Page 62 of The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold (The Blonde Identity #2)

Present Day

Scotland

King

King had known for over an hour that the coast was clear, but he’d stayed on the frozen ground at the top of the ridge anyway,

lying on his stomach and looking down like some kind of medieval invader, dreading the moment when he’d have to breach the

castle walls.

There were a half-dozen security systems monitoring the property’s perimeter—both high-tech and old-school—so there wasn’t

a doubt in his mind they were alone. But he couldn’t make himself go down there.

“Well?” Alex was getting impatient. She was smart enough to know that it was time, but that didn’t make it any easier because

the longer King lay in the dark with Alex, the more he thought about the reason why she’d left.

“Have you talked to her?” King asked softly. The name was like a hand grenade and he was careful as he pulled the pin. “Zoe?”

Beside him, Alex shifted on the ground. “No.” She sounded... sad? And mildly petulant. And King wanted to know if the rift

was because Alex had run away from her sister too. Or was it because Sawyer was smart enough to keep the love of his new life

far away from the dangers of his old one? “Have you?”

“No. Well, not exactly. Come on.” He started to push up from the ground, but Alex tugged him back down.

“What do you mean, ‘ not exactly ’?”

Oh no. He really didn’t want to be the one to tell her. But now he kind of had to tell her. “Sawyer called me a few months ago. Looking for you.”

“Oh.”

“He wanted you to be there for... the wedding.”

“They got married?” Her voice ticked up. There were tears in it. Of course there were. Her sister had gotten married. Without

her. And it hurt. It had to hurt.

“Six months ago. In Zurich. It was small. Just big enough to make it official. They tried to find you. They wanted to find you...”

“Good. Great.”

But it wasn’t great. King could tell by the tone of Alex’s voice and the set of her shoulders as she started pushing to her

feet. “At least you didn’t have to wear an ugly bridesmaid dress,” he tried to tease, but Alex was entirely too quiet and

the night was entirely too still. “Hey. It’s okay. I’m sure she would have loved for you to have been there. I’m sure...

They tried to find you.”

They weren’t the only ones.

It was dark and it was late and they were both tired and sore and hungry. Her side had to be killing her, but that wasn’t

where the pain was coming from—he could see it in her eyes.

Alexandra Sterling had never done anything halfway in her life, so when she decided to run, she didn’t just hide. She ceased

to exist. But for the first time, she seemed to realize that the world had kept going on without her. Time passed. Seasons

changed. People fell in love and got married and no one sat around waiting for her to come back.

Well, no one but him.

“Come on.” She started easing down the embankment.

“You know... you can just—”

“So help me, Michael Kingsley, if you say the words ‘wait here,’ I will strangle you with your own intestines.”

“That is disturbingly graphic.” He stood and started down the craggy slope. “Been thinking about it for a while, have you?”

But Alex just huffed and drudged along beside him. “I am cold, and I am hungry, and I desperately need a bathroom, so, no,

I won’t just ‘wait here.’”

“Fine.”

“We’re going to get the ring, and then you’re going to feed me. And let me use your tub.” So help him, he’d almost forgotten

about the tub. “I am going to drink tea and change this bandage and—”

They were over the drawbridge and standing at the door, but King couldn’t bring himself to open it. The moon was high and

the clouds were gone, and there was nothing but a cold wind and the fog of Alex’s breath as she looked up at him. Her hair

was blonde again—just like when he’d first met her. Little strands blew across her face and stuck to her lips. He wanted to

pull her closer. And he wanted to push her far, far away.

“What? What is it?” she asked. “King—”

“I don’t know what’s in there,” he admitted, but Alex rolled her eyes.

“Pretty sure that’s why we’ve been lying in the dirt for four hours, so—” She pushed open the door before he could stop her.

“Alex!”

But she was already inside. And freezing. He saw the moment when she registered what she was seeing.

Empty bottles and piles of trash. Curtains drawn tight to keep out the sun, and a thick layer of dust over everything. A chair

was lying on its side and, instantly, Alex went on high alert. “Okay. So someone was here.” She turned in a full circle. “Do you think this is where they grabbed you?”

“Alex—”

“They must have grabbed you here.”

“No. They didn’t.” He righted the chair and pushed it out of the way.

“But—”

“I left a mess,” King blurted. “It’s no big deal.”

“ You left a mess? Ha!” She was seriously giving him the side-eye—until she glanced back at the bottles on the kitchen counter,

the piles of dirty plates in the sink. It looked like there’d been a party. It smelled like there’d been a wake, and King

couldn’t face her. The last thing he wanted to do was explain. “King—”

“I told you to wait in the car,” he ground out.

“King—”

“Come on. Let’s get the ring and get you something to eat, and then we’ll get out of here.”

“King.” Her voice was too soft—too close. “What happened?”

“What do you think happened, Sterling? The love of my life walked out—”

“You told me to leave!”

“I did.” He nodded and bit his lip—wanted to bite it right in two. “And then you disappeared without a trace. I didn’t know

if you were alive or dead. Safe on a beach somewhere or locked in a dungeon. I just knew it was my fault. I just knew...

As mad as I was at you, the only person I hated was myself. Now let’s get the ring and get out of here.”

He walked to the wall and threw back a hundred-year-old painting to reveal a state-of-the-art safe. Carefully, King spun the

dial and threw open the door.

There were files inside and stacks of cash. His grandmother’s pearls. The German Luger his grandfather had stolen during the

war. King dug through bits and pieces of a half-dozen different lives and covers and realities. But the most important thing

about that safe was the thing that it was missing.

“What is it?” He could tell by the tone of Alex’s voice that, deep down, she already knew.

“The ring.” He turned to her slowly. “It’s not here. The ring is gone.”