Unlocked (19 page)

I took the scotch and refilled both our glasses, and we drank in silence for a while. I suspected there would be a lot of this over the coming days. The news of Ewan's betrayal had hit the group hard.

"How's Sophia coping?" Thomas asked eventually.

I felt a ghost of a smile creep onto my face. "She actually seems okay. She's a hell of a lot tougher than she looks."

"I can believe that. Is she still floating around here? I haven't had a chance to talk to her."

"No, I sent her back to the main house with Trey. She wanted to stay, but it was obvious how wiped out she was. Besides, there was no reason for her to be here. At this point, it's just a waiting game." With Ewan in custody, much of the danger had passed, but I wasn't willing to let Sophia go back out into the real world just yet. Now that we knew who the traitor was, she'd be safe in the Alpha house until we could unravel the rest of Ewan's operation. Soon, this whole nightmare would be behind us.

A few minutes later, Marcus walked into the room. "He's awake."

"Does he have anything to say for himself?" I asked.

"Not yet. He wants to speak to you, Sebastian. Said he won't talk to anyone else."

It wasn't a good idea. Despite having had a little time to process his betrayal, I still didn't trust myself to be in the same room as him. Just thinking about it turned my blood to lava. But Ewan was a stubborn son of a bitch. If he wanted me there, he'd hold out until it happened.

"Take me to him," I said with a curt nod.

I followed Marcus into the prison area, and he buzzed me through into Ewan's cell.

He was slouched on the bed in the corner of the room. Thomas and Sophia were right, I really had done a number on him. His face was a mottled collage of purple and yellow. Most of his features were barely recognisable behind the swelling and broken skin. He stared up at me, through his one good eye, still managing to look unafraid.

"So." My voice could have frozen water.

He sighed heavily. "So."

"Let's get this over with. You wanted to see me. Well, here I am."

There was a pause. "I'm sorry, Sebastian."

He couldn't have surprised me any more if he'd tried. My hands clenched tight and I took two big steps towards him until I was close enough to feel his breath on my skin. "Sorry? That's why you brought me in here? To apologise? I don't want your apologies, Ewan! I want answers!" I realised I was shouting, but I didn't care. I needed some outlet for all the anger seething inside me or it was going to come out through my fists again.

He flinched, but his expression remained stoic. "I appreciate that. I'm not going to pretend like that makes it better. All I want is for you to understand; everything I did, I did in the best interests of the group."

"You don't get to decide what's best for the group. That's not your call alone," I spat.

"Maybe not, but I didn't see any other way. She's a liability, Sebastian. And now you are too. The way you reacted when she was taken, well, the council can't afford to have that kind of weakness. Especially not with everything else that's happening. So I did what I thought was necessary."

A trickle of discomfort flowed down my spine. "What do you mean everything else? You're responsible for everything else."

His eyes widened. "You can't be serious."

"I'm deadly serious. You just admitted to trying to take both of us out, but you expect me to believe you weren't the one who tried to kidnap Sophia?"

He sat up taller, raising his head as close to mine as possible. "I may have been concerned about you for a while, Sebastian, but I didn't do anything about it until that night with Anton's men in the safe house. And as God is my witness, I fucking certainly had nothing to do with Charlie and Simon. They were my friends."

His voice was louder now and full of conviction. It made my head spin.

"So if it wasn't you, who was it?"

"I don't know, but they're still out there."

"You're lying," I said, but I think it was more for my benefit than his. The certainty in his eyes rippled through me.

He studied me. "Maybe I am. Believe what you like, I guess. It makes little difference to me at this point." His eyes narrowed. "But when all of this comes crashing down around you, don't say I didn't warn you."

I stared at him for several seconds, my mind and stomach churning as one. I desperately wanted not to believe him, but what reason did he have to lie? Even if he did convince me, he couldn't think that would earn him clemency. There were no excuses for trying to assassinate a brother. Perhaps he was just messing with me, a last little 'fuck you' for good measure, but if that were the case, he was the best actor in the world. Besides, the sinking feeling in my belly was growing more powerful with every passing second.

The truth was, everything he said made sense. Ewan and I had never seen eye to eye, but his dedication to the group bordered on zealous. Even with what we thought was proof, right in front of us, I still hadn't really been able to see him doing all of this. Add that to the inconsistencies Sophia had raised earlier in the car, and the doubt only grew.

If he was telling the truth then someone else out there wanted to hurt the group. And that meant we were all still in danger.

Including Sophia.

I was out the door before I knew it, my phone already in my hand.
She's safe.
By now she's probably asleep back in the house with armed guards stationed all around her
. But as the phone continued to ring out, a chill rolled through me unlike anything I'd ever felt before.

Ten rings. Twenty.

No answer.

With desperation clutching at my lungs, I hung up and called again. Nothing.

She's not answering because she's passed out. That's all.

I tried Trey's number, but it went straight to voicemail. With my heart beating like a wild drum in my chest, I raced back to find Thomas.

"Who's still at the house?" I asked.

He recoiled as I drew close, like he'd seen something horrifying in my face. "What the hell? What happened?"

"The house," I repeated, barely even hearing his questions. "Who's there?"

He licked his lips. "Jav should still be I think."

I was dialling before he even finished his sentence, and within a few rings, Jav picked up.

"Where's Sophia?"

There was a pause. "Sebastian? What do you mean? She's with you, isn't she?"

I closed my eyes and drew a ragged breath.
This can't be happening.
"She was coming back to the house with Trey," I said slowly, my voice trembling. "She should have been there an hour ago."

"Trey hasn't been here since he left to meet you."

My hand shot out to clutch the wall as the room spun around me. There could have been other explanations, flat tires and empty phone batteries, but I knew that wasn't the case. I could feel the truth of it right down to my bones. They had her. Again. And it was my fault.

All the signs had been there, and I'd ignored them. And now... oh Christ. I had all the power in the world at my hands, and it wasn't enough. I couldn't even protect the one thing I truly loved.

Trey. He was responsible for this. Whatever destructive plan he had for the group, Sophia was somehow involved. And I'd handed her right to him.

Thomas' expression had slipped even further. "What is it, Sebastian? Is Sophia okay?"

But I couldn't respond. I couldn't even breathe. I felt like I was drowning, like the air around me had suddenly thickened into something my body could no longer process.

Last time I'd had a tail on Sophia from the start. I knew where they'd taken her, and I used that purpose and direction to hone my fear into focus. But this time she could be anywhere. The chance of finding her was next to nothing.

I collapsed against the wall and buried my head in my hands. I realised I was sobbing. I wanted to die. I wanted to curl up into a ball so tightly I just disappeared. My mind was racing, desperately searching for any kind of next move, but it was like trying to catch the wind in my hands. I had no clues. No information. No hope.

And then, my phone vibrated in my hand. The caller ID listed Sophia's number.

Barely breathing, I swiped the screen, and a picture of her flashed before my eyes. She was bound to a slim wooden chair, her mouth gagged, her eyes wide with fear. The caption simply said, "Come alone." It didn't give any directions, but it told me all I needed to know. The room in the background was instantly familiar. It was one of the control rooms in the old Alpha headquarters. The place the two of us had first met.

Trey had Sophia, and he wanted me to come for her.

I felt an icy calm descend over me, a sudden sense of clarity that was almost painfully sharp. Despite how stacked the situation looked, he'd made a mistake by inviting me. I didn't know how yet, but I was going to end this tonight. I'd failed Sophia too many times already.

I wouldn't fail her again.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Sebastian

There was plenty of muscle waiting for me when I arrived at headquarters; at least ten men wearing suits and impassive expressions. No one commented as I approached, they just stood by with their hands on their holsters as the two closest moved in to search me. The gun strapped under my arm was commandeered without even a frown. I hadn't expected to actually get it past them, but I had to try anyway.

I'd nearly called in the cavalry. Thomas had been flipping out trying to work out what was going on, and it would have been so easy to explain the situation and bring the whole team down here with me. But I took Trey's warning seriously. He wouldn't hesitate to kill her if he got even a sniff of Alpha activity, and I had no idea how far his eyes and ears reached. If he had the right alerts set up, she could be dead before our cars made it a block. I couldn't take that risk.

When the guards were sure I was unarmed, they stepped back and I continued inside. I reached the door that led to Sophia's prison, but I took a moment before opening it to draw a deep breath. I still had no idea how I was going to get us out of this, but I had to remain calm. Blacking out, like I did with Ewan, would get us both killed in a heartbeat. If I wanted Trey and his friends to pay, I had to keep my wits about me. I refused to believe this was the end. After everything Sophia and I had been through, an opportunity would present itself. It had to.

I turned the handle and stepped inside.

Sophia sat towards one side of the room, bound to the chair exactly as she had been in the photo. Her face was puffy and red.

She cried out through her gag when she saw me, a visceral, frightened sound that seemed to echo inside my head. Without even realising what I was doing, I began rushing towards her.

"Uh uh," Trey said, stepping into view and pressing the barrel of his gun right up against her temple. "That's far enough."

Sophia seemed to be trying to tell me something. She'd gone quiet, but her eyes flicked continuously between Trey and the door behind me. I had no idea what it meant. It seemed like all the cards were pretty much on the table at this point.

I turned my gaze to Trey. My anger reared like a rabid dog in my chest, but I kept it leashed.
Focus.

"You," I said, my voice sharp enough to cut glass.

He blinked a few times, then gave a shaky little bow. "Me."

The room was empty, apart from the three of us. Not that it mattered. He was armed and his goons were just a few steps away.

I studied him for several seconds. He mostly looked like himself. His smile held the same playfulness it always had, but there was something dark seething behind his eyes now too, something off. I had no idea how he'd kept that hidden for so long. "Why?" I asked.

He grinned. "That's the million dollar question, isn't it?"

"Million dollar? So it's money you want?"

"Oh, God no," he replied with a laugh. "Bad choice of phrasing, I guess. No, I may not be worth as much as you, Sebastian, but I'm perfectly comfortable. This is about so much more than that."

The motive behind the attacks had bothered me constantly. I'd never quite been able to make the pieces fit. "You killed Charlie and Aaron."

Trey nodded. "Guilty." He didn't show even the slightest sign of remorse.

"How could you do that? How could you kill your own brothers? We took you in, made you part of the family, and this is how you repay us?"

Trey's expression darkened. "I was never part of the family, Sebastian. I may have the tattoo, but I never had the respect."

I gave a sour laugh. "Respect? Seriously, that's what this is about? Poor little Trey is feeling under-appreciated?"

His jaw tightened. "Even now, you laugh at me." He gave the pistol a little shake. "Not wise to mock a man with a gun."

For a moment, I thought maybe I'd gone too far, but eventually he relaxed.

"You know, my dad used to tell me about you guys, back when I was a kid," he continued. "I know he wasn't supposed to, but he did. He used to tell me the kinds of things you did, the kind of power you had. I used to dream about the day I'd be a part of that. Then you finally invited me to join, and it was the best day of my life. I finally had a chance to prove myself. I spent the next three years busting my ass for the group, but in the end, you know what I had to show for it? The same shitty jobs and cruel jokes as when I started."

"The group is a lifelong commitment, Trey. Things don't happen overnight. You can't just waltz in and expect to be running the show."

"You did. You were, what, twenty seven when they invited you to the council? And dad was just twenty five. Not to mention Marcus. You promote
that guy
over me?" There was something wild in his expression now,
something broken. Clearly this wound had been festering for some time. "Dad didn't invite me to the group to be a fucking errand boy. I'm capable of better. I
deserve
better."

"Yeah, well your dad would be turning in his grave if he could see you now." The words left my mouth before I realised I'd said them.