Page 86 of Fate

Chapter Nineteen

Carson

The phone blaringinto my subconscious wakes me from the first real sleep I’ve had in two weeks. I glance at the clock and note it’s five in the morning. Fuck.

I grapple for the phone on the nightstand. Kathleen wakes and sits up, her eyes sleepy and her hair a mass of tangles from the many times I ran my fingers through it while I made love to her. She gingerly drags the blanket over her naked breasts, and I have to blink back the desire that instantly hits me. Christ, this woman will be the end ofme.

“Hello,” I answer, staring at her sexiness.

“We got your girl.” Eli’s voice is a harsh slash through the fog of sleep and indecent thoughts about my woman, bringing me completely awake.

“Thank God. Babe, they’ve got her,” I say instantly to Kathleen, whose hand flies up to her mouth. Her eyes water, but the tears don’tfall.

A voice in my ear breaks through the happy moment.

“Carson. Carson. Man, fucking listen up,” Eli commands.

“What?” I cringe and press the phone closer to myear.

“We’ve got a problem, man. Misty gave us theslip.”

I shake my head and run my hand through my hair, tugging at the roots. The prickle of pain clears my head further. “You just said you haveher.”

“No. I said we’ve got your girl. Your daughter.”

Instantly my fear eases and relief soothes over therest.

“You’ve got to come to Vegas and get her. Dice and I need to go after Misty.”

I toss back the covers and shoot from the bed and into the closet like a rocket. “How did you get Cora and not Misty?”

“She lefther.”

Those three words send a knife to my gut. “She left my fucking daughter alone?” I roar into the phone.

Eli doesn’t say anything.

“That fucking cunt! How could she? My God. Fuck!” I yell some more. “Where is she now? You have her?” I pace the floor of my closet, fire and ice heating and freezing my veins at the sametime.

She left her alone.

“Yeah, man. I’ve gother.”

“No, where is she right this second?” I clench my teeth, imagining my daughter left alone in a ramshackle apartment with no one there to take care of her. The vision rips through my chest and cuts into my heart.

“Right this second, Eli!” I’m losing control with every disgusting thing I can imagine that could possibly happen to mygirl.

“In my arms. Not letting her go until I place her in your arms.” Eli’s voice is solid, and I focus all my attention on it like a lifeline.

My knees go weak with gratitude, and I brace my fist against the wall in the closet to hold myself up. Kathleen rests her hand on my back, a show of silent support.

“Christ! I’m getting dressed. I can be at the jetport in thirty minutes. Chase already has a plane at the ready. I’ll call him to get the pilot. I can be there in…fuck. Two hours at the earliest. Please don’t leave her,” I plead.

“Not gonna leave my niece, man,” he rumbles into the phone.

Besides his wife, Maria, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard Elijah Redding lay claim to one of the girls or their children. Even though he’s been at every function—unless he’s out on a hunt—and participated in what the girls call “family dinners,” I’ve never, not once, heard him throw down in this manner.

I swallow hard. “Eli, I oweyou.”

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