Page 113 of Sardonic Burn

My heart sinks to my fucking feet.

As if on cue, the cavalry comes storming in. I rip the muzzle off my face and unlock the collar, throwing both to the ground in a flash. My gun is in my hand, and it doesn’t take me too long to rush up the stairs.

“Talk to me Lucas,” I growl in the earpiece. “What the fuck happened?”

“I don’t know!” he defends, but panic is evident in his tone. “I had my eyes on her, and she entered the room where the body was, but that one had no security cameras and then the door closed and boom, she was gone. The odd thing is, no one left the room.”

“Which one is it?”

“The second door on the right.”

Immediately, I find myself in front of the door. I push it open with my gun ready to shoot. I don’t think I’ve ever felt anxiety as high as I’m feeling it right now. Noelle is nowhere in sight, and all I can see is a dead body on the floor in the dried blood.

“She couldn’t have just vanished, Lucas,” I scream.

I start pushing things around. The window is locked and even if someone took her and jumped with her, they would have some severe wounds. It’s high and impossible to do without getting hurt.

“This is an old building,” he says quickly. “Look behind the shelves or under the table. There has to be a secret passage somewhere.”

I get to work. I push down every cabinet and shelf, only to come up fucking empty. I lift the desk with ease and immediately see the different pattern on the tiles. It’s right there.

But there’s no handle for me to see, so I start hitting and pushing every tile until one of them pushes upward. I step aside, and the rest slowly come undone, revealing a dark path and stairs that are too narrow for two people to fit at once.

“I found it,” I tell Lucas.

My ears are filled with gunshots from downstairs. People are screaming, and I can recognize the guns owned by my family. Both teams are here, dealing with the aftermath. I’m not focused on that; I know they will do their work properly.

Or be killed.

“Lucas, can you find anything about this passage?” I ask and slowly start going down the stairs. “Where do the stairs lead?”

“There’s nothing on them on the layouts.” He cusses. "But I think it leads into the woods. I’ll try to dig deeper.”

I told her it was a bad idea to get separated.

I told her it was a terrible fucking idea to go off on her own.

God, please, if you exist, just keep her safe until I find her.

And I will find her, even if it’s the last thing I do. Noelle Campbell is the most important person in my life, and I’ll be damned if a motherfucker like Dylan takes her away from me. No one will ever dare to lay their hands on what’s mine. Not after I make an example of this bastard.

Sorry, Noelle, but I will be the one to kill him. I’ll display his head on the front gate of my house with a clear warning. Everyone who even dares to breathe in the same direction as my girl will meet the same fate, if not worse, for daring to act so bold.

“Come on, Noelle,” I yell out. “Tell me you’re here, somewhere, please.”

My pleas don’t reach her. There’s no one down here. Wherever the motherfucker took her, they’re long gone. Ten fucking minutes is all it took for him to snatch the meaning and reason of my existence.

And it happened right under my nose.

My entire body is on fire. The last time I felt rage like this was when Noelle killed my brother. And I forgave that. I will never forgive this. Noelle is mine, in sin and in virtue. She’s bound to me by the blood of the past generations. Noelle was fucking born to belong to me.

Once I reach the end of the narrow hall, I’m met with a flight of stairs that leads up. The door isn’t closed, and I see the clear sky above my head. I’m quick to climb up, only to feel the disappointment weigh on my chest.

She’s gone.

The fucking bastard took her away from me.

“Lucas, find that motherfucker. I want to know every single property owned by the previous silencer and everything Dylan owns. Find that bastard.”

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