“Are you okay?” the woman asks, eyes wide.
I shake my head—and suddenly I’m crying, hot tears spilling without warning. I don’t even knowwhyI’m crying. I can’t stop.
“Where am I?” I choke out.
“Duke Street,” she says gently. “Are you from around here?”
I nod. Duke Street. I know that name. “I… I need to find my friends. What time is it?”
The man checks his watch. “Almost four a.m.”
Four a.m.My chest tightens.
Something terrible happened. Something I can’t remember. Something my body seems to know even if my mind doesn’t.
KADE
The women glance nervously at each other. Four a.m. Two hours since they came home without my ol’ lady. Four hours since she texted Fern to say she was going to the bathroom.
They’d gone looking for her—until they realised Tap and Cole were tailing them. Then the truth came out. They’d been separated from Eden.
Every available man went out searching, me included, and I’ve only just walked back into the clubhouse to find she still hasn’t returned.
My stomach churns. How does someone like Eden just vanish? How can no one have seen her for four fucking hours?
“Did you ring the hospitals again?” I ask.
Lucy nods, pale.
“Can’t we go back out there?” Martha asks, voice small and shaken. She’s been crying. I can tell.
I shake my head. “I’m not risking more women disappearing. You stay put.”
Fern follows me into my office, closing the door behind her.
“Pres,” she says carefully, “I hope I’m not out of line, but could this have anything to do with those men who followed us while we were shopping?”
I fix her with a hard stare. She straightens, ready for the fallout.
“No,” I say, firm enough to end the question.
“But they weren’t acting right. Something felt—off.”
“I don’t answer to you,” I mutter, then force myself to soften a fraction. She’s worried for Eden. “In light of the situation, I’ll say this once. I was with them around the time you last saw her. We cleared the air.”
“You told Eden they were from the past,” she challenges. “So what air needed clearing?”
I pull in a slow, patient breath. She’s scared. That’s all.
“Past air,” I say. “Past problems. They’re not an issue, Fern.”
Before she can ask anything else, my phone buzzes. Cole.
I snatch it up. “Yeah?”
“We’ve got her, Pres. She’s fine.”
I stand so fast that the chair nearly topples. Relief slams into me like a hit of pure oxygen.
