Page 68 of Knot Forever

Icy dread curls up my spine as I open it. It’s a small female with long dark hair, walking down an alley. A female in a distinctive navy silk dress that I recognise.

Seth answers on the first try. “She’s gone, Asher. Left by herself – she’s left a note.”

My ribs feel too tight for my body as fear, pure fear like I’ve never known, crawls over me. “The Williams pack has her.”

In front of me, Marcus spins around, his face paling as Seth roars in my ear. “What the fuck?”

“They sent me a picture. Call everyone, Seth. I want every single one of them on this immediately. Every fucking favor. Where did she go?”

Marcus is close behind me as we leave my office at a run to head to the parking lot, pausing only to grab what I need from the drawer and slide it into the holster at my waist.

Darkness clouds my vision as we yank open my car doors and I slide behind the wheel. Both of our phones go off, and Marcus reads out an address. “What was she doing out of the house?”

“I don’t know, Marcus.” But when we get her back – and wewillget her back – she won’t be leaving her bed for days by the time I’m done.

It takes a good thirty minutes to reach the music shop Nova visited, and it’s shuttered. Marcus turns, surveying the alley. “Split up. We might find something. Seth is pulling the security footage.”

Both of us move out on opposite sides, taking slow steps as we check every inch of the alley. I see nothing, but when I look around, Marcus is kneeling over something.

He’s holding something in his hands when I reach him. “What did you find?”

Wordlessly, he holds up a phone. Nova’s phone, and a bag.

“They were close together,” he says tonelessly. Taking the bag, I look inside, my eyes moving to Marcus. The card inside, the tiny instrument, it’s obviously for him.

His hand moves into his pocket, searching for one of the devices he uses to keep himself calm. His shoulders jerk when his hands come up empty.

“Here,” I say quietly. I hand him the little device, and his hand curls around it.

“Where is she, Asher?”

I don’t know, and every passing minute is losing us precious fucking time. We need the footage to move, and it feels like an eternity before Seth calls back. His voice is furious.

“They’ve holed up in a shitty little place in Midtown. We tracked their rental agreement and the footage matches up. I’m leaving now. We’ve got a police team heading there.”

The current police commissioner owes us more than a few favors, and I’ll use everything we have if that’s what it takes to get her back.

“They’re not walking out of there, Seth.”

“Right there with you.”

As we run to the car, my heartbeat pounds in my ears like a drum.

We’re coming, little one. Just hold on.

I’m going to destroy them.

Chapter thirty-one – Nova

Clarityreturnsinarush of burning pain.

Groaning, I turn my head to the side. Different scents assault my nose, all of them unpleasant. Greasy, dirty, oily.Vile.

I can’t stop my body from convulsing as I retch, and the buzzing in my ears recedes as my eyes blink open.

I’m lying on a threadbare brown carpet, my cheek pressed into the lined pattern. My breathing starts to speed up as I remember.

They stole me off the street. I’m back.

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