Page 63 of Cruel Vows

He shrugs. “Maybe. I don’t know what, but I do know that both of you would do anything for her, so you should be on the same page about this.”

“I doubt that’s going to happen.”

“You never know.” Royce’s jaw sets in a hard line as he looks at the cottage. “I think he blames himself for not being able to protect her that day. I mean, I can admit that Dad had it coming after the shit he pulled, but Ellie, well, she was his shadow.”

“You don’t need to tell me. I remember the way she used to follow him around.”

Royce nods, stopping beside me as I unlock the cottage and wait for Aiden to catch up.

As annoyed with him as I might be right now, I’m not going to make him miss out on the chance to find out what happened with Ellie.

He would never forgive me for that.

And Ellie might not forgive me if she thinks I’m the one who told Aiden and Royce about the marks on her back.

I know that she’s going to be upset, but I can’t be worried about it. Not when all that matters is finding the man who did this to her.

Aiden steps into the cottage after me, glancing to the right at the wall of knives hanging there, the picture that normally covers them moved to the side.

I jerk my chin in the direction of the knives. “Pick whatever you want to work with, then go pick one of the rooms downstairs, but leave Kara to me.”

He and Royce take their time selecting weapons before heading through the door and down the stairs into the dark basement.

I follow behind them, heading to the very last door on the right of the long hall and shoving it open.

Kara sits at the metal table in the center of the room, handcuffed to a ring in the center of it. “Are you going to let me go or tell me why the hell I’m here?”

I pull out the chair across from her, sitting down and leaning forward with arms folded on the table. “You know, I would be careful right now if I were you. I might put up with the attitude and the snark because Ellie likes you, but after what happened last night, I’m not inclined to be so lenient with you anymore.”

Her eyebrows pull together, shock flashing in her eyes. “What happened last night?”

“Ellie was attacked. You and a dozen other guards were on duty.”

“Not possible.” Kara’s mouth drops open before snapping shut and pressing into a hard line. “There’s no way that something happened to her last night. I was in the backyard. I stayed there all night. I didn’t see a single person other than Beck and Angel doing their rounds.”

I hum, drumming my fingers on the table. “You didn’t see a man sneak in and out of Ellie’s room? You didn’t hear her trying to fight him off?”

Kara’s eyes well with tears. “She’s alright, isn’t she? Please tell me that nothing happened to her. I know I should have just stayed with her. She thought we would both get in shit if I ditched my post to spend time with her, and now look at what’s happened. I was supposed to check on her, but I didn’t.”

Tears roll down her cheeks as she looks at me with pleading eyes. She clearly wants for everything to be okay.

There’s a part of me that wants to drag this out for as long as possible. To make sure she knows what could have happened to Ellie.

The door opens before I have the chance, Dominic striding into the room.

I glance at him, body tensing. “What is it?”

“We’ve got the man who was in her room last night.” Dominic stands in the doorway, dark circles beneath his eyes as he glances between me and Kara.

Standing, I follow him out the door, slamming it shut behind me. Kara can sit in there and suffer until I’m ready to let her out.

While she shouldn’t have abandoned her post last night, if she had, this might not have happened. Ellie might not be wearing that bastard’s brand, and I wouldn’t be on my way to kill the man who put it on her.

“Make sure that Aiden and Royce don’t find out he’s here,” I say as we stop outside one of the other doors. “I want to handle this my way and the two of them are just going to cause more problems.”

Dominic nods. “Ellie is upstairs. She wanted to come down here, but I told her to wait. I can send them up to see her.”

I groan, a thudding in the back of my head the warning of my oncoming migraine. “Tell them whatever you need to.”

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