Another vibration. This time, it’s a message.
It’s a photo of Mira tied up on the kitchen floor, wrists and ankles bound behind her back like an animal ready for slaughter.
Unknown: Don’t push your fucking luck.
I sneak back into the bedroom, wanting to scream, to panic. But I know my only option now is to stay calm and do what I can. In the bedroom, I get dressed so, so quietly, stopping any time Rhett moves in his sleep.
Once I’m dressed, I take his keys from the kitchen counter and go out to his truck. I watched him type in the code for the security system, so I’m able to bypass the gate.
Then I’m driving, forty-four minutes left, that text burned into my mind so brutally I’m struggling to stay sane.
Hatred surges at the edges of my consciousness, trying to steal my focus.
I can’t believe I let Mira stay at a stranger’s house.
God help me, I believed Rhett when he said that she would be safe with Marshall and his family. Now my sister is in danger, and it’s all my fault for leaving her.
I press my foot to the pedal, squeezing the steering wheel hard, my heart a drumbeat trying to close my throat.
I reach for my phone. Maybe Lucian has sent me another text, but I haven’t…
Oh, fuck.
I was in such a rush that I left my phone behind. What sort of sister am I to do something like that? What if he needs to call me in the meantime to change the location?
But I can’t turn back now. There won’t be enough time.
CHAPTER 30
RHETT
It feels good to smooth my hand across the sheets, knowing Elle is right next to me, warm and beautiful. When my hand finds an empty bed, I sit up, my heart in overdrive.
“Elle?” I call.
But my home feels empty. When she was here, it was like the air was different somehow, an atmosphere that changed everything. Now, it’s hollow.
I stand, head tilted, listening for the sound of footsteps or intruders. Taking my gun from the nightstand, I search the house. Elle’s cellphone is on the en-suite cabinet, as if she left it there by mistake.
I grab her phone, place it on the bed, then clear the house. Nothing.
Returning to the bedroom, I pick up her phone. But I can’t access it without the passcode. I don’t know what it is. Dammit.
I get dressed quickly, then call Marshall. It’s three in the morning, but this is important.
“Hey, man,” he says, voice rough with sleep. “Everything all right?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I say, trying to remain calm.
“Mira?”
“Yeah, check on her. And has Elle contacted you?”
“No,” he replies, as I hear him climb out of bed. “I thought she was with you.”
“Check on Mira,” I grunt, my mind whirring, thoughts a tangled mess as I attempt to figure out what happened.
Would Elle have gone for a nighttime stroll around my grounds? Would she have left me in the night for… for what? What likely reason could she have?
