Back at the cabin, Trace continued to watch for signs of danger. With his head on a swivel, he entered the house through the patio.
Stepping inside, he kept his gun trained in front of him as he made his way down the hall toward the bedroom.
“Emma?” He called out for her. “Baby, it’s me. It’s Trace. You can come out now.”
Trace went into the bedroom. “Did you hear me? I said it’s—”
He froze in his tracks when he saw the broken bathroom door. With his gun at the ready, Trace rushed to the room, his heart stopping at the scene before him.
There was blood. On the wall. The white tile next to the bathtub.
Trace noticed a bullet hole in the wall near the door, and the gun he’d given her to protect herself with was lying on the floor next to the sink.
Ah, god.
“Emma!”He shouted for her, despite the fact his gut was screaming she was gone.
Racing through the rest of the cabin, Trace continued to call out for her. Bursting through the front door, he leapt off the porch steps and ran down the walkway, keeping his head on a swivel the entire way.
“Emma!”
He yelled her name, again. Over and over, he screamed until his throat became raw with his efforts to reach her. Efforts that were proven to be in vain.
Tears pricked the corners of his eyes as he rested his hands on his knees. His stomach threatened to revolt, and he had to force oxygen to move in and out of his lungs to keep from puking on the rocks in front of him.
Standing there, in the middle of the driveway, Trace noticed something sticking out from behind one of the property’s larger bushes.
In one, fluid motion, he straightened his spine and aimed his weapon in that direction. Moving slowly, he made his way across the gravel to see what had caught his attention.
Though he’d already suspected his demise, the sight of Howard’s dead body had him sucking in a breath. The man’s throat had been sliced from ear to ear.
“Goddamnit!”
Trace rammed his fist into the rough bark of the large tree behind him. The pain in his hand was nothing compared to the unbearable agony shredding his heart in two.
Turning away, he walked back into the cabin. There was nothing he could do for Howard, but he wouldn’t fuckingstopuntil he found Emma.