Page 51 of Sunrise (Monarch Club #3)
Knox
Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
This mission is impossible, but I can’t stop searching for her. I’ve gone down every main road, flying through traffic a million times faster than the cars can move. If she was here, I’d find her.
Vault’s called the cops, I’m sure. I don’t know where he is or how long I’ve been looking.
I’m never going to find her.
I’m never…
A bike rushes up behind me and gets next to mine, keeping my breakneck pace with me.
It’s Dmitri.
For some reason, his arrival makes me feel worse.
He signals for me to pull over and I shake my head, refusing.
He does it again, more urgently, and almost loses control of his bike at the speed we’re moving.
It’s the only reason I obey and pull off to the side.
I can’t have him crash and die. I can’t lose someone else.
D rips his helmet off, and his bike falls to its side. Storming over, he clamps his hands against the side of my face and lifts my visor. He’s livid. Terrified. And it’s all my fault. I just put him in danger by making him almost wreck .
“They’ve got her,” he yells at me.
“What?” I don’t think I comprehend words anymore. “Who?”
“Some old lady in the next neighborhood from her house. Vault’s with her already.”
My legs nearly give out as I look around. “Where? What direction?”
“Follow me.”
I see on his dash that he’s pulled up my location. We’ve always been able to track each other. Why didn’t we do that with Sophie? I feel like we’ve failed her in every way that matters. We didn’t protect her. We didn’t keep her safe.
D busts a U-turn and I do the same. I’m so grateful she’s been found, but… what am I going to see when I get there?
How am I going to fix whatever that sick fuck might have broke?
Where is he? Did he get away again?
I need to calm down.
One thing at a time.
Sophie, Sophie, Sophie, Sophie…
“Sophie!” I yell, pulling up to a small rancher-style home. She’s wrapped in a crocheted blanket with a busted lip and swollen eye.
“I’m fine,” she says, shaking like a leaf. “I’m fine.”
She’s anything but fine.
“Where was she?” I ask Vault. “Where’s the asshole who took her?”
“He’s in there.” Sophie points at the house kitty-cornered to the one we’re standing in front of. “I hit him in the head with a chair. I think I killed him.”
“The cops were called.” Vault sounds robotic .
Ryker’s here too, which I hadn’t noticed until he says, “The old lady called an ambulance.”
“I called Ry when I couldn’t get ahold of you guys,” Sophie explains.
I missed her call? How the fuck did I miss her call?
Because I was so hellbent on finding her, I was too numb to feel my phone vibrate and never thought to check it. Jesus fucking Christ.
She’s shaking so much I’m scared she’s in shock. “How bad are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
Lies.
She flinches when I reach out to touch her arm. So I back off and give her space. I notice Vault’s done the same. She must have rebuffed him too, or I know he’d be holding her right now. We all would be.
“He drugged me,” she squeaks in a small voice.
The level of fury that boils in my veins is apocalyptic.
Ryker looks murderously at Dmitri, who then pulls me to the side and whispers, “We’ll need to ask for a rape kit.”
Vault literally shuts down hearing him say that. Grabbing his head, he stares at his feet.
“He… he didn’t touch me like that,” she’s quick to say.
It does little to ease any of our worries.
“I killed him.” She repeats, her voice rising with panic. “I’m going to go to prison for murder.”
“Shh.” Vault wraps her in his arms even though she whimpers. “No, you’re not.”
“You hit him in the head with a chair, not a sledgehammer.” D storms back to his bike. “I’m going to take care of it.”
I know D. He thinks he can wipe the incriminating evidence away like he has in the past. But if the cops are already on their way, there isn’t enough time for all that. Plus, this old lady is a witness.
We’re fucked.
“Are you sure you killed him?” I ask delicately.
Sophie’s chin trembles and fat tears roll down her cheeks. “I… I don’t know. I ran away so fast, I didn’t stick around to check and make sure.”
Fear slices through me.
“We need eyes on the house,” I say as ice shoots through my veins. Racing towards the home that monster is in, I ignore Sophie screaming for me to come back.
I can’t. Not until I see with my own eyes that he’s dead.
Jesus, he was so close to her home. How long has he been here?
I run around to the back of the house and see a bay window’s been busted out. I’m guessing that’s how she escaped.
Damn, my girl is so strong and resourceful.
Creeping closer, I try to watch my steps, so I don’t fuck up the crime scene when the sound of something dragging from inside hits my ears.
He’s still alive .