My breath clouds the air. My vision pulses. Lucas is a dead man, too. I don’t care if Caiden is exaggerating or downright wrong. If it’s possible this happened, he’s dead.

“I did everything they asked me to,” I whisper. “Every fucking thing.”

“You think that matters to men like your father?” Caiden barks out a cold laugh. “They used you and now they’re going to use her. They tried to do this a few months ago when you first left, but she fought it so hard the guy backed out. She’s a wild little thing when she doesn’t want to do something, ain’t she?” He chuckles, but all I can see is her skin hot, blushed and splotchy from anger and crying.

She fought them. I went along with everything they said in hopes of having her to myself. I fell for it, and yet she fought them to the point the first guy didn’t want her anymore.

The silence stretches. Rage coils in my gut. “I’m leaving now. I need to get my hands on a vehicle and…”

I’m cut off when Caiden sighs. “Look, I’ll make sure no one puts their hands on her until you get here. The rehearsal dinner is tomorrow night at The Mill and the fucker’s whole family is going to be there. You can’t take them all out, plus your family without risk. Get your anger out. Then come home. Make a plan. Call me if you need a way out of town when you’re finished whatever you gotta do when you get here.”

The line goes dead.

I lower the phone slowly, every nerve in my body vibrating.

The finance fucker hasn’t touched what’s mine yet.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t.

My hands clench into fists as I stare out at the frozen parking lot. Lakynn’s voice is in my head. Her skin under my hands. Her smile, the one no one else ever earned. She was always just for me. I don’t know what they told her, but if they lied to me, they most certainly lied to her, too.

Caiden is right. I need to bide my time, and now that I know she’s safe under his watchful eye, I’m going to plan everything out.

My father has no idea what I’ll do to stop this from happening, and to be honest, I haven’t figured out exactly how this is going to go.

I step back into the locker room, my skates biting into the rubber mats. I grab my helmet and pull it down over my face.

I’m going to take some of the rage running through me out on anyone who gets in my way, because I do my best thinking when my knuckles are bloody.

And then I’m going home.

I’m going to get my girl.

RIVEN