Page 102 of Ruin Me Knot
The longer Leah is missing, the less chance we have of getting her back.
"Pack Mitchell will help." Jax’s voice is clipped as he shoulders open his door.
Our boots crack over the pavement as we stride to Asher, Soren, and Phoenix who were all planning to accompany us on our latest search. Asher’s head snaps to us as we approach.
"Leah’s been taken. Hardwick has her."
Asher’s face goes paper white. "You’ve got the full support of the force. We’ll find her.” His hand grips my shoulder, hard and anchoring. “I swear to you, Ronan. We will find her."
There’s no comfort in it. Not with Leah out there with the devil. But there’s iron in his words, and that’s something. We don’t have minutes to waste. We have a city to tear apart and I’ll burn every inch of it to the ground until I have her back.
Phoenix ends a phone call before he turns to us. "Mira and Emma are secure. This was about Leah. Hardwick wanted her specifically."
A hard shiver punches through me. The reason is obvious, clawing up my spine and leaving nothing but dread in its wake. " Her blood. Hardwick knew exactly where to find her. She knew exactly what Leah was worth."
Adrian, still on speaker, doesn’t bother to hide his snarl. "The Beta who took her is dead the second I get my hands on him."
Behind Adrian, Zane’s voice cuts in, colder and more dangerous than I’ve ever heard. "I’ll clean house myself."
I stalk the pavement, mind racing so fast every thought is fractured.
Where the fuck is she? Where the fuck has Hardwick taken her?The clues are right in front of me but just beyond reach. Canton City is too fucking big, but not limitless. We’ve already mapped the possible sites. Only a handful could support Hardwick’s operation.
My jaw twinges as I grind my teeth. "It has to be one of the places we identified. We missed something. We were right there—rightfuckingthere—and we’re missing it."
I force myself to slow down, to reach for cold logic beneath the panic. "Let’s go over everything again. Think of anything even slightly off. Overlaps. Forgotten access routes. Hardwick’s not a ghost. She’s a sadistic, megalomaniacal psychopath. There are only so many holes she can crawl into."
Asher grabs a map from the glovebox of his vehicle and spreads it over the hood. Jax leans in, marker poised, circling the six identified sites.
The map becomes a sprawl of laneways, feeder roads, connecting arteries. I sweep my finger along the perimeters of each site, searching for seams and entry points. Most are ringed by other businesses, places where day workers come and go. Violence and abuse hidden by routine, right under their noses.
"Every site has cover. Easy exits.” Jax taps at the map.
My mind snags on Kylie’s sneer, the disgust forthat sickening, sweet Omega perfume. Then Gabriel mentioning how Skylar told them how ironic it is that the Belmonts’ Omega scented like melted brown sugar when her Alphas run a cookie factory.
"Two people brought up cookie dough as Omegas scents." Something twists in my chest. "Gabriel, didn’t you talk to someone when you checked out that location who also mentioned Belmont’s?"
Gabriel eyes go stark, his gaze locking on Jax and then flying to me. "The vagrant told me he thought Belmonts sold all their cookies, even the broken ones, because there were no damaged goods in their trash after he smelt them baking."
"Three coincidences is a pattern," Jax says.
I trace the locations with my finger. So many entry points. So many exits. Delivery trucks coming and going all hours. No one would suspect a thing. “Hardwick could slip Omegas in, traffic them out. Nobody would think to look for a prison beneath a cookie factory, not when the air is thick with baking cookies, sweet enough to mask real Omega perfumes.”
Gabe paces, his jaw clenched so hard it looks like he’s going to crack a tooth. "I should have seen it. I should have made that connection and I just…Jesus, Ronan, I was there. I was fucking right there. I should have…" His voice breaks. "I should have checked deeper. Should have foundsomething. This is on me."
He jerks away when I go to center him, frustration flaring hot in the bond. "If anything happens to her because I was too busy making jokes to check the goddamn security around a fucking cookie factory—"
"None of us got it," Jax interrupts, hauling Gabriel chest to chest. "This only made sense when everything came together. Don't take this on yourself."
The sour tang of Gabriel’s regret is sharp in the air. His voice cracks, agony slicing through our pack bond. “We’re supposed to protect her. What good am I as her mate if I can’t even…"
I close the distance, hand at the back of his neck, squeezing hard enough to anchor him. "You know better, Gabe. None of us saw it. There's no blame here. Stop beating yourself up. It doesn’t help our Omega."
Jax’s arms wind around Gabriel, and together, we send a wave of reassurance through the bond. Gabriel’s knees buckle and the tension drains out of him.
He inhales a sharp, choppy breath and nods. "Yeah. I get it. I’m here. I’m back."
I wrap my arms around them both, letting them absorb my strength. Leaning into the bone-deep certainty that we’re stronger together and we have our future to fight for. The shudder works out of Gabriel’s chest, as steadiness settles back into the bond.
