Page 23 of Golden Knight

“What the fuck? When?”

“She fainted, and she looked awful, so I told her to go rest.”

My stomach dips with the thought of her fainting. Why didn’t she call me? I grind my teeth together when I darkly ask, “What do you mean she fainted?”

“Just what I said. She was in the back storeroom, she screamed, and when I walked by, she looked like she was passing out–”

I don’t let him finish. I turn on my heel and head back out to my car. I need to get to her. The flashback from the night she was taken from me tries to resurface. I push it back to the back of my mind.

I weave in and out of traffic, making my way across town to her apartment. When I finally pull up, I rush out of my car to get to her. The pit in my stomach starts to grow as I jog down the hallway, getting closer to her apartment. The fear of what I could find tries to take over my mind and body, but I stomp it way down.

When I get there, everything looks as it should. Her door is still closed and intact. I knock on the door, but no one answers. I start to bang on the door louder and louder. “Amber, open up, it’s me.”

No one comes to the door, and the pit in my stomach grows. I hear a door open behind me, and then a clearing of a throat. I look over my shoulder to see someone staring.

I turn back around ignoring them and continue to knock loudly on Amber’s door. “She’s not there,” the voice behind me interrupts.

I spin around. A woman who seems to be in her mid-thirties with dark, stringy hair dressed in dirty sweats and a T-shirt stares back at me. A feeling of disgust comes over me. “What do you mean she’s not there?”

“I mean I saw her pack up a suitcase and leave about thirty minutes ago. Now stop banging on the door, you're keeping me from my beauty sleep,” she snaps then suddenly closes the door.

I pull out my phone and call one of my men. When he answers, I ask immediately, “Do you see her?”

“Yes, boss. She’s standing outside of the train station.”

"Does she have a suitcase with her?”

"Yes.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” I yell at him.

“I…ugh…”

“Shut up. I’m on my way and if she leaves, you call me right away.” I hang up before he can get another word in.

I run back to my car and make my way through the city, making it to the train station in record time. I burst through the door. I need to get to her before she leaves me again. Searching the room, a clawing sensation pulls at my heart. Then I see it, her signature blonde hair.

When I get to her, she’s sitting on a bench with her back to me, suitcase next to her. She’s looking straight ahead at the wall, but she has no expression on her face. Her eyes seem vacant and I don’t like it. I squat down in front of her and she doesn’t even blink. There’s no light in her eyes.

I grab her hand and she doesn’t even flinch. “Amber. What happened?”

She doesn’t answer me or say anything. Her eyes connect with mine, but they look vacant. The pang in my chest comes back. What the fuck happened to her between when I left this morning and now?

“Sunshine?”

She doesn’t respond, no words, no sounds. Her eyes move back to the wall.

I signal to my guy who was watching her and nod toward her suitcase. He gets the message and nods back to me. With my instructions given, I scoop Amber up and take her to my car.

I’m going to take her back to my house and then find out what happened and who I’m going to kill.

Chapter sixteen

Amber

Six years Ago

Jake: 22 Amber: 20