Chapter 41: The Broken Note: Chapter 41

The basketball court behind the school is empty, which surprises me. I thought more people would be hiding out here. This seems like the sort of school where sports rule over music.

“A student got stabbed under the net at homecoming,” Breeze says, noticing where my gaze has strayed. “The cops installed cameras.” She juts her finger at the corners of the park where red blinking lights point at us. “So no one chills here anymore.”

“Do you know where Cadence is?” I ask brusquely.

“Even if I did, do you think I would tell you?” Breeze spits. Her eyes are full of hatred for me.

“Do you at least know if she’s alright?” There’s a hint of desperation in my tone. I don’t care. I’m going crazy thinking of all the bad things that might have happened to Cadey. I won’t be able to breathe until I know she’s okay.

“Oh? Now you’re worried about her?”

“Breeze,” I growl, my patience snapping.

“She never should have fallen for you.”

I freeze. This is my first time hearing someone confirm Cadence’s feelings for me. Not even admitted it to me yet.

The wind picks up and the torn netting sways back and forth.

“I used to love your band,” Breeze says quietly. Her eyebrows form a pointed V. “I used to hear the anger and the pain in your music, and it spoke to me because I felt that anger too. I woke up every day, burning with it.”

She licks her lips. “But after hearing what you and your brothers did to Cadey, I couldn’t unsee it. Every time I listened to your music, every time I heard that anger, I imagined what that fury would do if it was pointed at an innocent person.”

My fingers curl into fists.

Guilt stabs me in the chest.

“The Kings, the band, Redwood, there was a time I wanted to be close to that light. I never told her, but I was jealous of Cadey. Going to school with you four became my dream.”

Her expression hardens. “But sometimes, your dreams need to stay where they are. If they join you in the real world, you realize that, in the light, they’re ugly and despicable.”

“Do you know where Cadey is or not?” I grind out.

“Why do you want her, Dutch? So you can control her?”

My eyes flick up to Breeze’s.

“You think because she’s poor, because this—” Breeze gestures to the chain link fences, the graffiti, the cameras—“is where she comes from that she should be grateful to you even if you hurt her?”

“I will never hurt her.” I pause and amend, “Not anymore.”

“You can’t make promises like that because you don’t even know what love is. Who’s to say you won’t get tired of her? Maybe in a few weeks, she stops being entertaining, and you find another poor, helpless scholarship student to play around with.”

“Whether you believe me or not, my love for Cadence is real. And it’s not going to change. I need to know where she is.”

“So you can torment her more? You think ruling and obsessing over her… you think any of that is love? It’s not. It’s delusion. It’s control. It’s evil.”

My lips delve into a scowl and I snap at her, “If you’re not going to tell me, then I don’t need anything else from you.”

I whirl around, my temper rattling under my skin and begging to pour out. Breeze’s accusations are like claws, tearing through the fabric of my mind.

Is she right? Did my love hurt Cadey rather than make her life better?

“I’m glad she got away from you.”

My entire body stops cold. I spin. Stalk forward. And then I’m in front of Breeze in a blink.

Looming over her, I growl, “What do you mean she got away from me? You’re saying Cadey wasn’t taken by someone. She to leave?”

Eyes shiny with disdain, Breeze taunts, “Why don’t you ask your father?”

I crash through the doors of dad’s studio, ignoring the way Lucien eyes me and Ron moves to stop me.

“Mr. Cross, you can’t—”

My fist connects with Ron’s face before he lays a hand on my arm. I crush skin, bone and flesh and hear something crack.

A wave of satisfaction fills me.

Lucien roars. He swings at me, holding nothing back, eyes ablaze as if he’d dreamt of this moment all his life. Ron rises from where he’d staggered against dad’s mixer board. Together, they forcefully bend my arms behind my back and drive me to my knees.

I smile despite the pain. I knew I’d only get one punch in and I’m glad I made it count. Ron’s mouth is bleeding harder than mine is.

I’m just sad I didn’t get to give Lucien the same greeting.

Next time, maybe.

“What is all this?” Dad steps into the room, wearing a turtleneck, jeans and a smug expression. His eyes rove over his bodyguards, both breathing hard.

“Hi, dad,” I say darkly.

“Shouldn’t you be in school—”

“Where. Is. She?”

“Who?”

One word. One eyebrow quirk. But I see the truth as if it walked into the room with us.

Dad took Cadey—whether she went willingly or not.

He’s the one behind this.

“I’m going to end you,” I growl. “Where the hell is she?”

“You have to be more specific, son.” Dad goads me, his tone slathered in amusement.

My father can’t hide it when he sees someone else’s pain. He feeds on it. Like a ghost. Like a demon.

I’m wearing my emotions on my sleeves, unable to hide my desperation and he’s slurping it up like a greedy bastard.

“I’m only going to ask this one more time,” I growl, rising to my feet. “Where is she?”

Dad coaches his face into a blank expression. Stepping slowly toward me, he lowers himself to one knee. Voice a reptilian hiss, he whispers, “I told you not to play this game with me, Dutch. You’re far too young, far too impetuous to see the bigger picture.”

“Where!” I roar. My body jerks as I fight against my human restraints, but Lucien and Ron have me locked in their grip.

Dad smacks my bruised cheek. He hits it again, harder. The sound of skin meeting skin is loud in the room.

“You’re in the big leagues now, Dutch. This isn’t Redwood Prep. This is the real world and, out here, you’re just a kid with no power.”

My eyes narrow.

“Do you see why you shouldn’t go against your father?” He says in a stern tone. “Now I have to look like the bad guy.”

“You think I’m powerless?” I raise my head slowly. “I’m going to tear your kingdom down, brick by brick.”

He arches both eyebrows, still looking amused.

“If you touch her—”

“Don’t waste my time with threats.” He straightens and walks to the mini bar, stride sure. Arrogant. Always freaking arrogant. Like nothing in this world can ruffle him. And even if it did, he wouldn’t let anyone see. “Believe it or not, she’s the one who came to me, son.”

“Bull—”

“I’m sure she made her own arrangements, even if she left in a rush.”

My mind whirrs. Vi said that Cadence told her to stay at a friend’s house. She hinted that she was leaving to Breeze.

If she was kidnapped against her will, would she have time to prepare her circle?

“This is why you never fall in love, Dutch.” Dad pours himself a finger of whiskey. He hesitates and then he pours one for me too. “It makes you weak. Makes you vulnerable. And the harder you try to protect that love,” he brings the cup over to me, “the tighter you try to hold on to it, the more it wants to escape.”

Dad gestures for his meatheads to let me go. Ron withdraws his arm, but Lucien flings me forward when he releases me.

My hands smack on the ground, sending a ricochet of pain up my elbow and into my shoulders.

I look up and glare at him. Lucien scowls, retreating along with Ron to the edge of the room.

Dad motions for me to take the amber liquid.

I take the cup and turn it over. The whiskey falls out and hits the carpet, stinking the air with booze.

Dad frowns.

“You’re right about one thing. My whole life is ahead of me. But you—” I move toward him, “have much on the line. And your life is already half over. If you lose everything now, there’s no coming back.”

His eyes widen slightly, a sign of his discomfort.

I drop the empty whiskey glass on the ground. It bounces on the carpet but doesn’t shatter.

“I’m going to find her and you better pray no one’s harmed a single hair on her head. If she has so much as a broken nail, I’m coming for you. We’ll see how much damage I can do in the real world.”

Dad’s left eye twitches, but it’s the only outward sign of his displeasure.

I stalk to the door.

“She knows,” dad calls after me.

My feet are suddenly glued to the ground. I can’t move a single muscle.

“Didn’t look like she’d cried. She was so cold about it when she asked me if it was true. I said yes and she just…” Dad stops for dramatic effect. “She just took in a breath and nodded. Almost like it finally made sense to her. Why you wanted her around. Why you were pursuing her.” He chuckles and pours himself another glass. “I’ve never seen anyone so tragically composed after hearing their boyfriend only saw them as a private .”

I whirl around, my face thunderous but dad’s goons are too fast. My arms are being held back and I’m once again hitting the floor.

“You’re never getting what you want, Dutch. Not now. Not ever.” Dad smiles at me. “I suggest you forget about that girl. She’s long gone. And I don’t just mean physically. Right here.” He taps his chest. “You’re so far away from her.”

“What did you ” I wrench out.

“I opened her eyes. I made her see that there’s a world beyond you. She’s expanding, transforming into something you wouldn’t even imagine.” Dad sips calmly. “I mean it when I say this is good for her. And if you truly love her, Dutch, you’ll set her free.”

My insides twist into a painful knot.

I don’t know how she found out the truth, but it doesn’t make sense. Cadence knew her mom was working with my dad. She knew dad isn’t to be trusted… why did she go to him instead of me? Why did she choose to run instead of talking to me?

Footsteps thud through the hallway outside.

Dad’s eyes jump to the door and his grin gets bigger. I see that expression and realize too late why he was talking so much when he’d usually keep his cards close to the chest.

It’s a trap.

My eyes widen when I see police officers filling the room. Lucien and Ron step aside while a cop takes over their position.

The handcuffs are cold when they slap around my wrist. I’m still reeling from dad’s words and it takes me a moment to catch up with what’s happening.

The second I do, I start to fight.

“What the hell are you doing? Uncuff me!”

No one listens to me.

“I need to find my fiancée. I need to—” The rest of my words become a breathless gasp as they push me into the ground.

“Careful. Careful. He’s still my son,” dad says, grinning like a snake.

My eyes burn with anger, but I’m helpless and he knows it.

“Dutch Cross, you are under arrest for the illegal possession of drugs. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to a lawyer…”

I tune out the police, my eyes on dad. “Doing this won’t keep me away from her.”

“Oh, Dutch.” Dad tilts his head and looks at me like an adult would look at a child’s artwork. “Don’t you get it? The girl you thought you knew, the one you fell in love with, you’re never going to find her again.”