A Hurt So Sweet Volume Four - Isabella Starling Page 0,23

father and Mr. Oakes. His dad gives him a barely perceptible nod, which is when he finally follows me out onto the balcony overlooking Fox Hall.

"You got to stop acting like your dad's little bitch," I grunt at Julian, and he sighs.

"You're fucking drunk, Dex."

"So what?" I slur, bumping into the balcony fence and laughing out loud. "What have I got to lose? I'd rather drink and forget than stay sober and remember. Every goddamn second, of every goddamn day."

"Would you get away from the edge?" Julian asks, signaling for help. "For fuck's sake, Dex, do you really want to hurt yourself on top of everything else?"

Caspian arrives a moment later, and Easton follows suit. Together, they pry me away from the fence. We descend the stairs and walk into the garden that's been illuminated with fairy lights. It's beautiful here, beautiful and fucking meaningless. It seems like everything has lost that sparkle and shine it used to have. Or maybe it's just because I haven't had my dick sucked in fucking months.

"Any new leads?" I hiss at Brantley as we make our way into the gardens behind Julian's house. "What happened with that local guy who noticed some suspicious girl in town?"

"We asked him to keep an eye on her," Easton mutters. "But she hasn't reappeared since then."

"Fuck!" I kick a rock on the gravel path, repeating the curse word again and again. "The chances are getting smaller and smaller the more time goes on."

"She's not dead," Caspian mutters.

"You don't know that, fuckface," I grind out.

"Calm down." Easton grabs my shoulder and steadies me. "Seriously, man. You need to cool off and calm down. You're acting crazy. We're just trying to help you."

"I'm not the priority here," I growl. "Pandora is. And the baby."

"Don't you think we want to find her too?" Julian asks. "We're just as invested in this, Booth. And we want Lily Anna brought to justice, just as much as you do."

"Doubt it." I run my fingers through my hair. "Fuck. Fuck. I'm a mess."

They surround me as I pace between them trying to think of new ways to find my toy. But there's nothing—we've exhausted all our resources. There's nothing else. Either Pandora is long gone... or she's not in Eden Falls.

Just then, my phone buzzes with a notification. I don't want to pay it any attention. It's probably just Audra or some other thirsty bitch from my past desperate for me to pay her a visit. But something implores me to pull out my phone, and my eyes widen when I see what's on my screen.

"New message from an unsaved number," I mutter.

"Open it," Caspian says.

I click on the notification and the message loads on my phone. It's a photo. As the four of us wait for it to open, my nails dig into my palms as more and more of the pic comes into view.

It's Pandora. She has a panicked expression on her face, but she still looks beautiful, even without her hair or makeup done. Lily Anna is next to her, smiling her sweet, innocent smile for the camera. Lily Anna's palm is resting on Pandora's swollen stomach, and my heart and stomach drop when I see it.

Fuck. She's okay. She's alive. She's still pregnant.

The message chimes in a moment after the photograph.

Getting so close now! x P & LA

"Oh my God," I groan. "I fucking know where they are."

"What?" Caspian manages. "You do?"

"Get Emilian Oakes," I growl. "And Kelley. We're taking their car, we have to go. Right the fuck now!"

Easton runs off to get Oakes, and I stalk off to the Aston Martin where Kelley is standing. He seems to sense the urgency in my walk, putting away his newspaper and nodding at me wearily as I approach him. He's devastated by Pandora's disappearance, too, and has confided in me several times about how close he'd gotten with my toy during the drives to and from Prep.

"Where are we going, Master Booth?" he asks, not hesitating for a second as he slips back into the driver's seat.

"The Oakes' old wood cabin," I mutter. "That's where they've been hiding."

"How the fuck do you know that?" Julian demands. Caspian follows closely behind, their worried glances tracking me as I tap my fingers against the car door.

"I recognized one of the hunting trophies in the background," I mutter, pointing to the background of the photo where a deer's head is nailed to a wall. "Always hated those things. Where the fuck is Oakes?"

"I'm