I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“I can’t believe you didn’t chip your husband. Don’t you love him?”
I let out an aggravated sigh towards Jonas. “For the last time, it was arecent development.”
Jonas arches a brow. “Yeahhh… I haveno ideawhat that means. I took one look at Raven and fell in love with her immediately. It was instant.Shetaggedme,” he says dreamily. Raven blushes, sitting on his lap, and he kisses her cheek. What a puppy.
“You understand that isn’t normal?”
He shrugs. “Normal is gross. Give me all your love or leave me alone!”
I rub my forehead as Damon and Parker chuckle. “Jonas, I’m going to say it again—sharing location via phone—normal. Tagging your partner—slightly demented.”
Jonas flicks his meadow gaze to Damon standing behind Parker and waggles his brows. “I’d say it’sproactive.”
“I’ll have you know I also have it on good authority; it only happens in romance novels.”
Parker gasps, just as Damon pulls the microchipping gun away from his neck. Mine is already in. Damon moves around and gives us instructions on how to use the app. But guilt does gnaw at me. Jonas is right—I should have done this months ago. If I had, we wouldn't be having this issue now. I’d know exactly where Maksim is. I’d be able to sleep. My husband would be kissing me good night right now.
Don’t break.
“Hey, sis.” I can't look at Jonas. “It’s okay. We’re gonna find him. Plus, with Raven, I mean… why do you think I call my baby ‘Karma?’”
I know he's trying to be supportive, but all I can think about is Maksim now that Parker is fully awake andoff the oxygen tank.
I don't just want my husband… I need him.
“I missed you, Duchess.” His big hands span my hips and then go around my middle as he kisses my neck from behind. “Coming home to you is the best feeling in the world.”
I turn around in his arms, my fingers crawling up his chest only for them to hook behind his neck, and he leans down to kiss me. The kiss isn't hot nor brutal. It's a kiss that says a thousand words, relays a range of emotions. The kind that fizzles and pops, making you a bit dizzy but completely loved.
If I inhale now, it's like I can still smell him.
My heart constricts in my ribcage with both despair and anger. At the base of it, it all comes to one person. Kane. Deconstructing lives to fit his agenda. But why me? Because I rejected him, or because I confronted him?
“Sis?”
I blink up at Jonas.
“We're going to find him,” he reassures me.
I tear my gaze away again. Away from his hopeful face. I love Jonas. But I can't stand him right now. I don’t need optimism. I need action. I need… I rub at my eye when it begins to prickle. “They searched another house today. Every square inch of the yard,” I say softly. I take a peek at my bodyguard, still bandaged and settling back into his pillows. He may think he can fool everyone else into thinking he's fine, but I see the way he lightly grasps the sheets in his fingertips. He's asked both Damon and Dr. Tiliano to stop giving him the pain medication, promising to take it orally. He hasn't, and he won’t. “Once Parker is healed fully, I'm going to England. I need to be a part of this. I have to find him.”
“We're gonna find him, baby. We have an entire task force out there,” Parker replies gruffly, reaching for me. His grip is still slightly weak. I hold in my frown, only lacing my fingers through his and giving them a squeeze.
That is not the issue. I know I will find my husband.
But I want to obliterate Kane and his entire bloodline.
I want him at my unforgiving mercy for touching and hurting what belongs to me.
I just hope whatever they’re doing to him; Maksim can hold on just a little bit longer.
Damon already knows he’s going to have his work cut out for him. I’ve paid him in advance for the therapy my husband will need.
I make them all leave and settle in beside Parker, doing my best to sleep. But it feels like every noise is heightened, and he’s still attached to the heart monitor. The constant beeping is becoming my personal metronome. It soothes me as much as it irritates me.
I let myself drift, not allowing myself to think of how I was in paradise, literal heaven, and now I’m hanging off the edge of a cliff by my fingertips, trying not to fall into the bottomless pits of hell.
