Page 31 of Masked Darling

Kade tried to calm his racing heart and think about where she could be.

She didn’t sleep well?

He frowned and suddenly his clothes were too tight, the wind was too loud, the ringing in his ears came on full force as his stomach dropped.

The Madison he knew would never run off like that, not without an explanation.

Not without a word.

“She’s not answering her phone,” he muttered, as he tried to figure out what the hell was happening.

Alison rolled her eyes as if he was acting irrationally. She reached into her impeccably pressed skirt—her clothes so neat it looked like she’d been ironed herself—and pulled out her phone. “She’s not answering for you. But she’ll answer for me.”

Alison unlocked her phone and clicked on the speed dial icon that had Madison’s smiling face on it. Kade watched her, his pulse pounding in his ears as he waited for the call to connect.

It went straight to voicemail.

“Okay, that’s weird,” Alison muttered, her brow furrowing. She tried again, her finger tapping the screen with purpose, as though a second attempt might yield different results.

It didn’t.

Kade couldn’t hold back his rage much longer and his eyes narrowed as he stepped back, running a hand through his messy hair.

This was wrong.

Something was wrong.

“Okay, now I’m worried.”

Kade took a deep breath, his patience starting to crack. “You said she went to The Serpent Pit, Al?” His voice was sharp, though he tried to temper it.

Before she could answer, Kade pulled his phone from his pocket. The urge to know where Madison was was overwhelming, and he had to call and check.

Kade dialed Jagger’s number without hesitation, holding the phone to his ear as he leaned against the doorframe. The background noise of drunken laughter filled the line, making his jaw tighten.

“What?” Jagger’s voice sounded irritated, a bit fuzzy from whatever noise surrounded him. “Isn’t this your last day of finals? Why the hell are you calling me?”

“Did my girl come by yesterday?” Kade asked, his voice barely above a growl. He didn’t care about Jagger’s mood; Madison’s absence was all that mattered right now.

Alison’s eyebrow arched at the termmy girl, and Kade scoffed at her judgmental gaze. He didn’t need her to comment on how he referred to Madison. Not when she wasfuckingmissing.

“The redhead?” Jagger’s voice carried the unmistakable sound of confusion, followed by a curse. Kade could almost hear the clinking of bottles in the background, the shuffle of bodies in a room too small for the activity it contained. “No, she wasn’t here. I had a few of the men from Green Light here to go over details for this weekend, so I closed it down after you left. Finally met the guy in charge, too.”

Suddenly, it felt the ground beneath him tilted.

“And she didn’t come in?” he asked, his voice flat, unable to keep the raw edge of fear from creeping in.

Jagger’s voice turned defensive. “No, Kade, I would have noticed a girl among the sea of fucks crowded around the bar.”

The sound of clinking bottles and laughter faded as Kade absorbed the words. That was the last place she went… And she didn’t come back.

“What did you do?” Alison whispered to him so it didn’t interfere with his phone call. Her gaze held him for a moment longer, her eyes calculating. “What’s going on?”

Kade shushed her and held up a hand to tell her to be quiet, but Alison was panicking now alongside him.

“Where do you think she is?” Alison demanded. “If this has to do with your shady gang shit, I swear I–”

“Stay here in case she comes back.”

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