“I shouldn’t be here,” I whispered as the headlights bounced across the driveway. Lachlan and Robyn’s home was in darkness, except for the outdoor floodlight. The hallway light was on upstairs in Thane’s. While most of the windows faced out toward the sea, he’d designed one long, narrow floor-to-ceiling window on the upstairs landing that looked out toward the fields and driveway. The light above the front door was also switched on.
I shouldn’t be here.
I slowed the SUV to a stop beside Eredine’s tiny electric Smart car. She was so tall, I wondered how she fit in the thing. The kids would be asleep. It was wrong of me to come, but I just … I just had nowhere else to run.
It was ironic and not at all funny that the one place I ran to, to get away from Thane, was the one place he’d find me.
“You’re hopeless,” I muttered, pushing open the door.
As I climbed the steps to the front door, I half expected Eredine to come out at the sound of my car. When she didn’t, I fumbled in my purse for the keys I still had and should probably give back. Letting myself in, I breathed in the house’s scent, and longing pierced my chest.
It smelled a little spicy, like cinnamon, but beneath the scent wafting gently from the kitchen was that indecipherable smell that was all Adair. It was on the kids’ clothes and buried beneath the citrusy aroma of Thane’s shower wash. I’d come to think of that scent as home.
Squeezing my eyes shut against the pain of loss, I took a breath and then opened my eyes when I realized how quiet it was. There wasn’t even the murmur of a television.
Eredine must have fallen asleep.
Walking into the living area, it was the dirty plates smashed on the floor by the island that got the blood rushing in my ears first.
“Eredine,” I whispered. I moved around the broken pieces, my gaze shooting toward the sitting room, looking for—
A limp hand peeked from behind the sectional.
“Ery!” I yelled, hurrying behind the large sofa to find my friend collapsed on the floor. “Oh my God, Ery.” I fell beside her, brushing her curls from her face and wincing at the sight of the blood trickling down her temple.
She’d been knocked out.
Terror consumed me.
“Eilidh! Lewis!” I jumped to my feet, slipping on some kind of sauce off the plates and catching my fall on the stairs. Righted, I launched myself up them faster than I’d ever moved in my life. “Eilidh! Lewis!” I screamed as I reached the landing.
But when I burst into Eilidh’s room, the duvet was thrown off her bed, and her new dollhouse was on its side like there had been a struggle. A sob burst out of me as I wrenched open her closet. “Eilidh!” I cried, pushing through the racks of clothing, hoping she was hiding.
Nothing.
Panic made my breath come in sharp, painful bursts, and I choked on my tears as I rushed from Eilidh’s room into Lewis’s.
“He isn’t here,” I gasped, trying to draw breath, trying to think.
His closet was empty too.
“Lewis!” I shrieked.
“Regan!” The voice cut through the blood pounding in my ears.
“Lewis?”
I turned around, following the voice.
“Regan!”
It wasn’t Lewis. It was Ery.
Hurrying back downstairs, I found Eredine leaning against the island, pale, trembling as she touched her fingers tentatively to her temple. Crossing the room, I grabbed her elbow to steady her. “What happened? Are you okay? Where are Eilidh and Lewis?”
Tears rushed to her eyes and spilled over in an instant. “They’re not upstairs?”
Fear clawed at my lungs. I shook my head.
“I was just … I was in the kitchen cleaning up. The kids were in bed. He came out of nowhere and I tried to get away,” she sobbed, shaking so hard, I thought she might break. “He smashed me over the head with something. I’m so sorry.”
“Who would take them?” I tried to stay calm, to not hyperventilate. They needed me. “Who would—” Realization dawned. “McClintock. Oh my God.”
Where was my cell? I’d left my cell! “Where’s your phone? We need to call Thane and the police. It’s McClintock.”
Eredine pushed off the island, frowning as she looked over at the dining table. “My cell was right there.” She pointed to the table. “That’s what I was rushing over for when he hit me.” Her eyes came back to me. “Regan.” Her gaze flew behind me and widened with horror. “Regan—”
Pain ricocheted across the back of my skull seconds before darkness descended.
38
Thane
He watched numbly as paramedics loaded Eredine into an ambulance despite her protests she was fine. She wasn’t fine.
He and Jock had come home to find the SUV Regan had been driving in his driveway. His relief was short-lived when he discovered Eredine knocked out on his living room floor and his children and Regan missing.
Eredine had come to and told them what happened. She’d been knocked out twice, so there were no arguments about her going to the hospital.
The shared driveway was a mass of activity. Lachlan’s security. The police. His family.
Thane watched from a distance, his emotions locked down so tight he couldn’t feel anything.
Because if he let himself, he’d lose his goddamn mind.
Sean McClintock had kidnapped his children and Regan.
“We should never have taken security off them.” He heard Mac growl at Arrochar. She tried to soothe him, but Mac paced up and down the driveway like a caged animal. The police wanted his team out of it while they tracked down McClintock, and Mac had not taken kindly to the order.
Thane hadn’t either.
Walking toward Mac, he caught his eye and gestured for him to follow him down the side of the house toward the annex.
According to their calculations, Regan and his children had been missing for forty-five minutes. Time was passing too quickly. His family was getting farther and farther away. He stopped near the annex and turned to face Mac.
Checking over his shoulder to make sure the detective inspector in charge wasn’t nearby, Thane waited a second and then said, “Fuck what they want. I want you out there, using whatever contacts you have to find this bastard.”
Mac’s expression hardened, and he nodded sharply. “Done.”
“When you find them”—because Thane had no doubt Mac could—“no police. I want at him first before we hand him over.”
Retribution raged in Mac’s eyes. “That I can do.”
Thane nodded, trying to keep a lid on the seething rage he’d bottled. He’d actually felt gutted for Sean, was determined to speak to the procurator fiscal on his behalf when the attempted kidnapping case went ahead because Thane knew grief did bizarre things to people.
And the bastard had come for his family again!
He had to keep calm, keep calm, keep calm. He moved to leave, but Mac’s head suddenly snapped back, and he held up a palm toward him.
Thane froze. “What is it?”
Mac cocked his head. “Did you hear that?” he whispered.
His pulse leapt. “Hear what?”
“Shh.” Mac strode past him and placed his ear to the annex door. Thane cautiously followed him and strained to hear.