Page 37 of A Midnight Romance

River

I slam the back screen door on a small new build home in an up-and-coming neighborhood south of the city. The third location Sebastian has followed me to in the past couple of hours, and still no Lux. My patience is running thin while panic continues to build.

Stevie found an LLC which the Hughes family uses to purchase properties, where they buy them with cash, then resell them to the highest bidder. That’s based on what she’s been able to research at this point.

“Fuck!” I grind my teeth.

Sebastian steps out of the woods with his arms crossed over his chest and judgment written on his face.

“What?” I yell, while shoving past him.

“Can you be any louder?” he snaps in a hushed tone.

Giving him my back, I made a beeline for my car. “Fuck off.”

“There are people around. Even though it’s night, we’re in a very populated part of town.” He kicks up dirt, trudging through the landscape behind me.

“I don’t fucking care,” I bite back, then yank open the car door. “You disabled the cameras in the surrounding homes, anyway,” I point out. “And the house to the left is still under construction. The workers would have gone home by now.”

Sebastian lays a friendly hand on my shoulder. “River. ”

“What?” I jerk it off and turn around to face him while circling my temples with my fingertips.

“I’ve never seen you like this.”

I roll up my sleeves, flexing my arms. “I can’t let anything happen to her.”

Sebastian’s face softens and suddenly he understands what’s going on inside my head—something I refuse to admit to myself. “You love her, don’t you?”

“I’m incapable of love,” I state with unwavering conviction. “I failed to protect Lux, Sebastian. She trusted me to protect her, and I let her down.”

The first opportunity to experience being with someone and I fucked it up. Instead of watching over her, I let my impulses get the best of me and endangered the first person I’ve ever cared about this way.

“We will find her,” he reassures me, but his words fall flat.

“I’ll believe it when we do.” I go to pull on the door to shut it when I get a call from Christian.

My heart gets trapped in my throat as I answer the phone. “What’d you find out?”

“There is a property about thirty minutes from your location that Hughes purchased to turn into a small bed-and-breakfast.”

“And?”

“For some reason, construction halted last fall, which means it’s vacant and located in a secluded part of the woods,” Christian continues.

My ribs constrict my lungs, adrenaline pumping through my veins. “That’s got to be it.”

“Put him on speaker,” Sebastian tells me.

I roll my eyes, but oblige .

A few papers wrestle in the background. “It’s the only one that makes sense. It’s within thirty minutes from where he took her, and taking the highway directly over, he wouldn’t have to wait for the ferry downtown.”

“Bingo,” Sebastian blurts out.

“Send us the address,” I cut him off.

“Wow, he really did pick somewhere close to home, didn’t he?” Sebastian quips.

Christian laughs sarcastically. “Maybe he’s dumber than we thought.”

“Or he’s more comfortable hiding in plain sight,” I mutter. Something I’m not proud we have in common. “Thanks, Christian.”

“Oh, and River?” he says.

“Yeah?”

“Lux is one of us now. Do whatever you can to get her back,” Christian says without knowing the extent of what I would do for that woman.

A calm heat moves through me and I’m a predator on the hunt once again. “Andrew will take his last breath today,” I reply, then end the call.

Christian sends me the address, and I’m on my way to another location in search of Lux.

I will not sleep.

I will not stop.

Racing down the highway toward the woods with only my headlights and Sebastian’s distant beams behind to guide the way through the dense and cloudy night sky. I grip the steering wheel, hoping I’m getting close to finding her as the pain inside me pulses in every fiber of my being.

This has to be it.

The GPS leads me where Christian had said we’d be headed—into a secluded part of the small town west of the city. When I’m within about a mile of the location I pop in my SEs .

“We need to turn our lights off. I don’t want to tip anyone off about our presence,” I tell Sebastian, assuming he’s already mic’d up.

“Yeah.” He holds close to my tail. “Right behind you.”

Swiping up on my phone screen with one hand still on the steering wheel, I hit the TI location app, allowing me to get a visual of the area. After a quick check, I proceed to the guided route toward the building.

Sliding out of my car, I pull on the hood of my sweater, then slip on the smart glasses and a double tap to the side to switch to night vision.

Jogging at a measured pace, I head up the steep incline toward the log structure.

A few trees snap in the distance, but it doesn’t shake me until the crunch of my boots on crisp leaves alerts what looks to be a man with a shotgun at the back entrance.

Of course, Andrew wouldn’t be alone. Pussy.

Ducking under the wood beam lying next to where he’s keeping watch, I run my back flush with the outside wall. The wet panels lay a damp layer of newly fallen rainwater on my sweater, awakening every nerve in my body.

With the guard’s back in my sights, I leap over the step and wrap my arms tightly around his neck.

Stunned, he swings his gun into the air but before he can pull the trigger and send bullets flying into the sky, I constrict my grip on his neck and crush his windpipe.

The man struggles for a few moments before his body goes limp.

Only then do I loosen my hold and let him fall through my arms, his lifeless body meeting the earth with a thud.

“Got him,” I tell Sebastian through my earbud.

“Good. Do you think he’d only bring one man with him?” he asks.

“I’m not sure.” I wipe the heavy drops of water from my eyes.

“From your vantage point, can you see if there’s a cellar or a basement entrance?

” I scan the perimeter. The downpour makes it more difficult to see.

A gray hue blankets the forest, similar to my property.

Spending nights training among the trees makes it easier for me to navigate through the overgrown bush, but still presents a challenge.

Sebastian is silent for a beat. “I can make out what might be cellar doors on the south side of the building.”

“Okay.” I turn and jump off the porch into a mud pit below. The increasing rainfall drowns the water, splashing by the sound out hitting the roof above.

“About five, maybe six yards in front of you,” Sebastian instructs.

“Got it.” Walking over, I spot light shining through a pile of leaves pushed against the cement foundation. With a low squat, I take a gloved hand and slowly clear them away to peer into the window. Then I spot Lux. “Holy fuck.”

“What?” Sebastian belts out. “What is it?”

“Lux,” I murmur. Hit with rage and relief, I gasp as I see Andrew has handcuffed her to a bed in an unfinished room. With her skirt pushed up, exposing her thighs, I have a clear view of fresh bruises. “Motherfucker.” I snap to a stand.

“She’s there?”

Fueled by darkness, I ball my fists and crack my neck. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”

“Wait for me. I’ve got your back,” Sebastian demands. But all I hear is a ringing in my ears.

Sliding my gun from my waist, my slippery fingers grasp at the handle while I turn around and stalk straight for the back door.

“River, no,” he scolds but I ignore him.

Andrew’s fucked up game is over. I didn’t know how I would find Lux, and my imagination went to many horrific places, but the moment I saw her— my Lux lying on that bed helpless, like she was before—something in me snapped.

I swing the door open.

“River! Get yourself together!” Sebastian screams into my ear.

I hear him, but can’t respond, and his words do nothing for the violence brewing inside. Holding my gun pointed in front of me, I clear a small lobby area, then continue heading down each hallway.

“I’m coming in, you asshole,” Sebastian hisses. “Just head to wherever you saw her.”

I acknowledge him mentally, moving through the dark house. Against my better judgment, I turn off my earpiece to immerse myself in the surroundings. I have to get her back unharmed and I must focus to do so.

I pass a large commercial-sized kitchen and send a silenced bullet between the eyes of a man playing solitaire with himself on a folding card table. Taking a step over him as his body face plants into a rolled up carpet on the floor, I continue on my way.

Searching for something that would indicate leading to a basement or cellar, I start opening doors.

The first two are closets—then finally the creaky one on the side opens to show a steep wooden staircase.

Flexing my shoulders, I blow out a breath to gather every ounce of self-control in me in order not to kill Andrew on the spot.

I descend into the cellar two stairs at a time before rounding the corner and coming face-to-face with Andrew.

My heart drops when I see he has Lux in a headlock with his forearm pressing against her neck.

The other hand wields a gun with his finger hovering over the trigger as it grazes her temple.

I try to maintain my composure, even though I feel like shattering into a million pieces on the floor. Lux’s eyebrows crease when she sees me, her body weakening against Andrew’s grasp while pleading noises escape from under the duct tape across her mouth.

“River!” Andrew greets me with a menacing grin. “Just in time.”

“Let her go.” I grip my gun, my finger hovering over the trigger as I aim it at him. Andrew ducks his head halfway behind Lux’s, using her as a shield from my impending bullet. “Or I’m going to drown you in your own blood.”

“I want you to know this wasn’t supposed to go this way,” he offers like I care what he thinks or feels. “You got in my way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I clench my jaw.

He shakes his head. “I knew you weren’t as smart as everyone believes you are.”

I raise the gun higher in response.

“Touchy, are we?” he attempts to bait me.

“Let her go,” I demand. “Let’s settle this between us.”

“But I’m not finished yet,” he warns. The barrel of the gun rubs across her forehead.

Lux whimpers and it’s fucking eating me alive.

“I so badly wanted to make my brother proud. By recreating his sex ring to get back at Levinson,” he says.

“And then I had Levinson’s daughter to help me do it.

But you and your fucking questionable morals had to ruin it by setting her free. ”

“This is about you getting back at her dad?” I try to remain calm, but knowing I’m about four seconds away from blowing his brains out is making things more difficult.

“Then you had to go and make it worse by helping her kill off my team!” he screams angrily. “How about I kill your team?”

“You could never touch my team,” I spit.

“Agree to disagree.” He cocks a brow. “But you know what makes it even better? ”

I stay silent, formulating a plan. The longer I keep him talking, the more time it gives for Sebastian to figure out we need his back up. With my earpiece off now, I can only hope he figures it out quickly.

“You know what makes all of this even better?” His voice escalates. Andrew senses my indifference and it’s making him more agitated, but I must remain calm, let him get shaken. “Listen to me or she’s getting it, you fucking prick! What makes it better is because she’s yours .”

Tears fall from Lux’s eyes, her mascara smeared across her cheeks. All I want to do is carry her home, and never let her go again. My eyes squeeze through a hard blink. I’m hanging on by a thread, feeling like any moment I will lose control.

“I said, let her go,” I tell him, my finger grazing the trigger.

He darkly chuckles. “Perfect River Thompson, tech genius, most eligible bachelor on the West Coast,” he mocks.

“But never taking advantage of all the women who trip over themselves to be with you.” His eye darts to the side, his head cranes to the back, making eye contact with Lux. “Except for this one.”

“I won’t repeat myself,” I threaten.

“Never would’ve pegged you for a hopeless romantic.” He flashes his expensive white teeth behind his sinister intentions.

Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I catch Sebastian inching his way down the stairs with his gun drawn. And I know this will be all over soon.