BOUND BY HATRED | TOM KAULITZ

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX | TOM KAULITZ |

•TOM KAULITZ•

I'm standing in front of Nessa's Jeep, turning the shoe over and over in my hands.

It's Aida's, I'm sure of it.

How did she lose her shoe?

It's been over an hour since Bill lost sight of her, but she hasn't come back to the Jeep. I've called her phone twenty times. It keeps going straight to voicemail.

Ryder and Nash pull up in a vintage Mustang.

They jump out of the car, not bothering to close their doors after them.

"Where was she?" Dante says at once.

"At that restaurant over there," I point to the patio on the far side of the street. "She was meeting a friend. After they ate, she disappeared."

"What friend?" Ryder asks.

"I don't know," I say.

He gives me a strange look.

"Maybe she left with the mystery friend," Nash says.

"Maybe," I agree. "But she lost a shoe."

I hold it up so they can look at it. They obviously recognize it, because Nash frowns, and Ryder starts looking around like Tyra might have dropped something else.

"That's weird," Nash says.

"Yeah, it is," I agree. "That's why I called you."

"You think the Butcher took her?" Ryder says, his voice low and rumbling.

"Why the fuck are we standing here, then!" Nash says. He looks like a current just ran through his body. He's agitated, spoiling for action.

"I don't know if it was Zajac," I say.

"Who else could it be?" Ryder frowns.

"Well.." it sounds insane, but I've got to say it. "It could be Oliver Castle."

"Ollie?" Nash scoffs, eyebrows so high that they're lost under his hair.

"Not fucking likely."

"Why not?"

"For one, he's a little bitch. For two, Tyra's done with him," Nash says.

Even under the circumstances, his words give me a glow of happiness.

If Tyra still had feelings for her ex, her brothers would know.

"I didn't say she went with him. I said he could have taken her," I say.

"What makes you think that?" Ryder asks, scowling.

"The shoe," I hold it up. "I think she left it as a sign. Based off something she said to me once."

Oliver and I didn't fit together. Like a shoe on the wrong foot.

It sounds crazy, I realize that. I don't have to look at her brother's faces to know they're not convinced.

"Anything's possible," Ryder says. "But we need to focus on the biggest danger first, which is Zajac."

"It's Tuesday," Nash says.

"So?"

"So that means the Butcher is visiting his girlfriend."

"Assuming he stuck to his normal schedule and isn't taking a night off to murder our sister,"
Ryder says, grimly.

"Tyra's friend gave us the address," I say.

"Assuming she was telling the truth. She did drug us right after."

"T'll go to the apartment," Ryder says. "Nash, you can check Zajac's pawn stores and chop shops. Tom—"

"I'm going to look for Castle," I say.

I can tell Ryder thinks that's a waste of time. He glances over at Bill, his expression wary. He suspects that I sent Bill to follow Tyra.

He thinks I'm jealous and irrational.

He might be right.

But I can't shake the feeling that Tyra was trying to tell me something with this shoe.

"I'm going to Castle's apartment," I say firmly.

But then I pause, really trying to think this through. Oliver lives in a high - rise in the middle of the city.

Would he kidnap Tyra and take her there? One scream and his neighbors would call the cops.

"Bill, you go to his apartment," I say, changing my mind. "I'm going to check a different place."

"Everybody, stay in contact," Ryder says. "Keep trying to call Tyra, too.

As soon as someone finds her, let the others know, and we'll all go in together."

We all nod in agreement.

But I know right now, if I find Tyra, I'm not waiting a moment for anybody else. I'm going to go in and get my wife back.

"Here, take my car," I say to Bill, throwing him the keys. "I'll take the Jeep."

Ryder and Nash split off, and Bill heads back to his truck. I climb up into the Jeep, smelling the familiar, feminine scent of my little sister-vanilla, lilac, lemon. And then, fainter but perfectly clear, the cinnamon spice scent of Tyra herself.

I leave the city, heading south on Highway 90. I hope I'm not making a horrible mistake. The place I'm going is over an hour away. If I'm wrong, I'll be too far away from wherever Tyra actually is to help her. But I feel propelled in this direction, pulled by an invisible magnet.

Tyra is calling to me.

She left me a sign.

Oliver Castle took her, I know it.

And I think I know exactly where he's headed — the little beach house that Henry Castle just sold.

The one that Oliver loved. The one that's completely empty right now, without anyone around.

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[authors note - yes daddy go get your beautiful wife ☺️]

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