Chapter 54
PSA: DON’T GO TO THE LADIES’ ROOM DURING A WEDDING RECEPTION. #LESSONLEARNED
DAKOTA
“I’m going to the ladies’ room.” I squeezed Scarlett’s arm.
I glanced back at Axel, who was completely absorbed in a conversation with Jace and Ryker, cracking up. God, I loved seeing him like this: relaxed, surrounded by his chosen family, that gorgeous smile lighting up his entire face.
I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have found him.
To discover that the love of your life had been there all along, just waiting for you to finally open the door and step into the happiest room you’d ever been in.
Life didn’t get any better than this. A perfect night, celebrating two of our friends marrying each other.
And, as if that weren’t amazing enough, Tessa let it slip why she’d had such a short engagement.
At thirty-three, she wanted a family and didn’t want to spend a year and a half waiting for the official wedding to start.
Besides, when you plan weddings for a living, it’s surprising how efficiently you can pull together a stunning celebration like this …
A baby. Wow, they were going to try for a baby. I smiled.
The ladies’ room was quiet, except for the muffled sounds of the reception bleeding through the walls. Only one stall door was closed. As I walked past it toward the sinks, I heard the lock unclick.
I turned with a polite smile ready for whoever was emerging, but my heart stopped.
It wasn’t a woman.
It was a man. A man I knew, his face twisted with rage and something darker, something that made every instinct I had shout, Run.
“Hello, Dakota.”
I opened my mouth to scream, but a wet cloth clamped over my nose and mouth before I could make a sound. The chemical smell burned my nostrils, sharp and medicinal and wrong.
No, no, no.
I clawed at his hands, tried to shove him away, but he was so much bigger than me. So much stronger. My nails raked across his wrists, drawing blood, but his grip only tightened.
“Stop fighting,” he hissed against my ear. “This is your fault. All of it.”
I held my breath until my lungs burned, but I couldn’t hold it forever. When I finally gasped for air, the chemical flooded my system, the room tilted sideways, and my legs turned to water.
Axel, I thought desperately as darkness crept in from the edges of my vision.
My muscles went limp, arms dropping uselessly to my sides. He caught me as I collapsed, throwing me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry like I weighed nothing.
“Excuse me,” he said cheerfully to someone as we passed through the door. I could hear the smile in his voice, the perfect act of concern. “She had a little too much champagne. Better get her home.”
I tried to lift my head, tried to wave my hand, tried to do anything to signal for help. But my body had betrayed me completely. I was nothing but dead weight in his arms.
The last thing I heard was the emergency exit door clicking shut behind us, cutting me off from the warmth and laughter and safety of the reception.
Cutting me off from Axel.
The cool night air hit my face as I realized with growing horror that no one had seen us leave.
No one was coming to save me.