Page 24 of Wicked Vengeance

“What if she’s at the mansion?” I ask from my seat at the kitchen table. Snow prepared a lovely meal for us, but I can’t eat it. Bile rises in my throat when I imagine what King is doing to her right now.

I can’t even breathe. It’s been four fucking days, and I don’t know how much longer we can go on like this.

I need her.

We all need her.

“That’s the only place I can think of. He isn’t going anywhere–not when he doesn’t have his precious heir anymore. He will stick around to find her. It’s only a matter of time before he figures out we took her. Before he comes knocking our door down.” Alek responds.

“Is there anywhere else we can go? Where he won’t find us while we search for her?” Dax asks, pushing his own food around on his plate– none of us have any kind of appetite anymore.

“Does he know about her cottage?” Snow asks from Ronan’s lap. He’s force-feeding her bites of food. They told us the other day about their news, and I know this stress isn’t good for her or the baby. A pang of longing hits me in the chest that we might not ever get the opportunity to grow our family with Raena.

“He doesn’t know the property even exists– it was condemned when I was a kid. He won’t look for us there.” I say, hating the memories of the house that still haunts me. But if it means keeping my family safe from King, I will endure a thousand nightmares.

“Then it’s settled. We pack our things and head to the cottage,” Alek says, clearing the table since it’s obvious no one is going to eat anything right now– not when our assholes are in our throats.

We spend the next half hour gathering stuff to take to the cottage. When I’m done with what I need, I head down to update security. Gage and August have been working around the clock to make sure we are safe from King’s retaliation. But I think it’s time we move to a safer location and get some more people to help us fight this war. If we want a shot at taking King down, we need the numbers to go against him.

“Any sign of trouble?” I ask when I reach the front gate where they’ve set up a lookout. Gage climbs down, leaving his brother to stand watch.

“None,” he responds, shaking my hand when he steps up to me.

“Good, good. Listen, we’ve decided to move to a safe house of sorts. I think it’s best to get out of dodge before King comes looking for his heir. And it will be easier to protect our families on a smaller property.”

“That’s smart,” he agrees. “We’ll pack up.”

“Thank you, Gage. We appreciate your help.”

“We know what it’s like to be under the oppressive thumb of an evil ruler,” he nods before a sly smile plays on his lips. “Plus, the pay doesn’t hurt your cause any.”

“Right,” I say, smirking back at him before turning back to the house and calling over my shoulder. “Bring your truck up to the house when you’re done, will you? We can load our weapons in it.”

“Sure thing, Boss.”

By the time we arrived at Raena's cottage, my stomach was in knots. This place holds so many of my nightmares. The last time I was here, I lost my shit, and Raena was with me. She helped bring me out of it– even though she was panicking because of me.

She’s not here now, and I feel like my lungs are in a vice. We’ve been here for a few hours, helping security set up a perimeter around the property. Now that we’ve settled into the cottage, Snow is once again trying to prepare a meal for us that we might actually eat– a large pot of venison stew fills the entire cottage with its hearty aroma.

My brothers, Ronan, and I are gathered around the small table in the kitchen, with Raena’s research on King still laid out on it. A picture of Jackson stares back at me, reminding me of how we met our little stabby hunter in the first place. An idea comes to mind, but it’s risky.

“We’re not going to find Raena by waiting for King to make a move. We need to take action,” I tell them, breaking the silence as all eyes swing to me.

“Take the fight to King?” Alek asks.

“Yes and no.” I hold up the surveillance photo of Jackson. “First, we need a way in—and more people—if we’re going to take King head-on. We start by abducting his second in command while we build our numbers. We get a location out of him, then make our move.”

“I have some friends we can call for help. They’re loyal to me. They helped me when I was facing my stepmother,” Snow adds.

“We’ll take all the help we can get. Thank you. I’m almost done re-vetting the rest of our Shadows. They’ll join us, too,” Alek tells us.

Snow looks to Ronan, a silent command to make the call. He stands from his seat at the table, kissing Snow’s cheek as he heads outside to contact their friends.

We continue discussing our plans while Snow and Dax cook. Ronan comes back a little while later, a single nod is all the answer we need to know they said yes. When dinner is served, I think everyone feels much more confident with a plan underway because everyone digs right in, devouring the delicious stew with very few words spoken between mouthfuls.

“I made Caramel Apple Crisp,” Snow says quietly, walking out of the kitchen carrying a cast iron pan that’s almost overflowing. The scent of warm cinnamon and tart apples permeates the cottage, mixing with toasted caramel as she brings the dish to the table. Dax follows behind her with a stack of serving dishes balancing on one hand. His injured shoulder is in a sling to relieve the pressure. With sadness in her eyes, Snow sits the dish in the middle. “It’s Red’s favorite.”

Her words hit me straight in the gut. My Angel. I don’t know if I will ever understand how someone can come into your life and change so much in the blink of an eye. I know I won’t question it. Raena came in and completely obliterated our lives– turned them upside down– and us, inside out. She is everything we never knew we were missing. The final piece to the puzzle of our souls that we could never solve on our own. We fit. All of us. Losing her now would rip our hearts from our chests as if King had cracked them open and shoved his filthy hand inside us himself. It’s not an option.

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