Page 150 of Conquered (Highgate Preparatory Academ:y Compendium)
Moisture fills his eyes, and my broken heart cracks more when he swallows hard, ready to argue.
I know that he’s taken this harder than the rest of us because he was meant to be with her at the time, watching over her at the reception party.
But then he got caught by his dad, and we all got distracted, which we now suspect was purposeful.
I have to tamp down the fresh rush of anger at that thought.
That somehow, this stinks of Julian, my father .
Especially as he doesn’t seem as upset as a father-in-law should be at the kidnapping of his pregnant daughter-in-law.
He’s made next to no effort, bar speaking to the press, to find her.
He’s carrying on, as usual, declaring that ‘it’s out of our hands.
’ He knows something, I fucking know he does.
Nothing is beyond the reach of Black Knight. Especially not a missing family member.
Reaching up, I clasp one of Loki’s shoulders in my hand, pulling him towards me and wrapping my arms around him. My own eyes moisten as he takes a great heaving breath and clutches me back tightly.
“I’m so fucking sorry, Ash,” he whispers, his voice thick and rasping.
“I know, brother. I know,” I reply, my own voice hitching slightly with the pain that we both feel like a knife in the gut that can’t be removed.
I release him just as the door opens and look towards it to see Jax walking in, swollen and split knuckles wrapped around his gym bag. We’re all a mess without our Lilly to keep us in line. He kicks the door shut behind him, looking up at us with red-rimmed eyes.
“Anything?” he asks, and it’s the only word that leaves his lips now since Lilly vanished.
I can’t blame him, the urge to cut myself has been so strong, I’ve had to get the guys to hide all the fucking knives and anything sharp.
Kai keeps the kitchen ones under lock and key, and the others have hidden their razors from my reach.
I shake my head, and he just grunts, dropping his bag and heading to the bathroom.
Loki and I watch him in silence, and just as he gets to the door, the front door bursts open again, crashing into the wall and making all three of us spin around, fists raised.
My heartbeat settles a little seeing that it’s Kai, glasses askew and hair an absolute fucking mess.
He’s clutching what looks like an open yearbook in his hands, looking down at it, and there’s a flush on his cheeks.
“Guys!” he shouts, then winces when he sees we’re all there in front of him. “Sorry, but I think I found something.”
We all step forward, my stomach doing an uncomfortable flip as my heart races again at his words.
“Well?” Loki asks from next to me, not even giving Kai a chance to say another word. Kai just looks at him, his gaze softening briefly.
“I was looking through all the old yearbooks, trying to see if the ‘Ace’ you told us about after your father’s strange phone call ever attended Highgate,” he tells us, looking at me. “And I fucking found him!” he cries out, voice full of weary triumph.
Before we can answer, he turns the book around, and the world falls down around me as I look at the image on the page, unable to make sense of it at first. It's a photograph of a couple, a darkly handsome man who looks vaguely familiar, but it’s the woman that he’s got his arm wrapped around that sends chills down my spine.
“Is that…” Jax begins, his rough voice startling me from my own thoughts, though years of training mean that I don’t show it outwardly.
“Lilly’s mom, I believe,” Kai tells us, his voice low.
My gaze takes in the thick, wavy brown hair that tumbles over her slim shoulders, slightly darker in colour than Lilly’s, and the hazel eyes, the pixie shaped face.
There’s a thud in my chest, a longing for my own pixie princess, that has become a constant companion these past few weeks.
“Not just Lilly’s mom,” I say, finally tearing my eyes away from the picture to read the description below.
“Fuck,” Loki breathes out on my other side.
Couple destined for great things: Adrian ‘Ace’ Ramsey with his fiancée, Violet Rochester, pictured here at a gala celebrating the announcement of their engagement.
Fuck is right, and the fact that it’s not the name which we knew of her explains why we couldn’t find out much about her to start with.
“Does this mean that her uncle is actually…her dad?” Loki asks, and I tear my gaze away from the page to look at him, his tired eyes brighter than they’ve been in weeks, his brow furrowed with confusion.
“I think so,” Kai responds, and I turn to look at him.
“And if Ace is Adrian…” I start, the pieces slotting into place, though I still can’t believe that we may have a lead. I don’t trust it. How can I if it turns out to be another dead end. Another split in my soul. Another rupture of my heart.
“Then he has Lilly,” Jax growls out next to me, and the beast inside me purrs at the violence in his tone.
“Well, what the fuck are we waiting for?!” Loki shouts, looking like he’s ready to swim to England right the fuck now if he needs to.
“Wait, we can’t just go rushing in.” I throw my hand out, my palm landing against his chest to stop him from leaving.
“Why the hell not?” Jax rumbles from my other side, and I can feel him practically vibrating with anger.
“Because there is a good chance that my shitstain of a father is involved, and we don’t want him to do anything rash,” I grit out, a headache beginning to form behind my eyes.
I reach a hand up and pinch the bridge of my nose as I try to think of a way forward.
“Plus, we have no idea if Ace–Adrian even has her. Yes, it’s sketchy as fuck, but we can’t just storm in and torture him if he’s innocent.
” I shiver as Jax looks at me with dead eyes, like his humanity has fled and all that’s left is the monster within. “She wouldn’t want you to, Jax.”
He blinks, and just like that he joins the rest of us with our gray moral compasses.
“We need eyes on her first, to confirm that she is there to begin with,” I continue, my mind racing.
I snap my head up and lock eyes with Kai, knowing that he just had the same idea I did if the twinkle in his amber orbs is anything to go by.
“Willow,” he murmurs, and I nod.
“The Shadows,” I reply, starting to think aloud. “We’ll owe them a favor.”
“I’ll give them anything bar Lilly and my firstborn,” Loki states, voice clear, and my stare leaves Kai’s to look at my redheaded brother.
There’s a rod of steel in his green eyes that I’ve not seen before, a pledge that tells me he’s not messing around.
My hand alights back on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
“We’re all in agreement then? We contact Hunter and The Shadows?” I ask, looking from Loki, to Kai, and finally Jax. The latter hesitates for a few seconds, and I can see the need to burn down the world to save our girl in the blazing cold fire in his blue eyes.
“But if they can’t find anything by Friday, I’ll go to England and get the information myself,” he tells me, his lips twitching with an evil smirk that makes me glad I’m not at the receiving end of his information-gathering.
“Deal. We’ll all go,” I assure him, copying his nod of agreement.
“Right,” Loki interrupts the serious moment, and I know that whatever will leave his lips next would have our girl glaring at him. My dick twitches at the thought. “Let’s go get our girl back so we can spank her ass for being such a naughty girl and leaving us with blue balls for this long.”
A bark of laughter leaves me at how indignant she’d be to hear that the worst part of her kidnap was its effect on our balls. I know that Loki is just deflecting, using humor to cover his worry at what our girl is going through without us at her side.
As we turn to go, Kai and I in front, I hear a sharp slap and Loki’s protest behind me. My lips split into a grin at the sound.
“What the fuck was that for?” he asks Jax in a disgruntled voice.
“Disrespecting Baby Girl,” Jax replies, and although Loki grumbles, he doesn’t argue with the big guy.
“Don’t worry, Jax,” Kai says as we leave the dorm, walking down the hall towards Willow’s. “By the time we finish telling Lilly about what Loki said, his balls will be frozen solid before she’ll touch them again.”
Jax, Kai, and I laugh then, and even Loki gives a little chuckle. The sound lightens something in my heart, perhaps healing a small fracture too. We may not have much to go on, but it’s more than we had this morning. It’s a start, and for now, it’ll have to be enough.
Just hold on, Princess. We’ll find you.