Page 18 of Midnight Danger

“Zee.”

“Now, Cas.”

I did what he asked and hid under the duvet, hoping the noise was an open window and the wind.

A few minutes later, my room door burst open and was filled with men dressed in black. I screamed and tried to struggle but they easily dragged me out of the house.

My mind blurred and nausea crept up my throat again, making me sick in their huge Jeep. One of them cursed and pushed me away from him into the man at my right. This was all my fault. I ran when I should have stayed, I panicked when I should have talked to Xavier.

He would never find me now, because the address I’d given him was useless since I wasn’t there.

The man I’d landed on had wandering hands. When I whimpered in protest, he put a hand over my mouth. I bit down hard, tasting blood when he wouldn’t let go.

“You fucking bitch!” He backhanded me, making me see stars.

“Hey, if you damage her the boss will be pissed. He’s been looking for her for a long time.”

My last thought before the darkness consumed me was that I should have told Xavier I loved him…

***

Chapter Seven

Xavier

The advantage to being the son of a billionaire was that I had access to anything I wanted, any time of the day or night. It took minutes to assemble Jordan and Ash from my house phone. They both lived close by and the helipad on the roof housed one of the company’s helicopters that Jordan was licensed to fly.

Ash sat with a secure laptop on his knee, tracking the location of the phone she’d been using. My guess was that since the number was withheld, she’d bought herself one of those small burner phones with a battery life for hours since it didn’t have any apps to drain it.

Even if they patted her down, her breasts were big enough to conceal that small phone. It allowed me to listen into what was being said as it was being fed into the earpieces we all wore. The entire transmission was currently being recorded.

It was a long bike or car ride, but in the air, we were far above winding roads. I didn’t care if we had to steal a car when we got there. All that mattered was getting Cassandra back. Whoever had hit her should just shoot himself right now, because when I got my hands on him, he’d wish that he had.

Another advantage to being Xavier Bartholomew was that it didn’t matter what our helicopter destroyed as it landed, money paid for most indiscretions. That included a few hedges and bedding plants.

“We good?” I asked.

“Yeah, the phone signal is still strong,” Ash confirmed, closing the laptop and switching to his phone.

“We need wheels or we good on foot?” Jordan asked, taking his earphones off as the blades came to a stop.

Ash handed him the phone, because no matter what decision either of us made, Jordan would always decide on his own plan of attack.

“Seriously? They took her to her old family home?” Jordan asked in disgust. “That’s plain lazy.”

“Unless there’s something there they want her to find for them,” Ash countered. “Her father’s fortune has never been claimed, and when I was poking around last night, I discovered the Council wasn’t able to access any of his properties or businesses.”

“Clever man,” I muttered, knowing Dad would have all his businesses and collateral tied up as well.

Our bags contained a mini arsenal, weapons already strapped to our bodies. Tonight wasn’t about asking questions, it was about extracting a person. Everything else could be dealt with tomorrow.

We snapped our night vision goggles into place and jumped down from the helicopter. We were far enough away that they probably hadn’t heard us. They were going to wish they had heard us coming…

Adrenaline pumped through my veins in a tribal beat coaxing me on down the small country road. It was the perfect location for someone to hide away from prying eyes. The house Cassandra had been staying in was to my right. Nothing looked out of place, even though I knew a few hours ago she’d been in there talking to me on the phone.

The fact that I was the one she reached out to when she was scared gave me hope that I could save our relationship at the end of this. She could have phoned anyone, including the police, but she phoned me. Somewhere deep inside, Cassandra knew that I’d keep her safe.

I would destroy everything in my path to keep that promise.

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