Page 40 of SEAL Ever After

“No,” Bree said, shaking her head. “She was all ready to come downstairs and seemed fine.”

Ryan pulled his cell phone from his pocket, his blood boiling. Everyone was down on the beach waiting for them—their families, the Alpha and Delta SEAL teams, officers from base and other friends. And somehow Sarah had disappeared right before their eyes.

He punched in the speed dial for Hunter’s number and held his phone to his ear.

“What’s wrong?” Hunter immediately asked. Ryan could hear people talking in the background and waves crashing in the distance, and he felt his chest tightening. In a matter of minutes, his entire world had been upended.

“Sarah is missing. We think she was drugged, and apparently she befriended someone named Juan that we need to look into. I need everyone to search the hotel. I’m calling the police right now.”

“Holy shit,” Hunter muttered. “I’ll let everyone know. We’ll divide up and search everywhere. If someone took her, they won’t leave the building.”

Ryan hung up and called 911 as Patrick began asking Morgan and Bree more questions.

“Tell me more about the man that’s friends with the hairdresser. What does he look like? What’s he do? Tell me everything you know, and start at the very beginning.”

Ryan watched as Morgan and Bree began to hurriedly fill Patrick in, feeling as if he were watching a movie or something playing right before his eyes. Patrick was scribbling notes on the hotel notepad, and Ryan’s chest clenched. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real life.

Sarah couldn’t have been taken practically right before his eyes on their wedding day.

The phone rang twice before the dispatcher answered. “911, what’s your emergency?”

“My fiancée has been kidnapped.”

Chapter 19

Sarah groggily began to come to, groaning as her stomach lurched. She felt dizzy and nauseated, confused, and she had the uneasy sense that she was moving.

It felt like she’d been asleep for hours, yet she was so tired, she wanted to surrender to slumber once more. Her body felt stiff and ached, and with growing alarm, she realized she seemed to be lying in the backseat of a moving car.

What the…?

Her heart began to race, her muscles hurting from the strange position she was in.

What the hell was going on?

It was pitch black—no, she was blindfolded, she realized, blinking. Soft cotton was tied tightly around her eyes. And she was gagged, she noticed with increasing panic. A shiver raced down her spine, and she broke out in a cold sweat.

Her hands were tied tightly behind her back, which was why her muscles hurt, and her legs were more loosely restrained by something.

This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real. She had to be having some sort of nightmare.

She couldn’t be tied up in the back of a car, unable to move, and helpless.

Suddenly, memories came flooding back—getting ready for her wedding. The hotel. Ryan. She was supposed to be getting married!

Did she ever walk down the aisle?

Why couldn’t she remember what happened?

The car went over a bump in the road, and she squirmed uncomfortably. She’d been in the hotel suite in her wedding gown; she’d been ready to go downstairs to the lobby.

Had she dreamed that?

No, Morgan and Bree had been there with her. They’d gotten their hair and makeup done; they’d put on their dresses…. They’d gone downstairs first while she’d waited. The hairstylist had brought over a tray of food.

She’d sipped that weird tea….

Gasping, yet unable to suck in any air because of the gag in her mouth, her eyes began to water as she let out a choked sound.

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