Page 21 of Therefore

Chapter Eighteen

Emerson

“ S low down, or you’ll get us killed!” Norah shrieked from the passenger seat.

It took a disappointingly short amount of time for Leo to tell us where he’d left Trystan. A few clicks from Bee confirmed the property’s owner was my colleague—and the longtime lover of Miranda Fisher—Harris Eaves. What a tragically small world we lived in.

Rhodes arrived to arrest Leo as we were on our way out, requesting we remain available for statements while his people searched for Trystan.

While I had faith in him, it would take them too much time to formally question Leo and mobilise a squad to search the property.

And I wasn’t about to wait around while my omega was in danger.

Bee leaned forward from the back seat. “It’s a good thing you guys are lawyers, because that was the third speed camera to catch you just now.”

My knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. They still had a few flecks of Leo’s blood on them that I was reluctant to wash away just yet. The reminder that I’d at least got a small slice of revenge for my omega helped me stay somewhat calm.

“Doesn’t matter. We’re out of the city now. It won’t be long until we get there.”

The car fell into an uncomfortable silence as I exited the motorway, swerved around a roundabout, and headed down an unfamiliar country road.

According to the satnav, the address was an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.

Harris had once mentioned growing up on a farm, but he had no living family to speak of, and he’d lived in the city as long as I’d known him.

How long had he been going back there for Miranda?

“Emerson, I don’t want to doubt you,” Norah said thoughtfully. “But are you absolutely sure it’s Harris who has him?”

“You saw the photograph,” I growled, not taking my eyes off the road.

Norah pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. “I just don’t understand how we missed it. He was always asking you for updates on Fisher’s case. Not to mention how strange he acted around omega colleagues, especially Pearl. I’d convinced myself he was just a curious beta.”

I’d been the same, convincing myself he was just a nosy colleague with a crush on my assistant. Even Pearl herself had said he was harmless.

As I thought of Pearl, I realised that with all the commotion today, I still hadn’t seen her. And she hadn’t messaged to say she was going to be out of office today, either.

Anxiety clawed at my chest, so I tapped the car’s screen to call her.

Straight to voicemail. She never turned her work phone off.

Even when she was sick, she always made sure it had a full battery in case of some kind of emergency.

I somehow doubted that today was the one time she found a healthy work-life balance.

“Fuck!” I slammed my hand against the steering wheel. “Pearl was working late with him last night, and she didn’t come in today.”

Norah bristled in her seat, her voice turning into a low growl I’d never heard from her before. “You think he’s taken her as well?”

“I’ll bet you anything that when we find Trystan, we’ll find her, too.”

We parked at the edge of the property and approached the house on foot, wading through the unkempt fields of waist-high grass.

The house itself wasn’t faring much better.

The wooden window frames and front door were rotten and though the brickwork looked intact, ivy climbed an entire side of the building.

There weren’t any lights on inside, it may not have even had electricity anymore, but I saw several windows were missing glass. At least we had a way inside.

Bee panted as they struggled to keep up with a pair of determined alphas. “This is his house? And you thought this guy wasn’t a criminal for how long?”

“His childhood home, I think,” Norah explained as we ducked beside a stone wall, checking again for any signs of people inside. “He must’ve started coming back here after Fisher’s network dissolved. A lot of properties in the city were raided, along with several warehouses, but none like this one.”

Creeping closer to the house, I said, “I can only see one car, but let’s not count on him acting alone.”

We silently approached the wall covered in ivy, peeking around the corner at the muddied Audi parked near the door. I recognised it as Harris’s car, and my heart sank a little further. It seemed useless to hope I’d be wrong about him by this point, but still, part of me persisted.

Staying low to the wall, I peeked inside the nearest window.

The glass was completely missing, allowing me a perfect view of an old living room.

Every surface was smothered in a layer of dust, except a spot on the sofa and footprints around the furniture.

I couldn’t hear anyone moving around nearby, though. Were they upstairs?

Where was he?

My heart was pounding too wildly to know if I was feeling Trystan’s nearby anxieties through the bond, or simply my own.

Gritting my teeth, I inhaled deeply, desperately searching for even the slightest trace of Trystan’s scent.

There, beneath layers of dirt, country air, and rotting wood, was the heady mixture my alpha recognised as mine.

A cocktail of mint, metals, and vetiver that was entirely Trystan.

“He’s here.” I felt like I could finally breathe again, knowing I’d be with him soon and there was at least a chance he was okay. “Or at least he was recently. I’m going inside.”

“Wait.” Norah pulled out her phone, tapped on it, then thrust it into Bee’s hand.

“Here, take this and go back to the car. It’s already dialling detective Rhodes.

Tell him to get his arse over here immediately with at least one ambulance.

” Her eyes flicked to me before she pushed Bee back towards the car and crouched beside me.

“Remember, Emerson, we need Harris alive to go through the courts. I know every instinct is telling you to kill him, but do everything you can to hold it back.”

“I won’t kill him,” I promised her. “But if he’s done anything to harm either of them, I’m going to make sure he suffers as long as possible.”

Her grin turned feral, matching my own. “Oh, he’ll suffer. I promise you that.”

Not wanting to waste any more time now that Bee had gone for help, we hopped in through the empty window. Broken glass littered the floor, impossible to avoid under our footsteps as we crept through the room to an empty hallway.

Norah tapped my shoulder and silently pointed to an open doorway where a clean blazer lay on the back of a chair. As we snuck into the room, empty of recent life except for the jacket, I could hear a muffled voice somewhere nearby.

Trystan’s scent was stronger here, the metallic undertones of his scent taking centre stage, likely from the stress of the situation.

Letting my alpha instincts take charge and follow his scent, I approached a large wooden door leading further into the house.

As I carefully turned the handle, a dark staircase greeted me, along with the snarling voice of my former friend.

“Miranda might be gone,” he said, “but you and Pearl are gonna earn me the money I need to get her out of there. And you’re gonna fucking beg to do it, like a good little omega.”

White-hot rage burned in my chest as I descended the stairs with Norah right on my tail, the two of us abandoning all attempts at stealth in favour of reaching the omegas now . We hit the ground in time to see Pearl slam a chair into Harris’s back, and my eyes zeroed in on Trystan against the wall.

He’s alive!

Despite Trystan’s bound limbs, he pushed to his feet, yelling as Harris pulled a gun from his waistband, aiming directly for Pearl. “Pearl, run!”

He launched his body at Harris, knocking him back to the ground in a painful tackle.

The gun fired wildly as Norah lunged for Pearl, and I rushed to Trystan, praying that he wasn’t hit.

As I reached out to grab my omega, a hair’s breadth from having him safe in my arms again, he was pulled away from me.

“Don’t come any closer!” Harris yelled, one hand around Trystan’s throat while the other pressed the gun against his temple. “Get back, or I’ll shoot! Now!”

Stepping away from Trystan meant smothering every protective instinct I had as an alpha. I wanted to rip Harris’s throat out with my teeth, and I knew I could, given half a chance, but I just couldn’t risk him.

“What’s your plan here, Harris?” I asked, backing up to the opposite wall next to Norah, who held a shaking Pearl behind her. “There’s no way out. Police are already on their way. If you let him go, you’ll at least get out of this alive.”

Harris scoffed, getting to his feet and pulling Trystan up with him by his neck. “You think I’m an idiot? I’ve seen the mark on his neck. I know what you alphas will do for one of these whores!”

I know you’re an idiot; else you’d know better than to call him that.

Trystan’s bright green eyes met mine, and he wriggled in Harris’s grasp. If his omega was screaming inside him half as much as my alpha, it must’ve been maddening. I was one wrong move from going fully feral to get him out of here, my own life be damned.

Was it really only this morning we were together? Newly bonded and excited at the thought of planning a life together? I swore I’d protect him, and I fully intended to keep that promise.

“Then you know that every second you keep him from me endangers you,” I growled, baring my teeth. “One last chance, Harris. Let him go.”

Harris’s eyes darted around the cellar. Norah stood closest to the stairs, ready to get Pearl out at the next opportunity. But Harris would have to go through all of us to get out.

“No, see, you’re gonna go keep the police away,” he said, his shaking voice betraying the confidence in his orders. “I’m holding the fucking cards here!”

“Bitch, you’re not even holding me ,” Trystan sneered as he twisted violently in Harris’s grip.

A rip reached my ears, and Trystan’s hands separated from behind his back. As one arm stretched up sharply to knock the gun away, he spun to face his captor and thrust his other hand into Harris’s face. Norah seized the opening, dragging Pearl upstairs out of harm’s way, and I sprinted to my omega.

Grabbing Harris by the collar, I ripped him from the wall and slammed him against the ground with an animalistic roar. His skull cracked against the concrete, and blood poured from his eye, a small key sticking out of it grotesquely. He stopped moving.

“Is… Is he dead?” Trystan panted behind me.

I stared at the man on the ground. We’d never been close—work friends, at best—but I couldn’t find any scrap of compassion for him inside me. I wanted to watch him die for what he’d done.

“He’s still breathing. Won’t be getting up for a while, though.”

Trystan slumped against the wall, falling to the floor as he frantically tugged at the tape around his ankles.

I quickly pulled it off him, and he launched himself into my arms. Vetiver consumed my senses as I held him close, tangling a hand in his hair and breathing him in like the first time all over again.

“You really came for me,” he said, shaking against me.

His relief, his fear, his love slammed against my heart through the bond, and all I could do was hold him through it.

“I’ve got you, love,” I promised, kissing his temple. “I swear, I’ve got you. You’re safe.”