Page 145 of Stand: Part One

My body was on fire, my muscles preparing for blood and violence as I clenched and unclenched my fists. I was not normally accustomed to feeling fear, but the only time I ever truly felt it was when it concerned her. And goddammit, it was the most gut-wrenching feeling in the world.

We had bypassed every single traffic law known to man to make it back to the hotel. But during those long fifteen minutes of making a hundred unanswered phone calls and rechecking unresponsive security systems, dread had successfully seeped its way into my bones.

Jaden.

I didn’t even wait for Scott to turn off the car before bolting from the passenger seat and heading for the elevator. The rest of the team barely made it in before the elevator doors shut behind them. As we ascended, I forced my heart rate to slow, filtering the adrenaline from my blood so I could focus on whatever the fuck I was about to walk into. And God help anyone who was left alive if they weren’t my fucking wife.

When I’d first learned that she had been shot all those months ago, I at least had the knowledge that she was alive and being treated. But right now, I had no fucking clue what to expect, and not knowing was the true silent killer. I’d endure every gunshot wound I’d ever taken, every stabbing, every broken bone a hundred times over if it meant I never had to experience it again.

Stepping out of the elevator on the floor directly below mine, we quickly made our way up the secret stairwell that led into the suite. Guns drawn, I cracked the door open, my instincts on high alert at how dark and deadly quiet it was.

The power had been cut.

I silently pointed two fingers to the right, signaling for two men to check in that direction, and the rest with me. Moving quickly through the darkness of the hall, I kept my back against the wall as we scanned the suite, my eyes then landing on the dead bodies of three of my guards.

Fuck.

Why hadn’t any one of us received an alert from the security system?

Hurrying past them, I noticed their throats had all been slashed, which meant guns were avoided to keep things quiet. The bodies were still slightly warm, signaling that whatever had happened had not occurred too long ago.

Fuck.

Trekking swiftly through the shadows of the suite, my remaining team swept the rooms around me while my only focus stayed locked on finding Jaden. When I stepped into the dining room, the dim lights of street outside sparked an intense relief that suddenly slammed into me so hard it almost knocked me off my feet.

Halfway across the room, my gaze landed on Jaden, who was currently tied to a chair that had been tipped on its back, surrounded by death and destruction. She was attempting to chew at the knots of the rope that held her wrists to the arms of the chair.

I moved quickly, my eyes scanning in every direction for threats before I reached her and knelt, catching those sunken hazel eyes in her pale bruised face. Lifting the chair, I righted it and carefully cut the rope away from her arms.

She rubbed her raw wrists while I studied her swollen and blemished face. My blood pressure shot through the fucking roof, my rage ready to hunt down and rip apart the walking corpses who were foolish enough to touch her.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, my voice barely containing my fury.

She shook her head, but I knew better than to trust her answer.

Taking her in my hands, I assessed every inch of her, searching for potential injuries despite her annoyance and fussing. Once I ruled out any need for immediate medical attention, my hands gently took her face and pushed back her tangled hair so I could see her eyes without obstacle.

“What happened?” I asked. “Where are your bodyguards?”

All she did was sigh and nod to something behind me. Turning my head, I found two more bloodied bodies secured to chairs. Furious disappointment pulsed in my chest when I realized they belonged to Clive and Owen, the state of their corpses in the darkness making them barely recognizable.

Fucking jackasses.

Having seen enough, I lifted Jaden out of the chair and carried her through the destruction of the suite and into the bathroom, placing her on the countertop.

Removing her clothes, she sat with feigned patience as I assessed her again with deeper scrutiny and a flashlight now that I’d removed all her barriers. Relief was swift when I only found bruising and some scrapes, but I didn’t like that her skin was ice cold to the touch.

Turning on the bathtub faucet, I drew Jaden a warm bath and placed her in the tub, hoping the warm water would help her relax enough to tell me what the fuck had happened. I’d review the security footage later when things were back online, but right now, I wanted to know exactly what was going through her head while it was still fresh.

“Come on, Jaden. Come back to me,” I urged gently, massaging her small frozen hand in my own. “I need you to tell me what happened.”

She finally shook her head and released a deep slow breath.

“He just wanted information,” she murmured. “But I know nothing. So he made me watch him kill Clive and Owen for being a useless whore.”

Wrath like a volcanic eruption rumbled in my chest, the insult striking her deep enough to puncture even me.

“How many were there?”