“I can recover after we find her,” I growl, watching the live feed on my phone. She’s nowhere to be seen. Neither are the two masked men. I stare at it, heart pounding waiting to see the worst—them drag her back into her room kicking and screaming where they’ll rape her, beat her, kill her.
At least at her parents’ house, I have some sort of advantage against them. If they get her to Carnage, she’s as good as dead. I can’t bring her back from there, but I will make sure they kill me. I’ll walk right through their fucking front doors, guns raised and ready. It’ll be a suicide mission, but I won’t live without her. Not anymore.
“Anyone have guns on them?” Tyson changes the subject. “Not like we were prepared. And we don’t have time to stop by Blackout.”
I barely have clothes on. Nicholas was able to find me a T-shirt and sweatpants after she left. He grabbed them from a closet in an office at the cathedral. Pretty sure they once belonged to a dead guy that was killed during Confession. That’s when a Lord brings in someone they want to make an example of in front of the congregation.
“I’ve got two in the glove box.” Gavin nods to it. “Another in the center console. You guys take them. I’ll tend to her.”
I flinch at his words. My mind going through a million different scenarios. One being the fact that I might find her hanging from the second-story balcony where her father’s murder was staged. They’d be sick enough to display her like that just to prove a point.
Tyson opens the glove box, releases the magazine, checking to see if there are any rounds, and then hands it to me over his shoulder. “The safety isn’t on,” he warns.
I take the gun and rest it on my thigh, bouncing my knees. My entire body is vibrating right now with anger, pain, regret. If I don’t die tonight, I’m going to need a week of rest after this. They were right, my body will shut down eventually. It just has to hold on until I know she’s safe in my arms and every one of those motherfuckers is dead.
CHAPTER SIXTY
SIN
WE PULL UP to her parents’ house, not even bothering to hide. Gavin brings the car to a stop right at the front door and I jump out of the back. Looking over the driveway, the only car I see is her mother’s SUV.
“Sin!” Tyson shouts. “Wait.” He rushes in front of me, taking the stairs two at a time. “Let me go in first, at least.” His eyes drop to my shirt. “Christ, you’re bleeding.”
“I’m fine.” I shove the door open, gun raised. Tyson steps in behind me, followed by her father and then Gavin. We all stand in the grand foyer, listening for any kind of noise, but are met with nothing. “They’ve got to be here,” I say to no one in particular. Why else would they call me? They wanted me here. Whatever they have planned, they want an audience.
Nicholas steps to the left and out of sight, only to come back. He nods for us to follow him. Walking around the corner, we see a body lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs. Shattered glass everywhere and blood smeared along the floor. I see two different sets of boot prints that step through it and then track toward the formal family room. There are small handprints that I’m assuming are Elli’s and you can tell by the smeared blood that they dragged her away from here.
I bend down, grab the black mask, and yank it off the face.
“That’s … not what I expected.” Tyson is the one who speaks.
“Who the hell is that?” Nicholas asks.
I reach out to check for a pulse and there is none. Standing, I look down into the set of dead eyes and smile.My wife did that.“Amelia,” I finally answer.
“Who the fuck is she?” Nicholas goes on.
“She was who my father tried to get me to marry.”
“Why would the Spade brothers get her involved?” Tyson wonders out loud.
I shrug. “Who the hell knows. Come on. They’re in the house. Follow the blood trail.” A part of me knows that not all of that belongs to Amelia. There was a struggle by the obvious broken glass and turned over table. I just pray that she’s not bleeding out somewhere.
I raise my gun as the blood-stained boot prints start to fade. Stepping into the family room, I see Elli lying on one of the couches. I lower my gun and rush over to her. “Elli!” She lies on her back, arms underneath her and head tilted toward the cushions. “Elli.” I grab her chin and force her to look up at me. Her eyes are closed so I open them up to see they’re dilated. “Fuck,” I hiss.
Grabbing her shoulders, I pull her to a sitting position and her head falls forward into my chest. I hold her as Tyson comes up to the couch. He removes a knife from his pocket and cuts her bound wrists free.
“What’s wrong with her?” Nicholas asks.
“Drugs.” I look at Gavin. “Can you do anything about it?”
He sighs. “Depends on what they’ve given her.”
My eyes go to Tyson as I nod behind him. “There’s a bedroom at the end of that hallway. Check it. If it’s clear, I want her in there.” He nods and takes off in that direction.
I don’t know where the Spade brothers are or why they left her here alone. But I want her out of this room when they return, before the bullets start flying.
Lying her back down, I yank my shirt up and over my head and start to wipe off her bloody hands and arms. It’s on her neck and cheeks. I smear it anywhere I see it to make sure it’s not hers. But as I get to her thigh, I see she’s been cut. It’s not deep or life-threatening, but it looks to still be bleeding. I apply pressure to it with the shirt.