Page 33 of Slaying for Santa
I want to tell him that I’ve searched all the places he’s searching, but every minute that passes has him even more frantic.
“Libi, this isn’t funny!” he yells, rushing down to the ground floor. “Please Libi. Call out to Daddy!”
I hurry down, feeling the cold spike of panic seeping into my bones, because with every passing second, it’s becoming more and more apparent that Libi isn’t here.
“Libi!” I call, wishing I could do more, and as Kit rushes from the living room, through the kitchen and out into the garage, I follow.
I figure he must be going to check if she’s in the car or something, but he hurries into another room off the side of the garage, and when I step in the doorway, I spot a wall of security monitors.
The heavy taps of Kit’s fingers on the keyboard are loud and angry, and a moment later, the screens flicker to show the timestamp from last night, and me giving Libi a kiss on herforehead after I finished reading the book, and she’d dozed off in her bed.
The monitor follows my movements, tracking me through the house and back into the kitchen, while the top monitor in the corner shows Libi still asleep in her bed.
Kit fast forwards the feed, showing a very quick interaction between us in the kitchen, then me going upstairs to the first floor, where I start snooping through the house, and Kit finishes up in the kitchen.
Still, as he catches me in his room, the top monitor shows Libi still in her bed.
I stiffen as I realise there’s actually a few cameras in his room, which means everything we did last night was recorded.
I don’t know how to feel about that since he didn’t ask permission. I would have said yes, but that doesn’t matter right now. The only thing that does is finding Libi.
Kit runs the footage at high speed through about an hour of us fucking before he hits pause, a low growl rumbling from him.
Frowning, I peer closer at the screens, and it takes me a second to find what’s got his attention.
In the far lower left corner, the monitor shows the backyard, and there on the screen are two black-clad figures, too big to be women.
You can’t see their faces, their heads covered in ski masks, and as soon as Kit hits play again, we both watch them unlock the back door with a key, step in and disarm the security system, and walk right into the dining room by the kitchen.
Shit.
A shiver ripples up my spine at what this means, and I can hardly believe Kit is so fucking calm right now, because I’m about to start screaming in hysterics.
On the monitors, Kit follows the men as they move through the house, while Libi is still sound asleep in her bed, and well, at this point, Kit and I look like we are in a bloody MMA ring, grappling each other on his bed.
Oh. My. God. The men turn to look up the stairs to Kit’s floor… like they can hear us.
“Kit…” I breathe. “Those men came in and took her, didn’t they?” I can’t hold back anymore, and Kit grunts in response, following them as they step into Libi’s room and move to her bed, one man on each side.
My heart thrashes wildly in my chest as I step closer, my eyes zeroed in on the screen, to watch one man slap his hand over Libi’s mouth, while the other injects something into her arm.
CHAPTER 10
KIT
Cipher’s handsare steady as he does his thing, slowing the security footage and making it less grainy as Wes and I watch over his shoulder.
I’m fucking livid. Red hot rage bubbles just under the surface, but I keep it locked down. Letting it go will only cloud my judgement. And when it comes to my Libi, I need to be crystal fucking clear.
“There.” Cipher pauses the feed and zooms in on the screen. “See that fucker’s sleeve? The one injecting Liberty? Look at his wrist.”
I lean in close, as Wes whistles under his breath. “That’s a dirty fucking move. Even for street trash.”
Nodding, Julian, aka Cipher, glances over his shoulder at me. “Serpent.”
“Yeah, I fucking see it,” I snap, my fists balling, ready to fucking punch something. Anything. “I suspected as much.”
The tattoo showing on the guy’s wrist is still a little blurry, but it’s clear enough to see the Serpents’ signature tattoo of a snake head and a dragon head entwined together.
