Page 102 of The Devil's Hunt

FORTY-TWO

ARCHER

My mother’s voice droned on about potential wedding venues, but my attention was fixated on the bathroom door. My eyes darted to my watch repeatedly. Each tick of the minute hand felt like an eternity.

Something felt wrong.

She had been in there for too long.

Anxiety crept up my spine as I shoved my chair back and hurried toward the bathroom door, my heart thudding against my ribs. I knocked loudly, calling out Mila's name, but there was no response. Panic started to set in as I tried the doorknob, finding it locked. Without hesitation, I took a step back and threw my shoulder against the door, the wood splintering under the force of my weight. As the door swung open, my breath caught in my throat at the scene before me.

The bathroom wasempty.

My eyes landed on the open window, a trail of blood leading out onto the windowsill. I stumbled forward, my legs weak beneath me as I reached the window, staring into the empty alleyway. The cold wind blew in, carrying with it the faint sound of sirens in the distance. I touched the droplets of blood, still warm and sticky.

Mila wasgone.

Stumbling backward, my hand shook as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and fumbled to autodial Kai’s number.

“What’s up?” Kai answered.

Sweat beaded on my forehead as I spilled out the words. “He took her.”

“What?”

“Alexander took Mila.” The words felt like poison in my mouth.

“Shit. What do you need me to do?”

“Gather the men. I’m tracking her from the necklace. Sending you the coordinates now.” I stormed out of the café and headed toward the Suburban. My mother and Damion followed behind me, trying to keep up.

“Archer, we need to be smart about this. If he sees you, he might kill her before we get to her,” Kai cautioned.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do, Kai? Let him put his hands all over her or worse?”

“I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is, you know how this dickbag operates. He wants you to follow him so he can kill you or kill her to get to you.”

“Goddamn it!” I yelled. Frustration boiled inside of me. I knew he was right, but the way I felt right now, I was bulletproof. I wouldn’t stop until Alexander was choking on his blood.

“Give me a few minutes. I’ll reach out to my contact and call you back.”

Kai hung up, and I let out a pained breath as I pulled up the GPS and her tracker. She was moving fast, heading to the outskirts of the city. I sent the coordinates to Kai and Theo and attached them to the car. “Follow these coordinates. Leave space. I don’t want him to know we are following him.”

“Archer, follow who? Where’s Mila?” my mother questioned from the back seat.

“Mom, I need you to get out and go home.”

“Archer, what’s going on?”

“They took Mila,” I replied through clenched teeth.

My mother’s gasp of shock in the backseat broke through my concentration. “Oh my God. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to kill them all.”

“Please be careful,” she said, tears in her eyes. “I want both of you back home safe. I’ll call your father and see if he can do anything.” She kissed my cheek and stepped out of the car, rushing toward her vehicle and speaking quickly on her phone.

My phone rang just as Damion pulled off onto the road, following the red dot on the screen. I answered, my voice tense. “Yeah?”

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