Page 33 of Golden Knight

I don’t stick around any longer. I head back to my car and throw myself into the driver's seat. My phone buzzes in my hand and when I check it there is a text from an unknown number.

Unknown: She doesn’t belong to you. She belongs to me.

Oh, hell no. This will not happen again. No one is taking her from me ever again.

Me: I will find you, and when I do, I will kill you.

I run my hand through my hair. Fuck, what am I going to do? I punch the steering wheel, setting off the horn as I scream “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

I need to think. Who would take Amber and where would they take her?

I pull out my phone and call Zeev.

“What's going on? Why are you calling in the middle of the night Jake?”

“Amber is missing.”

“Do you have any idea where she might be?”

“No. I only know of two friends: Ella and Paul.”

“Isn’t Ella the one with Mikhail?”

I run my hands over my face. “I don’t know, man.”

“Okay. Give me a few minutes and let me call Mikhail. Maybe he will know something. In the meantime, text Frank and see where this Paul guy lives.”

“Okay. Okay. I can do that.”

“I’m on my way. Once I know something, I’ll let you know. And don’t worry, we’ll find her.”

I don’t say anything to him, because I can’t. The fear of not being able to find her starts to resurface, but as soon as I feel it, I lock it down. I have to keep my head on straight. My sunshine needs me.

“Don’t worry, baby, I‘ll find you this time,” I say into the empty car.

I send a text to Frank and within seconds I have an address to Paul’s apartment. When I see the address, my blood boils. The fucker lives in the same apartment building as Amber. He better have some answers for me.

I grab the gun from my glove compartment, tuck it into my waistband, and walk back into the shitty-ass apartment building. I hate this place even more than I did before knowing that Paul has been here the whole time. I make my way up to the fourth floor looking for apartment 423. As I get closer, I see the door isn’t latched and is slightly open. Shit.

“What the fuck, why is the door open?” I wonder out loud.

I pull my gun out and peer inside. “Hello?”

The apartment is pitch black and there doesn’t appear to be anyone here. I turn on the lights in the apartment and everything is gone. No furniture appears to be in the living room. I make my way to the master bedroom, no furniture in here, and opening the closet, there are no clothes. It’s as if no one has ever lived here. He’s gone.

A sudden wave of deja vu hits me and my chest constricts harshly. I try to take a deep breath, but I can’t. I place my hand on the counter trying to steady myself. Fuck, this is just like the last time, but this time I will find her. I’ve trained for this. I have people I can rely on to help.

I grit my teeth and make a call. I bark, “Zeev, no one’s here at Paul's apartment.”

“What do you mean?”

“Gone. Emptied out. Just like–”

“I’ll be there soon and we can go over everything we know.”

“I know he has her. Did you find anything out from Mikhail?”

“No. He doesn’t know this Paul guy and Ella just said that all she knew about him was that they were friends from her time with The Wolves.”

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