Dr. Ellison is Cupid, and I just fucking handed him the woman I love.
“We’re going to find her,” my dad says, looking over at me as he drives me back to my apartment. The others are following us because I need my equipment. I need access to everything I have, and I can’t do that from one of our warehouses.
“You hear me?”
I barely nod at the sound of my dad’s voice. He knows I’m losing it. Hell, they all do. I’d seen the worried looks my family’s been passing back and forth since they arrived to find me tossing the office. They know I’m at my breaking point, and they know exactly how it feels because so many of them have been in this exact same position. It’s always a danger for us to fall in love, for us to bring someone into this life, and I went ahead and did it anyway. It was selfish and cruel, and I feel like a fucking bastard, but then I think of Savanna, and I know I never had a chance in hell of resisting her. I love her. I love her more than I ever thought was possible, and even though thinking of her makes a stab of pain hit my heart, I’ll never stop loving her, and I wouldn’t take a single second back that I’ve gotten to spend with her. She’s everything to me, and I’m getting her back, or I’m going to die trying.
Having everything narrowed down to two options brings a clarity to my mind that I desperately need. I’ve been spiraling since the second I ran into that building, and if I don’t get ahold of it, I’m going to be useless to Savanna, and I can’t allow that to happen. She needs me. I’ve already let her down enough. I can’t fuck up her rescue as well.
“I hear you,” I tell my dad. “I’m going to find her and get her back.”
Whatever he hears in my voice has him relaxing a bit. “Good,” he says, pulling into the underground garage beneath our building. “You found Max when no one else could, Niki. You can do this, and I’ll help you every step of the way. We all will. None of us are stopping until we get her back safe and sound.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I tell him, knowing I’m going to need all the help I can get.
While we take the elevator up to my floor, he starts going over what we already know. “We have a name. That’s huge.Cupid’s no longer a ghost. We know who he is now. He’s a cocky son of a bitch, I’ll give him that, but everyone makes mistakes.”
Walking into my apartment is like a punch to the gut. Since we’d spent yesterday moving her in, the place is filled with Savanna. Everywhere I look is a memory. She’s already woven her life into mine, and I’m so fucking grateful for that, but it’s like salt in a very open wound right now.
“You’ve moved in together?” my dad asks.
When all I can do is nod, he cups the back of my head and pulls me in for a hug. “We’ll find her, Niki. I swear to you we will find her. Max is already on a plane, and he’ll be here tonight.”
“I shouldn’t have asked him to come,” I say, regretting my moment of weakness. “Talia and Lyra need him.”
“Family is everything, Niki, you know that. There was no way in hell Max was going to sit this out. Talia and Lyra are with him, so stop worrying. This distraction will be good for your mom. She’s worried sick about you.”
“You already told her?” I ask, but I’m not surprised.
“Of course I did. Her future daughter-in-law was just taken. She deserves to know what’s going on, and your mom can help when all this is over and Sav comes back to us. It’ll help her if she can talk to someone who’s been through something like this.”
When he feels me stiffen, he says, “I’m not saying she was taken for the same reasons your mom was. I’m just saying they were both taken.”
I pull back and reach for my laptop. I know he’s right, but I also know Cupid. There’s only one reason he took Savanna, and if I let my mind go too far down that path, I’ll be completely useless to her. I can fall apart later. Not now, not before I get her back and make sure she’s safe.
While I grab what I need from the bedroom, I hear a knock before my dad opens the door to let the others in. As much as I try to avoid looking at the bed, my eyes drift there anyway. Theblankets are still messed up from this morning. Savanna had woken me up by straddling my lap. I’d barely gotten my eyes open before I’d felt the wet heat of her enveloping my dick as she’d slowly taken me in. The memory makes my eyes water and stings the back of my throat. She may not have been in my life for very long, but she’s permanently changed it. She’s changedme, and I feel lost without her, completely unmoored and adrift.
When Damien fills the doorway, giving me a very concerned look, I get back to what I was doing. Without a word, he comes over, taking everything I hand him and then following me back out into the main room. Everyone is here, all of them looking worried about me.
“I’m fine,” I tell them. “I’m going to find her, and then I’m going to kill him.”
Sasha nods his approval from across the room while the others look relieved to see I haven’t broken under the stress, at least not yet. While I start plugging things in and setting up a makeshift work space at the kitchen island, my Uncle Matvey walks over and squeezes my shoulder. “We’re all here for you, Niki. Sav’s a smart girl and she’s strong. She’ll get through this.”
The haunted look in my uncle’s dark eyes is another reminder of all the shit our family’s been through, but his particular hell lasted two years. I can’t even imagine carrying this feeling around for two goddamn years. I don’t know how he didn’t go insane. Although, if I ask him, he’ll tell me he did. He wasn’t whole again until they found my Aunt Alina.
“Thanks, Uncle Matvey,” I tell him.
My dad runs upstairs to the penthouse so he can get his own laptop, and he returns with my very worried-looking mom. She pulls me in for a hug, and for just a second, I allow myself the comfort she’s giving me.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers, squeezing me even tighter. “I don’t want to get in the way, but I’ll be upstairs if you need me,okay?” I feel her pat my back and then sniffle. She’s trying to not upset me by crying in front of me.
“Thanks, Mom,” I tell her.
“Promise me you’ll let me know if you need anything,” she says, keeping her arms around me until I promise.
“I will,” I tell her.
She hugs me again and says, “I love you, Niki. You’re going to get her back, honey. I know you will.”
