“Is that Carly?” Kodiak asks, his voice full of disbelief but I ignore his question as I fling the truck door open. He slams on the brakes and I jump out, taking off at a dead run down the road.
“What the fuck, dude?” he screams from the cab of the truck, but my only focus is getting to Carly as my boots slap against the ground and the air punches out of my lungs. She looks so damn small up there on the porch of the plantation house and I know, I can tell just from the slump of her shoulders, that she is hurt. It spurs me on, my mind screaming for me to run faster and my legs screaming in pain. It doesn’t matter though. Nothing does until she’s back in my arms.
The van Rodriguez is driving with his team jerks to a halt and he jumps out, holding his hands out like he’s going to stop me and normally, I wouldn’t go up against him, but this is not a battle he’s going to win. I will burst through every obstacle in the path until I reach her. Sucking in a breath, I duck him and continue toward the house, my gaze bouncing all over the yard like Julian might pop out at any moment and steal her away from me again.
Let him try.
I’ll fucking kill him this time.
“Carly!” I yell as I reach the end of the cobblestone walkway and stop, grabbing onto the fence post. She spins around, her eyes widening as she wipes away tears and stares me down like she can’t quite believe that I’m real. I know the feeling. Last night was endless and I have to blink to make sure she’s really here in front of me.
“Chance,” she whispers, her voice cracking and my heart shatters as I start running again. She pushes to her feet and stumbles before slowly walking down the front steps. Her face twists in pain with each step and her shirt gapes open, revealing two long gashes on her chest. I skid to a halt. Red stains my vision and I clench my fists as I watch her move toward me. I imagine slicing that fucker’s body open just like he did to her and dipping him in a vat of acid but not even that is enough to quell the boiling of my blood.
She stumbles again, halfway down the walk, and I jerk into action, running to her and wrapping my arms around her body just as she collapses. A whimper slips out of her and she clutches her arms around her body as she trembles.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispers, reaching up to touch me with a shaky hand and I grab it, pressing it against my cheek because I need this as much as she does. Pulling her closer, I bury my nose in her hair and take a breath, relief coursing through my body so fiercely it would probably knock me over if I wasn’t already sitting in the grass. I shift and she lets out another whimper.
“Princess,” I whisper, pain unlike anything I’ve ever known throbbing through my body as I pull away and run my hands over her skin gently, checking for any more injuries. “Where are you hurt?”
“Everywhere.”
Darkness clouds the corners of my vision as I square my shoulders and look up at the house, one thing on my mind. Julian Henshaw is going to fucking pay for laying his hands on her and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it. As gently as possible, I move her off my lap and push up off the ground, my fists clenching as I imagine tearing him limb from limb.
“Baby,” she whispers, and in an instant, she has my full attention again. “Please don’t leave me.”
The whispered plea breaks through the fog of rage for a moment and I stare up at the house before dropping back down next to her, my brow furrowing as I meet her eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere, Princess.”
She smiles, leaning against me as she closes her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Baby. I’m so fucking sorry I let this happen. You have no idea how much I hate myself right now for not protecting you.”
She shakes her head. “Not your fault.”
“Listen, there’s something I have to tell you…” I pause and before I can say anything else, she jerks back, wincing in pain as she meets my eyes. She grabs my arm, his eyes wide and full of fear again.
“Ivy. She’s still in there.”
I glance up at the house. “You saw her?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“No. Julian took her away and she was unconscious…”
“It’ll be okay,” I assure her even though I’m not convinced. I’m sure they will find her but her condition when they do is a whole other story.
Rodriguez and his team advance up the front walk with precision, guns drawn, and decked out in black tactical gear but stop when they reach us. “How many are inside?”
Carly shakes her head. “I’m not sure. At least four but I don’t know about staff. Ivy was hurt and Julian took her somewhere.”
Rodriguez nods and motions for his men to move forward as Blaze and the guys gather around us.
“What happened with Ivy?” Carly whispers, her expression haunted. “Why is she here?”
I suck in a breath. “Julian taped a note to the clubhouse door saying he had you and he wouldn’t release you until he got Ivy back. We were up all night planning and at some point, she snuck out. I’m not sure when it happened but by the time we realized, she was long gone.”
“They were never going to let me go,” she whispers as Rodriguez kicks the front door open and his team storms inside. Someone screams and Rosie runs out of the house with her hands in the air. She glances over at us before Rodriguez marches out, gun down at his side.
“Where is Julian Henshaw?” he yells and she points to the house.
“Last I saw them, they were headed to the basement.”
Them?
Who the fuck else is in that house?
Carly pales on the ground next to me, her body shaking and Rosie glances in our direction, something passing between them.
“Did you find her?” Carly asks.
Rosie shakes her head. “I’m so sorry.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Carly
Carly,
I know you’re mad, but I hope you understand why I had to do this. It was my mess and you’ve been taken because of it. If I had known it would turn out this way, I never would have come to you for help in the first place. You’ll never know how sorry I am. Once I show up, Julian will let you go and if I never see you again, I want you to know how much I love you. You’ve been my best friend since the moment I was born and I never thought I’d be without you. I’m just happy that I got to see you fall in love before I left. Chance is an amazing guy. He actually kind of reminds me of Dad and I know the two of you are going to have an amazing life together. No one deserves it more than you, big sister, and I’m so happy that you were finally able to let go of your past and find the happiness you’ve always wanted.
I love you.
Always.
Vi.
Sucking in a stuttered breath and wiping away tears, I fold the note back up and reach out with my good arm, grabbing Ivy’s hand, as she lies motionless in the bed. The monitors next to the bed continue their steady beeping and the ventilator whooshes as it helps her breathe. Her face and neck are covered in bruises and the doctors keep talking about damage to her brain but as I close my eyes, I will her to wake up. When we arrived at the hospital two days ago, they rushed Ivy away and took me to have a MRI, which confirmed I had a torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder and a broken rib. They operated on me later that day and this is the first time I’ve been allowed out of bed to see my baby sister.