Broken Trust(Devastation Duet #2) - Winter Paige Page 0,44

silent.

“Abel!” Jaxx shouts into the phone, and we all run into the yard, pushing through caterers, planners, and event staff. Where is fucking security?

“You all look out here!” I yell back, heading up to her room. When I get there, I have to grip the door to keep from collapsing. One of our guys and the two women sent to get E ready for the wedding are laying dead by the bathroom door, and her room is trashed. Photos blanket every surface, and a video is playing on loop, of the night Laporte was murdered, in the center of the floor.

I rush through the destruction to turn off the heart wrenching cries coming from the laptop and hoping to find something, anything. Her heart shaped pendant, our connection, our biggest chance of finding her, is hanging from the corner of the shattered screen. Her distorted, tear stained face stares back at me, and I collapse.

“Nooo!”

“Costin! What happened… no,” Jaxx wheezes, taking in the room. The bed we bought our tiny girl is now in shreds. “No. No, no, no, no. Not again. No.” he grabs his head, tears running down his cheeks.

“Andrew!” I yell, standing and pulling Jaxx to face me, looking into his eyes. This time, I will be the one to lend him strength. I am breaking too, but he is right. It is time for me to man up. For her.

“Jaxx.” I shake him. “We are going to find her. We always do. Focus. This is what you do. We raised her and trained her. She is a survivor. A fighter. And we are her always. We will find her.”

His eyes harden, and I can see the cold running through his veins. “I will kill every fucking one of them. Yes, we will find her, and we will eliminate every single threat. Today, their blood will pool at my feet, brother. Let’s go.”

Chapter Seventeen

Eliana

“You need to wake up, Angel.” I hear his voice, but it’s so dark.

“Joshua?”

“You need to wake up and run. You’re not safe! Wake up! Now!”

I jolt awake… a dream? Where am I? Why can’t I move?

“There she is.” Richard strolls towards me, grinning when he sees me tug at my restraints. “Sorry about that, sweet girl. Needed to make sure you wouldn’t run before I had a chance to explain everything.”

“Explain what? Why am I here? Where are the guys? Jaxx? Daddy?”

His lip curls in disgust as his eyes go dark, and he roughly grabs my face in his left hand, squeezing.

“Those fucking fools are still chasing their tails. They won’t even notice you are gone until the music plays for no bride.” He chuckles then shrugs. “I really expected them to be smarter. If it wasn’t for you, I would have killed them all and walked away years ago.”

“For me? Why would you wait for me?”

Running a hand down my body, he pauses when he reaches the hem of my swim cover-up, flipping it with a flick of his wrist, exposing my body in nothing but the string bikini I wore home from the resort after oversleeping on the beach with Jonah. When he runs a finger up my inner thigh, crossing to the other, I scream, struggling against the restraints holding me to the bed.

He places a hand over my mouth. “Now look what you’ve done. You’ve woken our guest.” I still when I hear the muffled yells from the next room, and he moves his hand from my mouth to my throat, giving it a gentle squeeze as he smiles darkly.

“What guest, Richard? Who else is here?” I ask, keeping my voice steady. I won’t fail this time. Whoever is in there will live.

“That caveman that follows you everywhere.” Oh, God, he has Abel. “I was going to kill him, but I remembered that we will need a witness, and you would be less than happy with me for spilling his blood all over the beach house.”

“A witness for what, Richard?” my blood freezes when he turns to my white dress hanging in the corner. “Why? Why me?”

“Because you’re mine, sweet girl.” He leans forward, kissing me, but I bite down when I feel his tongue push its way into my mouth. He spits. “So be it. Guess we’re going to have to find another witness.”

He turns to walk from the room when I yell, “Wait! I’ll do it. I’m sorry. I was just scared.” I default to the helpless act, hoping he’ll buy it.

“You will?” He arches a brow,