The Havoc We Wreak (The Four #3) Read online

  The Havoc We Wreak

  The Four - book 3

  Becca Steele

  The Havoc We Wreak (The Four, #3)

  Copyright © 2020 by Becca Steele

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Editing by One Love Editing

  Proofreading by Sid Damiano

  Becca Steele

  www.authorbeccasteele.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s crazy imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Playlist

  Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

  World Gone Mad - Bastille

  Birthday - JP Cooper

  White Flag - Bishop Briggs

  Wreak Havoc - Skylar Grey

  Unstoppable - The Score

  Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons

  Ocean - Martin Garrix, Khalid

  Hurricane - FJØRA, Zayde Wolf

  All the King’s Men - The Rigs

  Burn It Down - Color of Clouds

  Church - Chase Atlantic

  Silence - Marshmello, Khalid

  Shed a Tear - Kodaline

  Don’t Forget to Breathe [Interlude] - Stormzy, Yebba

  Is This the End - Joseph William Morgan

  Aftermath - Muse

  Oh My Love - The Score

  Find the playlist on Spotify or YouTube

  Contents

  Author’s note

  Before

  The Havoc We Wreak

  1. Winter

  2. Winter

  3. Caiden

  4. Winter

  5. Winter

  6. Caiden

  7. Winter

  8. Caiden

  9. Winter

  10. Caiden

  11. Winter

  12. Caiden

  13. Winter

  14. Winter

  15. Caiden

  16. Caiden

  17. Winter

  18. Winter

  19. Caiden

  20. Winter

  21. Caiden

  22. Winter

  23. Winter

  24. Caiden

  25. Winter

  26. Caiden

  27. Winter

  28. Caiden

  29. Winter

  Aftermath

  The final chapter

  Epilogue 1

  Epilogue 2

  Thank You

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Becca Steele

  About the Author

  Author’s note

  The author is British, and British English spellings and phrases are used throughout.

  To those who face their fears

  and refuse to let them win.

  The Secrets We Hide

  Recap…

  Back all together, minus Weston, who was busy digging for any data he could get his hands on, the mood turned deadly serious as the reality of what I’d discovered about Allan sank in.

  “He’s always been so quiet and unassuming. I never once would’ve imagined he’d be involved in any of this.” Cassius rubbed his chin, deep in thought. “Nothing adds up.”

  Caiden nodded in agreement, his eyes on my phone as he scrolled through the photos I’d taken. “That’s the fucking problem. Not even a hint of trouble.”

  “Except—” Zayde hesitated, and we all turned to look at him. The look in his eyes gave me chills. “I need to speak to Creed. I’ll be back.”

  Caiden, Cassius, and I exchanged glances as he got up without another word, stalking out of the room.

  “What was that all about?” Cassius wondered aloud. “Any ideas, mate?”

  Caiden shrugged. “None. He’s never said anything to me about Allan. Nothing suspicious, anyway.”

  “Is it worth speaking to your dad?” I leaned closer to Caiden, and he gave me a quick smile, tugging me closer and putting his arm around me.

  “Yeah, I could. But I’d rather keep that as our last resort, if we can’t find out anything else. I don’t think my dad’s involved, and I don’t wanna make him suspicious.”

  “You didn’t think Allan was involved though, either,” Cassius pointed out.

  Caiden stiffened next to me, and I frowned at Cassius. Don’t, I mouthed, and he grimaced, his thoughts clearly turning in the same direction mine had. Enough shit had happened for one day. I didn’t want Cade stressing about his dad on top of everything else, questioning everything he knew.

  “Nah, your dad’s not involved. I’m sure of it.” Cassius blew out a heavy breath. “I’m not convinced that all this shit with Allan is as it seems, either.”

  We sat in silence for a moment, Cassius motioning for Caiden to pass him my phone so he could look through the photos.

  “You okay?” I stared up at Caiden, worried.

  “I don’t know.”

  Sadness filled me at his despondent tone.

  “Cade…” I slid my arms around him, and he held on to me tightly, as if he needed me to support him. As much as I needed answers, and as strong as he was, he’d been through so much in his life, and to now have all this to deal with… It was enough to shake even the strongest person. “We’re going to get through this, okay?”

  He didn’t answer me, but he placed a soft kiss on my forehead, pulling me into him.

  “Winter’s right. We’re so close to putting these puzzle pieces together. Failure is not an option. We’re gonna get the answers, fuck some shit up, then get back to our lives.” I looked around to see Cassius holding out his fist, his expression resolute.

  Caiden released me, reluctantly I think, and they bumped fists, a smile finally back on my boyfriend’s face.

  “C’mon, babe. You have to do it, too.” Cassius held his fist out to me, and I was just about to respond when Weston crashed into the room, throwing a set of keys to Cassius.

  “We need to go, right now. Cass, you’re driving us to the docks. I’ll explain on the way.”

  In the car, the second Cassius had started the engine, Weston continued, twisting in his seat to look at us, his leg bouncing restlessly, excitement in his eyes.

  “Allan, nothing, total dead end, although I didn’t have much time to look. But…call me a fucking genius. All the Alstone Holdings places other than AMC—the offices, warehouses, docks? Staff have an ID card they use to scan in and out with. I’ve been working on getting into their system for ages so I could match up the IDs to see if we could build up a picture of who was where and when. When I was searching for Allan, I had I guess what you could call an epiphany, and I managed to access the system. Finally! They had the strongest security I’d come across, as strong as Dad’s.” He paused in the middle of his speech, a thoughtful expression stealing across his face. “I wonder if it’s the same as Dad’s? If so, I might be able to hack his system at long last.”

  “Get to the point, will you?” Caiden stared at him impatiently.

  “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t dare to stay in the system for long in case I was detected, so I went straight to the date Winter was attacked, and the date she was rescued, on the off chance we might find an answer.” Taking a deep breath, he met my eyes. “There’s only one ID logged for the night you were attacked, which we have to assume was the guard. All the IDs are a long string of numbers, so I can’t match them up to names yet. The night you were rescued? Same
ID. But that wasn’t the only one. Someone else was there, and the time they scanned in correlates with the rough time frame you were rescued, if we go by the time Kinslee got the phone call from the hospital.”

  “But how do we find out who—”

  “Wait,” he interrupted me. “I’m getting to that. That same ID has just scanned in at the docks. They literally did it as I was in the system, so they won’t have been there long. There’s one other ID already logged in, which I’m assuming will be the security guard, but that’s it.”

  I gripped Caiden’s hand tighter, my heart rate speeding up. Were we about to come face to face with my potential rescuer?

  “Fuck!” Weston exclaimed, holding up his phone. “The answers are coming thick and fast. Not only are we about to find out who rescued Winter, or at least, find out who else was there at that time, but Mercury has info waiting for me. He says he’s found out what Andromeda is.”

  What?

  Hope soared in me. At last, we were going to get some answers.

  We sped towards the docks, and Cassius threw his SUV into the layby I’d parked in way back when I’d first come here to investigate.

  “Everyone stay together. Stay cautious,” Caiden commanded in a low tone. “I’ve sent Z an SOS message, so he’ll be here soon.”

  Moving stealthily towards the entrance, we fell into complete silence. Caiden kept hold of my hand the entire time but stayed in front of me, protecting me, while Cassius and Weston fell back in line behind me.

  We could see the outline of the night guard in the hut, reclined in his chair, scrolling through his phone. It was easy enough to sneak past him and around to the long, low warehouse.

  I sucked in a sharp breath, as all four of us stopped dead once we rounded the corner, staring at the figure that Caiden had almost run straight into.

  My gaze travelled up, past the black boots, the jeans, the leather jacket, to the face, and our eyes met, mine widening in shock.

  “You!”

  Si vis pacem, para bellum.

  If you want peace, prepare for war.

  Vegetius, De re militari

  ONE

  “You!” I repeated, unable to get my brain to work properly. I glanced over at Cassius, who looked as stunned as I felt. All of us shared the same look, in fact.

  Cassius’ jaw opened and closed a few times before he finally spoke, his voice hoarse and unsure. “Wh—what are you doing here?”

  My eyes met hers, her initial shocked expression covered by a defiant gaze, piercing through me. Underneath her black beanie hat, wisps of pastel pink hair had escaped from her ponytail and were flying around her face, caught in the night breeze.

  She was silent for a long moment, deep in thought, before she eventually turned to Cassius and spoke. “I’m here on behalf of someone else.”

  “Who?” Caiden asked sharply.

  “I can’t tell you that. Not yet, anyway.”

  “Lena…please. What the fuck is going on?” Weston strode forward, gripping her arm. “Talk to us.”

  She glanced around, and nodded. “Okay, but not here. Try to get out of here as quickly as possible, then meet me back at your house.”

  “I’m not leaving you alone in the dark.” Cassius glared at her. “No way am I letting my baby sister stay here. It’s not safe.”

  “Not gonna happen,” Weston chimed in, tightening his grip on her arm as if he expected her to try and make a run for it at any minute.

  “For fuck’s sake. You have to trust me. Please. I’ll tell you what I know—what I can,” she corrected herself.

  I eyed her carefully, trying to work out what to do. The boys were so overprotective, but somehow, I didn’t think Lena would listen to them. She had a stubborn slant to her brow, and she’d shaken off Weston’s grip and crossed her arms in front of her chest, tapping her booted foot on the floor impatiently. I was worried about her myself, but whatever she was doing here, she seemed determined to carry it out.

  “Okay.” After carefully scanning the quiet, dark area all around us, I spoke up. “The only other person that seems to be here is the night guard. Right?” I cocked my head at Lena. She nodded. “Yeah. First thing I checked.”

  “Alright then.” I turned to Cassius. “Come on. Let’s compromise. What if we all meet her outside the docks, by the car? We can keep an eye on the guard hut, make sure nothing happens.”

  “Winter! You can’t be serious right now.” He stared at me in disbelief.

  “I am. Come on. We’ll be right outside if she needs us.”

  “Cass, please. I have my phone. Look, I’ll pull up your number and have it ready to dial if there’s any trouble. I won’t be long. Promise. I’ll even cancel my ride home and come back with you.” Lena waved her phone at him, and he gave a frustrated growl.

  “No. Way.”

  “Cassius. Let’s go.” I injected as much firmness as I could into my voice, and Lena shot me a small, grateful smile as I turned on my heel and grabbed Caiden’s hand. Reaching up to whisper in his ear, I murmured, “Please? The others will listen to you.”

  His eyes met mine, and he sighed heavily, his gaze conflicted. “You’re so fucking lucky I love you.”

  I watched as his lips tipped up at the corners in the barest hint of a smile as I replied, “I know.”

  “New compromise. Everyone except Lena, back to the car. Cass, get the engine running so we can make a quick getaway. I’m staying here to keep an eye on Lena.” Caiden’s tone was commanding.

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” Lena hissed.

  “Don’t give a fuck. I stay, or I drag you out of here, right now.” He narrowed his eyes, daring her to test him. “Don’t worry, I won’t cramp your style. I’ll wait right here.”

  “Fine! I was almost done, anyway.” Her shoulders slumped in defeat.

  “Come on, let’s do this,” Caiden instructed. Lowering his voice, he leaned closer to me. “Watch out for the guard. Stay between Cass and West.” He dropped a quick kiss on my forehead, before stepping back. Weston and Cassius gave him identical hostile glares, clearly unhappy with the whole situation, but they fell in line with huffs and angry sighs, Weston pulling me in front of him.

  Back in the car, the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I leaned forwards between the front seats and put my hand on Cassius’ shoulder as he sat, staring straight ahead, making no attempt to start the car. “Cade will look out for Lena. It’s going to be okay.”

  “She doesn’t think about the fucking consequences of her actions,” he muttered, finally starting the engine. “I don’t know what shit she’s got herself mixed up in, but it needs to stop right now.”

  We lapsed into silence, waiting. The only sound was the soft hum of the running engine and the distant crash of waves against the rocks below us.

  “Where’s Lena?”

  I followed the direction of Weston’s gaze to see Caiden jogging towards us, a dark shape blending in among the shadows, barely visible since Cassius hadn’t yet turned on the headlights. He threw open the door, and Weston immediately turned to him. “Where’s Lena?” he repeated, his tone urgent.

  “She’s right behind me—” Caiden’s head shot around. “What the fuck? She was there a minute ago!”

  Everything seemed to happen at once. I heard Cassius’ Oh, shit and looked up to see another dark figure streaking towards us, closely pursued by yet another figure. A light bobbed up and down, the glow from the torch the pursuer carried dimly illuminating the ground as they ran, but too weak to illuminate Lena.

  Caiden swung into the car, all business. “Go! Drive at them. When we get there, slow down. Get Lena in, turn your headlights on to full fucking beam and drive at the fucker chasing her.”

  Cassius nodded, already slipping the car into gear and moving, flying towards Lena and suddenly screeching to a halt as we reached her.

  She wrenched open the door and threw herself into the car, landing in the footwell by Caiden’s feet, and Cassius was
ted no time in speeding straight back up again, flicking on the powerful headlights to full beam. I caught a glimpse of the horror on the night guard’s face as he threw up his arm to shield his eyes from the sudden blinding light, and then he was diving out of the way as we drove at him. Cassius spun the wheel, sending the SUV skidding onto the road. The car shot across the tarmac, and we left the docks behind us, obscured by a cloud of dust.

  Lena laughed wildly. “That was insane,” she gasped out, clambering out of the footwell and sinking onto the leather seats, pulling a tiny backpack from her shoulders before she sat back, her phone in hand.

  “What the fuck were you doing?” Caiden hissed at her, the fury clear in his eyes.

  Her thumbs flew over the keys as she sent a message, ignoring the rest of us.

  “Lena!”

  She sobered up as she took in Caiden’s expression and noticed the thick tension in the car, the adrenaline rush fading away. “I had to go back for my bag.”

  “You were almost caught.” Cassius glanced at her in the rear-view mirror, grinding his jaw as he gripped the steering wheel tightly.

  “I wasn’t caught, though,” she pointed out.

  “That’s beside the fucking point!” he roared, and even I shrank back in my seat.