Chapter Fifteen
Will
Melanie was supposed to be home around two-thirty or three, given the traffic. I called her around that time because she never called me. My tracker shows her in Dallas, but nowhere near her car’s tracker. My heart pounds out of control.
I call her security detail, Dusty. “Where’s Melanie?”
He sighs and then says, “I lost her.”
“What do you mean, you lost tabs on my Raven?” I bark into my phone. After everything that happened, I’ve been trying to remain calm. The hacker wasn’t Damon because he wasn’t sophisticated enough, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have help.
Miles had gotten a lead on the hacker, but then his issue was finding out who poisoned his father. The hacker intentionally bombed the clubhouse to delay the hacking notice.
“We can’t find her,” Dusty says.
“Don’t fucking say that again. Give me an answer I want to hear, or you’ll find out I’m crazier than my father.”
“I was doing as you said, but I ran into her best friend, and we were talking when she spoke to Melanie, so I lost track of her for a bit. I assumed she had gone home when her car wasn’t in the spot it had been in. I drove home, and it was gone.”
“What friend?”
“The Beth friend. I ran into her at the campus, and she was just ending the call with Melanie.” Beth goes to school there as well, but I didn’t know they were still talking to each other. Melanie told me that Beth had been blowing her off lately.
I have my future father-in-law on the line before I waste another moment.
“What’s going on?” he asks, breathing heavily.
“She’s missing.”
“What the fuck do you mean, she’s missing?”
“Melanie’s been taken. She’s not answering her phone, and the tracker on her necklace isn’t anywhere near her car.”
“Fuck. She could be shopping,” Beast says, trying to calm me down. I’m flying down the road as fast as possible to get what I need for war.
He’s not going to like the next part. “It’s thirty miles away, but still in Dallas. I need an arsenal and a plan. I’m going to find my woman and whoever took her.”
I hear him scrambling in the background. “I’m running her bracelet now.” I knew the one she wore. It says Daddy’s Princess on it.
“It’s on campus.”
“Where?”
“In the parking lot for the library sciences.”
“Fuck, where her car is.”
“So they took her.”
“I need Cyber on the cameras for the college now, and I need all the Riders. I’m getting my future wife.” They cleared him from the hospital and he’s recovering, but I don’t know if he can help us.
“They could have removed the necklace.”
“No, they couldn’t. Trust me—they can’t. It’s probably the only reason she’s still wearing it.” I drive over to my father’s private cache of weapons and fill up my work truck, tucking them in the secret spots just as my father and brothers pull up beside me. “Someone’s taken her.”
“Who?”
“I have no idea, but I will find out. I can’t fucking believe it.” I slam my fist into the side of my truck, wanting it to be someone’s face.
His phone rings. “It’s Cyber.” He answers, “Go ahead.”
“Her phone is dead,” Cyber says, his voice hoarse from the illness. “It’s not responding. Signal lost on campus.” He’s typing in the background. “I’ve hacked that lot’s visual, and you’re going to be pissed. You should have killed him when you had a chance.”
“Damon,” I snarl. One dumb mistake, and this asshole could take away the love of my life. My entire body vibrates with rage. I don’t care what happens to me as long as I get my hands on that son of bitch. Seeing the life leave his eyes is the only thing I can think about. Closing my eyes, I send up a silent prayer that my love is holding strong and that she’s waiting for me to come get her.
“Yeah, and he had help,” Cyber adds. “I couldn’t make out the other people, but he had at least four others, and one was female by the build.”
“How did they get away with it on campus?” my dad asks.
“It was an empty spot, and rain had started coming down just in time to create an isolating space. She was completely alone.” Completely alone? I should kick my own ass. Guards should have been breathing down her back. I knew the danger over the past week, but I didn’t want to scare her, so I tried to play it off. This is what I get. Fuck.
“They’re all dead,” I say, teeth grinding.
“It looks like they drugged her. I couldn’t see what they did, but they tossed something before throwing her into an SUV. I have the tags and am running the plates. Miles is on his way to meet you. You’ll need him and his men.”
“Thanks. I’ll appreciate their assistance.”
“I’m out,” I snarl, rushing to my truck.
“We’re coming with you.”
“We can’t all go.”
“Beast,” my father says, and I turn just as I see him speed up behind me, slamming on his brakes and jumping out of his vehicle with his son.
“Tell me you have some fucking clue.”
“It was that piece of shit you all didn’t let me kill.” I want to punch him in the face, but he loves her as much as I do.
“Well, he’s a dead man now, and whoever has their hands in this will bleed out. Mary’s a wreck.” Shit.
“How does she know?” my father asks.
“We were busy when you called.” He clamps his mouth shut, and at once I understand what the heavy breathing was about. They were fucking.
“Oh.”
“Miles and his men will meet us at the location. We’re going to ambush these fucks, but remember, we need to get Melanie out safe.”
“Of course. Nothing happens to my baby girl. Will, I wish I’d let you kill that fucker. My gut knew it then, but I’ve grown soft.”
“Let’s hope we make it through this, and we can deal with it later. I need to find my fiancée.”
We break out into different vehicles and drive off together, making our way toward the site. Miles has a plan, and I agree because he’s crazy, and sending his men in first leaves our people safe. Besides, he wants to avenge his father. As long as he saves that piece of shit for me, everything else doesn’t matter.