Page 68 of Into the Fire

“Mm.” She wrapped her arms around me and hugged tightly. I wound my arms around her and held her in the foyer, rocking us gently back and forth.

“E. Man, hey,” Cole called out, rushing out to us, panic on his face.

I released Rosalie and stared at him. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Dom. The kings. Someone took Bianca.”

I blinked at his words, trying to compute it. We’d just seen them only hours ago.

“Bianca?” Rosalie called out.

“She’s the kings’ girl. Like you’re ours,” Cole said thickly. “They went home tonight and she was gone. A note was left. Someone took her. They’re losing their minds.”

“Oh no.” Rosalie covered her mouth, horror on her face. “Do they have any idea who it was?”

“No. Probably the lords, but they have no leads. Dom just shot out a window in the lords’ leader’s dorm. Hail Ivanov. They didn’t budge though even threatened with death. She’s… gone.” Fear flared in Cole’s eyes as he looked at Rosalie. “Rosebud. . .”

She went to him and hugged him. “I’m OK. I’m here. Everything is OK.”

“It’s not. It could be you someday.”

“No. It won’t be me,” she whispered, her voice trembling as he clung to her. His blue eyes locked on mine, and I knew deep in my guts things weren’t going to be OK.

Shit was going down, and this was just the beginning. We’d be dragged into this whether we wanted to or not.

And by default, so would my sweetheart.

That just wouldn’t work for me, and by the look on Cole’s face, it wasn’t going to work for him either.

The kings hadn’t wanted muchto do with anyone a week later, and I couldn’t blame them. Enzo had been working his ass off with the rest of us to keep Rosalie occupied so she wasn’t going out. Everything from movie nights to Enzo distracting her with wedding plans. So far, it was working, but I wasn’t sure for how much longer. Fox even started going with her to her music stuff after classes. He’d even learned the dance for her group and was working with her on it, which was a useful thing considering this was important to her and with Fox learning it, he was able to offer up practicing in the living room.

We’d sit around and watch them, trying to keep our minds distracted as much as we did her, but I knew we were allstruggling. With each passing day, hope of finding Bianca safe dwindled.

“Do you think she’s alive?” Cole asked softly as we bagged up sugar in the basement later that evening a week after Bianca was taken.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I’d like to think so. She’s strong but. . .” I swallowed thickly.

“I really liked her,” Cole continued, his voice shaking. “She was sassy and intelligent. Beautiful. Strong. I can’t imagine what the kings are going through. What if it’s Rosebud next time?”

“It won’t be,” Enzo said firmly, but I noted the tremble in his hands. “We won’t let it happen.”

“Do you think the kings let this happen?” Cole demanded. “Because I don’t think they fucking did.”

“They left her unattended when they knew shit was bad. They fucked up. Someone should have stayed back with her. We aren’t them. I get they’re having issues and they wanted to give her a little freedom but look where it got them. We have measures in place so this doesn’t happen. My men. Anson. Us.” Enzo dropped the baggie of sugar he’d been preparing onto the pile in the center of the table. “If we rip away what we’ve just given to Rosalie, shit will go back to how it was a few weeks ago. Things are good now, right?” He looked at each of us.

“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t want to take away Rosalie’s freedom either, but this is fucked up. It makes me sick to my stomach.”

Cole nodded his agreement. “If she’s alive, she’s being hurt. Bad. You know she is. It’s been radio silence everywhere on all of this. What about Petrov?”

Enzo was quiet for a moment, contemplating Cole’s words. With Fox having stayed with Rosalie for her dance thing, it was just us. We’d been so preoccupied with Rosalie and keeping her distracted that we hadn’t had much time to delve into helpingout the kings. I felt guilty for that, but we had less to go on than they did.

I watched as Enzo pulled his phone out and called Drake on speakerphone, our inside track with the lords.

“I don’t know shit,” Drake said upon answering. “I haven’t heard shit. I’m trying to find her too.”

Enzo nodded. “You have nothing?”

“Fucking zero, man. It’s like she’s disappeared out of thin air. Cameras didn’t capture shit. We don’t have her. If we did, Hail would be gloating like a motherfucker. He’s not saying shit and seems confused by the entire thing.”

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