Page 131 of Finding Denver

“Not when it comes to her.”

I flex my fingers. We don’t have time for this. “Have I ever steered us wrong? Even when I lost Amy, Callie, even when Wilder nearly fucked it for all of us, did I ever misjudge a situation?” I ask, searching his face. Alistair’s jaw tightens. “I trust her, Alistair. With my life. With Holly’s life. She is not lying to me.”

He runs his hand across his beard and sits before opening his laptop.

Finn says, “I’ll get dressed and call some guys.”

While Alistair works, I rest my hand against the mantleand try to breathe. My mind is racing, everything that’s happened over the last few hours screaming through my mind, and the thoughts are too quick. My chest tightens and I rub the back of my neck and force myself to fight the spiral. I’ll find her. I’ll find her, and I’ll bring her back.

“Ranger’s phone isn’t traceable,” Alistair says, and I face him. “But he’s in the city. His plane landed last night.”

“Can you track Cal’s phone?”

“Cal is still in San Francisco.”

The front door opens and closes, and Ronan appears in the doorway to the living room. “Any update?”

Darkness creeps into the edges of my vision, and the floor feels like it’s tilting from beneath me.

My voice is hoarse. “You can’t find her.”

Alistair shakes his head slowly. “No.”

I close my eyes and run my hands through my hair. My insides burn while my skin freezes, and rage and despair clash in my chest as I try to think, but flashes of her face appear before me.

I want to fall to my knees. To scream. To roar out my anger. To tear open my chest and let myself bleed out on the floor.

“You’re the head of a family, Colt. You can’t afford to make mistakes.”

Every breath is a conscious effort. My lungs fill and empty, fill and empty, fill and empty …

I won’t fall apart. I don’t have the luxury.

I’m Colt fucking Harland.

I don’t give up.

I never have.

Finn is at the door when I face them again.

“Alistair, send men to every private airstrip you can think of. Ranger’s plane doesn’t leave the ground, andneither do any others. I don’t care what they have to do,” I say, and Alistair nods, standing to make the calls. “Ronan, I need you to call the Volkovs. Ask them to keep an eye out for Ranger and any of his vehicles. Tell them we’ll owe them.” He’s on the phone before I finish my sentence. My gaze meets Finn’s.

“I’ll call in every favor I can,” Finn says. “We’ll find her.”

He leaves, and I’m alone.

Hours. We had hours together. And I was too scared to plan our forever.

I take my phone out and dial. It rings four times before he answers.

“I told you she would never be yours.” He says quietly, his voice distant, almost lost.

My hand closes into a fist, and I grip the phone so tight my palm aches. “You have one chance to bring her back, Ranger. One. You fuck that up?—”

“What, Colt?” he bites out. “What will you do?”

“I will destroy you,” I say, my voice low, barely controlled rage leaking into every word. “I will tear through this city, through you, through anyone who stands in my fucking way. You think you’ve never met your match, Ranger? You haven’t. Until me.” I rest my hand on the mantle, squeezing the wood until my knuckles whiten. “I will burn you and your life to ashes before I let you leave this city with her.”