Page 67 of Wicked Devotions: Part 2

“Goddammit!” The back of his hand hits my cheek. “What did you do? That’s half my reward gone.”

Even through the pain of the impact, I feel satisfaction knowing I’ve ruined some of his plans. I don’t have time to revel in my small win, though, as he drags me back to my feet and pulls me down toward the dinghy.

Now is my only chance to get away. I let the shell drop into my palm and position it pointy tip down. With all I might I spin, driving the tip into his face as close as I can to his eye. He screams as it drives into the corner, blood oozing from the wound.

I take the opportunity to climb up the slope around him, but he grabs me by the ankle and pulls me down hard. My ribs land sharply on the edge of a rock, knocking all the breath from my lungs. I can’t breathe as he lifts and tosses me down into the small boat. I land with a thud, my vision darkening around the edges.

I feel the sharp tug of fingers in my hair and my head being lifted back.

“You fucking bitch, if I lose my eye, I’m gonna tear you apart from the inside out. You’ll beg for death by the time I’m done with you.”

His rancid breath is the last thing I’m aware of before he slams my forehead against the bottom of the boat, and everything goes black.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

EMERSON

“Cillian! Felix!”

All our heads swing in the direction of Annabelle running down the drive toward us. She’s soaked and barefoot. Cillian and Felix drop the tree they were moving and run to meet her. Declan and Cyrus are further down the fence line repairing some damage, so they don’t hear her.

I exchange a look with Banks, and we both drop what we’re doing to go to her. Felix gets to her first, his hands cup her cheeks in a way that would raise my eyebrows if I wasn’t so worried about Harper. Why isn’t she here? Is she hurt?

“-took Harper.” I hear the end of Annabelle’s sentence, and my stomach drops to my feet.

“Who took her?” I ask, running the rest of the way as I pull my phone out to text Cy.

“Where is she?” Banks asks at the same time.

“I-I can’t remember his name, he’s only vaguely familiar. Maybe someone who Scott brought to the house once or twice a few years ago. He had a boat hidden by the jetty and a gun.” Tears stream down her face. “He has her. She pushed me off the jetty to save me, and he took my baby.” She grabs Cillian’s shirt. “You have to find her. You have to get her before they hurt her.”

He catches her as her legs give out and sweeps her into his arms. “We’ll get her back. I promise.”

The sound of running footsteps pull our attention to Declan and Cy as they join us. Cillian hands Annabelle over to Felix and tells him to get her inside and to call their doctor. The man is always unflappable, but his face is pale as he locks eyes with Declan.

“Harper’s been taken.” He delivers the news like it’s a mundane piece of information, all inflection is gone from his voice. But I see the way his body tenses, like he’s ready to jump and pull Declan back from whatever edge he’s about to leap off of to go find her.

The thing is, he won’t be leaping alone. If he goes, we go. And there’s no fucking way we aren’t going.

“Annabelle said whoever it was took them onto the jetty to get on a boat he had hidden there. Banks, Emerson, go see if you can find anything. It sounds like Harper put up a fight, so maybe something got left behind.”

As soon as the order leaves Cillian’s mouth, we’re both running in that direction. I’m used to running miles a day, but this relatively short distance seems like a marathon. We pass Harper’s sandals where the grass meets the sand and keep going.

At first glance, there’s nothing on the jetty. No boats on the horizon either. Just wave after wave of deep blue water and the salt marshes several miles to the west.

“Here’s her footprints.” Banks points down to the ground. “Wait, what’s that?”

“Be careful,” I say as he scrambles down the slick rocks to pick something up.

“It’s a shell.” He walks back up the side. “With blood on the tip.”

“Let me see,” I hold out my hand, careful not to touch the blood in case it isn’t hers. “They can test it for DNA.”

We spend a little while longer looking for anything else but come up empty handed. The gravity of the situation grows heavier the closer we get back toward the house. Before we had a job, something to focus on and keep the anxiety from building up. Now all I can think about is that she’s out there probably fighting for her life.

Declan and Cy are going to lose their minds. I have to remain calm and level-headed because they won’t. A glance over at Banks is all it takes to see he’s not ready to burn the world down, but he is clearly close to the edge.

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