My jaw clenched, and I grabbed the door handle.
“No. Not yet.” Slater grabbed my arm. “She’s fine. Aubree’s yelling, but she’s not hitting her again.”
“I need to call Serenity, or Aubree will lose it. It’s time we go in. Get geared up.”
“We’re ready. But think a minute.” Ricky’s measured tones calmed me down. “She’s not going to let Serenity go if you show up. You know that, right?”
“I don’t know shit, but if I call, I’ll find out what Aubree wants. If we know that, it will help us figure out what to do.”
“Sure, but first, listen to the message from Serenity.”
“Fine.” I hated that my emotions were making me irrational. I was usually the calm, cool, collected one. Sighing, I called my voice mail, setting it on the console and putting it on speaker so all of us could hear.
Serenity didn’t waste any time. “Nate! It’s a trap. Whatever you do, don’t come!”
Aubree’s slap came through loud and clear. Before ending the call, she spoke into the phone. “If you don’t come, I’ll do to her what you did to Seth.”
The line went dead, and a chill ran down my spine. “What the hell?”
“Who’s Seth?” Ricky asked.
“I have no idea.” I wracked my brain, but couldn’t come up with a thing. Running my hands through my hair, I went back to the beginning. I’d gone over all this with Serenity, and nothing had come up. So who was Seth? “It must have something to do with the tattoos and a gang.”
I quickly explained the tats Serenity had seen in her vision. “Oh, yeah,” Ricky nodded. “We talked about that after the shooting. Johnny had them, right? We thought they were gang-related. This might sound strange, but could Aubree be part of the same gang? Did you notice any tattoos on her?”
My eyes narrowed. “She had one on her shoulder, but it wasn’t a gang tattoo.” I shrugged. “Or maybe it was, and I just didn’t put it together.”
“What was it?”
I closed my eyes to remember. “It was like a banner of some kind with flowers twined around it. There were words on it… something like…love never dies. I thought it was weird because the edge of the banner had a point… like a sharp pencil.”
“Or a weapon? Like a dagger?” Ricky said.
My breath caught. “No. A spike. That’s it. Spike. Seth’s moniker was Spike. I remember him now. It was two years ago, but yeah… he and his brother tried to kill me.”
Ricky raised a brow. “Let me guess… you killed him first?”
I swallowed. “Yeah. His brother went by Needles. He’s in jail, so I didn’t think he was behind this… but if Aubree and Spike…” I closed my eyes. “They must have been together, and this whole time she’s been using me. Most of Needles’ gang is in jail, but there must be enough of them to do his bidding… and Aubree’s behind it.”
“But how does Johnny fit into it?”
“I don’t know… but since he wants me dead, too, they must have joined forces.”
“Guys!” Slater held up the phone. “It looks like they’re leaving the house.”
The video feed showed Johnny grabbing Brandon’s arm and pulling him toward the door. “Shit!” I pushed Serenity’s number and hoped that would slow them down. They all stopped while Aubree answered the phone.
“It’s about time you called your girlfriend.” Aubree’s sarcastic voice grated on my ears. “I was beginning to think you were ghosting her.”
“What do you want, Aubree?”
“I want you dead. You killed the love of my life, and now I’m going to kill Serenity. But at least I’ll give you a choice. You can trade your life for your girlfriend’s, and she might live, or you can both die. Johnny doesn’t think you’ll do it. He’s convinced you’ll leave her to die, just like you left him. So what’s it going to be?”
“I don’t want anyone to die. Let’s work something out.”
“No. You either come, or I kill her. You have five seconds.”
“Fine. I’ll come, but you have to let her go—alive.”
