Page 39 of Unfulfilled Promises
“My mom was a nurse, and I want to follow in her footsteps, so I’m in nursing school.”
I didn’t know how much attention our loud fight night had drawn, so with great effort and assistance from Wren, I pushed out of the chair and steadied myself before explaining, “We need to get out of here before someone comes to check on all the screaming.”
“Where are we going?”
I went to step and stumbled, so Wren pulled my good arm over her shoulder and helped me as we walked to the front door of the house. Opening the door, I looked up and down thestreet but saw no one, so we stepped outside and pulled the door behind us. As I pointed in the direction we needed to go, I asked her, “Do you remember what I told you?”
She nodded, so I continued. “I don’t know how good I’m going to be to you, but you need to listen. Stay alert, and if you see someone who doesn’t have that patch I told you about, believe they want to hurt you and act accordingly. Leave me and hide. Get to the clubhouse, and when you do, tell the madman where we were and what happened.”
“Regan, are you going to be okay?” Wren asked through tears, and at that moment, I wasn’t sure.
My vision was growing spotty, I was nauseous, and each step felt like I was carrying lead in my shoes. Looking at Wren as she practically carried me down the street toward safety, I replied, “I honestly don’t know.”
We kept walking, and every so often, Wren would hike me back onto my feet from the slumping position I was falling into. We passed house after house, each step getting us closer to help. The end of the Flats was up ahead, which meant we had about a mile or so before we got to the Death Hounds clubhouse. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it, but it was the words of the girl next to me that gave me the strength to keep going.
“We’re almost there. You have to hang on so we can bring these bastards down for doing this to us. Stay with me, Regan.”
The lights from the clubhouse came into view after another few minutes, and as we approached, the music grew in volume. The guard shack was at the side of the gate, and as we approached, someone stepped outside to see who was coming up. I lifted my head, and when I saw who it was, I wanted to cry with joy.
His eyes grew wide, and he rushed forward as I muttered, “Jacob.”
I felt myself being lifted into the air as Wren kept repeating, “Regan said to get the madman.”
I didn’t remember much after that, besides Stella and Grace rushing to my side and holding my hand, whispering how sorry they were and how I was going to be okay.
Wren was safe, John was dead, and at that moment, that’s all I cared about as the warm feeling of darkness overtook me, pulling me into the safety of its shadows.
Chapter 19
Seth
Irefused to go back to Rhys’s house to locate Regan. She was out there, and anything we needed to do could be accomplished with the mobile commands we each carried in the back of our vehicles. Going back without her felt like defeat, so when I insisted we set up somewhere close, I got very little argument.
We played the videos from the inside of the restaurant, but whoever sat down with her kept their face covered enough with the shadows and turning away that getting a good visual of him was proving difficult.
James and I were watching the inside of the restaurant with Caldwell, while Booker was on another system with Lucian, Devlin, and Rhys as they analyzed the exterior cameras and tried lifting prints off the money he used to pay.
We were running in circles, and every so often, I had to step back and exhale the scream that was caught in the back of my throat. Every possible scenario of what she was going through played through my mind, and with each flash of perceived pain and misery, I felt myself slipping a little further away from reality.
I’d spent my entire life protecting women and children, and dealing with the scum who hurt them. Yet, I was the one who plotted all of this. I set this into play, so it’s all on me.
“The guilt you’re feeling isn’t doing anyone any good,” a voice said behind me, and I spun to see who had approached.
Lucian was standing a few feet away as everyone tried to act like they couldn’t hear what was being said. They were unusually quiet, and that was pissing me off too.
Sighing, I scrubbed my hands down my face as I walked to the curb of the old church we’d parked at. Lucian followed and took a seat next to me as he looked up at the night sky.
“This is all my fault.”
“This is the fault of whoever took her, not you, so stop piling the weight of the world on your shoulders and get your fucking head in the game,” Lucian reasoned.
“It’s not that easy. I mean, think about it and tell me I haven’t damned that beautiful woman to hell over a hunch.”
“What you should be asking is who had the information about her whereabouts tonight and that she would be uncovered, to a degree, for a short period of time.”
I gave him a confused look, and he slapped me on the back and said, “You’re thinking from the heart of a wounded man who’s searching for his woman. What you need to do is attack this situation like the fucking warrior you are and don’t stop until she’s safely back in your arms.”
Looking over at the man who had been one of my best friends for over a decade and knowing what he went through after Rylee was taken again, I knew he was speaking from a place of knowledge. He was faced with the painful decisions he made in the past, but he made it through, and the only thing I could hope for was Regan to be as strong as I knew she was, and that she’d fight until I could find her.
