Page 5 of Rebellion of a Kingdom

My words are barely a whisper. “She’s gone.” I barely hear them, but I feel them. In my aching heart, in my crushed soul. My daughter is gone, and I don’t know if I will get her back.

Chapter 2

ASHER

I’m empty. Hollow. Void. Completely, fucking desolate. The feeling of defeat has cracked through my steel shell. I can't breathe. I'm trying, but the air keeps getting trapped in my throat, never destined to reach my lungs. Is this what drowning feels like? What happens when you lose all hope?

I don’t feel the terror that should be wracking my body. In fact, I don’t feel anything. I must be in pain. My cheekbone is close to shattered, my wrist snapped, and at least three ribs are broken. I’m sure that when I finally wake from this nightmare, I’ll be in a world of hurt. Yet none of it compares to the fucking gaping hole in the center of my chest. I’m fairly sure the assholes that jumped me didn’t land any hits there, but it’s the only pain I register right now.

I knew something wasn’t right the moment I saw Greg at the party tonight, I felt it in my gut, in my fucking bones. But I did nothing. I let him remain there and for what? To cover myself from my own lies. Lies I told to protect the only things that matter to me. And to what end? I still failed. Failed Elle, failed Cass, failed myself.

It was all for nothing.

I thought the dread of finding Greg in a room with Elle would be the worst of it. I wanted to let it go, allow the rest of the night to wither away until I could get back home. Nothing is ever that simple though, is it? I saw it in his eyes, the sick little gleam of him knowing something I didn’t. Of having one up on me. So, I followed him, thinking that the worst thing that would happen, would be to witness more of his fucking horrific crimes. I’ve seen enough of them to last a lifetime, but I could have handled them. I could have handled anything I would have seen, except this.

What I didn’t see coming was the fucking thugs who jumped me as soon as I made it to the back of the parking lot. Four of them and I still held my own. I may be injured, but the way they came after me I knew I was meant to be near dead. In hindsight, I got off lightly. They didn’t.

When I got rid of all four of them, I staggered to my car and floored it here as fast as I could, all the while praying for time. More time with Cassie, more time with Elle, hell, more fucking time with the four pieces of shit I just murdered in the parking lot. Just more fucking time.

Once again, I was too late. Just like I was too late to save Elle that awful night. Had I been a second later with my arrival, I would have lost her for good. Not that it matters. I've let her down again. My only salvation is the bullet I put in that fucker’s head before he could do the same to her. Yet do I feel it? No. I feel nothing but defeat.

They took her. They took my daughter. My worst fear has finally come to light. We did everything right, tried so fucking hard and for what? They still got her anyway. Every careful step, every meticulous plan, all a waste of fucking time. My shining star has been engulfed in darkness and without her I am nothing. Feel nothing. An empty shell of the man that once existed.

I don’t register anything going on around me, I can’t. My very reason for breathing is gone and I don’t know if I will ever see her again. What else matters?

A door slams open and a second later Arthur storms into the room followed by Helen, and when she locks eyes on her son she bursts into tears. Lincoln moves from Jace's side so Arthur can step in next to Zack and try to save him. Ironic isn’t it, he isn’t even his father, at least not by blood, and he would give his life here and now if it meant saving his son.

My father? He’s just no doubt had a hand in the kidnapping of my daughter.Not to mention attempting to have the living fuck, kicked out of me.

What the fuck am I doing? Why the fuck am I still here? I need to get her back.

I focus and quickly take stock of the room. Marcus is comforting Elle and Helen, both of whom are laser focused on Jace and Arthur. Zack continues to lie motionless in a puddle of his own blood and Lincoln is typing away furiously into a laptop he got from lord knows where.

I push up off the floor and the pain overtakes my entire body, but in comparison to the void in my heart, it does nothing to stop me. I don’t care about anything right now, not even death. I don’t care if the grim reaper himself comes to drag me to the pits of hell, just as long as I get my daughter back to where she belongs first.

Elle will take care of her brother, and I will take care of mine.

I manage to slip out of the room without notice and almost make it to the front door until I am being hauled back. The touch on my arm makes me hiss in pain, but his grip doesn't let up as he pushes me into the wall.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Blackwell's voice is calm, like fucking always. It fucking infuriates me I can feel his stare boring into the side of my skull, but I can't look at him. At anyone. I don't want them to see the defeat in my eyes. The same truth is on repeat in my mind… I failed them.

I grit my teeth. "You know where I'm going."

"Alone?” he scoffs in exasperation. “I thought you were the smart one.” His tone is harsh and dark, his grip tightening. “How far do you think you’re gonna get? They will kill you before you even lay eyes on her."

"I don't care. I have to try." I try to push him off, but he grips me harder and finally I look at him. Instead of the disappointment I expect to see in his eyes at my failure, all I see is worry and slight annoyance. There isn’t even a hint of pity, which I would have hated more than anything. I can’t bear it, especially not from him. His expression eases some of the tension from my body. I can’t allow him to comfort me, not after what I’ve done.

I force my gaze to look past him and grit out my next words. “Let. Me. Go.”

“I can’t do that, Donovan.” I flinch at the use of my family name. A name I never want to be fucking associated with ever again. The hatred for my blood is strong, but it pales in comparison to how much I hate myself right now. I flick my eyes to him again and see the pleading in his to make this easy, but how can I do nothing when they have her?

“It’s my house, I can go there if I want to,” I snap back as the anger burns through my veins, it’s so close to the edge I can practically taste it.

“Think,” he shakes me with his hands, “just fucking think. How did they find her? How did they know where to get her and when?” His grip remains iron tight on me, as his words puncture my mind. “They were a step ahead of us for who knows how long, we need to be smarter now. Cassie needs you.”

The mention of her name cuts through me like a blade. I push him off, ignoring the pain waging through my body once more. "I don't care, I don’t fucking care, they took her." I scream, but it catches in my throat as tears appear in the corner of my eyes for the first time in years. The pain and anguish forces me to slump back against the wall. "They took her, Lincoln." I whisper, closing my eyes to let the weight of my failure crush me. "I let them take her.”

His hand finds my shoulder again and I open my eyes, locking them with his. "I know."

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