Page 7 of Broken Empire

Andjust like that the anger inside me intensifies.Theanger that someone out there thought they could just take her and get away with it.Thisanger is exactly whatIneed to get through this and hopefully it will help me focus better on finding her.

I’mgoing to have to resort back to the cold and heartless bastardIhad become whenIthought she betrayed me since that’s the only wayI’mgoing to get through this without losing my fucking mind.Hopefully, it’s going to be exactly whatIneed to help me focus better on getting her back.

“We’regoing to find her,”Huntersays as he finally walks over to whereI’msitting.Hesounds determined as hell, anger coating his voice.Iknow his words are meant to reassure me but they don’t.I’mso fucking close to panicking already.

“Howthe hell are we going to do that?Thenecklace with her tracker is here instead of on her fucking neck where it should be!Someasshole took her, andI’dbet it’s whoever the dickhead stalking her was.Thetwo sets of tire tracks are a dead giveaway that she wasn’t alone here,”Itell him, not really wanting to say the words out loud because of the rageIfeel just thinking about what might have happened here, but also knowing thatIhave to voice my thoughts out loud if we’re going to come up with a plan to find her.

“Yeah,Ithink so too.Lookat the marks in the grass.Itlooks like someone was dragged and then there’s some blood up ahead on the side of the road whereI’massuming the car stopped and was waiting,” he says pointing and whenIlook at what he’s showing me, yeah, it doesn’t exactly paint a good picture.

“WhatifIdon’t find her?Orwhat if we get to her too late?Man,Iwon’t fucking survive if anything happens to her,”Itell him, getting a little choked up.Ican’t even believe that this is happening right now.

“She’sa survivor.Imean if she can survive you and your fucked-up bullying, then she can survive anything anyone has to throw at her,” he says andIdon’t miss the sneer in his voice.ThoughIdon’t say anything in response to his dig at me since his words are warranted. “However,Iwon’t lie to you…Ihave no idea what condition we’ll find her in since we have no idea who took her and why.AllIknow is that you need to keep your shit together because she’ll most likely need you when we find her.”

Inod my head at his last statement because he’s right.Ineed to keep it together for her.Whenwe find her, she’s going to need all the support she can get andI’mgoing to make sure thatI’mthere for her.

“Right.Nomore losing my shit,”Itell him, my voice tinged with all the resolveIcan muster.

“Let’sget back to the hotel.Ihave some calls to make and there’s nothing else we can do here,” he says, andIagree.Hehelps me get back up to my feet since my legs feel like they’re being weighed down by lead before we both head back toward the car.

Hegets into the driver’s side, which is a good idea sinceI’mnot in the right frame of mind to even think about driving right now.Ina matter of seconds, we’re speeding away from there.

Assoon as we get back to the hotel and up to her penthouse suite, he walks into his room and comes back out with a burner phone.Ilift a brow at him.

“Callingmy brother.Carteralong with his friends will know what to do or at least how to start looking.Youalready know what they do soI’mhoping we’ll be able to use their expertise.They’reall good at their own thing and when combined it works wonders soI’mhoping with all of their help things will go faster and they’re our best bet right now,” he tells me andInod since all of what he’s saying makes sense.

Therewasn’t a lot on his brotherCarterBlackwoodbut from whatIgot, well, let’s just say he and his group of friends are one of the best in the business and we can definitely use all their skills and expertise right now.Mygirl’s life literally depends on it.

Idon’t even care that they’re assassins.Sometimesyou have to do what you have to and who amIto judge especially whenI’mgoing to kill those fuckers who my father used to help him set this shit up in the first place.

Justthinking about my father right now makes me want to fucking rage.Oh, but he’s not off the hook.Ohno,I’mgoing to fucking kill him if it’s the last thingIdo.

Ijust want to find my baby and bring her home safely first.HunterandIare both in the sitting room, on one of the couches, as he dials the number before putting it on speaker.Amoment later a deep masculine voice comes over the line.

“Hey, bro,Igot the alert that you went off the grid a little while ago.What’sgoing on?Everythinggood?”HunterasksCarter.

“Yeahman.WefoundAdelaidea while back but there was so much shit going on,Ididn’t get to update you.Shewas supposed to be dead and since she wasn’t every asshole in the business was after her it seems,”Cartersays.

“Whatthe fuck?Whatthe hell is happening with you guys?Andmake sure you keep my annoying friend safe.”Huntersays jokingly.

“Notto worry little bro.It’sall taken care of now.Thosefuckers didn’t stand a chance against us, not even her fucking psycho stepmother,” he tells us.

“Damnit sounds like there was a bloodbath somewhere,”Huntsays.

“Oh, there was and it was glorious!”Cartersays, chuckling through the phone. “We’reall safe now just got some loose ends left to tie up.”

“Well,I’mglad you guys had fun.TellherImiss her ass,”

“Willdo.Nowwhat canIhelp you with?Younever call whenI’moff the grid unless it’s an emergency.Iseverything okay with you?”Carterasks, sounding serious now.Welleven more serious than he was a second ago.

“Ineed some help from you guys.Idon’t have your range of connections to do this on my own.Well,MasonandIdon’t exactly have the type of connections you guys do.Adelaide’sfriend,Winter, has been kidnapped.I’mnot sure if it has anything to do withAdelaidethis time or if it’s this mysterious person that’s been stalking her for a while,”Hunterexplains.

“Whatdo you mean you’re not sure if it’s connected toAdelaide?”Carterquestions.

“Right,Iforgot you don’t know.Thishappened while you guys were deep off the grid soIcouldn’t reach you at the time and then things have kind of been busy since.Okay, so afterAdelaidedisappeared fromRavenwoodand after you guys visited,Winterwas kidnapped by someRussianassholes looking forAdelaidebecause they saw them together in the video and pictures thatWinterposted for her birthday.Theythought they could get to her throughWinterbutIgot to her in time.Only, she was just kidnapped again and we’re not sure if it’s related toAdelaideor if it’s her stalker this time… but my gut is telling me that it might be the stalker.Ineed your help with this because we’re not dealing with some small-time idiot here.Bigbucks are involved in this one…”Hunterexplains before trailing off.

“I’llget in touch with my contacts,”Cartersays andIbreathe a little sigh of relief.Ihaven’t said a word so far sinceCartercame on the phone becauseIdon’t know what to say ifIwas being honest.Ifeel a little lost right now.

“Oneother thing.Thisis very important to me, bro, andIneed to find her as soon as possible.RememberwhenIsaidIhad a sister inRavenwood?Winteris my sister,”HuntertellsCarter.

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