Chapter Thirty-Four
Ashen
A few days later, Sara and I were wandering the large library at the Rehoboth estate. I pulled old favorites from the shelves. She did the same. We marveled each time we chose the same. Old wood, old words, old whispers. Getting to know her was a simple joy I knew I’d never tire of.
I stopped, hugged her to me, and breathed in the peace she’d brought to my life. Against her forehead, I murmured, “I used to lose myself in books, but I found myself in you.”
Sara smirked, tilting her head. “Literally or figuratively?”
My chuckle rumbled against her. “Both.”
We kissed. It was full of passion and need, but also gratitude. This. This was what I’d never dared to believe I could find.
A friend.
A lover.
My forever.
When I drew back, her cheeks were flushed, her laugh soft, her eyes so warm they made the whole world tilt.
“Do you think Ethan would mind if we christened his library?” I whispered, brushing her cheek with my thumb. “I’d love to make love to you here.”
She laughed. “Here. There. Everywhere.”
“Is that a problem?” I lifted her and spun until she was clinging to my shoulders. Then, slowly I slid her down the front of me.
She was shaking her head and smiling when my phone buzzed.
I almost ignored it, but we’d asked Gene to call us if he needed anything.
He’d offered to babysit Sparkles for a few days because Dylan was traveling, which meant he had Stanley.
Apparently Sparkles brought out a calmer side of Stanley.
Of course we’d agreed. It was like sending a child off to their grandparents’ house for the weekend.
Sparkles loved visiting Gene and Leslie. They spoiled her with treats and love.
It was possible that Dylan had returned early so Gene was about to ask us to pick Sparkles up early. The timing wasn’t ideal, but since Sara and I had forever to continue what Gene was interrupting, my good mood didn’t waver.
“Hey, Gene.” My voice threw me. “Hey, Ashen, sorry to bother you, but . . . did Sparkles make it back to you okay? I felt weird letting that driver take her, but he said you sent him. I didn’t have my phone with me or I would have called you.
He said you’d forgotten about a vet appointment so you needed her back . . .”
My body went rigid. The warmth bled out of me in an instant. Rage flooded in, sharp and cold, until I felt like glass about to shatter. The man laughing with Sara moments ago was gone. No. Not Sparkles.
“Gene,” I said, my voice rising with emotion, “describe the man. Describe his car. Now.” I regretted the urgency in my tone when Gene faltered and began to stammer that he wasn’t sure. Young. Old. Maybe tall. Maybe short.
My grip on the phone was too tight. The fury wanted out. It wanted blood. But then Sara’s hand slid down my arm, her fingers caressing my forearm. Steady, her touch told me. You’re not alone.
You’re my man.
And we can handle anything together.
I forced a breath. “Someone picked up Sparkles from Gene’s.”
She eased the phone from my hand, her voice level when she spoke. “Gene, this is Sara. I need you to take a breath and go slow. Start from the beginning.”
Her calm became mine. While she questioned, I listened. Gene’s words spilled—sedan, gray, middle-aged man, non-threatening. The return of his ability to provide details was a wake-up call for me to keep my cool.
I didn’t have money.
I didn’t know enough people to have enemies.
There was only one option for who would have taken Sparkles.
And they had taken the one thing they were certain could lure me to them. I looked down at Sara, imagining for a moment that it could have been her, and a shudder rocked through me.
She squeezed my hand as if hearing my thoughts, and her chin rose as fire lit her eyes. Not a possibility.
Calm returned.
My woman was a warrior.
And I didn’t have to tell her who I suspected had done this. She knew.
We thanked Gene and hung up, then both began to send texts out. “Thane,” I said. She nodded. “Zachary.”
We went down the list.
“They’re on their way,” I said.
“Which ones?” she asked.
I swallowed before answering. “All of them.”
Never had I imagined that family could descend with the speed of superheroes and with the same willingness to go to battle for something I cared about—someone. Sparkles had become family.
The dining room became an emergency conference room.
Thane barked orders into his phone to a security detail, his voice sharp, slicing the air like a blade.
Scott hunched over a laptop, muttering about GPS dog trackers and chewing on the edge of a pen.
Zachary paced the room so hard the floor groaned, fists clenched, eyes wild with barely contained violence.
Monica and Crystal were the calm center, corralling chaos into lists and actions.
Charlotte stood at the edge, silent, her gaze steady and knowing, as if she’d seen monsters before.
And in the middle of it all—Sara and me. The eye of the storm. My rage had cooled to something sharper, a predatory stillness. All I wanted to do was kill whoever had Sparkles, but I was being cautioned to wait. People were following leads to ensure it was the Gravestones.
This was too important to rush off and get wrong.
Then my phone lit up.
The room stilled.
A new message. Black words on a white screen.
Your presence is requested. Gravestone House. Come alone. Don’t be late . . . or the sparkle might go out of her eyes for good.
I knew it.
I fucking knew it was them.
My hand trembled once before I locked it down. The word sparkle burned into my vision. I don’t care if I rot in prison.
I turned my phone so the others could read the message. The air grew heavy. No one spoke. Every eye was on me.
But I didn’t look at Thane. Or Zachary. Or Scott.
I looked at Sara.
The world narrowed to just her, the woman who had walked with me through fire, who I needed to trust as much as I needed to breathe. Her eyes held mine, steady, with a hint of murder in them. “They won’t hurt her because we won’t give them the chance to. We go in—now.”
I nodded once.
Whatever waited for us in that house, we would face it together.