Page 167 of Hunter's Revenge

I look him over. The dullness in his eyes is different to how he looked when I dropped the bomb on him.

What else could have happened now?

And so soon?

“Hi.” I shuffle against the stack of pillows behind me on the bed and sit up straighter, waiting for him to fill me in on what’s happening, but a few awkward seconds of silence pass by and he says nothing. “Has something else happened?”

“Yes…Gwen.” The regret in his tone suggests I’m right. Something else has happened, but when I think of all the shit I’ve been through since yesterday, I can't imagine what else could have gone wrong.

“What's going on, Malik?” I swivel my legs around, so my feet are on the floor.

“We have to talk.”

Hearing that only exacerbates my anxiety.

“What's happened?”

“Dru's been taken.”

I jump off the bed and nearly split out of my skin.

“What?” My voice is so high I’m surprised the windows don’t shatter. “No. Please no. Tell me it’s not true.”

Oh, Dru.

“I’m doing everything I can to find out where Diego has taken her. I've got everybody out on the streets trying to find her.”

My heart is beating so fast I can't catch my breath and my head feels like it's going to explode.

“What happened to the guards? Dru had at least four bodyguards.” She told me Malik had sent extra men.

“They’re dead.”

My hand flies to my mouth. “Oh my God. All of them?”

“Yes. They were found in their car dead.”

Every muscle in my body goes rigid and fear prickles my scalp like a colony of ants scattering over a nest.

“How? How did that happen? How didIeven get taken? It was so easy.” I’m the last to cast blame or doubt, but this is too much now and too obvious. “Somebody is working with them.”

“I know.”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know yet, but rest assured they will be dealt with. Right now, I’m trying to focus on finding Dru.”

Dru.

Tears tip over my lids and stream down my cheeks.

Dru was taken. This shouldn’t have happened to her. We shouldn’t even be having this conversation with her name in it.

Diego has kidnapped Dru.

But… he doesn’t want her. She’s nothing to do with him and is of no benefit to him other than leverage, because he wants me.

That’s the only reason he would do this and hopefully to exchange.

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