Page 8 of Wicked Vengeance

“I don’t fucking know. These men just came in and started shooting. I don’t have a fucking gun, and I’m barricaded in the kitchen with my mom and our staff. But I can’t get to Raena. She was in the office.”

“Where’s my wife?” Ronan bellows, gunning the accelerator on the SUV to the floor.

“I’m right here, baby. I’m okay,” Snow says, her voice distressed but trying to be confident. He breathes a sigh of relief I wish I could feel right now.

“We’re ten minutes out. Stay where you are. We’ll find Raena and come to you,” Alek says, disconnecting the call before Ella can respond.

I’m drowning in my own fears, letting them swallow me whole. I can’t speak. I can’t focus. The bustle of the conversations happening around me competes with the ringing in my ears.

She’s alone.

Again.

She’s unprotected.

Again.

A sharp smack lands on the back of my head, knocking me out of my spiraling thoughts and back to the present.

“Stop. Get out of your head. She can hold her own. We’ll find her. You’re scaring her little girl,” Jasper says from behind me. The motherfucker hit me, and I should be furious, but I’m only grateful. My eyes dart to Em, where she curls into Maddox. She looks like she’s trying to physically crawl inside his body to hide away from the chaos.

“Little One, look at me.” She lifts her wide eyes to mine, and I mentally lock down every fear I have so none appears on my face. “You’re okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She nods her little head at me, and I instantly feel like a selfish dick. God only knows what this little girl has been through with King, and here I am, losing control of my emotions.

Sitting up straighter and putting on my game face, I shut down my wayward emotions that won’t benefit anyone in this situation. I’ve got to be stronger and more in control. Raena will be okay. She’s strong.

Resilient. A Hunter. A survivor.

She survived Kingston Wolfe once. If he has made a move against her now, she’ll do it again. I won’t accept anything less from my Dark Angel. She’s a warrior.

She’ll be okay. I can’t believe anything else– or I might not survive this.

Twisted is desolate when we pull into the back alley, the back door swinging on broken hinges, barely hanging on. My heart pounds mercilessly against my ribs, but my face remains stoic and controlled.

My men should be standing guard outside this door.

Where the fuck are they?

“Jasper, stay with Dax and the girls. Stand watch outside. The rest of you, follow me,” Ronan says, turning the engine off and opening his door.

“Okay, Sunshine. Stay with Laurelyn while we make sure everything is safe,” Maddox tells Em, kissing her forehead. She clings tighter to him, not wanting to let him go. “We’ll be right back. I promise,”

She nods, and I watch her shove her emotions back down and climb into Laurelyn’s lap. It breaks my heart that she even knows how to do that. Yet, because of King, she’s been forced into survival mode. She’s just a child. She shouldn’t be in control of her emotions like that. He’s tainted each of us with his despicable venom. And I know I’ll spend every day of my life removing his poisonous touch from her.

“Stay strong, Little One. We’ll be right back.” I kiss the top of her head before stepping out of the SUV and meeting the others at the front.

“We move in formation, the same as before. We clear the rooms as we go until we reach the girls. Anyone who stands in our way gets met with no hesitation– shoot first,” Ronan says. With nods of understanding from each of us and one last look at my little one sitting in the truck, we head inside through the busted door.

The silence that greets us speaks volumes, and it makes the pounding inside my chest sound like war drums on a battlefield. We don’t even make it down the hall before my earlier question is answered.

Two of my men are on the floor, with single gunshot wounds in the center of their foreheads. I don’t have time to mourn their incredible losses right now, though. I have to find my Angel. The basement door is locked, so we bypass it for now, moving on to the office door where Raena is supposed to be.

With every step and rattling beat of my heart, hope bleeds through me. I need her to be behind this door waiting for me– more than I need my next breath.

That hope drains out like sand through a sifter as we open the door to an empty office. Though there was clearly a struggle, if the papers littering the floor are any indication, there’s no blood in sight. Maybe she fought them off and got away.

“Let’s keep moving. Maybe she went to find the others,” I say, stepping back into the hallway as they follow behind me. I have a feeling deep in my gut telling me things I don’t want to hear, but I silence it and keep my feet moving further down the hall until we emerge into the deserted dining hall.

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