Page 135 of Vengeful Guard

I need to keep my strength, need to keep my stamina, so that I can pick up where I left off the minute they open this trunk.

Murphy finally got me.

Tears stream down my face as I think of Da, Declan, Gray, Lara, Bree.

Kael.

He asked me if I had feelings for him. He wanted to know. And I never told him.

Now, he’ll never know I love him more than life.

37

KAEL

Driving to where the track app says Paige’s phone is, I can only hope she’s there too.

I need Paige to be all right, I need her to be safe. I need her to be there so I can get mad at her, so I can hold her in my arms, so I can tell her I love her. I will not miss another opportunity to tell her.

This deep-rooted fear of not knowing how she is tells me without a doubt that I will fight the whole Murphy and Burke mafia for my princess if I have to, but I will not give up on her. Ever.

I need her by my side, always in my sight. I need to always make sure she’s okay.

I’m coming, sweetheart. And you better be ready for me because I’m coming to stay.

The tracking signal shows she has stopped, but she’s nowhere near the hospital.

That’s not a good sign, so I step on the gas.

What are you doing, princess?

I call her again. But same as all the previous times, it rings until it goes to voicemail.

My throat burns, my eyes sting.

“Come on, princess, don’t do this to me.”

My fingers squeeze the steering wheel so hard I might crush it to dust.

I put the phone back on the tracker. No change.

Maybe she just ditched her phone? But why would she do that?

I’m two minutes away now, and it’s the longest two minutes of my life. The road seems unending.

When the tracker shows I’m close, my heart stops in my chest at the sight in front of me.

Ahead on the road, a car is wheels up and another is a few yards ahead, front doors open.

I look around as I stop my car on the side of the road by Paige’s car. The open doors show me no one is inside. The passenger door’s window is busted.

I get out of my car to get a closer look. Maybe she left me a clue.

And there, on the floor of the driver’s side, is a phone. Paige’s phone.

Feck!

I look around me, searching for her, for movement, for anything that tells me I’m wrong. That tells me she wasn’t taken.

---