Page 220 of Boys Who Hunt

A deadly but disappointed smile forms on my face before I turn around and run.

CHAPTER 53

Max

The girl… isn’t hers? She’s not Cora’s mother?

No, that can’t be right. This has to be a mistake. She wouldn’t steal … a child?

Heath nearly breaks the bat in two with just his fist.

Suddenly, she turns around and runs off down the stairs.

“Ivy, stop!” I yell, but she ignores me completely.

I bolt down the stairs and follow her out of The Shack. But she’s already jumped on my bike, and my hands immediately fly to tear out my own hair. “Wait, that’s my bike!”

She turns the handle to speed up, and the wheels skid in the grass, spraying mud everywhere.

Silas bolts out the door, yelling, “Do you even know how to drive?”

“You don’t understand what you’ve done!” she yells back, racing off.

“Oh fuck no.” I fall to my knees. “No, my beautiful bike. What if she crashes it?”

Heath runs out the door too, growling, “Where is she?”

“Gone,” I lament.

Heath throws the bat to the ground, incensed. “Fuck!”

“Where’s she gonna go?” I mutter. “Everyone will see her covered in blood.”

Silas fishes a cigarette from his pocket and lights it up. “Cora.”

Heath’s eyes flash. “You don’t think she’s gonna …”

“She’s gonna run,” I mutter as I stumble to my feet. “Oh God, we gotta stop her.”

“We can’t,” Silas says.

“We have to,” I say, grabbing Silas by the shirt so he knows I’m serious. “If anyone sees her like that, they’re gonna ask questions, and she’ll definitely implicate us.”

“Never mind that,” Heath says. “What are we gonna do with those bodies up there? Penelope’s men will definitely snitch. She’ll kill you for real this time.”

“I don’t fucking care. It was worth it.” Silas fishes his phone from his pocket. “I’ll make one last phone call to my mom’s men… and then we chase her.”

Ivy

I raceup the mountain as fast as I can.

C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, you stupid bike, go faster!

I pull the handle harder, trying to zigzag past each rock on the street, just like Max did, but he made it look so effortless while it’s so damn hard that I nearly lose control of the bike. With the sun quickly setting, it’s becoming harder and harder to see. But I have to keep it together. I have to get to her before Stefano does.

Ivan was the anonymous phone number demanding money from me.

I knew it from the start because he’s the one who caught me when I took Cora.