50

“Nic.”

“I’m heading toward you now. I won’t be long.” I watched the speedo needle climb.

“Nic.”

“Yes?” I forced myself to focus.

“It’s not me. I’m not hurt. I’m fine.”

But something was still wrong. I wasn’t imagining that. “Then what is it?” I didn’t slow down. The urgency to get home still existed. Maybe she was injured somehow.

“It’s Dad. The rehab center called. He’s missing.”

Oh, thank fuck. For a moment, I took my foot off the gas and coasted as relief coursed through me. It was only Jean. Jean was the problem, which was still a problem, only not as urgent.

“What do you mean, missing?” Had he run away, broken our deal?

“That’s the thing.” She sucked in a breath. “They don’t know what’s going on. They only know he didn’t show up to today’s meetings. They don’t know when he left or why. And all of his shit is still there. He didn’t take anything.”

I flicked the turn signal and slowed to make my turn. “Nothing?” That didn’t sound right. “I mean, if he was leaving, sure, travel light, but nothing at all?”

I imagined her nodding. “I know.” She sounded grim. “I’m worried.”

I barely withheld a sigh of relief, though. I could handle Jean being missing, maybe even fix the problem and make everything all right again, but I wasn’t sure what I would have done if it had been Leia again.

I arrived back at the house, ditching the car at the bottom of the steps. Jenkins would handle putting it away. Leia emerged from behind the front door and I bounded toward her.

She was dressed in blue jeans and a cropped leather jacket, and she held her hand out. “Keys.”

“Wait, what?” I caught her in my arms, pressing her face to my chest, inhaling the scent of her hair, breathing deeply to reassure myself she was really okay. “When you called, I thought something had happened to you. Why do you want the keys?”

Huffing, she drew away. “Holy crap, Nic—so I can get out there and find him! Are you coming?”

I slipped the keys into my pocket and took Leia’s upper arm, trying to steer her back inside. “No. We need to do this sensibly. Let me call the guys. We’ll have a meeting to decide the best course of action. It’s not safe off the property for you. I’ve made that mistake too many times.”

“But I can’t just sit around, knowing Dad’s out there somewhere.” She looked up at me, and Baldwin closed the door behind us.

I shrugged. “But maybe he just ditched rehab. He could be on his way here right now to beg you to let him into the house or drink at the bar.”

“Nic.” She threw her arms up, her frustration evident. “Why is it more likely that he ditched rehab than someone like Francois got him? We’re in the middle of a war. You keep telling me you’re fighting a war. You won’t tell me anything about that war, but what if my dad got caught up in it, too?” Her eyes glistened, and she took a deep breath. “I know you probably don’t think it’s very likely, but neither of us expected me to be abducted, either.”

I nodded, acknowledging her words but nothing more. “I can’t take the risk that you’re chasing a shadow, Leia. You might head out there like Jean’s own personal savior—a role I know you’re very comfortable playing—and he might show up here five minutes after you’re out of sight. What do we do then?”

She got really close to me. “You call your little friends right now and set up your little war room. I’m going for a drive.”

“No.” I slid the bolt on the front door. It was more to make a point than anything else. She could undo it if she tried. “You’re not going anywhere because I forbid you to risk your safety.” She was the most important thing in my world.

“Something is wrong, Nic. I feel it in here.” She jabbed at her chest. “And you’re not taking me seriously.”

I slid my phone from my pocket. “I’m taking you very seriously, but your safety is my number one concern. Above anything else—even above your father’s whereabouts. You are my true mate, my bride, my fucking queen, and when I tell you to remain in the house for your own good, you will fucking do it.”

I roared the last words, and she flinched.

Then she looked at me, her usually warm, rich gaze hard and cold. “Yeah?”

I nodded, pleased that at least she wasn’t arguing now. “I’ll contact Sebastian, Jason and Kyle, and—”

She crossed her arms, her eyes suddenly blazing like small fires—not the warmth in them that I liked.

“You know what, Nic, I told you I’m done being the damsel, so I don’t want to hear your fucking plans for you and your pretend soldier friends. I don’t even want to breathe the same air as you right now.” She whirled away and stomped up the stairs. About halfway, she turned and flipped me the middle finger. “Fuck you.”

16

Leia

I

 slammed the door to the east wing so hard I thought the entire wall might collapse, and I stormed down the corridor, looking for an outlet for my rage. There were doors down here I never even used, each of them holding furniture draped in huge swaths of fabric to keep the dust off.

Now, I stormed into these rooms and ripped the fabric away, exposing antique after antique after antique. I opened drapes with violence and aggression, and I screamed and bellowed my rage on more than one balcony, until my muscles were sore and my throat ached.