Page 115 of Die for You

Except she somehow seems convinced that he wasn’t the one who broke into our house. No one else would have trashed the place and stolen only Aurora’s stuff. That break in was targeted, and she was the bullseye.

He’s still got his claws in her. Still able to gaslight and manipulate her. And she’s still in danger.

Luke shows up to take us home, swinging his keys. But Aurora isn’t at his side.

Fuck.

“Where is she?” Damien growls.

“Come on.” Luke nods to his car. “Let’s get you home.”

Knox manages to fill the car with small talk and jokes on the way back to the house. My pulse picks up speed with every mile that ticks by. She wouldn’t leave. She was upset, but she wouldn’t leave.

Aurora knows the truth by now. We can protect her better than anybody. She can’t trust Jeremiah.

She wouldn’t leave on her own knowing he’s still out there.

Luke hasn’t even brought the car to a complete stop before the three of us are flinging open our doors. I’m the first to reach the door, beelining right for my room. She’s not in the kitchen. Not in the living room. My bedroom door squeaks open?—

She’s not there. Not in my bed.

“Not in here!” Knox calls from his room.

The knot in my stomach starts to coil tighter. Only one more place she could be.

“She’s not in here!” Damien shouts.

A dull buzzing in my ears.

She’s not here.She’s not here, she’s not here, she’s not here?—

Sienna, Juliet, Trey, and Luke congregate in the kitchen, mystified.

“Where the hell is she?” Damien’s roar could shake the walls as he stomps into the room. Red-faced, narrowed-eyed, fists clenched.

“Did she tell you she was leaving?” Knox asks, green eyes round with concern for the woman he loves. And terror.

“No. She didn’t say anything.” Sienna picks up a book from the kitchen table. The book Violet wrote. The one she let Aurora borrow. “I don’t know where she is.”

“She must’ve left in the middle of the night.” Juliet simmers, leaning against the counter with arms folded. She’s pissed. Not at Aurora but at herself for not convincing her to stay.

Aurora left. She’s gone. And who knows when he’ll get his hands on her again.

We weren’t here to protect her. And now she’s fuckinggone.

My hands clutch my hair. Pain lances through my skull as I tug, tug. What I did nearly every day as a kid while my mother screamed at me. Ready to rip every fucking strand out?—

Sienna’s hands grip my forearms. She blinks back tears. “We’ll find her, Finn.”

That’s what I’m afraid of. That she won’t come back on her own. Won’t call to let us know where she is.

That we’ll find her. Whatever’s left.

“Let’s go.” My voice is raspy with disuse. But for her, I’ll scream her name until she’s back in my arms. “Now.”

Chapter 30

Aurora