“I’m fine. It’s a few bruises. That’s all.”
“You’re seeing the doctor. It’s not up for discussion.” I continue driving to my front gates, opening the thick metal barrier with a click of a remote, and stop beside the waiting guard.
He keeps a hand over his side piece as I lower my window, his gaze stalking our surroundings while he leans down to eye level.
“What happened?” I growl.
“Your guess is as good as mine. We heard an explosion. Our guys on the perimeter thought there were gunshots, too. Silenced, though. But nothing crossed the fence. No bullets. No threat. Nothing.”
“You didn’t send someone next door to check it out?”
“No, sir. It was our job to maintain the safety of your property and the residents inside. My men did their boundary checks every ten to fifteen minutes as scheduled. Then kept a closer eye on your neighbor after the disturbance. But we never left our post.”
I don’t know whether to be proud or infuriated.
“Make sure nobody disturbs my men.” I tilt my chin toward Mavis’ house. “I don’t want anything coming within a foot of the front yard. No cops. No visitors. Not even a fucking squirrel. You hear me?”
“I hear you.” He straightens, retreating from the Porsche. “I’ll let you know if we have any issues.”
I raise my window and drive through the gates, continuing around the back of the house, passing two more armed guards in the shadows before parking in the garage.
Sarah doesn’t say a word. She stares straight ahead even after I kill the engine.
“What’s on your mind?” I unfasten my belt and release the steering wheel.
“He took her,” she whispers. “Robert took Penny.”
“Yeah, he did. But he’s dead now.”
“And what about her?” She shoots me a glance. “What happened between the time she left me and the moment that rapist died? What did he do to her?”
“Whatever happened couldn’t be worse than the life she had in Greece.” It’s a pathetic comparison. But it’s the truth. “She survived living with my father. She can survive this, too.”
“I was meant to be looking after her.” Her voice wavers. “It was my job to keep her safe.”
“It was also the job of the guard you had following you. We should all be thankful your fate, along with Penny’s, wasn’t the same as his.”
She shifts her focus back out the windshield to the darkened garage. “That’s not comforting.”
“Well, it should be.” I shove from the car, waiting as she slowly unfastens her belt, her movements more stiff than earlier. “Stay here. I’ll organize the kids.”
“No.” She opens her door, cautiously climbing out. “I’ll get Tobias. You can handle Stella. That little girl is the devil when woken from her beauty sleep.”
She isn’t wrong. My niece—although, the most beautiful princess I’ve laid eyes on—can be Satan when the mood strikes. It’s an unfortunate trait she gained from her mother.
I lead the way into the house, along the darkened hall, the light from the kitchen the only glow to highlight the closed bedrooms. I pass the nanny’s door to gently ease open Stella’s, then creep inside, walking from memory because the room is too dark to see shit.
I don’t stop until my shins hit the unforgiving hardness of the side of the bed.
Fuck.
I kneel with a snarl, placing my hands on the mattress. “Stella, sweetheart. You need to get up.”
There’s no response. Not even a shift in the silence around me.
“Stella?” I reach out, swiping my palm over the bed. My fingers glide over vacant sheets. “Sweetheart?”
I can’t hear her breathing.
I can’t hear a damn thing.
“Stella?” I scramble for the door. Flick on the light. Expose a completely empty room.
There’s no sign of my niece.
“Sarah.” I storm for the hall, into Tobias’ doorway, and flick on the light. She stands before another empty bed, the fear in her features mimicking the sensation pummeling my chest.
“Are they having some sort of camp-out in another room?” She rushes toward me. “Could they have heard the explosion and gotten scared? Maybe they’re with the nanny.”
I send out a silent prayer. I mentally beg the fucking heavens for her to be right as I run down the hall, swinging the nanny’s door wide.
“Tanya.” I flick on the light and everything drains from me—thought, comprehension, knowledge.
The girl, barely in her mid-twenties, lays strewn on the carpet, face-up, a hypodermic syringe hanging from her arm. Vomit is pooled on the floor near her mouth. Urine permeates the air. And those eyes. Those vacant, unblinking eyes.
“Oh, Christ.” Sarah shoves past me and falls to her knees beside the woman to place a gentle hand to her cheek. “She’s stone cold.”
6
Cole
I search the house, scouring every room, calling Tobias and Stella’s names with every breath.
I hope they’re in hiding. That they heard someone messing with Tanya and made the smart decision to flee.
“They’re not here.” Sarah catches up to me in the kitchen, her face pale as she holds up a dirty cloth. “But I found this under Stella’s bed.”
“What is it?” I approach.
“It’s doused in chemicals. My guess is chloroform. Someone took them.”
I run a hand down my face, attempting to compartmentalize this goddamn situation. “That means they’re not dead. Whoever did this wouldn’t go to the effort of sedating them if they were going to kill them.”
She cringes. “Maybe. But chloroform isn’t a great sign either. It’s highly toxic. Inhaling too much could easily kill a child.”
The hits keep coming, one after another, the horror compiling.
Anyone accountable won’t survive. They won’t want to after I start reaping my revenge.
“What do you want me to do?” she asks. “I can go get Layla and Keira if you want. It’s better to tell them face-to-face.”
“No. I need you to organize a clean-up crew.” I hand over my cell. “Don’t tell anyone what’s happened until I say. Okay?”
“Okay. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find those kids.”
I stride across the living room and continue through the house to the front door, my ears flooded with the choking beat of rage and fucking fear.
I don’t stop until I’m at the front gate, yelling at the guard to let me out.
As soon as I can slip through the opening metal, I stalk for the motherfucker who was meant to be in charge. I grasp his throat in seconds. Slam my fist into his face.
“Where are they?” I pummel him again. “What the fuck happened to them?”
He stumbles as I hold tight to his neck, blood seeping from a cut on his lip.
“What the hell are you talking about?” He claws at my wrist, shoves at my chest. “Get your fucking hands off me.”
I cling tighter, his heartbeat frantic under my fingertips. “Someone has been in my house. The nanny is dead. The kids are missing.”