“Maybe it’s from the hotel.” Gabe glanced around the tidy room. “Housekeeping’s obviously been in here.”
Adrian’s gut said otherwise. “This hotel isn’t the leave-a-mint-on-your-pillow type of place, Dawson.” Still, wanting to be sure, he went to the bedside table and picked up the phone’s receiver.
The woman at the front desk confirmed his suspicions.
“It’s not from the hotel.” He hung up the phone.
Gabe studied the box again. “Seems too small to be an explosive.”
Adrian thought the same thing.
“Someone’s playing with us.”
“No.” Gabe looked over at him. “They’re playing withyou.”
Leaning on the crutches, the tops dug into his armpits as he ran a hand down his face. “Looks like it’s my move.”
Adrian’s insides twisted. Looking at the box again, he did his best not to think of the different body parts that could fit inside the small package.
The idea that someone would torture his Jenna in such a way…
Not her. Jesus, not her.
With no choice but to look, he lifted his right crutch. Using the rubber tip, he lifted the lid before tapping the side of the box hard enough to make it fall over.
A loud breath escaped—one he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding—when a small cell phone slid out onto the bed.
“Jesus Christ.” He reached for the device.
There was no need to worry about destroying prints. The players in this twisted game wouldn’t have left any behind.
Gabe picked up the box and looked inside. “There’s a ring. Has some sort of crest on it.”
Adrian glanced at the piece of jewelry and frowned. “That’s a man’s.”
Confused, he grabbed it from Gabe’s fingers. Fear clawed up his throat, its sharp talons ripping him to shreds as he caught sight of the familiar design.
His heart stopped beating. The air inside his lungs turned to ice, and his brain refused to accept what his eyes were seeing.
Fucking no!
A horrifying clarity struck with such force he could actuallyfeelthe color draining from his face. His knees buckled, and if it hadn’t been for the damn crutches, Adrian would’ve fallen straight to the floor.
“Jesus, Walker.” Gabe’s hands helped steady him. “You okay? You look liked you’ve seen a damned ghost.”
No, not a ghost. Just a ring that belonged to one.
“It’s my fault,” he rasped. He could barely get the words out.
“What the hell are you talking about? What’s your fault?”
Adrian’s stuttering gaze rose to meet Gabe’s. “All of it.”
Something inside him broke, then.Hefucking broke.
Little by little, he began to shut down. Starting with the parts he’d only recently discovered. The ones Jenna had brought out in him.
Soon, the only thing left of the man Adrianthoughthe’d become—the man he’d always longed to be—was a broken, hollow shell.