“Tried to what?” My father was insistent.
“Kill her,” Ryder spat. “Someone tried to kill her.” I could feel his eyes boring into me. “And yet despite all this, and the shit with that bitch of a fucking mother of hers, this dickhead still left her alone.” I could feel the hatred as he spat out the words.
My father's phone rang, only slightly breaking the tension, and he answered it immediately.
"Yes? Good. Send it to my phone." He hung up, turning to us. "They've found footage from a security camera on Water Lane. It's being sent over now." The minutes that followed were some of the longest of my life. My father's men arrived in waves, reporting in, receiving new orders, dispersing again into the night. The restaurant staff had been dismissed, leaving us alone in the cavernous dining room, surrounded by empty tables and half-eaten meals.
I sat motionless, Cadence's broken shoe still clutched in my hand, my mind replaying every moment of our argument. Her voice echoed in my head, the last words she'd spoken to me: "Drop dead, Logan. Just drop fucking dead." The look of pure hatred on her face, the blood dripping from her knuckles. And I'd left her there. Alone and vulnerable.
"Boys." My father's voice cut through my thoughts. "Look at this." He held out his phone, the screen displaying grainy security footage. I leaned forward, Cole and Ryder crowding close on either side of me. The footage showed a section of WaterLane, the time stamp showing it was from just after I'd left Cadence.
She appeared at the edge of the frame, walking quickly, her arms wrapped around herself. Even in the poor-quality footage, I could see the rigid set of her shoulders, the way she kept glancing behind her. She was scared. Alone in the city at night, and scared. I saw her reach into her purse and pull out her phone. The call from Ryder. A dark van appeared at the top of the frame, moving slowly along the street. As it approached Cadence, it accelerated suddenly, pulling alongside her. The side door slid open, and two figures in black leapt out, grabbing Cadence before she could react. She fought, kicking and screaming, but they were too strong, dragging her toward the van. One of the attackers struck her across the face, and I flinched as if I'd felt the blow myself. Her body went limp, and they bundled her into the van, the door sliding shut behind them. The entire abduction had taken less than thirty seconds.
"Can you enhance the license plate?" my father asked someone over the phone. "What do you fucking mean, there wasn't one? Check again." I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen, the image of Cadence being struck playing on a loop in my mind. She’d been on the phone with Ryder when it had happened, I still remembered the scream through the phone. I should have protected her. Why the fuck did I leave her alone?
"They knew what they were doing," Cole said quietly, his voice hollow. "Professional job. No plates, faces covered, quick in and out."
"This wasn't random," my father agreed, ending his call. "This was planned. Targeted." It was obvious.
My father's phone rang again, and he stepped away to answer it, his voice low and urgent. Cole moved closer, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"There isn’t any way we could have known," he said, but the certainty I'd always relied on from him was missing. "They were watching us. If it wasn’t now, it would have been another time." I knew he was trying to alleviate my guilt. But it didn’t matter. The fact was, I left her vulnerable. I was the reason she was taken from us. Ryder had gone silent, his face a mask of anguish. He'd been the first to fall for Cadence, his obsession with her evolving into something deeper, something that had surprised us all. And now she was gone, taken from all of us.
My father returned, his expression giving nothing away.
"My men are checking every abandoned building, warehouse, and known safe house in the city. If she's still in the area, we'll find her."
"And if she's not?" I asked, the question like broken glass in my throat. My father's gaze met mine, steady and unflinching.
"Then we'll expand the search. Whoever did this will pay, but you need to keep your head, son. She needs you. Now more than ever."
The adrenaline that had been carrying me suddenly ebbed, leaving me hollow and shaking. I sank back into my chair, the weight of everything crashing down on me at once. The room seemed to tilt around me, the elegant surroundings now feeling like a tomb.
"I did this," I whispered, dropping my head into my hands. "I left her. If anything happens to her-"
"Stop," Cole cut me off, his voice sharp. "This isn't helping Cade." But I couldn't stop. The guilt was a living thing inside me, clawing at my insides, consuming me from within. I thought of Cadence's face the last time I'd seen her, twisted with anger and pain. I thought of all the ways I'd failed her, all the times I'd put my own pride, my own desires, above her well-being.
"She hates me," I said, my voice cracking. "The last thing she said to me was to drop dead. And now she's gone, and she'll never know-" I broke off, unable to continue.
"Never know what?" Ryder asked, his voice hollow. I looked up at him, at Cole, at my father watching from a distance, and I couldn't hold it back anymore. "That I love her," I admitted, the words tearing from me like a confession. "I fucking love her, and I've never told her, and now I might never get the chance." The admission hung in the air between us, raw and exposed. Ryder's expression shifted, something like understanding passing across his face. Cole's hand tightened on my shoulder, a silent acknowledgment.
"Then we find her," Cole said simply. "And you tell her."
Christmas Day. The word tasted like ash in my mouth.
Rosa had outdone herself. The dining table gleamed beneath the soft glow of the chandelier, adorned with a spread that would have impressed even the most critical of us. A massive turkey sat in the centre, its golden-brown skinglistening with herbs and butter. Surrounding it were dishes of every kind, fluffy mashed potatoes, rich gravy boats, roasted vegetables arranged in colourful patterns, and freshly baked rolls that still steamed slightly when broken open.
The Christmas tree in the corner of the room sparkled with red and gold ornaments, presents stacked beneath it that would likely remain untouched. Someone, probably Harrison, had even hung mistletoe in the doorway, a cruel sight considering the circumstances. Not that he would have even realised. We were all on autopilot these days. Not just the Regents, but all the housemen too. It was like the life of the house had been stolen from us along with Cade.
"Thank you, Rosa," I said, helping her arrange the last of the silverware. My voice sounded hollow even to my own ears. "It looks incredible." Rosa's weathered hands paused in their work. She'd been with Covenant House longer than any of us, seen Regents come and go, watched the cycle of Consorts and power plays unfold year after year. But I'd never seen her look as tired as she did now, the lines around her eyes deeper than I remembered.
"It's nothing, Mr Bowers," she said softly. "I just thought... well, I thought we could all use something normal today." Normal. The word hung between us, impossible and mocking.
"The boys will appreciate it," I lied, knowing full well that neither Logan nor Ryder would likely make an appearance. Rosa knew it too, but she nodded anyway, playing along with the fiction.
"I set a place for Miss Turner. It just felt wrong not to," Rosa added quietly, arranging a sprig of holly beside one of the place settings. The one that would remain empty.
Five weeks. It had been five fucking weeks since Cade disappeared. Five weeks of searching, threatening, begging, ofwatching security footage until our eyes burned, of calling in every favour owed to us, of turning the city upside down looking for any trace of her. Five weeks of nothing. It was getting harder and harder to be hopeful, harder to keep believing that we would see her again.
