Page 48 of The Hunted

Where is she?

I pull my gun and check the rest of the rooms.

She’s gone.

I head to the security room, my heart pounding with adrenaline as I pull up the feed to the bedroom. There’s my father, watching my naked woman as she puts her clothes on at gunpoint.

My world stops.

The mother fucker took my woman.

My father smiles to the camera on his way out the door with Raven pulled into his side and the gun pointed to her head.

My phone rings in my pocket, and I pull it out to see an unknown local number.

“Yeah,” I manage to grit out through my anger.

“Hello, son.”

My hand shakes as I hold the phone to my ear. Years of training, plotting, and planning are thrown to the wayside. I’m blinded by all-consuming rage.

“You fucking let her go, you sick fuck.”

“That’s no way to speak to me. Yes, I have your friend, and if you do as I say, she may live.”

“What do you want?”

“Same thing I’ve always wanted. Your compliance.”

Anger grows and festers in the pit of my stomach with every word he speaks. I will not hesitate to torture this man until his death when I get my hands on him.

“Where the fuck is she?”

I shout so loudly, it hurts my brain. I can’t keep my composure. He has Raven. Every depraved thing he could do to her comes to my mind. He’ll think of things I’d never even dream of because he is so fucking wicked and evil.

“You’ll do as I say.”

“No, mother fucker, you let me talk to her!”

“Ah, very well.”

He’s probably only agreeing to let me speak with her because he feels it will fuck with me. But I have to hear her voice for myself.

Rustling comes from the other end of the line before the sweetest sound greets me.

“Knox, help me, please.”

Her voice is shaky through her sobs, and my heart fucking shatters for this woman. My Little Bird is terrified, and I’m not there.

“Hi, baby. Are you hurt?”

“No, n-not really. I'm scared, Knox. I’m scared."

Her voice is but a whisper toward the end as the fear of her situation grips her.

“Hold on, Little Bird. I’m coming for you. I will...”

I hear a slap and a scream, then the phone clatters to the ground.

---