Page 73 of The Broken Queen

I slammed my hand on the wheel.Fuck!

“The wedding is in two days. The King is expecting a lot of people and press to be there. Surely he wouldn’t fuck that up would he?” He sounded like he was at a loss, giving up. That couldn’t happen.

“We need to find her. I’ll get my men on it when I get back. Have the guards you trust help you look for her. I wouldn’t put it past Lars or Zeke for that matter to take her somewhere she couldn’t be found until the day of. They want to make sure it goes off without a hitch.”

“Will do.” He hung up, and shortly after I pulled into the compound. I turned off the car, grabbed my keys, and made my way inside.

I hadn’t seen Elijah since I’d beaten his ass. I was still pissed at him, but there were more pressing matters I needed to worry about. I walked in and he was sitting on the couch, eyes were still swollen and there were bruises that hadn’t yet healed. He would be down for a while so I chose my next man up, even though I hated the fucker.

“Dexter!” I yelled. He was normally hanging by the bar, drinking his sorrows away, or beating up some prick who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

His blonde head popped up from behind the bar. “What?”

I headed towards the bar and the people that were hanging around scattered. I wasn’t sure if my facial expression looked murderous, but they didn’t want to find out what kind of mood I was in. I took a seat in one of the stools. “Whiskey.” I was never the type to bark orders, but I was pissed off and worried. The thought of something happening to her, after we had just gotten close again, made me want to vomit.

I couldn’t lose her.

He placed three shot glasses down on the counter and poured the whiskey into each glass. I frowned; he was up to something.

“Do you forgive me now that I got my ass handed to me?” Elijah groaned as he came to sit on the stool beside me, probably still feeling like shit. He deserved it.

I shrugged as Dexter put the glass in front of me. They were probably waiting on some kind of signal, but I didn’t give a fuck. I needed the whiskey to keep me calm, otherwise I would lose my fucking shit. My insides were brewing like a volcano about to explode.

I slammed the glass down. “Another.”

Dexter’s eyes narrowed, “What’s wrong? We all know you like your whiskey, but you’re on your way to being extremely incoherent if you take a few more.”

I raised the glass and he sighed, pouring another. I slammed that one back, enjoying the thrill of it going down my throat. I gripped the glass, squeezing as hard as I could, hoping for it to break, just like I wanted to break Lars’ fucking neck.

“Raven is missing.”

I didn’t look up to see their reactions, just stared at the glass, wanting to take my anger out on something. I heard footsteps running in this direction and I closed my eyes. I didn’t realize Lewis had brought her here. How was I supposed to tell my daughter that her mom was missing? My stomach clenched. I didn’t want to tell her. I shouldn’t have to tell her.

My thoughts went back to her journal, the one with every detail about her time in the dungeon, and it made me wonder what they were doing to her now.Was she okay? Was she hurt? Were they starving her? Was she being tortured?

There was a time when I wanted to enact my own form of torture on her, but being around her again, seeing her pain, and finding out the truth changed that. It was my turn to make it right, to give her the type of home she deserved. The Queen did her best to make sure both Raven and I felt at ease, but I think after she found out what Lars did to her daughter, a piece of herdied that day. Lewis told me she was never the same after that. She was more guarded towards him, even though she loved him as much as she did.

“What’s our plan of action?” Elijah asked, and I couldn’t tell him. My throat closed up when I heard Julianna’s voice.

“Daddy!” I turned on my chair and knelt down as she came running to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and held me as tight as she could.

"Hi baby.”

She pulled back, tears in her eyes. “Do you know where Mommy is? I miss her. Mr. Lewis took me home, but she wasn’t there. Neither was Grandpa nor that other guy.”

I froze.

God Dammit.Theydidhave her. I stroked her hair and wiped her tears. “We will find her,” I looked up to see Dexter’s girl, Amanda, standing behind her with a frown on her face. She looked crushed at my daughter’s cries. I met her gaze, “Can you go play with her for a bit?”

A small smile came on her face, “Sure. Come on sweetie, let’s go build some legos.”

A sniffle, and Julianna placed a kiss on my cheek before she ran off with Amanda. My hands clenched when she was gone. “I need to get her back. I need help.” I said through clenched teeth. I heard the guys grunt in agreement.

No matter what it took, we would bring her home and I would take both of those motherfuckers to the grave for what they’d done.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Raven

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