Page 25 of Wicked Princess (Knight's Ridge Empire 2)

I don’t register that he’s paused in the doorway until he says my name.

“Y-yeah?”

“Where is she?”

My brows furrow. “Bathroom, maybe?”

Toby rushes into the room, and, without thinking, I quickly follow.

Her bed is empty, the sheets crumpled as if she’s been in there recently, but the rest of the room is weirdly quiet.

There’s nothing on the table beside the bed or any belongings on the sideboard.

“She’s not in here,” Toby says, his face twisted in concern.

“Well she can’t have just walked out. She—”

“Where’s Stella?” Toby asks in a rush when footsteps come to a stop behind us.

Twisting around, I come face to face with one of her nurses.

“Oh, didn’t you know? She discharged herself last night.”

My stomach falls to my fucking feet.

“She fucking what?” I bark, making the nurse rear back in shock. “You let her discharge herself?”

“I-I’m sorry, but she’s eighteen. There’s not much we can do to stop it. Plus, she was going to be discharged today or tomorrow anyway.”

“Jesus. Fuck.”

Threading my fingers through my hair, I pull until I’m on the verge of ripping it clean from my scalp.

“Where has she gone?”

“Home, I guess. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch her plans.” The nurse’s face clearly shows her lack of amusement with this conversation.

“But how did she get out? I was out there all night. I—”

“Was asleep,” Toby adds, as if he’s asking for a broken nose to match Stella’s cunt of a father.

“Fucking hell. Fuck. Toby, let’s go. We need to find her.”

Walking out of the hospital for the first time in two weeks is fucking weird. Feeling the sun on my skin and breathing fresh, non-sterilised air is even stranger.

We’re in Toby’s car only minutes later and heading for Stella and Galen’s house.

Toby is silent the whole way. His grip on the wheel is tight enough to turn his knuckles white, and his jaw tics in frustration.

Focusing on his reaction to this is easier than trying to decipher my own.

He brings the car to an abrupt stop outside the house and races toward the door, letting himself in, which makes my brow lift.

I run behind him and come to a grinding halt in the doorway to the living room when I find Galen relaxed back on the sofa as if the entire world hasn’t just shifted around us.

“Toby, you okay?” he asks, completely ignoring my presence.

I don’t blame him. Our last few exchanges haven’t exactly been pleasant.