I kissed her, her red lips soft and warm as I caressed her cold cheeks. Pulling back, I gazed down at her through the intricate silver metal mask that covered her forehead, her eyes staring up at me through the slits in the design.
Leaning in, she breathed over my mouth and slid a quick hand down my pants, grabbing me. “You think your wife suspects anything?” she teased.
I gasped as she fisted me, not caring about anything right now other than to see her butt-assed naked, except for that mask on her head.
I grinned, nibbling her bottom lip. “Who cares?” I taunted. “Nothing is keeping me off of you.”
Emmy smiled, sinking her mouth into mine and pulling her hand off me, so she could wrap her arms around my neck.
“I love you so much,” my wife told me. “You know that, right?”
I nodded. “But you can still work hard to prove it.”
“I will.” She kissed me again. “But finish dancing with me first.”
We spun, the music just barely drifting up to the second-floor balcony where we danced, the cold and snow seeping through to our bones, but she was smiling so much, I wasn’t about to stop whatever she wanted.
She laid her head on my chest, holding me close.
I loved it when she did that. All the time I spent thinking she didn’t need me, and now I knew she did.
She didn’t hold me. She held on to me.
We stared out at the forest, most of the trees bare of leaves, and the Bell Tower’s lantern visible through the branches.
“Where is her grave?” Emmy asked.
I didn’t have to ask who she was talking about, the eternal flame for Reverie Cross flickering in the belfry in the distance.
It was strange that she’d waited so long to ask that question, but no stranger that no one else ever had.
When I didn’t answer, she asked, “Did your grandfather love her?”
I tightened my arms around her. “I’ve never asked him.”
It was a subject of which I was eternally curious, but I could never bring it up with him. Maybe I’d be disappointed if the answers were more boring than my imagination.
Maybe I was afraid the answers would change how I loved him.
“Did he kill her?” Emmy whispered.
“I won’t ask him.”
Not ever.
“He could be the only one who knows what happened that night,” she pressed.
I know. And he wouldn’t live much longer to tell the story.
“No one knows where her grave is, then?” she asked again.
“Nowhere near Edward’s,” I told her. “That’s all I know.”
I snuggled her close, wanting to make the most of the time we had left before the kids came home, and discussing Reverie Cross was not what I had in mind.
“So, do you love me?” I teased.
“I’m almost positive I told you I did just thirty-nine seconds ago.”
I scoffed. I liked to hear it more frequently. She knew that.
She laughed, pressing her mouth to mine. “I love you.”
I moved over her lips, freezing my ass off out here, but the warm promise of her body had me hard and ready.
“I want to go somewhere,” I told her.
Catacombs, pantry, spare bedroom…wherever.
“I want to dance some more,” she whined.
I cocked an eyebrow. “How about you dance for me?”
I could live with that.
A wicked smile crossed her lips, and she bit her bottom lip. “Race you.”
And before I could reply, she pulled away, hiked up her dress, and started running.
A laugh rumbled through me, watching her scurry back into the house in her high heels before I sprinted, chasing her.
Bolting through the sitting room, she squealed as I tailed her and we both ran into the hallway, toward the guest rooms.
But then she halted all of a sudden and screamed, her back going rigid.
“Will!” she cried.
My smile fell, and I darted up to her side, taking hold of her.
“Wha—?”
But then I looked down and saw a bloody pool on the wooden floor, a body lying in the hallway.
I sucked in a breath and pulled her back. “What the fuck?”
“Oh, my God.” She covered her mouth with her hand.
“What’s going on?” Kai called from downstairs, and I looked over the railing to see him standing in the foyer.
“Hurry!” I waved him up.
Kneeling down, I tried to make out the guy’s face in the dark, but he was face down, only the left side visible.
Who…? What the hell happened?
“Baby, get the lights,” I told her.
I pressed my fingers, finding his neck to check for a pulse, but I couldn’t find one. Light finally illuminated the hallway as footfalls hit the stairs, everyone running up after us.
“What the hell?” Kai said, stopping next to the body. “Who is that?”
How would I know?
“Is he dead?” I heard Michael ask.
No idea. I stared down at him, a young blond man in street clothes, blood seeping out of his head. I didn’t recognize him, and he wasn’t dressed for the party.
“Who is that?” Rika asked.
I shook my head.
Someone raced past us as I searched his pockets for identification, but when I reached under his jacket, I felt it.
I hesitated, the pulse in my neck throbbing.
Shit.
I flipped him over, dug under his arm, and pulled out the pistol from his holster. It laid in my palm, realization starting to hit all of us at the exact same time. The only people who had weapons were Lev and David, and this wasn’t either of them.
“The kids are gone!” a woman shouted.
What? I shot to my feet as everyone spun around to lock eyes with Mrs. Cuthbert.
“What kids?” I barked. “They’re at the theater.” And then I jerked my chin at Emmy, tossing her my phone. “Call Miss Englestat.” She had the kids at the theater. “Have her do a head count.”
She nodded, her hands shaking as she dialed.
“Mads and Octavia,” Damon murmured, his worried eyes meeting mine. “They stayed behind.”
Mads and Octavia… I darted my eyes to the nanny.
“They’re not in their rooms,” she cried.
And my face fell, realizing those were the kids she was talking about.
Everyone ran.
“Tavi!” Banks raced down the hall to the rooms the kids used when they were here.
“Madden!” Kai bolted down the other hallway where it forked to search the gallery where his son liked to hide.
“Madden!” more voices called as everyone fanned out.
My mouth went dry. I dipped down again, searching for the dude’s pulse and not finding it. Putting my fingers under his nose, I waited to feel the warmth of his breath.
There was nothing.
More footfalls ascended the stairs, and I rose up again, piecing together the possibilities in my head.
“He’s dead,” I said.
“It wasn’t us,” I head Lev say, and I looked up to see him and David standing at the top of the stairs, out of breath. “We didn’t see anything.”
“That’s obvious!” Banks growled.
“The door’s been opening every ten seconds with guests, Banks!” Lev yelled. “Anyone could’ve gotten in. I told you we needed more security.”
“But you all didn’t want ‘armed guards and a metal detector at the front door’,” David added, quoting Michael.
Michael grabbed his collar, shoving him away. “Search the house. Go!”
Damon, Banks, and Michael ran in and out of rooms, searching again. “Mads!” they called. “Octavia!”
I tucked the gun into the back of my pants and gestured to Kai. “Get his feet.”
“We need the police,” Emmy argued. “Don’t move him.”
“We’re not calling anybody until we find the kids,” Kai gritted out.
We weren’t sure how this happened. We needed to find out before we involved the cops.
“Octavia!” Damon bellowed, and I swore I could hear his frantic breathing from here.
“Wait, the cameras…” Rika burst out.
Spinning around, she ran to her office, her computer set up to access the street cams and home security. She had a view of nearly every inch of the town.
Kai and I dumped the body in her and Michael’s bedroom, closed the door, flipped over the carpet in the hallway to cover the blood, and ran after everyone else, charging into her office.
“Go back,” I heard Michael tell her.
Pushing buttons and turning a knob, she rewound the footage, playing back the night’s events. There weren’t any cameras inside the house, but they covered the exterior and the grounds. I guessed that would change after tonight. Michael would have the company here in the morning, adding extra security.
She stopped, seeing Mads and Octavia rushing out the side door of the kitchen, running frantically as if trying to escape, but…
A car was waiting. My heart lodged in my throat. Two men jumped out, and before the kids knew what was happening, they were thrown inside and the car raced off.
“No,” Damon gasped.
“What is it?” Winter cried.
He just held her close.
“Wait, wait, who is that?” Kai pointed to the blond sitting in the passenger side seat. “Zoom in!”
Rika rewound again, catching him as he got out of the car to help get the kids and paused the video, enhancing the shot.
Banks whimpered. “Ilia Oblonsky.”
Kai’s spine straightened, and he breathed hard. Ilia was an employee of Gabriel Torrance years ago. Banks had him thrown out of the country when she inherited her father’s estate.
“And who’s that?” Michael squinted at the other one who’d gotten out of the SUV.
“I can’t tell,” Rika replied.
But I stared at the brown head I’d know anywhere, because I knew him well.
My God.
“Taylor Dinescu,” I whispered.
Everyone turned to look at me, my stint in Blackchurch still rearing its ugly head.
“Jesus, fuck,” Damon muttered. “How did they find each other?”
I had no idea. Maybe there was Facebook group for people who hated us. A sinking feeling hit me, because I knew. I knew it years ago. He was a loose end I’d ignored, and I shouldn’t have.
But then Banks twisted around. “Kai?”
I followed her gaze, seeing Kai back out of the room, rage in his eyes.
“It’s my turn,” he told her. “I let you deal with him last time. Not this time.”
But before I could figure out what he meant, he tore from the room, and it took no time at all before we were all racing after him.
The ball still carried on downstairs, but instead of clearing the place or making some excuse to our guests, we didn’t waste another minute.
“Give me your phone,” Rika told Banks.
Without question, she handed it to her as we raced down the stairs. Tears spilled down Banks’s cheeks, but she didn’t make a sound otherwise.
“I’m logging you into the street cameras,” Rika told her, tapping away on her cell. “They turned right out of the gate about ninety seconds ago, probably headed toward town, but keep an eye on them and make sure. We’ll follow.”
Banks nodded, Rika handed her phone back to her, and everyone rushed through the front door, grabbing keys to cars on the way.
But I caught sight of something and stopped.
They all veered around me, emptying the foyer, but I stared at the grandfather clock, it’s pendulum frozen and the minute hand paused on nine minutes past ten.
Holding up my wrist, I checked my watch, seeing it was actually twenty-three minutes past the hour.
I glanced at the clock again.
“What is it?” Emmy rushed back up to me.
“Clock stopped.” I couldn’t breathe. “Ten-oh-nine. That’s when Reverie Cross died.”
I mean, I didn’t really believe that shit, but I also knew Madden was the only one who refused to light a candle on EverNight. Kind of weird.
She pulled me along, both of us running to the back doors of one of the SUVs, Kai and Banks piling into the front. Michael and Damon climbed into the other car with Winter and Rika, and Kai slipped the key in, pausing suddenly.
He tapped the digital clock, and I zoned in, seeing ten-oh-nine on the car clock, as well.
“What the hell?” Kai growled.
But he didn’t stop to worry. “How far ahead of us are they?” he asked his wife.
“Just reaching the village,” she told him, looking at her screen. “Hurry.”
We strapped ourselves in, and I shot a worried look to Emmy next to me.
“It’s not EverNight,” she whispered.
“It doesn’t have to be.”
Reverie Cross had all year to strike, and while I knew a lit flame the next morning meant you were safe, I had never cared to think about what happened to those who didn’t light a candle at all.
“Let’s go!” I called.
Kai shot off, slamming the gas, and we raced down the driveway, Michael’s headlights bright on our tail.
Kai charged onto the road, the tires spinning under us on the snow-covered blacktop. Kicking it into low gear, he sped down the street, past the other houses lit up with bonfires, lanterns, and holiday lights.
“Did you reach Engelstat?” I turned to Emmy, remembering what I’d asked her to do.
“Yes, the kids are safe.” She nodded. “Banks sent security to the theater. They’ll stay there until we come.”
I nodded once. Good.
If anything, they were probably safer there. Tons of people, the whole place locked down…
“Where are they now?” I asked Banks.
She hesitated, studying her screen and changing vantage points. “Heading toward Old Pointe Road,” she finally answered and then looked to Kai. “They wouldn’t be going to the resort, right? Meridian City, maybe?”
He shook his head, turning his eyes left and right as he raced at what felt like a hundred miles an hour. “Just keep your eyes on them.”
I stared out the window, clenching my jaw so hard it ached. Taylor Dinescu. We hadn’t messed with Blackchurch for him after the last time we saw him that night at the Cove. We threw everything at him and his family, sending him to prison, because he deserved to be there. Not only for what got him sent to Blackchurch, but for my own personal reasons, too.
He’d hurt Emmy. A lot. And he fucking enjoyed doing it.
And when he finally managed to get out six years ago, I hired someone to keep an eye on him for a while—make sure he didn’t get any ideas—but I knew he didn’t deserve a second chance. We should’ve sent him away.
Or dealt with him permanently. He was the one with the money. Not Ilia. If I had just taken care of it, we wouldn’t be here.
“This could’ve been our kids,” I mumbled, tears filling my eyes.
“It is our kids,” Em replied.
I looked over at her as she reached out and took my hand. I couldn’t imagine what Damon was feeling right now.
I wouldn’t really know the full measure of it until it was one of mine.
“What happened in that room?” Banks asked Kai. “Something went wrong if they left a dead body behind. How did we not hear or see anything?”
“We’re going to find them,” Kai stated. “Mads is smart.”
“He would’ve fought,” Banks told him, crying again. “They would’ve had to hurt him to get him in that car. Did you see on the camera if they hit him or not?”
He shook his head but didn’t answer.
My eyes burned, seeing Banks so scared for the first time ever. I turned my head out of the window. This would be the end of us. If anything happened to those kids…
We had minutes. Minutes before they were gone forever.
“Look at me,” Kai told her, trying to keep his eyes on the road too. “Not today.”
Banks nodded but still looked about to break.
I heard a seatbelt unclick, and Emmy was suddenly in my lap, forcing my face around and my eyes on her.
I closed them, though. I’d brought this on them. What if worse happened to our kids someday? What life did I bring her into?
“Look at me.” She shook me.
I opened my eyes.
“We couldn’t be anyone else,” she said. “This isn’t your fault.”
I stared up at her, all the doubt and worry I was usually good about hiding laid bare for her, because she always knew what I was thinking. She could read me as well as herself.
I didn’t want to be anyone else. But I didn’t want the kids to suffer the consequences for our choices, either.
I wrapped my arms around her and looked up into her eyes. “I love you,” I whispered. “Thank you for my children.”
If I didn’t get a chance to say it again…
Her smile peeked out. “Ditto.”
I held on to her, her scent and eyes reminding me of our kids and everything I loved about waking up every day.
We had a right to be here, and we didn’t ask for this.
Reaching down, I fisted both sides of the slit of her dress and ripped it up her thigh, giving her legs room to move. “Let’s go get these motherfuckers.”
She kissed me as Kai sped into the village, but immediately slammed on the brakes.
“What the hell?” he barked.
I pulled away from Em, squinting out the front windshield to see the street crowded with people, despite the thick, white flakes pouring down. I glanced over at the theater, noting Banks’s two men just inside the doors, guarding the kids.
I exhaled, looking back at the costumes and masks and fire pits glowing bright around the village as music played and people smiled.
Santa sat up in the gazebo, a line of a dozen kids waiting to meet with him.
“The treasure hunt,” I reminded him. That was why everyone was out. We couldn’t have planned this kidnapping better for Taylor and Ilia. Tons of activity to get lost in.
I glanced behind me, not seeing the others. Michael must’ve gone the long way, knowing what the village would be like.
“Head past the cathedral,” Emmy told him. “Take the lane down to Old Pointe.”
He hit the horn and flashed his lights as people took their sweet time getting out of the fucking way. Slowly, the snow-covered street cleared.
“Kai, go!” Banks yelled.
He swerved, past the gazebo, Sticks, and the White Crow Tavern, jerking the wheel and skidding around the corner.
Banks whimpered, holding the safety bar above her window, and I could tell she was losing her mind. Every moment those kids weren’t in our arms, the more chance we had of never finding them.
I had no idea what Taylor and Ilia were planning, but if they’d wanted them dead, they would’ve done it at the house. There was no way they were planning on returning them, though. It’d be suicide.
Thoughts of things so much worse invaded my head, and my stomach rolled, knowing what happened to kids all over the world. The horror that might await if we lost them tonight.
I rubbed my eyes, the sweat on my forehead coating my hand.
The headlights burned a hole in the darkness ahead, snowflakes fluttering to the ground as the gun dug into my back. I was tempted to use it.
God, I was tempted to take our family over that line tonight.
“Stop!” Banks yelled. She pointed ahead, and everyone looked, seeing taillights in the ditch off the side of the road. My heart hammered in my chest as Kai swung up behind the SUV and pulled to a stop, everyone knowing without a word that it was the same car.
What the hell happened? The kids…
We jumped out of the car, the cold nipping at our faces as we ran to the crashed, black SUV.
Relief and fear washed over me at the same time.
Taylor was collapsed with his head over the steering wheel, his window partially down, and I leapt down the ravine, grabbing hold of the door handle.
“You son of a bitch!” I yelled, reaching over the window and trying to grab him. He swayed, his face bloody, but the fucking car was crashed between two trees, and I couldn’t get the door open.
“Octavia!” Emmy shouted.
Followed by Banks. “Mads!”
I darted for the rear of the car and pulled open the hatch, crawling over the backseat to the motherfucker.
“They’re not here!” Banks yelled, crawling in after me.
Emmy broke the driver’s side window just as I reached Taylor. He swung around, pulling out a gun, but just then, she shot her hand out, knocking the weapon to the floor, and whipped the ridge of her palm right into his neck, crushing his throat.
Heh. Did Kai teach her that? Looked familiar.
Blood matted Taylor’s hair and dripped down his face. I grabbed him, gripping his jaw. “Where are they?” I bellowed. “What did you do?”
But just then, I saw it. My stomach rolled, and I winced, averting my eyes for a moment. Jesus fucking Christ. What the fuck?
His goddamn eyeball hung just outside its socket, blood spilling out of the other one, as well. How did that happen?
“That…that…” he gasped, trying to get the words out. “That kid is crazy. He killed Gibbons.”
Huh? “Who?” I barked.
You know what, I don’t care. “Where are they?” I fisted his collar, shaking him.
And where was Ilia?
Emmy moved out of the way, letting Kai in, Mads’s father grabbing hold of Taylor with me, both of us squeezing his skull.
I fitted my thumb just between his nose and eye, ready to dig in. “Now, or I take the other one!”
He closed his mouth, and I barely had time to realize what he was doing before he spit in my face.
Kai growled, grabbing him and burrowing his thumb into his eyes, threatening to blind him completely.
“Ahhhh!” he screamed.
“Where?” Kai yelled.
“The marina!” he cried. “The marina!”
I scrambled out of the car, grabbing Emmy’s hand as all of us raced back up to our SUV. Lev and David pulled up, climbing out of their car, having probably tracked Banks’s phone.
“The Pope,” Kai told them, but then he reached across Taylor and pulled out a white mask.
It wasn’t one of ours. More like a full phantom mask. Did he recognize it?
Or…
My stomach sank. They were at the party.
Jesus Christ.
Kai threw the mask back into the car, and then stalked to ours, yanking his door open. “The twelfth floor,” he instructed.
“Yes, sir,” David replied.
Good idea. We weren’t turning Taylor over to anyone’s care this time. We had a place to hide him. If he survived.
They ran over to collect Taylor as Banks jumped on her phone. “The marina,” she told someone, probably Damon. “Kill him if you have to.”
And please hurry.
I opened the back door, letting Emmy in first.
“That was a good move, baby,” I told her, remembering her little hand trick on his throat. “John Wick, right?”
“John Wick 2.”
I nodded, rushing in after her. “Oh, right.”
