Page 214 of Darling Wildfire
“Dead?”
I shrugged. “Unclear. West is keeping an eye out but the news of her missing has caused a stir on the internet. We must have missed it in all the chaos recently and being abroad.”
“Damn, well, she’s gorgeous,” Nyx smirked. “I’m sure she’ll surface and then we’ll get her—wait—she wants to be with you too right? Or is this a kidnapping situation?”
I shrugged. “She has a fiance. Could be a kidnapping situation.”
Nyx waved his hand. “Who is he and do you want me to take him out now?”
I chuckled even knowing he was serious. “If she’s alive, she’s mine. Let’s wait and see what happens before pulling any triggers.” Literally.
“You should have just taken her when you left,” Nyx said.
“And then what? It’s not like I could have given her the attention she deserved—no, needed after coming out of a trafficking situation. Plus, if she really does like this asshole fiance, she probably would run back to him and I wouldn’t have time to do anything about it.”
“Yeah, but she would’ve beensafe,” Nyx shrugged.
I sighed because he was right and I still questioned myself for not just grabbing her and stealing her away while I had the chance.
“Cooper would have come after us,” I said. “Just too many variables and my daughter takes precedence.”
“Over a girl with a fiance who you’ve only spent five days with? Definitely,” Nyx chuckled.
108
THERON
THREE DAYS AGO
EN ROUTE TO ELYSIUM
The phone call came through my Aston showing an unknown number.
“Yeah?”
“North—it’s Gabriel—” The phone cut out.
“Where are you?” I demanded. I hadn’t heard from him in months. His team had gone completely radio silent and no one knew where he was, not even Knight. I searched and searched, even going so far as to hint around Mahoney but there was nothing. It was like he’d completely disappeared.
“—in deep, can’t talk—her—”
“What? Tell me where you are so I can send a team in!”
“—she’s here—”
For one brief moment, his voice came through crystal clear.
“We found her, North—” Then it cut out again. “Trust—be in touch—”
The line went dead.
“Gabriel!” The call was dropped.
“Fuck!” I shouted.
This could not have been worse timing. For one brief moment I debated stopping everything and putting all of my resources into finding Deathwing. But the thought disappeared as quickly as it came. This was a means to an end—too much work had gone into it to stop now. Besides, I had to trust Gabriel. This was his deal, if he’d found her, I trusted her to be in good hands. Once this thing with Vetticus was done, I wouldn’t stop until she was finally standing in front of me.
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