I hear orders being given before feet sound against the floor. “What the fuck is going on?” August hisses. “The backup lights should’ve kicked in by now.”
“Wait,” I exclaim, grabbing Emma’s arm. “You can’t just rush the room, and you know that.”
Emma whirls around, peering into my eyes, and the anguish seeping from her pores guts me. “I can’t just do nothing, Rowan,” she snaps. “Those are our babies.”
I look over her shoulder, watching as Karl, Liam, Sebastian, and August arrive with Elias, Reign, and Fernando on their heels. Refocusing my attention on Emma, I assure her, “And we will. Let’s make a pl??”
The lights flicker back on, cutting me off just as Reign speaks, “Someone shut off the power and destroyed the backup generators.”
“How’s that possible? Everyone here was vetted so thoroughly that we know if their great-great grandfather’s third cousin, twice removed, who was adopted, ever jaywalked,” Liam exclaims.
“I don’t give a fuck about that right now,” Emma shouts. “We need to go check on Zoey and Aidan.”
Reign dips his head in agreement. “I’d tell you to stay here while we make sure it’s safe, but I already know none of you will agree to that. So, we’ll go first.”
Once we all agree, Elias and Reign take point as we work our way down the hallway. Whispered orders are given as each room is cleared. We’re approaching the nursery door, and I know before we get there, something is very fucking wrong.
Reign enters the room first, but I dart past him, and the sight before me turns my blood to ice.
“No, no, no, no, no,” Emma mumbles, dashing to where her grandmother lies motionless on the floor in front of Aidan’s crib-a wound bleeding from the back of her head where someone knocked her out.
Spinning, I rush toward Zoey’s crib, already knowing a parent’s worst nightmare is becoming true-the twins have been taken.
“This can’t be fucking happening,” August snarls, moving about the room, searching and hoping maybe, but I know they’re gone.
Lilah’s body is slumped on the ground, and her neck is turned at an unnatural angle. An angle no human can survive. My eyes shut as I roar in rage. Then, I push down my emotions, locking them into the place I always do when it’s time to be calculated.
Liam is checking the security feed with Sebastian, and Karl is ripping the twins’ room apart, desperately trying to find a clue when I snap my gaze open.
I don’t acknowledge anyone who comes running into the room. “Teams of three or more.” I hear Thomas order, but I’m already moving out the door.
Footsteps sound behind me as I continue down the hallway. I know who’s with me without having to turn around. “You know who this is, don’t you,” Liam seethes.
Of course I do. We underestimated her from the beginning, and that is a cross I will always bear.
Liam and I enter the library, confirming my suspicions. The wall door in the bookshelf is wide open, and the server that bumped into me earlier lies dead on the floor, missing half his face.
“Lucky shit. You got off easy,” he growls, stepping on his head.
“She’s going to die, and I’m going to be the one to rip out her vocal cords after I chop off her hands for daring to take from me,” I bark, running my fingers through my disheveled black hair.
My phone vibrates, and I don’t bother to look. I know who it is.
Lifting my cell to my ear, I hiss, “You should’ve stayed dead, Samantha.”
“I missed you too, Rowaniel,” she singsongs, and I can hear the twins’ wailing in the background.
I’m gripping my phone so hard it feels like it’ll snap under the pressure. “Here’s exactly how this is going to go,” Samantha croons. “You’re going to come outside and willingly come with me, or I’m taking these two spawns of a whore and??”
“Enough. Just tell me where you are, and I’ll be there,” I command.
“Aww, someone’s broody today. Don’t worry, I know exactly what you want when you’re like this. I’ll fix it f??”
At the end of my patience, I interject, “Listen, you dense cunt. Tell me where you are.”
Samantha tsks, but replies, “The emergency road at the back of the estate. I’m at the end. You have five minutes. Oh, and Rowan,” she pauses, her heavy breaths heaving into the phone. “No funny shit, or I’ll take off and drop these brats off the nearest bridge.” Then the line goes dead.
“I won’t talk you out of it, but let’s devise a plan,” Liam suggests, and that’s precisely what we do before hopping into my truck.
We’re nearly at the spot Samantha demanded I meet her when my phone buzzes for the millionth time, but I ignore it. I know it’s either Emma or the guys, and I need to keep the heroics down to a minimum.
“Remember the plan. We’ll get you back,” Liam declares as I step out of the car onto the road.
Samantha’s exactly where she said she’d be. I glance at Liam and nod. “Once they’re safe, Liam- only when they’re safe,” I order, then walk toward the waiting vehicle with my hands raised.
The window rolls down as I draw near. Samantha’s pointing a gun at me when she instructs, “Stop. Turn around and empty your pockets.”
I do as I’m told, ignoring the other dead waiter, and spin, showing her I’m not armed.
“Good. Now get in the car.”
Once again, I do as instructed and slowly open the door to the car. I stare down at my son and daughter tied together on the floor of the passenger side. Tears flow down Zoey’s and Aidan’s red faces, and I can see bruises forming on their skin, but they look otherwise unharmed.
Samantha begins to point the barrel of the gun at them. “I’m here,” I grit through clenched teeth. “Let them go.”
“Drop the little shits out the door,” she demands, training the gun on me as I pick them up. I begin to untie them. “No, just like they are, Rowaniel.”
“Okay,” I reply, looking over my kids for what I hope won’t be the last time. Bending, I kiss both their foreheads and reassure them everything will be fine.
“Right now, Rowaniel,” Samantha orders.
I give them one last hug, place them gently on the pavement outside, and close the door before the tires screech as Samantha speeds off.
My cell rings again. “Answer it. I know it’s that bitch. Answer it and put it on speakerphone.”
Nodding, I accept the call, and Emma’s voice fills the car. “Rowan. . . Rowan. Where the fuck did you go?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.