Page 9 of Wicked Promises (Fallen Royals 3)

“I got nothing—holy shit, you found her.” Eli stares at her. “What happened?”

I grunt. If I think about her injuries—I’m sure there are more than just the gash on her head—I’ll see red. So instead, I focus on the truck.

“Let’s hope it was just the car accident and not… something else.”

Eli hauls open the back door for me. I climb in without releasing her, holding her close.

“Turn up the heat,” I order. “She’s freezing.”

He complies, and then we’re on our way. He meets my gaze in the mirror. “Hospital, I’m assuming?”

“No shit.”

I spend the drive stroking Margo’s hair, willing her to wake up. Her face is peaceful—minus the blood—and she could pass for sleeping. Except her skin is chilled. Some asshole abducted her and left her in a breezy barn without a jacket or her shoes.

I’m going to kill them.

“You don’t think your family was behind this, do you?”

I tug at the tape on Margo’s wrists. “We’ve been operating under the assumption that Unknown is our age.”

He grunts. “Does she have her phone on her?”

I shift her, feeling her pockets. “Nope.”

“How’s she doing?”

“It’d be great if you could drive faster.”

Eli’s already driving like a maniac, but at this point, I wish we had my speedy little car instead of his massive truck. I’m not a doctor, but Margo being unconscious isn’t a good sign.

It’s a really fucking bad one.

“We’re here, we’re here,” he calls, bumping down the drive toward the emergency room.

As soon as the truck stops moving, I fling the door open and jump out, keeping Margo tight against my chest so she doesn’t bounce.

He follows me inside.

I should’ve taken the tape off her arms and legs.

A nurse rushes toward me. “What happened?”

“I—she was abducted. I found her.”

Chaos. She instructs me to set her on a gurney, and a doctor leans over her. They shuffle me backward, but the doctor’s gaze stays on me.

“This is the missing girl?” he asks.

I nod woodenly. “She was in a car accident.”

“Sit down, son,” the doctor orders. “We’ll take good care of her.”

The original nurse leads me to a chair in the waiting room. “Is that your truck?”

“No, mine,” Eli says. “I’ll go… move it…”

“It’s in the way of the ambulance bay,” she explains. “There’s a parking—”

---