Page 3 of Hold Me Before You Go

I turned my head to find Humbly standing on the large, black entry rug, his hands in his coat pockets. His brows were pinched together, his jaw tight, but his eyes were filled with pain. My chest ached at the sight. No matter how much I wanted to kill the man, I knew deep down, I couldn’t. He meant something toCarrie; her light shined on him and his family, as well as this town.

Not responding, I let a small wave of relief wash over me as I turned to walk toward the center aisle. I studied the floor, lowering down to my haunches to inspect the scuff marks. “He had her here,” I declared, brushing my fingers over the marks, hearing the sound her cute little boots made as she scrambled for freedom, for control.

“I agree with you, and once we get the video footage, you and I can confirm that together,” Humbly said, his voice closer now.

I looked up, noting the fallen items all the way down the center aisle, leading to the back. “Printing paper in the back?” I asked. That was why Carrie was here in the first place, she’d was on an errand for her boss, Rossy, to get more fucking printer paper.

“Yes.”

I rose swiftly and before I took a step, I ordered him to stay put. I didn’t need anyone breathing down my throat while I did this—especially not Humbly. Making my way down the aisle slowly, I stepped over the fallen, damaged boxes and cans of food, making note of where they were missing on the shelves.

My sunshine fought back.

I stopped in front of a section, noting the entire shelf had been pushed back slightly. Nostrils flaring, I got back down to my haunches, my eyes landing on a syringe cap.

They drugged her.

They drugged her.

They fucking drugged her.

My body shook with anger as I picked up the small, almost insignificant piece of plastic and held it up to inspect it. I could feel Humbly staring at me from the end of the aisle. “Your boys missed something,” I told him plainly, struggling to keep my anger at bay, grinding my teeth.

“They didn’t miss anything, Grayson. You’re the first one, aside from the paramedics and myself, who’s been in here. We hadn’t even begun the investigation when you pulled up,” he explained.

Sighing through my nose, I rose back up to my full height and retraced my steps, looking for the rest of the syringe. Once I was at the front of the aisle, I got down to the floor, on my back, getting a new view of the crime scene. I looked up towards the pool of blood that belonged to Jimmy, the store owner,and then to the right.

There.

The discarded syringe had been thrown down by Carrie’s kidnapper and most likely had bounced off the floor before landing and sliding underneath one of the fruit bins.

I rolled to the bin of bananas, pushing it back with a low grunt.

“Fuck,” Humbly clipped from beside me.

Blood was pounding in my ears know as my fingers twitched, craving violence as my chest heaved. It was the same syringe I found in Carrie’s bedroom weeks ago—the same one Leo used on her before he tried to…

I bit off a low curse before barking, “Get me an evidence bag.”

Two hours later, I was doing my fifth scan over the store, looking for Carrie’s phone. The tracking device was always live, even if the phone was damaged by water or dead.

If she still had it on her, I wouldn’t be in the God-forsaken store, getting on the floor for the hundredth time in search of the fucking thing. I’d be going directly after her. The more time I spent here, the higher the chance she was hurt or worse.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I bit down hard, grinding my teeth together.No.I couldn’t think like that. For the sake of Carrie’s life, I had to shove my emotions aside, which was usually very easy to do. It was something I learned to at a very young age, and now? It was proving to be one of the hardest things I’d ever done.

He fucking drugged her, and I needed to get that syringe to Jake so he could work his magic. I had a gut feeling that the fucker who took Carrie drugged her withNightwalker, a new date rape drug only produced in one place: Devils Den, an underground network of hell in Seattle.

“Grayson!”

My head snapped up at the sound of Humbly’s voice, and I was back on my feet in an instant, heading for him. He was in the middle of the store as he turned to face me, Carrie’s phone in hand. He handed it to me and said, “I’ll need to run a search on that to figure out possible suspects. Maybe we can put together a—”

“I already know who took her,” I said, opening her phone and going to our message thread, staring at the last text I’d sent her.

I should’ve gone with her to the fucking store.

I should’ve stayed at Rossy’s with her while she worked.

I should’ve—

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