Page 84 of Bitter Queen (Advantage Play 4)

“Please––”

Plunging it into my neck, I flinch away from him. But it’s too late.

My eyelids flutter.

Then the world fades to black.

31

Diece

Gun in hand, I search the north side of the estate, scanning the premises for anything out of place.

But it looks…fine.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out then press it to my ear. “Yeah?”

“Get back here. We have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“Q’s missing.”

I freeze. “Where is she?”

“We don’t know—”

“Fuck!” I scream at the top of my lungs.

A voice continues echoing through my cell, but I don’t hear a single word as I rush to the entrance of Kingston’s house then barrel up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Q’s bedroom door is cracked open, but it slams against the back wall as I shove it open with too much force. As my pulse races even faster, it doesn’t stop the truth from hitting me square in the jaw.

She isn’t in the bathroom. She’s not hiding under the bed. Her closet is empty too.

She’s gone.

Shoving aside the terrifying truth that’s glaring at me, I stalk toward the security room and find everyone already there. They’re surrounding the monitors while Lou plays back every second of footage that’s been recorded over the past twenty-four hours.

Unfortunately, they don’t tell us shit.

“Where is she?” I growl.

“We don’t know,” Kingston returns, though his attention stays glued to the screen.

“How do we know she’s gone?”

“He took her,” a quiet voice announces. Huddled in the corner of the room is the kid. Will.

Within three steps, I grab the neckline of his T-shirt and drag him to his feet before shoving him against the wall.

“Where. Is. She?”

“I don’t know. He just…he took her,” he cries.

“How do you know?”

The smell of piss permeates the air before Dex wrenches me back and shoves me away from the kid. “Back the hell off, Diece. He doesn’t know shit.”

“He knows she’s gone.”