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Rafael scoffed from the row behind me. “We are all wicked men, Romero. There are no apologies any of us can offer for the things we’ve done. And we’re all just as guilty of trying to defile Julietta. It’s not often that my conscience makes itself known, but if you’re guilty for falling for your young, hot stepdaughter”—I growled at his words, but he ignored me—“then we’re just as guilty for pushing the two of you together.”
Aaron rolled his eyes as he speared the needle through my flesh yet again. “You’ve been wrapped around that girl’s finger for as long as she’s been in your life. The two of you falling for each other was inevitable.”
“You see it that way, but now she’s in danger because of me. She ran away from me, Aaron. This life was too much for her.”
“She’s far stronger than you think. Stubborn too. Running was for you as much as it was for her. I imagine losing her mother, then almost losing you, was terrifying, but she was born a fighter,” Kieran retorted.
“The girl has more fire in her than most do their entire lives. She’ll come back,” Darren said in a way that was contemplative. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she took her place beside you. Every kingdom needs a ruler.” He grinned. “Better still if that kingdom has two.”
“What experience would you have with that, old man?” I quipped with a raised brow.
Darren chuckled. “I may be getting old, but I can still kick your ass.” I barked a laugh, then winced. “Besides,” he continued, looking out the window suddenly, “not every ruler finds a suitable queen.”
The vehicle fell silent save for Aaron cleaning up the blood and sanitizing my torso. I took the bandage from him and covered myself. He let me take over, knowing I hated to be babied.
We drove in near silence, Kieran occasionally giving directions. Soon we were there, crawling through the town, looking for any signs of Julietta’s presence.
“I see it,” Eli announced before jerking left into a hotel parking lot. The white Range Rover sat in the lot. My eyes scanned the building, looking for a flash of her somewhere.
“Eli,” Kieran said severely.
My spine lengthened. I looked to where he pointed, and my body went cold.
I was out of the vehicle before anyone could stop me. Aaron and Darren followed as Eli braked hard. A dark pool of dried, flaking blood sat near the driver’s side door. I peered into the vehicle. It was locked. Empty.
I strode for the hotel’s entrance, fastening the buttons of my shirt as I went. The new stitches pulled, but I didn’t have time to slow down. She could be dead. She could be hurt.
Storming into the lobby, I zeroed in on the man sitting behind the desk. His balding head shone from the overhead light, his dark eyes going wide at the sight of the three of us.
“I need to know what room Julietta Collez is staying in. Now. And don’t give me the bullshit about confidentiality. She’s in danger and could be bleeding out in one of your rooms. So I suggest you get me a key.”
“Sir, I—”
“Now, or we’ll break down every motherfucking door until we find her,” Darren snarled, flexing his behemoth arms.
The guy behind the counter had the good sense to look terrified, clacking keys as fast as his trembling fingers would allow.
“Room eighteen,” he said, a light sheen of sweat dampening his forehead. “But the room was empty when it was cleaned this morning. The car she registered with us is still here. There was a fair bit of blood in the room as well, but no one was in it.”
“It was cleaned out?” I asked with the low, rumbling menace of a man about to snap. Because that’s exactly what I was.
The man nodded. “Mostly, anyway. The blood on the carpet we couldn’t get out. I had to charge her card for the damage.”
I bared my teeth at him, feeling feral with the need to rip him apart to get the answers out of him faster. “You’ll refund the entire charge and put it on mine instead,” I ordered. “Now get me a key card.”
He did as I asked, running a key card through a scanner. I snatched it up and barreled back out.
The other three caught up to us as we raced down the first hall, passing door after door until we reached the correct one. I swiped the card, waiting for the green light before throwing the door open.
Stepping inside, I caught the strong, overpowering scent of bleach and saw where the blood still stained the carpet. But that didn’t necessarily mean it was from her. The mattress was bare, a smaller spot of browned blood there as well. My heart hammered, making the bullet wound ache even more.
She’d been here.
Three people had bled, one had dripped toward the door, but there wasn’t any in the hallway that I’d seen.
“Fuck,” I growled.
Several of the guys nodded.
