Page 105 of Beautiful Ruins
Sadie’s car was parked in the driveway. The front door of her house was unlocked, hanging ajar, creaking on its hinges as it swayed in the wind.
But inside? Nothing. No sign of her. Just her boots still sitting by the welcome mat.
I’d torn through every room, shouting her name, checking the back door, even the damn laundry cupboard. But she was gone. No blood. No note. No clue. The silence inside was unnatural, too still for what must have gone on.
Her last words—I love you—echoed in my head. I’d left her alone with a man I never imagined would have hurt his own daughter. Yet, there I was, my mind spinning with worst-case scenarios while I wrestled with my next move.
Panic crawled up my throat, hot and choking. I couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. Just the echo of Sadie’s voice, and the ringing silence she left behind.
I stood there, bent over, hands on my knees, the ground swirling, like the air itself might swallow me whole if I didn’t get a grip. The hard truth was settling in, and I knew I had toadmit something had happened to Sadie. Yet I wasn’t in the business of surrendering. And I wasn’t there yet.
Where I was, though, was at the point of committing murder.
John fucking Cooper’s to be exact.
I didn’t want to believe he’d hurt his own flesh and blood, but after witnessing what that bastard had done to his wife, I wouldn’t put it past him to do the same to Sadie. Even after years of dealing with him I had not one clue what the filthy prick was capable of. Or if he was willing to go that far.
But worst of all, I had no idea where to start looking for her, nowhere to focus the jumbled spin cycle of my thoughts.
I shoved my hands through my hair, tugging the strands until pain sliced through my scalp, anchoring me long enough to think for a damn second. Fucking think. Heat roared over me like an inferno, eating through the last vestiges of my sanity. My hands shook with a fear I refused to name, my heart rate giving my Harley a run for its money.
I sucked in a breath, then another, and paced my lawn. I was useless. Fucking useless.
Where the hell had John taken her? And what the fuck was I going to do? If I lost Sadie, that was it for me. No fight left. No waking up. No pretending I hadn’t been broken all along.
I’d only just got her back. The first time she’d left me nearly killed me. I couldn’t go a second round, not without breaking. I needed her to be safe. It was the damn reason I’d pushed her so hard, tried to keep her away from all the bullshit. But she’d crawled beneath my skin and infused herself into every cell in my body. I’d have to cut myself open and bleed out, and that still wouldn’t be enough.
Sadie was my home. Always had been.
My phone rang, jolting me back to the worst reality I could have imagined. The screen flashed with Bear’s name. Iswiped the answer button and held it to my ear. Words failed to form anything worth speaking. Desperation was all that was left in me, clinging like an oil slick through my veins.
All I could manage was a strained sound, one no man should ever have to make. It was something guttural, primal, and it tore through me with the strength of a wild beast fighting for its life. I was losing everything I’d been clinging to, and all I could do was stand there like the worthless piece of shit I was and wait for someone to pull the trigger.
“Rowan?” Bear said, his voice echoing with the same panic that was clawing through me. “What’s going on?”
“I—” The word clogged my throat, almost cutting off my air supply just as my phone buzzed with a text message. I clenched my jaw. “Hold up,” I choked out, though my voice barely registered over the roar in my ears.
I pulled the phone from my ear and tapped the screen.
Everything in me froze.
Time seized around me, my entire world minimising to my phone screen as I read over the text. A car passed by, slow and oblivious. The rest of Barrenridge kept moving on with their lives, blind to the fact mine was shattering.
My gaze spun over the words again. Again. My mind had spiralled.
John: Rowan. I’m drawing Snake out with Sadie. Don’t worry, she’ll be safe. I couldn’t risk texting you until now. I’m doing what I should have done all those years ago. I’m sorry I didn’t protect Logan the way I should have. Sadie will be back once it’s done. John Cooper.
My hand curled around the phone, the glass cracking beneath the tension.
Don’t worry? Don’t fucking worry? There was no part ofme that wanted to believe what I was reading. What the hell did that even mean? Doing what he should have done years ago? Was he handing Sadie over the same way he had handed over his silence when Logan died?
Snake, the bastard had Sadie. And for what? John Cooper’s goddamn loyalty?
She’ll be safe—it was a lie, a cruel fucking lie.
As much as I wanted to believe her father wasn’t that cold-hearted, that he wouldn’t hurt his own child, I’d seen too much. Fuck, I knew too much to give him that benefit.
My thoughts were poison, slowly eating away at every single brain cell until I couldn’t form any reasonable excuses why I shouldn’t have gutted John Cooper the moment I next laid eyes on him.
