Page 54 of Daddy Billionaire Dragon

“She went to New Jersey from here, then headed out towards Pittsburgh. Right outside Pittsburg, it seems she changed her mind and headed back to New Jersey.”

“Let me see,” I say, snatching the iPad from him. “This doesn’t seem right. Can you get the detailed data?”

He nods and breaks down each leg of her journey.

“She hasn’t come back to New Jersey. Look at the time stamps,” Damon says. And he’s right. There’s no way she could’ve reach New Jersey so quickly. Not even the fastest commercial jets fly as fast. I think I know what happened.

“She’s been taken. I’m going to Pittsburgh. TJ, I need the exact location from where she supposedly took a U-turn and headed back here. Can you and Liam go to where her current location supposedly is as per the tracking device? I’m leaving right away for Pittsburgh. Keep me posted,” I say and rush out of Damon’s office.

Damon and Pat follow me.

“We’re coming with you. My skills might come in handy, especially since we don’t know what we are dealing with. And Pat’s negotiations skills are legendary. TJ and Liam can follow the leads here and keep us updated.”

I nod, not trusting myself to speak. I’m so incredibly grateful for their support. It is quite late in the day now, and almost all our employees have gone home for the day, which is just as well. The less curious people around us, the better.

We stop only to wear our Skins, then shift and head in the direction of Pittsburgh. When we are roughly at the point where Nic supposedly turned around, we begin our descent. In the dead of the night, we are grateful that there isn’t any traffic. When we land, we start walking in different directions, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

“Look at this!” Damon shouts. Pat and I sprint towards him. He is holding up a handkerchief.

“Chloroform.”

“She has definitely been kidnapped,” Pat says, exhaling sharply.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. From the pocket, I pull out my phone and call Pam. I ask her if Nic has reached home. She says she hasn’t. Since I don’t want to worry her, I make light of it, saying that she probably changed her mind, and that Nic’s phone is still switched off as we had a fight. After I have calmed Pam down sufficiently, I promise her that I will call her the minute I hear from Nic, and hang up.

Then I call TJ.

“Hey, I was just about to call you,” he says. There’s something in his voice that sets my nerves on the edge.

“What is it?”

“I’ll explain later, but they’re holding her somewhere near the Grand Canyon.”

I hang up and tell Damon and Pat what TJ told me. Even when I know that the Grand Canyon stretches for hundreds of miles, I feel hopeful. Our search area has just narrowed down from the whole country to one specific geographic location. Without wasting even a minute, we shift and start for the Grand Canyon. There is something on the edges on my memory, something about the Grand Canyon, but in my dragon form, I’m not really able to remember. Anyway, it doesn’t matter right now. The important thing is to find Nic.

Chapter 29 - Nic

I come back to my senses when I feel cool water on my face. My captor is bending over me with the most worried expression.

“Oh thank God you’re alright,” he says, suddenly hugging me for a second before letting me as abruptly. His eyes look clear, and for a moment, I’m tempted to believe that I might be able to reason with him. He is no longer wearing the tattered rags but a pretty decent looking robe, the kind worn by priests.

“I got water,” he beams at me, pointing to the broken terracotta pot next to him. The crazy glint is back in his eyes. He seems enormously pleased with himself for having fetched the water.

My shoulders sag and I’m tempted to give in to my despair.

“Aren’t you thirsty anymore?”

I try to smile, but I simply can’t. So I just nod, scoop water into my palms, and drink. The cold, sweet water feels like an elixir. I drink greedily, not caring that I’m getting water all over me. I look up when I feel his eyes on me. He’s looking at me with an expression of such tenderness that I’m taken aback. Who is this man?

“I’m going to take very, very good care of you. You won’t have to worry about a thing. I know you might be feeling intense gratitude since I saved your life and your dragon’s, but I don’t really need your gratitude. Virtue is its own reward. ‘As there is sense in truth and truth in virtue’, in the words of the Bard.”

He is staring fixedly at a point behind me. Suddenly, he grabs me by my shoulders. I press myself against the wall of the cave and screw my eyes shut.

“I am never going to let you go. I’m going to keep you safe. I should have kept her safe. It’s all my fault!”

I dare to peek through my lids and am horrified to see tears rolling down his cheeks into his dirty beard.

Maybe it’s only a nightmare I’m having. Maybe none of this is real. Any minute now, I will wake up and I will be back in my bed. It’s perhaps only a bad reaction to stress. Yeah, that’s what it must be. That’s, in fact, the only thing that makes sense. I mean, kidnapping me makes no sense at all! And dragons! Surely that is only my imagination? Everybody knows dragons are not real!

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