Page 26 of The Devil's Ice

That was when she heard the front door open, heard Dux and Drake coming in. Relieved, thinking that they’d taken the babies with them on an errand or maybe just a quick walk, she hurried down the hallway again, eager to see Hannah and Joe. It had only been a couple of hours since she’d laid them down for a nap, but she was feeling anxious in a way that she didn’t really understand, and she needed to get eyes on them. It felt imperative.

Later, much later, when she was able to think clearly again, she’d wonder if that feeling was maternal intuition. If she’d somehow known that something was very,verywrong, even when there was no real reason for her to think that. But in this moment, she felt what she assumed was the vague uneasiness of a new mother, and she entered the living room in a rush. Then stopped dead, her heart dead in her chest.

Dux and Drake were standing next to the door, stripping off their heavy coats and talking about what to make for dinner, wondering if they had enough ice cream for dessert. They were carefree and gorgeous, talking about nothing of real consequence, as if everything was totally and completely fine and normal.

Except thatnothingwas totally and completely fine or normal; she didn’t understand what the fuck was happening here, but she knew that her world was seconds away from collapsing.

Briley leaned against the wall for support, suddenly unable to take a proper breath. Despite her not uttering a single syllable, Dux and Drake turned as one to look at her. Their handsome faces wore identical taken aback expressions, their astonishing Arctic-blue eyes were startled. They took in her hair standing on end, the bathrobe, the shaky breaths. But whatreallyalarmed them was the look on her face: Briley was paper-white, her trembling lips bloodless, her beautiful green eyes wide and unfocused.

They crossed the living room at a run.

“Babe,” Dux said as he reached her, his hands gripping hers. “What happened?”

“Briley.” Drake rested his hand on her lower back, felt her trembling. “Is it the babies?”

“Where –” She blinked hard, forced her frozen mouth to form words. “Where are they?”

“Who?” Dux asked, steering her over to the sofa. “Where’s who?”

“Hannah and Joe.”

“They’re upstairs,” Drake said, clearly perplexed. “Right?”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?” Dux asked.

“I mean, I went to the nursery to get them, but the cribs are empty.”

The men exchanged glances, did that unnerving silent communication thing. Without a word, Drake stayed on the sofa with her while Dux headed towards the stairs.

“OK, darlin’,” Drake said gently. “When did you last get any sleep?”

She was fixedly watching Dux’s legs disappearing up the steps two at a time, and barely heard the question. “What?”

“Sleep.” He pushed her hair back. “Remember yesterday, when you were sure that there was a fire in the kitchen, but it was just a really vivid dream?”

“Ummm.” She forced herself to pull it together. “Yes.”

“So lack of sleep can make the brain go a bit weird. Are yousurethat you saw the cribs empty?”

“I –” Suddenly she felt confused, then hopeful. Maybe she was so exhausted that she was imagining things? “Maybe?”

Then Dux was tearing down the stairs at top speed, shouting for his brother to call the police. Briley looked at his stricken, panicked face and knew that she wasn’t imagininganything.

The babies were gone.

Chapter Ten

Ice sat in a gray hospital room, holding Vixen’s hand. He’d been sitting there for almost six hours now, and he was fully prepared to stay for twenty-six more, if that’s what it took. He was going to be there when she woke up from sedation. He reflected that she might not be happy to see him, to be fair… but he’d decided that he was going to be a selfish bastard and sit there anyway.

Because I want to see her. Need to.

He’d blatantly lied to the doctors, told them that Vix was his fiancée, and the boys had backed him up stoutly, without so much as exchanging a glance between them. They knew that he’d wanted to be with her, and nobody had time to argue uselessly about hospital policy and visitors. It was a new source of shock and shame to Ice that he’d been having sex with this woman for almost a-year-and-a-half, and he hadno ideaif Vix had any family to speak of… he didn’t have the first clue who to call to be with her in this dark, awful time.

So. For better or worse, Ice was it, for as long as she’d let him be.

He stared at her now, so small and helpless in that huge bed. Her face was bruised and swollen under a bandage, her head was heavily bandaged, her ankle was sprained, her neck was in a brace, and she was sitting propped up to keep the pressure off of it. She was a wreck and barely recognizable, and no surprise, after what Ice had witnessed happen to her.

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