Liam and I pulled our masks down over our faces, and the next several minutes were quick and precise as we took the mansion room by room. The house staff was quarantined in the kitchen, the security staff subdued by whatever means necessary, and still no sign of Sara or her captors.
As we moved to the next wing of the house, Liam handled his firearm with far more skill than I would have expected, but I didn’t waste a precious second to demand an explanation.
I combed the upstairs bedrooms, feeling more and more panicked as each yielded no sign of Sara.
At the end of one wing, my pulse spiked as I approached the only room with an open door—a bent butter knife was discarded at the threshold, and just inside was a puddle of oil leaking from a tipped bottle. I lifted the bottle to my nose, realizing it was a fragranced bath oil, and I smiled grimly, piecing together what she’d done.That’s my girl.Resourceful. In the ensuite bathroom I found a few telltale strands of dark curly hair, and a quick smell of the pillows in the bedroom confirmed my suspicions. Shehadbeen in here at one point, but how long she’d been gone, I couldn’t say.
Over the comms, “I’m upstairs. It looks like she greased up the door and pulled it off the hinges to get out.” I eyed the old door, knowing how difficult that must have been for her—it was solid wood.
“Clever girl.” Cade muttered in the comms.
“Are you a hundred percent sure she didn’t leave the estate? Are thereanyblind spots she could have slipped through?” I asked, dangerous hope filling me, as I wondered if she’d actually gotten away, and then the anxiety that she might be somewhere in the woods all by herself swept over me in the next instant. I felt like I was going to puke, hoping she wasn’t injured.
“There’s no sign of that.” Theo commented before murmuring instructions through the comms to sweep thegrounds again. “But that doesn’t mean there aren’t alternate routes out.”
Liam’s voice echoed across the hall and in my comms, frustration drenching his voice as he asked, “Underground?”
“It’s not on the schematics.” Theo grunted. “But that’s certainly possible.”
“Fuck!” I muttered, biting back my panic as I continued my sweep of the upstairs bedrooms. “Does anybody have eyes onDeadwell?”
“Nothing here.”
We finished the sweep of the upstairs bedrooms, and there was still no sign of her. I gripped a doorframe and tried to steady my breathing, feeling my chest tighten, wondering if I was about to have a panic attack.
I felt Liam hovering by my side. “Breathe.” Head hung, I nodded, forcing another slow breath out. “We’re gonna find her.” Liam said, but when I finally met his gaze, his dark eyes looked as frantic as I felt.
I took three slow breaths and forced myself to move. I had no doubt we’d find her,but what if we were too late.
Suddenly, “Anybody looking for a rat?” Vaughn asked all too cheerily through the comms. “Because I just cornered one in the study.”
Liam and I locked eyes, and I jammed a fresh clip into my gun as we hurried downstairs, chaos erupting in my earpiece.Must go faster.
I burst into the study, finding Tag on his knees, blood already pouring from his face.
“WHERE IS SHE?” I demanded, hauling him up and slamming him against the wall. God, it was so incredibly tempting to lighten my clip a few rounds, but I knew wherever Sara was—we’d find her a hell of a lot faster with his cooperation, and her safety was far more important than my revenge.
“Fucking hell, how are you still walking?” Taggart muttered, his cuffed hands rattling. “Can’t you stay deadfor once.”
My finger twitched on the trigger. “Tell me where she is,” I started, lethally soft. “And I’llthinkabout letting you live.”
“It’s nothing personal.” Taggart tried negotiating, lifting his cuffed hands. “I’m sure we can work something out. I’m very willing to sell you my contract for the right price.”
“You really are a moron.” I shoved him back against the wall with a disbelieving laugh. “Here’s how this is gonna go. Every time you make me ask where she is, I’m going to make it hurt.” I promised calmly. “Do you understand?”
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll sell you the contract for the bid price plus ten percent interest.” Tag offered.
I dropped my head, my finger flexing over the trigger as I lifted the gun. “I must not have made myself clear.” I emptied half the clip into the wall next to his head and then jammed the hot barrel into his throat. “WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?” I growled, crushing his windpipe as I burned him.
“If you kill me, my fingerprints won’t work.” He gasped a strangled cry with just enough amusement to push me right to the edge of my restraint.
Seeing red, I never moved my eyes from his face as I holstered my gun and pulled out my knife. “I don’t need your goddamn fingerprints to get behind a door.” I grabbed his hand, and he screamed as I took the first fingerprint before he even had time to realize what was happening. “Let’s see how many you have left by the time you finally decide to talk.” I went for the next finger.
“Basement! She’s in the basement.” Taggart screamed as I took the next fingerprint just for the hell of it.
I threw him towards the doorway, wiping my knife on my pants. “Lead the way, and you’d better start praying to whoever it is you pray to because that’s just a taste of what I’m going to do to you if you laid hands on her again.”He’d already laid hands on her, and that was already enough for me to kill him. Now, I was going to do it slowly.
Taggart was cradling his bloody hand, staring at it, when Liamshot the floor around Taggart’s feet several times. “Let’s make haste Taggart, I don’t have all day, and neither do you.”
