It was a syringe filled with a clear liquid of an unknown substance. Though it didn’t take a genius to guess what it was for.
“Can’t have you pulling any stunts until we get to where we’re going. So you’re going to take a little nap.”
Before I could blink, he jabbed the needle hard into the side of my neck and pushed the plunger down.
“There we go. Sleep, my Sophia. Just sleep.”
Words couldn’t form from my mouth as my eyes quickly became heavy. I tried to focus on the burning building I’d just been dancing happily in with the three men I loved, hoping someone—anyone—would see what was happening to me. But nobody was paying attention, the fire consuming their thoughts.
And as that hopeless thought entered my mind, the edges of my vision began to blacken, and I passed out to the whispered words of my captor.
Alden
Icame to with my head pounding and the sound of the blood rushing in my ears. It took me a moment to realize I was laid out on the ground in the parking lot of the venue where the gala was.But why am I on the ground? And why does my head hurt so fucking bad?
Shifting my body onto my hands and knees, I reached back with one hand and felt the back of my head. When I brought my hand forward to inspect it, blood coated my finger tips. How this happened, I had no clue. I tried to shake off the throbbing headache and took in my surroundings. With the exception of a few vehicles, the parking lot was completely empty.
But…
Realization hit me with the force of a freight train. I had been with Sophia and helped her into Porter’s SUV, then nothing. The SUV was gone and I just woke up on the ground with blood on the back of my head and a splitting headache.
That meant only one thing.
“Fuck!” Pulling my cell phone out, I made a run for the building as I tried to call my brother. Fire billowed out from the second story windows toward the side of the building, so all the firetrucks and people trying to put it out would be on that side. Darren didn’t answer his phone, so I kept running. I tried calling Sophia’s phone as well, but it just kept going straight to voicemail.
How could I have let that fucker get the jump on me? We’d been so good about watching our backs and making sure Sophia was okay, but the one second I lose focus, she gets taken and I get knocked out. Un-fucking-believable.
I finally made it to the side of the building where all my firefighter brothers were working hard to get the fire under control. Catching sight of Darren and Porter huddled together by one of the engines, I made a beeline for them, shouting their names as I went.
“Darren! Porter!”
They looked up at me with varying confused expressions.
“What’s going on? Where’s Sophia?” Darren asked.
“What happened to your head?” Porter questioned at the same time, noticing the bit of blood that had dripped from my head onto my white shirt.
“I don’t fucking know. The SUV is gone and I just woke up on the ground next to where it was parked. Sophia is gone too. I think that fucker found us and knocked me out then took her.” I winced as Porter pressed some gauze from the first aid kit onto the back of my head.
“The SUV has GPS. We should be able to track where it’s going. Darren, use my phone,” he instructed my brother to grab it from his back pocket while he helped me with my head injury.
Darren wasted no time and flipped through it, searching for the app connected to his GPS. When he found it his mouth thinned into a frown. “It’s driving way into the country right now down Highway 53. There’s nothing really out there except a few residential homes, some farm lands, and then a whole shit ton of woods.”
“Well, keep tracking it,” Porter told him, wrapping some bandaging around my head to hold the gauze in place. “We need to get a car and follow after them before the asshole does something stupid. I’ll go borrow one. Alden, call the detective. He’s going to wanna know what’s going on.” He ran off to find a vehicle while I did as he asked, dialing the detective’s number.
I just hoped we’d get to Sophia before that psycho could hurt her, or worse, kill her like he intended to the first time.
Porter
How did we miss this? Two of us should’ve been with Sophia the whole time. It was obvious now the fire here was just the diversion so the bastard could corner Sophia and take her right out from under our noses. Alden was probably beating himself up for getting ambushed, but he had to know it wasn’t his fault. I should’ve been with them. Or Darren. Hell all of us should’ve just let the other guys handle the fire and gone home. We just couldn’t drop work for five goddamn minutes.
Please be okay, Sophia. We’re coming for you.
I finally located our ticket out of here in the form of Chief Duvall. He’d gotten a handle on the fire with the boys not long after they arrived, instructing them expertly like he always does. The man was made for being a chief. When he saw me coming with a grim look on my face, he knew something had happened and rushed to meet me halfway.
“What’s wrong? My boys okay?”
“They’re fine, but Sophia isn’t. Her stalker found her and knocked Alden out then stole her and my SUV. We need your car.”
