Page 62 of Seeking Happily Ever After

“We?”

“Travis is inside.”

In a different circumstance, he might have let his brain process what his friend was saying, but it wasn’t important. He could only focus on Charlotte and Amelia.

“What’s he—”

“There’s a man in there, Nick. He’s unconscious and…there’s a lot of—”

He pushed past her into the cabin and stopped short.

Blood. Lots of it.

Travis Bishop was crouched next to a big man, his fingers on his neck. “He has a pulse. Do you know who he is?”

Nick shook his head. “What the hell? Where is all this blood from?”

“There’s a gun.” Steph bent and picked it up.

“It’s not from him,” Travis said. “He looks like he was hit with this.” He gestured to the ax lying next to the man.

Charlotte.

He looked back to the man and the spot on the floor where he’d found Charlotte upset after a phone call.

Billy.

Fuck.

Why had he let it go?When Char told him Billy had called her, that should have been enough for him to go after the man and make sure he could never get to her. He’d failed.

Nick ran a hand down his face and took a breath. He’d been too wrapped up in everything else, he’d let Charlotte get hurt. If she wasn’t okay, he’d never forgive himself.

“I think this asshole is Billy,” he said. “Charlotte’s ex. But where is she?”

And where was Amelia?

Nick spun in a circle. “She was here.” His eyes landed on the blood trail he’d stepped over in his haste to get into the cabin. So. Much. Blood. “Where is she?” A dog barked from somewhere outside, but Nick couldn’t make sense of anything.

“It’s Tinker Bell,” Steph said. “Maybe she’s found something.”

Nick again looked to his friend in confusion, but Steph only grabbed his hand. “Come on. Maybe she found Char.”

“I’ve got this,” Travis said. “Go. I’ll call for help.”

Together, Stephanie and Nick ran through the woods. He didn’t know where he was going, only that he hoped and prayed it was to Charlotte and Amelia. Somehow, he knew they were together. They had to be. But…the blood.

No.

He couldn’t let himself think of the blood and what it might mean.Was it Charlotte’s? It had to be. Or…

“This way.” Steph led him over a log and toward the barking. It was getting louder.

When did Stephanie get a dog?

He couldn’t think straight.

“Here.”

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