Before I can finish talking, she’s already on it. “I’ll be there in fifteen to watch Cora. Oh, she must be so worried. Poor baby. Just hang on, okay? I’m throwing on some clothes, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you. Everett’s going to have some more officers come watch the house, but… there’s a chance this guy might come back, looking for Cora while we’re gone.”
“Let him try to take her,” she says, her voice going sharp. “He’ll see what happens when he fucks with people I care about.”
That makes me smile for the first time since I got home to this mess. “Thanks, Lainey,” I say again.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you soon.”
She shows up in ten minutes, probably breaking every traffic law to get here quickly. She comes in and immediately wraps Cora up in her arms, whispering to her while the little girl clingsto her. Still holding on to her, Lainey meets my gaze and then looks to Cash and Everett as well. “Bring her back,” she says. “Go get your Omega.”
I nod and Cash gives her a weak version of his usual smile. Everett’s hands are still curled into fists, but he inclines his head and says, “We’re not coming back without her.”
We wait until more armed officers show up before we leave, and Everett talks to them for a while before coming back over to us. He has bags packed with anything we might need for this, and he tosses them into the truck, slamming the door hard.
Lainey’s words stick with me as we climb in and get ready to head out for this. I’ve slipped into the kind of determined focus that I get when I’m on a call, trying to make sure everyone makes it out alive. Cash and Everett are in a similar state, quiet and intense like I’ve never seen them before.
I know the same thought is going through all of our minds right now.
We’ll get her back. We have to.
There’s so much left unsaid between us, and it can’t end like this.
I never even got the chance to tell Harper that I love her.
Chapter 45
Harper
My head hurts.
That’s the first thing I realize when I come to. There’s a pounding in my skull, and when I open my eyes slowly, the room spins. It’s also not a room I’ve seen before. I’m lying on… the floor? I think? It’s hard, cold wood digging into my arm and shoulder where I’m pressed against it.
I try to shift to take my weight off it, but realize quickly that I can’t move my arms. My wrists are tied behind me with some kind of rough rope, the fibers of it scratching and burning against my skin as I try to pull free.
My mouth is dry, and I swallow and squint around, trying to get my bearings. There’s a lot of wood, but it’s not the rich, warm wood of the house I’ve been sharing with the men. This is rough-hewn with gaps in the walls that let weak morning sunlight through.
Everything is dusty and covered in old cloth, spider webs and other signs of disuse giving away the fact that this place is probably abandoned.
I hear the sound of someone else moving, and I crane my neck, looking to see Geoffrey sitting there, and it all comes rushing back to me.
He was in the house. He tried to take Cora.
Fuck—Cora.
She’s not here, so maybe he didn’t get her. Maybe it’s just me that he dragged off to wherever this is.
He sits there, not speaking, holding a small knife in one hand, using it to clean under his fingernails. It’s calm, deliberate, and meant to be utterly threatening.
Fear spikes in my gut, leaving a sour taste in my mouth.
I move into a sitting position, wincing when my body protests. I feel bruised and sore from trying to fight him off back at the house, but I try not to give that away.
Geoffrey looks up finally. “You brought this on yourself, you know,” he says, tone sharp and furious. “Because you couldn’t just stay the fuck out of my business. If you had just kept to your own, this wouldn’t be happening to you right now.”
I swallow hard, and I know I shouldn’t provoke the man with a knife in his hand and nothing to lose, but at the same time, I can’t let him talk to me like that. Not when he’s so wrong.
“Jadewasmy business,” I snap. “She was my sister, and you killed her.”