Page 71 of Protecting his Heart

“Yes, sir,” Owen said.

Brett glared at him but turned away, and Nick blew out a breath. “You seriously said that? Man, you have balls of steel.”

“I was actually talking about me and Locke.” Owen laughed, the first moment of levity he’d found all morning.

Nick tilted his head to the side as if thinking about something and then nodded. “I can see it. Although I don’t think Dominic or Viola would like to be relegated to second best.”

“The truth hurts,” Owen quipped, feeling his humour already disappearing as he headed for the computer and the extensive list of patients Dr Wallis had seen over the last six months.

He struggled to focus, to begin with. Visions of the time between realising Amy was missing and finding her flashing into his mind. The race to search everywhere they could think of that she might’ve gone. The panic when she was never at them. The slight hope when they remembered somewhere else she liked going, and the distraught sense of failure when she was, again, not found. Then the call that sent their family into a tailspin of grief. Then the call that ended everything. The call that carved a hole in Owen’s heart to never be filled again.

He inhaled and refocused, needing to concentrate and get through the details. It was tedious, but important, and so he did his duty, spending his time triple-checking the patients were as benign as their injuries.

“Felix!” Brett hissed, gesturing for him as he held the phone to his ear. “Send it to this phone number, and we’ll see if we can trace it. Okay. She’s alive, Dr Wallis. Let’s be thankful for thatat the moment. We’ll do what we can from this end.” He hung up. “Dr Wallis received proof of life. A photo of Anika in front of the news on TV, which shows the date and time. It was taken an hour ago, according to that. Can we trace it?”

Felix hesitated but then nodded. “We might be able to if I—”

“Then do it,” Brett said. Felix raced back to his computer. “Nick, you’re needed with His Majesty. Take Landon with you as well. As much as this takes precedence—on the king’s orders—he still has duties to uphold and needs his guards.”

“I’m on it,” Nick said and disappeared out of the room.

Owen glanced between Felix and Brett, his heart pounding. Would they find the location? Would they be able to find her? Evan’s hand rested on his nape, making him jump, and he stared at his boyfriend, taking the strength he needed from that steady and reassuring gaze. He inhaled and nodded, returning to the hospital records.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been working when Felix whooped, scaring the shit out of nearly every person in the room.

“I’ve found the fucker!” he yelled.

Owen scrambled over to him. “Where are they?”

“A house on the outskirts of Windsor.”

Owen noted the address and raced for the door, Evan close behind him.

“Owen, stop!” Brett ordered, and Owen paused by the open door.

“I’m not letting them get away with this,” Owen said.

“We need to wait for the police to join us at the address. There’s no point in going vigilante on this. It might make things worse, not better.”

Owen shook his head, his stomach cramping. “I’m not waiting, Brett.”

Brett narrowed his eyes. “You leave, Owen, and you won’t have a job to come back to.”

Owen swallowed, his chest aching at the thought of losing the job he loved, but the girl was more important than he was. He nodded and left. Evan followed.

“Owen, let’s think about this, yeah? We would do better with support. We can’t face them on our own. We’d have a much better success rate if we had help.”

“I can’t wait, Evan. I just can’t.”

Evan was silent for a moment. “Can we at least get some more guns or something?”

Owen sighed. “Brett would’ve already made Felix change the codes to the armoury, so we’ll have to go with what I’ve got.” He glanced at Evan. “You can stay here. You don’t have to be part of this.”

Evan hit him, a sharp punch to the biceps. “Shut the fuck up, asshole. Do you remember the conversation we had not long ago? About having each other’s backs?”

Owen’s throat tightened as they exited Windsor Castle and climbed into the car. The guards stopped them at the gate.

“Brett says we’re not to let you through,” he said apologetically.

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