a secured estate?Um,nope.It turned out I couldn’t handle that all by myself once I figured out who hadsenthim.
I might have been naive, but I wasn’t stupid.As soon as I discovered what I’d walked into, I knew I had to tell Rhett.I probably could have worded my text better so as not to send him into a panic, but I needed to get him here as quickly as possible, and apparently, thatworked.
I looked around the safe room, thankful it was well-appointed.It had been another huge draw when I’d selected this house from Erik and Esme’s list.Whoever had built it must have been a security nut.It was a dream setup, and the price of the rental hadreflectedthat.